Serious Sam: The Second Encounter is a light hearted FPS that doesn't take itself too seriously. It's easy to see that the developers were inspired by games such as Duke Nukem 3D. But SS:TSE is more than just a simple parody game. It is easily one of the top 5 single-player FPS ever made. It succeeds at everything it attempts to do.

The weapon balance is superb. Aside from the revolvers you start out with, all weapons are fun to use and have different strengths and weaknesses. Not one weapon just replaces another. Even in the last few levels, when your arsenal is complete, you'll still use all weapons on a regular basis. Every weapon is good or bad in different situations and against different enemies, and it is not uncommon to switch between them all the time, every few seconds, during big fights.

The enemy design is just as great. All enemies are distinctively different from one another and require different tactics to defeat. What is notable is that every enemy makes different noises, and not long after picking up the game you'll be able to identify enemies based on the sounds you hear. More often than not you can hear approaching foes before you can see them.
During the many fights, SS:TSE will throw multiple enemies of different types at you at the same time. Some require immediate attention, while others are annoying or distracting, and you'll have to prioritize the order in which you kill them. Certain enemies (Kleer and Beheaded Kamikaze in particular) are so memorable that they even spawned internet memes, which is no small accomplishment. The bosses are big, bad and fun to fight.

Leveldesign is as good as it gets. Compared to SS:The First Encounter, which, while still a great game, had Egypt and desert everywhere, The Second Encounter made a big step forward and sports grass levels, snow levels, lava levels and more. Also, it has many rooms with traps and gimmicks (usually with physics), which are a nice change of pace from the otherwise constant shooting. They are fun in general, although some can be a pain on higher difficulties. The game is quite linear, though there are many secrets to be found, some of which are far off the road.

Unless you want to play multiplayer, I recommend playing the old version over HD. HD changes quite a large number of things, not just the graphics. The graphics of the classic version feel perfectly fine even today, as the artstyle is a good mix between cartoony and realistic. In the HD version, the grass, trees and visual effects often obscure your vision of enemies. Gravity works differently, so one particular gimmick room had to be changed. Harpies can no longer carry and drop Beheaded Kamikaze. The minigun does twice the damage per hit but fires at half the rate. The projectiles fired by demons are destructible and home in much more aggressively. There are many more gameplay changes that would take too much time to list. All in all, for this particular game in the series, the classic version is a slightly better experience over the HD version.

Serious Sam: The Second Encounter does so many things right and so few things wrong that it stands at the top of the FPS genre. It is a must-play for anyone who's even slightly interested in FPS.

Serious Sam: The Second Encounter is a light hearted FPS that doesn't take itself too seriously. It's easy to see that the developers were inspired by games such as Duke Nukem 3D. But SS:TSE is more than just a simple parody game. It is easily one of the top 5 single-player FPS ever made. It succeeds at everything it attempts to do. The weapon balance is superb. Aside from the revolvers you start out with, all weapons are fun to use and have different strengths and weaknesses. Not one weapon just replaces another. Even in the last few levels, when your arsenal is complete, you'll still use all weapons on a regular basis. Every weapon is good or bad in different situations and against different enemies, and it is not uncommon to switch between them all the time, every few seconds, during big fights. The enemy design is just as great. All enemies are distinctively different from one another and require different tactics to defeat. What is notable is that every enemy makes different noises, and not long after picking up the game you'll be able to identify enemies based on the sounds you hear. More often than not you can hear approaching foes before you can see them. During the many fights, SS:TSE will throw multiple enemies of different types at you at the same time. Some require immediate attention, while others are annoying or distracting, and you'll have to prioritize the order in which you kill them. Certain enemies (Kleer and Beheaded Kamikaze in particular) are so memorable that they even spawned internet memes, which is no small accomplishment. The bosses are big, bad and fun to fight. Leveldesign is as good as it gets. Compared to SS:The First Encounter, which, while still a great game, had Egypt and desert everywhere, The Second Encounter made a big step forward and sports grass levels, snow levels, lava levels and more. Also, it has many rooms with traps and gimmicks (usually with physics), which are a nice change of pace from the otherwise constant shooting. They are fun in general, although some can be a pain on higher difficulties. The game is quite linear, though there are many secrets to be found, some of which are far off the road. Unless you want to play multiplayer, I recommend playing the old version over HD. HD changes quite a large number of things, not just the graphics. The graphics of the classic version feel perfectly fine even today, as the artstyle is a good mix between cartoony and realistic. In the HD version, the grass, trees and visual effects often obscure your vision of enemies. Gravity works differently, so one particular gimmick room had to be changed. Harpies can no longer carry and drop Beheaded Kamikaze. The minigun does twice the damage per hit but fires at half the rate. The projectiles fired by demons are destructible and home in much more aggressively. There are many more gameplay changes that would take too much time to list. All in all, for this particular game in the series, the classic version is a slightly better experience over the HD version. Serious Sam: The Second Encounter does so many things right and so few things wrong that it stands at the top of the FPS genre. It is a must-play for anyone who's even slightly interested in FPS.