*Surround sound 7.1*

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best

I just bought my childhood back.

+ Maps are large and allow for generous movement when in combat
+ Enemies attack in droves; spikes the difficulty, certainly, but also keeps the adrenaline flowing
+ Visuals may not have aged well, but they are moderately impressive when considering the year of release
+ The action is practically nonstop; there aren't any innovative mechanics by today's standards, but the consistent need for maneuvering and gunplay makes for a great, and a classic, mob shooter
+ The monster designs are surprisingly creative, if often campy and odd
+ There are secrets aplenty, often behind hidden walls
+ Applaudable level design
+ Weaponry benefits from a moderate variation and a deep satisfaction in their use

-With precious little breaking up the fast pace, the gameplay gradually becomes a bit too uniform; can give way to a sense of tedium if played for long hours at a time
- There appear to be no active players over the network, and no available servers running


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I still hear the suicider scream in my sleep.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

oh here's a medkit.
3000 billion monsters spawn.

oh great

Without a shadow of doubt Serious Sam refers to the genre’s roots. The game pays homage to classic 90’s shooters such as Doom, Quake or Unreal. Based mainly on the Duke Nukem, designers from Croteam proudly entered the 21st century, because it was one of the first titles offering the players quite an open world.

Placed in the Ancient Egypt setting allows us small exploration of the locations. However, it would be a mistake to assume that in the game we will discover the secrets of the Egyptian Pyramids. When in the summer of 2001, as a 12-year-old kid I was reaching for “Sam”, I could learn something about antiquity, but honestly there is nothing to look for educational values here...

The first association is the movie “Stargate” from 1994, where, just like in the movie, our hero moved in time through the notorious Time-Lock. The plot is strongly an excuse here, which was the standard in action games then. There is only one hero, but what a badass he is!

Today, some people will ask, why don’t we meet some NPCs in the game?

Serious Sam is a kind of pastiche on “Rambo” type productions. If one guy is able to save the world, then we don’t need to waste time for shallow side-plots. Let him just take the gun and tear these motherfu**ers stupid things in large numbers apart!

The only conversations we encounter in the game are the humorous comments of our protagonist and funny NETRICSA’s descriptions, a built-in female computer that serves as a guide. Anyway, who would like to watch the cut-scenes when hordes of enemy creatures are waiting for us?


The music in the game is great. Silenced, unobtrusive, but at the same time fitted into the climate. The soundtrack encourages us to fight.


Croteam based the graphics on their own Serious Engine. On the visual side game is quite beautiful, colorful and expressive. Dynamic lightning and shades, then pioneering, now doesn’t hurt the eye too much. Of course younger folks can complain a little, but really for almost full grown game (17 years old) it still stands its ground. Since the beginning we have been given the option of choosing larger resolutions.

Locations in the game could be divided into 3 types:

1. Free areas, in which, more or less linearly, we break through the land of Egypt
   
2. “Corridors of death”, in which we fight our asses off through waves of enemies
   
3. Arenas, where in closed rooms we try to survive the hell-storm

Battles in the latter two are often somehow directed by design, as if the ammunition given us earlier slightly suggests specific game style and tell us what kind of opponent we would face. In the end the whole game could be defined as a casual dynamic rampage.


We get 6 levels of difficulty:

• The first two are a light, pleasant trip.
  
• The next two are classic Run ’n’ Gun for people wanting to relax after work, but also having a light challenge
  
• While the last two require from us optimal tactics for a given chapter and also a lot of experience – like knowledge of the game itself, because it is often necessary to know where secrets are located

More than useful here will be the abilities to manage resources (like ammo), set priorities, adjust techniques to the opponent's configuration, jumping, dodging, strafing etc.

Objectively the most difficult map is Metropolis, where we have to use kind of guerrilla-tactics when running among buildings. Also Demo Karnak offers a cross-section of all the challenges we encounter in the game.

A few levels earlier, we could encounter novelty for those times – boss in the form of hundreds small jumping creatures – Marsh Hoppers.

There is no hitbox[en.wikipedia.org] system, so we will not witness headshots. However, what deserves praise is the multiplayer. Especially when it comes to the rarity of 2001: the co-op mode. You could play on a four split-screen, but when it comes to having fun online with friends, the game is just excellent.


In the era of today's shooters and their Hollywood-style atmosphere and tension, Serious Sam is a gem. The game may not be top-iconic, but certainly a classic, real old school!

It has so far a large group of supporters and sympathizers, although it is slightly underrated. In a hand-wrestling with Duke Nukem it is for sure not a loser, and in my humble opinion “He Is the Man!”

Definitely WAY ahead of its time, and still a great game to play if you feel like being on-edge and jumpy the entire time that you're playing :) The human-computer interaction is unique and like nothing I've ever seen before, the FPS action is intense, and the "scare factor" is there (You will soon dread the "clop clop clop" that announces the skeletons' approach). Very worth the money, especially for its current price!

Serious Sam can be considered the epitome of old-school FPS games: 100% pure action, non-linear levels filled with secrets, and hundreds upon hundreds of monsters to kill with a vast arsenal. Mindless first-person combat has rarely been this fun.

When CroTeam, this small Croatian studio released Serious Sam: The First Encounter in 2001, probably even they didn’t think that their game will grow into one of the most successful indie FPS franchises. After all, on the surface, it looks like any other shooter from around 2000: half-linear levels where it is impossible to get lost yet have enough room to hide many secrets, all full of pickups to supply the player with health and ammo for the sizeable arsenal.

The trick is that this simplicity hides excellent game mechanics. The action rarely stops, but it doesn’t try to tire out the player by not giving enough breathing room. The difficulty levels offer a balanced challenge to FPS newbies and grizzled veterans alike. (Just to illustrate: on ‘Serious’ difficulty, you meet over six thousand enemies during the course of the game.)
The range of difficulties is only overshadowed by the available option in the engine itself. The Serious Engines were always famous of letting the player take control, but the first one really takes the top. Thanks to this awesome flexibility, the game ran on anything back then and looks surprisingly good even today, despite its old age.

I’d lie if I said CroTeam put too much effort in the story: you play as Sam Stone, who was sent back to the source of all evil, ancient Egypt, to stop an alien warlord from eradicating humanity in the far future. Still, the writing is quite memorable, thanks to the corny one-liners and the overall nonsensical nature of some of the encounters that help to alleviate the stress after some especially adrenaline-pumping scenario. So, in a sense, the “story” does its job, like the rest of the game.

Goes back to the golden age of FPS games, no reloading, no sprinting, no skins or crates, just go in game and kill things