Serious Sam Is Serious... On Xbox Live Arcade

Any of you young whippersnappers remember Serious Sam? I'm talking about Croteam's 2002 first-person game that hailed unapologetically from the "thousands of enemies running at you constantly oh god kill them NOW!" school of shooter design. If you don't, you missed out; that was a mindlessly fun, exciting game.

Well, if you did miss out on the Serious Sam games--or not, but you remember them fondly--you're in luck: Croteam and new New Jersey dev house Devolver Digital are bringing an HD-ified remake of the original game to Xbox Live Arcade this summer. Publisher Majesco released a side-by-side comparison to give you an idea of the improvements being made to the graphics here. I'll let you figure out which one is which.

I'm not usually a big fan of quoting press releases, but this one was written amusingly enough that I will give you the publisher's pitch.

Serious Sam HD is not your mother’s generic, large-scale, orchestral scored, Space Marine-themed epic FPS with dialog that pretends it’s an RPG...instead, Serious Sam HD is a grab you by the jibblies run and gun, twitch FPS: BIG guns, TONS of enemies, 4-Player Online Co-Op and stunningly superfluous HD graphics that rival retail boxed games. You've waited forever but Serious Sam is back from the nether with its award-winning game play that will remind you why you play FPSs in the first place.

Eurogamer reports the game will run 1200 Microsoft Points ($15) and that a PC version will be released later in the fall via both retail and download channels.

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Any of you young whippersnappers remember Serious Sam? I'm talking about Croteam's 2002 first-person game that hailed unapologetically from the "thousands of enemies running at you constantly oh god kill them NOW!" school of shooter design. If you don't, you missed out; that was a mindlessly fun, exciting game.

Well, if you did miss out on the Serious Sam games--or not, but you remember them fondly--you're in luck: Croteam and new New Jersey dev house Devolver Digital are bringing an HD-ified remake of the original game to Xbox Live Arcade this summer. Publisher Majesco released a side-by-side comparison to give you an idea of the improvements being made to the graphics here. I'll let you figure out which one is which.

I'm not usually a big fan of quoting press releases, but this one was written amusingly enough that I will give you the publisher's pitch.

Serious Sam HD is not your mother’s generic, large-scale, orchestral scored, Space Marine-themed epic FPS with dialog that pretends it’s an RPG...instead, Serious Sam HD is a grab you by the jibblies run and gun, twitch FPS: BIG guns, TONS of enemies, 4-Player Online Co-Op and stunningly superfluous HD graphics that rival retail boxed games. You've waited forever but Serious Sam is back from the nether with its award-winning game play that will remind you why you play FPSs in the first place.

Eurogamer reports the game will run 1200 Microsoft Points ($15) and that a PC version will be released later in the fall via both retail and download channels.

Gallery

I loved Serious Sam on the xbox, cant wait for this one.

Serious Sam.. hmm..
I've got number 2 on the original xbox, for some reason, I hardly played on it though
It's awesome if you like BIG enemies

I sadly remember this game...

serious sam was pretty awesome. can't wait for the xbox live arcade version ;)

so awesome. One of the best shooters series ever. And this is probably the best way to bring it back successfully.

Wow Serious Sam is back! I have to buy it and support a dev from my state:)

The game was frantic. I don't know how this will work with a controller. Are they gonna dial down the difficulty?

Yes these games are awesome at their time, I loved playing them!
 But I dont think they will do so great now, running into a room and killing hundreds of spawning enemies dosnt seem as interesting now as it did then

Can i have it free?

PC or bust.

Oh Serious Sam..good times we played together. Indeed a fun game.

This looks so good, can't wait for this.

A lot of good arcade games coming this summer it seems.

Serious Sam was a fun game.  I might actually get this, and hope the co-op works well.

I remember seeing these Serious Sam games in all the bargain bins of stores. Never looked like a quality game. Basically it looked like a poor mans Duke Nukem to me.

i do remember playing this game for hours at a time, but i still dont think its worth $15

posted this 7 hours ago brad :P

The press release was amusing, but I'm really not interested.

whats funny is that there has been more serious sam than duke nukem!

Hell yes

" I remember seeing these Serious Sam games in all the bargain bins of stores. Never looked like a quality game. Basically it looked like a poor mans Duke Nukem to me. "

SOLD.

I heard about this remake. It sounds and looks sweet. If it is 800 to 1200 Microsoft Points, I am in.

Wow for 2002 that game looked terrible.  That looks like it is a couple years older, like 2000.

Seriously?  Serious Sam?  Super.  Swell.  Shwing!

OK, enough.  I'm pumped.  Never really tried out the series back in the day as I was pretty tired of FPS back then.  Looking forward to giving it a go now.

Serious Sam is serious fun, and it sounds like it'll be coming out on Steam too, so I'm sold.

o god played hours in this game. i hope for online they have infinite ammo like they did.

I wonder if it will have a cheat menu. I remember an interview where one of the lead developers admitted that it was pretty much impossible to beat the game without cheating, and after playing it on PC, I have to agree.

Graphics actually don't look bad! I like the whole HDing stuff out aspect...

Now... If someone would release a Giants Citizen Kabuto HD game, PLEASE!

I'm gutted this isn't coming to PS3.

Yeah, eff' Duke Nukem, Serious Sam is where it's at!

Good news!

I never played the first SS, only played SS Second Encounter (which was pretty good), and SS2 demo on both Xbox and PC (both were horrible!)

This news made my day. I hope the Second Encounter gets remade at some point also.

" I'm gutted this isn't coming to PS3. "

8 years after the 16-player coop PC version and they're still limiting it to 4 players on the 360?

Other than that, it looks pretty cool, I put some major hours into this game on the PC, it was awesome.  The XBox 1 version was decidedly less awesome, but it was still tolerable with all it's console based limitations.

I loved the original on PC back in the day, I might just get this re-release.

yes...Yes...YES...YES!!!

I can safely say here that I've played 1350 hours of Serious Sam: The Second Encounter and possible near 100 of Serious Sam: The First Encounter over my life (i'm 17 mind you).  A graphical and compatibility upgrade for my modern PC is music to my ears.  This just made my already awesome day.  

Um was there a more specific release date than this summer?

" 8 years after the 16-player coop PC version and they're still limiting it to 4 players on the 360?

How dare Croteam put out this and charge for it, after the original has been out for only seven years! They promised continued support for the Serious Sam games with map maker and Mod support! I expect this as a free patch or I'm boycotting!


Seriously though, Serious Sam kick serious arse! I'm in!

Hell yeah!

Serious Sam 2 sucked majorly. It's so good to see the good Serious Sam back.

My question is this. Serious Sam 1st encounter only or 1st and 2nd encounter. 2nd encounter was the high point of the SS games.

the original game was pretty cool, but 1200 points is way too much for this

I'm a sucker for Sam.

" Serious Sam 2 sucked majorly. It's so good to see the good Serious Sam back. My question is this. Serious Sam 1st encounter only or 1st and 2nd encounter. 2nd encounter was the high point of the SS games. "

The First and Second Encounters are among the best FPS games I've ever played. Its brilliant and its just a shame people assumed just because it was cheap that it was somehow a bad game. I'll be getting this on day one.

Hmm.  On the one hand, the visuals are certainly improved (though I find the original game's visuals to have a timeless appeal to them that makes them easy to look at today). On the other, I imagine they simply remade the games in Serious Engine 2 (though maybe SE3), and I didn't care for the feel of the physics and weapons not to mention the way enemies gibbed too easily and wackily in SS2 compared to the first game.

I'll probably get this when it comes to the PC.  If nothing else, it should help Croteam to make a sequel that actually lives up to the original game's quality this time.  It also might be a sign that Croteam recognizes how they dropped the ball with SS2 and are trying to get themselves back in the SS1 groove by just straight-up remaking it.  I can only hope.

"I wonder if it will have a cheat menu. I remember an interview where one of the lead developers admitted that it was pretty much impossible to beat the game without cheating, and after playing it on PC, I have to agree."