Doom Eternal or Serious Sam 4: Which is the better game?

[PikaCommando]

THERE WILL BE MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR BOTH GAMES HERE SO DONT LOOK UNTIL YOU BEAT BOTH OF THEM

Most of us can agree that both Doom Eternal and Serious Sam 4 have equally good gameplay and music, so it's time we look for a tiebreaker. Will it be the graphics? Obviously not. As we all know, graphics don't matter in video games, which is the reason why classic Doom is allowed to be in the top 10 spots on all "Top 100 Video Games" lists on the Internet in spite of all the graphical and gameplay advancement made since then because Doom did it first and that's all that matters.

This is why the tiebreaker will be the story.

There are many avenues we can analyze this aspect from but for the sake of brevity, I will be choosing to compare the dramatic sequences where our protagonists are at their most vulnerable. For Doom Eternal, this will be the flashback where the Slayer is found by the Sentinel Priests. For Serious Sam 4, this will be the moment of Kenny's death.

In Doom Eternal, what does the Slayer say in his most vulnerable state? "Rip and tear". A short, elegant, yet funny phrase that is a cryptic reference to a meme from the little-known Doom comic book from 1996; a little nod to something only true Doom fans would catch. By acknowledging the meme, the creators also acknowledge the fans in the process. This is what is known as good writing.

In Serious Sam 4, what does Sam say in his most vulnerable state? "At least you've got your shoes on". An embarrassingly unfunny attempt at humanizing our hero by showing him in a rare moment of weakness and how emotionally-unequipped he is at dealing with the sudden loss of someone he wanted to protect. The writers didn't even have the audacity to make him say "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!"; a reference to the hilarious American cartoon, South Park. As was established by Duke Nukem 3D in 1996, humor is about referencing jokes from pop culture. Since there is no pop culture reference here, that means there is no humor here, therefore it is not good writing.

And that's why, all things considered, Doom Eternal is a better game than Serious Sam 4.

My advice to Croteam as well as writers Jonas and Verena Kyratzes (colloquially known as the Hands of Merlin) for future Serious Sam games would be to stop trying to be different. Action-packed first-person shooters are all about providing dumb excuses to shoot things. Attempting to inject genuine moments of humanity and fleshing out the characters takes away from the power fantasy element that is provided by virtually every boomer shooter out there in the market, and that's no good.

For the next game, try making more references to Serious Sam memes that are popular in the community. I would suggest "mmm bananaz", Sam scratching his balls at inappropriate times, and "YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW", for starters.

Remember, the more references it has, the gooder it is.

[nobleberry]

I have both games, I've played both quite a lot, and while doom eternal is a good game, there are some things that I really don't like, for example mario-style platforming (cannons, spinning chains, are straight out of there), game design (limited ammo, relying on abilities rotation), "cartoonish violence", plain humor, like "funny" skins, involment mechanics, like weekly challenges, levels, time-limited unlockables, multiplayer with only one game mode, quite ♥♥♥♥♥♥ balanced, overall worldbuilding and level design, inferrior to doom 2016. While doom 2016 levels looked like places that might exist in sci-fi, doom eternal levels are often just a bunch of abstract arenas, which don't even try to mimic logical-purposed places.

That my set of complaints for doom eternal.

Serious Sam 4 leaves a very sweet aftertaste. I like almost everything about it, and there are very few annoyances for me in this game, except some technical issues (it constantly crashes for me after patch 1.07). But damn, I love everything else about this game.

Regarding OP's opinion - his favourite game is daikatana. I have nothing against liking trash games, but such taste immediately discards one's opinion on quality of things. Literally, this is so funny, I can't be annoyed even slightly by all nonsense he had written over there.

[Beefzilla]

such taste is liking ss4 >:

[Dr. NOOOOOOOO]

Postat inițial de Omens:

Regarding OP's opinion - his favourite game is daikatana. I have nothing against liking trash games, but such taste immediately discards one's opinion on quality of things. Literally, this is so funny, I can't be annoyed even slightly by all nonsense he had written over there.

maybe OP is secretly john romero

[★Aarox★]

The only thing I can think about, that Sam 4 does better than DOOM Eternal is deffinitely a multiplayer. Battlemode in D:E is decent, but it lacks other game modes like cooperation, or survival.

[Dr. NOOOOOOOO]

ss4 gunplay is one element i think is far better than d:e, and most games in general

[★Aarox★]

Postat inițial de Dr. NOOOOOOOO:

ss4 gunplay is one element i think is far better than d:e, and most games in general

It's not better. It's finally equally good compared to other games, like DOOM, Shadow Warrior or Wolfenstein series. Finally after a lot of disappointings (Sam 2, Sam 3) the gunplay is great, like in other new fps games.

[nobleberry]

Postat inițial de Dr. NOOOOOOOO:

ss4 gunplay is one element i think is far better than d:e, and most games in general

I wouldn't say it is better, in my opinion doom eternal did it very well, but still, serious sam 4 has robust shooting mechanics and it gives a lot of ammo for endless fun

[AleX]

Serious Sam 4 by Far.

Apart from the jump and run elements and the weird design decisions
Doom Eternal also looks very very cartoonish and Fortnite like.

Worst Game of 2020 in terms of hype , very overrated Game.
I put any Doom Game in the Series (Doom 64 , Doom 1-3 , Doom 2016 etc.)
over Doom Eternal.

[lucent]

Serious Sam 3 and Doom 2016 are better games. These new games push it too far, wanting to be so much more. People can say, it's time for changes. How so, like mario bros to sonic the hedge hog?

Neither game has level designs that work towards the players advantage. DE has its' fake game play, so there is no real reason to talk about that.

Serious Sam, outstanding game engines with your open maps and enemy count. But I feel S3 has better maps as I play it again. If you want to stick me in the middle of an open field with a hundred enemies, how about a couple obstacles.

I get it's a game style, but level design is important as well.

Appreciate the hard work, you guys do rock. You bring your own style and that's more important than anything.

[Dr. NOOOOOOOO]

Postat inițial de ★Aarox★:

Postat inițial de Dr. NOOOOOOOO:

ss4 gunplay is one element i think is far better than d:e, and most games in general

It's not better. It's finally equally good compared to other games, like DOOM, Shadow Warrior or Wolfenstein series. Finally after a lot of disappointings (Sam 2, Sam 3) the gunplay is great, like in other new fps games.

I'd say it's better. It feels a lot better at least.

[lucent]

I was just playing it, so I had to come back and say, "Silent Riddler" from SS3 is an outstanding map! Because of what I posted above, wanted to point out a kick ass level design.

Anyway, still playing SS4 and need to feel it out more...hehehe

[Dr. NOOOOOOOO]

Postat inițial de lucent:

I was just playing it, so I had to come back and say, "Silent Riddler" from SS3 is an outstanding map! Because of what I posted above, wanted to point out a kick ass level design.

Anyway, still playing SS4 and need to feel it out more...hehehe

oh yes, 100% agree. I loved that level, probably one of my favorites. Wish some of the later levels were that good

[tcassat]

I don't like the logic behind the Doom Eternal battle. That game is played basically as an MMORPG. You have "infinite" HP and ammo, as long as you survive longer than your skills' cooldown time. I do not like this type of battle, the dynamics do not please me at all and for me there is no strategic element (it is a game of pure skill). However, I think Doom Eternal is a better game than Serious Sam 4 for the simple reason that the developers created a more focused experience, in the hardest difficulties players need to embrace gameplay, immerse themselves in the experience and get good.

In the case of Serious Sam 4 my impression is that the developers were trying to do just the opposite since the game is constantly trying to convince us to use a lot of overpowered resources that conflict with the best thing about Serious Sam, which are "brain" battles where you need to prioritize the right enemies while dealing with lower priority ones in the best possible way (for example, dodging Kleers' attacks while dealing with a Reptloid, Biomech Major or Scorpion from a distance).

Postat inițial de GB| Beef:

Doom eternal story is way better beacuse it explores the doom universe better and has more lore stuff.
While ss4 doesnt explore the universe very well except for some dirty notes and a radio that only says the basic of the basic.
Not to mention DE doesnt have ''scorp buddies'' which makes the story even better

There is nothing to be explored in the Doom universe, the game was created by people who said that story in games is as important as story in porn.

The Doom Eternal story is basically fan fiction with a lot of "wow! So bad ass!" moments that for me are much worse than the scorp buddies speech.

[Dr. NOOOOOOOO]

in defense of ss4, it's not like you're required to really use the gadgets. With doom eternal however, your basically forced to use the chainsaw in every fight so you dont run out of ammo.
I do wish they werent so OP though

[Dixon Sider]

SS has always had gadgets. There are just more now.