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.

[Tayzor Azul]

Originally posted by 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

I do not think Doom Eternal has any deep lore, just like Serious Sam both rely on text lore.
So I won't call Doom a story driven game neither. They are made for gameplay.

[Kleerex]

Originally posted by tcassat:

[..]

You seem to be very fond of that flying thing since you mention it over and over again. Now tell me, what that has anything to do with Doom? The Doomguy in original games was a simple marine, not a comic superhero. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time, he just did what he could to get out alive. Doom Eternal is a fanfic, a comic about some superhero who is NOT Doomguy. They even call him Doom Slayer to emphasize that he is a different person.

As for Doom Eternal gameplay - I HATE IT! A whole bunch of bedroom-sized arenas with waves of demons spawning in, and that's it. Guess what, it's not Doom, it's Painkiller mixed with Quake. Doom games before Hugo Martin fanfic were military shooters and had more similarities with Call of Duty games and Serious Sam series. There was no such thing as "Doom dance" in previous Doom games, at least it did not involve jumping around and flying and switching weapons three times per second.

Eternal's combat loop is suited for fighting a few demons at a time, but it's useless against hordes of them characteristic to Serious Sam series. Maybe Doom Slayer can handle three Barons and 4 Marauders, but he would be helpless against 50 imps and 5 Tyrants all at the same time, whereas Sam can deal with 50 Kleers, 100 Processed, 5 Reptiloids and 3 Khnuums all at once. Also Spirits in Eternal's DLC prove that quick switching is a bad mechanic with no future, it is only going to divide playerbase.

Doom Eternal was my second biggest disappointment of 2020, right after The Last of Us 2. I'm going to stay away from Bethesda-published games from now on, they've brought nothing but disappointment in the last few years.

[lucent]

I like all games, Serious Sam, Doom, Painkiller and so on...

Those guys in the Eternal forums are ignorant morons. They call it a masterpiece, its chess, like some thing new was created. It's nothing more than a console game being merged with a pc game.

They are like stupid pc gamers, that have never played a console game in their life. Then they think this is something new. No one has ever done this before...hehehe

Like they never played Mortal Combat with combos and think this is something that has never been done before...OMG and defend platforming, but you have stuff floating in the middle of the air...hahaha

Serious Sam, keep doing what you are doing!

[Tayzor Azul]

Originally posted by lucent:

I like all games, Serious Sam, Doom, Painkiller and so on...

Those guys in the Eternal forums are ignorant morons. They call it a masterpiece, its chess, like some thing new was created. It's nothing more than a console game being merged with a pc game.

They are like stupid pc gamers, that have never played a console game in their life. Then they think this is something new. No one has ever done this before...hehehe

Like they never played Mortal Combat with combos and think this is something that has never been done before...OMG and defend platforming, but you have stuff floating in the middle of the air...hahaha

Serious Sam, keep doing what you are doing!

I really miss Painkiller. Wish developers would make a proper remake to the first 2 games.

[Malarky Enthusiast]

Battle Brothers

[Dixon Sider]

Originally posted by EyeCanKnot:

Battle Brothers

I am quite drunk, so excuse me if i misinterpreted this, but I would consider SS4 a much better old school FPS than Battle Brothers

[lucent]

The best part about playing a game drunk, is the next time you play it. I don't remember any of this being in the game...hehehe

[lucent]

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.

Playing without trying to rush, your maps are cool. I am finding the angles I need to fight more. Open ground is open ground, it's always been there...just have to use that to my advantage too!

[Ubelsteiner]

Doom Eternal is better... until SS4 gets a VR version like that other games, then it will be significantly better.

[Ace]

Doom eternal is 1000 times better than serious sam 4

[Kleerex]

Originally posted by Ace:

Doom eternal is 1000 times better than serious sam 4

That's, like, your opinion, man.

[Beefzilla]

Its more of a fact,you can like SS4 more than doom eternal,but DE is better

[lucent]

I can see where people got addicted to DE, because it's a gimmick. Just like Tetris it's that style of gameplay. Use the pretty color blocks, hurry and spin the piece around, now drop it. Quick, do it again, faster and faster!

But this is Doom and it has lore! As you punch the little sand bag clown that won't die, he is magical like an elf. To get his lucky charms, you have to use the magical chainsaw that refuels all by itself.

Silly rabbit, tricks are for kids...hehehe

[JolyJew СлаваУкраине]

your sacrasm is palpable and hardfelt and i appriciate your honest praise for the game's dramatic only good dramatic moment...

however, you can't deny how terrible the story is in SS4, the plot just doesn't make sense.
among the many plotholes, the worst has to be how they built up Brand as a horrible traitor that murates into a godlike monster, and in a dew levels later he is back to being a regular human with no explanation.

doom eternal has a terrible story too, but at least its big picture was understandble and intersting

but ill give you this - ss4 has much better characters and relationships

[SamuelHydeous]

Originally posted by Jolly Jew:

your sacrasm is palpable and hardfelt and i appriciate your honest praise for the game's dramatic only good dramatic moment...

however, you can't deny how terrible the story is in SS4, the plot just doesn't make sense.
among the many plotholes, the worst has to be how they built up Brand as a horrible traitor that murates into a godlike monster, and in a dew levels later he is back to being a regular human with no explanation.

doom eternal has a terrible story too, but at least its big picture was understandble and intersting

but ill give you this - ss4 has much better characters and relationships

The only relationship in doom is the slayer and his gun.