Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter Review

Developed by Croteam, the creators of the popular Serious Sam franchise, and produced in partnership with Devolver Digital, Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter has hit the Xbox Live Arcade marketplace with nostalgic action. It is a remake of the original 2002 PC title re-vamped with the obvious high-definition, intense multiplayer action, and new game modes, enemies and bosses. Should you stroll down memory lane with Serious Sam? Read on to find out.

Serious Sam is your typical old-school FPS game with its basic controls and fast-paced action. Like most games in its genre, a plot is lightly added into the mix, but it’s not the main focus. The story of Serious Sam is told through text, but you won’t really pay attention to it due to the onslaught of enemies being thrown your way. Even when reading the text it is apparent; if you haven’t played the original, Sam “Serious” Stone isn’t so serious. He is full of one-liners and the story text is not afraid to mock the not so seriousness of the game. The plot revolves around Sam searching for the evil alien overlord Mental around South America, Persia, and a medieval town. As the story is just filler and something to laugh about, the heart of the game is the gameplay as it’s a frantic fragfest with extreme difficulty.

[nggtags gallery=SeriousSamHD21]

There is no shortage of action for Sam as you will be hacking away at enemies with the likes of chainsaws to Serious Bombs that demolish everything. Sam has an arsenal of weapons at his disposal and it is made apparent fast that you will be changing from one weapon to the next keeping things fresh. The hordes of enemies you face are truly unique and attack with their own special way. Some monsters include the Beheaded Kamikaze solider, Cucurbito the Pumkpkin wielding chainsawer, and many more that can destroy you in seconds. The enemy AI varies from aggressive to dull on occasion. Some moments have you running in fear of being overwhelmed, but in the heat of battle they stop and look around like they didn’t just see you. This is mostly common with the charging enemies that either melee you or explode on impact. The gun wielding foes on the other hand are accurate and relentless. You can avoid most enemies’ attacks through the use of strafing.

Croteam has revamped the Serious Engine 3 to match today’s high standard graphics. At a glance, it does succeed at becoming a mirror image of today’s hits. The levels, textures and character models all look fresh and crisp compared to the older version. The game runs smoothly with little to no lag when an abundant amount of enemies flood your screen, help to keep the fast paced action flowing.

While the games graphics are greatly appreciated, Serious Sam’s sound on the other hand is can be annoying at times. The constant screaming of Suicide enemies is funny at first, but gets annoying after the 100^th time you hear it. This is where the games shows its age as the sound effects have little changed from the original. The over-the-top loud explosions and Sam’s one-liners are not bearable at times.

As in most PC games you can quick save, it is included with Serious Sam: TSE Xbox 360 version and is completely vital to remember to quick save often as they are not many auto-save points. If you fail to quick save with the press of Y, you will be getting overly frustrated at repeating levels.  At first I thought this was a nuisance, but deeper in the game it is a godsend as the hordes of enemies just build and build. It is a pain to forget to do such a thing during heated battles or therefore after such events, so save and save often.

There are plenty of challenges thrown your way during the game that include ravaging enemies, puzzle elements, and sometimes difficult secret locations. During certain stages, you are locked in a location until you kill all enemies which can be murderous on higher difficulties. There are also the puzzle chambers that do crazy effects such as wind that blows your character around through to avoiding spikes, bouncing floors and walls that fling you all over the area while you fight off enemies. It can become overwhelming and at times you’ll simply need to take a break from all the action.

[nggtags gallery=SeriousSamHD22]

Serious Sam’s biggest and newest addition is multiplayer. You can now play co-op in Coin-op (3 lives only), Classic, and Survival (waves of enemies). Versus is also available in Deathmatch, Last Man Standing, Capture the Flag, and arcade modes. These modes include: Beast Hunt which has you earning points for kills, Instant Kill is a sniper rifle free-for-all, and My Burden that has players carrying a weight that increases their points. The most fun and chaotic game mode that fits Serious Sam’s gameplay is survival. You fight waves of increases difficult and bigger enemies over the space of a few minutes if you can survive that long. There are medals connected with each, ranging from bronze to gold; whereas bronze can be earned if you survive for at least 90 seconds on certain maps. It is a difficult and fun game mode for those quick pick up and play sessions.

If you’re looking for some old nostalgic fun or something different from today’s games, Serious Sam: The Second Encounter is a “seriously” good time. There is enough in the package to quantify its 1200 :MSPoints: price even with the minor issues. These minor issues are easy to look past and at times can even be fixed with tinkering in the options menu. Serious Sam is revamped enough to those who want to jump back in the 2002 classic or get into what they missed the first time.

You can find more information as well as download the demo and full version of the game on the Marketplace.