Serious Sam

 In a world where most first person shooters try to be as realistic as possible, it is a relief that Serious Sam, a parody of the very genre it represents, does its upmost best to avoid being as authentic as possible. Serious Sam: The First Encounter originally took gamers by storm as a sleeper hit on PC. Despite being sold for the pocket money price of £20, it was a major achievement on Croteam's part as a visually pleasing and smooth game.


Serious Sam had its way with multiplayer gamers too, thanks to a compelling co-op experience it offered and growing community of competitive players around the world. And it managed to sustain gamers interest with a sequel the following year, the Second Encounter with new weapons and monsters. Not bad for a budget release, not bad at all. Unfortunately this 2003 Xbox edition of Serious Sam doesn't offer the same tempting price tag as its PC counter-parts but rather is a compilation and refined experience of the First and Second Encounter of the Serious Sam series. Set in the near future, humankind is losing a war against alien beings led by an unknown authority figure known as Mental. With man nearing extinction and civilisation on the brink of collapse, there is only one man who can save us all, Serious Sam. Sam has been able to keep the alien forces at bay until now as the aliens have developed a time portal to retrieve powerful ancient artefacts.


If left be, these artefacts would grant the alien forces the power necessary to complete their decimation of the human race and conquer all. So of course, it's up to Sam himself to deal with this threat by going back in time to challenge the aliens himself.As far as it actually plays, Serious Sam is a actually a hyper-charged first person shooter.  Like explained earlier, it diverts from the typical realistic conventions often found in first person shooters now for a Wolfenstein 3D points and secrets approach, minus the caricature World War 2 setting. Yet caricature might be the perfect word to describe the armoury and villains of Serious Sam. With the game featuring chainsaws, dual revolvers, Tommy guns and even a flipping cannon Serious Sam definitely takes a goofy direction in terms of design.


Though the classic assortment of shotguns, rocket launchers and plasma weaponry do make an appearance nether the less. This sense of goofy design is further amplified by the blatant obliquity of Serious Sam's bad guys, be it the beheaded rocketeers early on or the laugh out loud suicide bombers who scream as they press on towards you. But Sam's voice itself, lovingly provided by John J Dick, is the cherry on top of the icing on the cake that really tops off the absurd nature of Serious Sam. His voice is reminiscent of Duke Nukem and more so inspired by him with the use of pop culture inspired one liners and references – infact Sam even mocks Duke Nukem Forever's enduring development cycle via one of the hidden secrets in the game.


The level variety of Serious Sam ranges greatly from the sandy landscapes of Ancient Egypt to the rainforest surroundings of a Mayan South America. Much of the fighting takes place inside though, really to apply the preasure of challenge and ability to rack up combos as you progress further in the game. Serious Sam is no stranger to ambush attacks via power-up traps either in that you'll pick up an ammo pack or big health upgrade but in return be attacked accordingly. But Serious Sam also takes use of invincibility, invisibility and speed boost power-ups that come in handy as a short time benefit. While Serious Sam on Xbox lacks the ability to save where you wish as possible in the PC versions, there is now a lives feature instead in which you earn so many continues based on your acquired score during play.


Another fault though, and this time an inexcusable one, is the lack of online play for Serious Sam on Xbox. Fortunately, while the competitive play is hardly as interesting with four players splitscreen instead of sixteen (which would only otherwise be possible in LAN play), the campaign can still be played fully in splitscreen co-op instead. This is no big deal though as Serious Sam is actually a long game being both the first and second encounter in one package. That isn't to say the game cannot grow repetitive at times though as the gameplay's variety is somewhat minor between each level. It could be argued that the levels are designed to be played in short bursts although. Graphically, Serious Sam isn't a standout Xbox title in the visuals department but it does animate impressively with a mostly consistent and smooth frame-rate of 60FPS.


There are also some minor annoyances in the sound department to do with Sam's speech in that it can grow irritable after a while and the groans and grunts of your foes are uninspired. Serious Sam changes between heavy and calm music depending on action which puts you into the mood of the game but isn't entirely memorable, not that it matters. Rounding this review up however, Serious Sam on Xbox is a quality compilation and enrichment of the First and Second Encounters that only PC gamers have otherwise only had the pleasure of enjoying. It is a title for those who don't quite like the current shapings of similar first person shooters on Xbox (e.g. Halo).


It is rather a light-hearted take on the genre but crucially a repetitive one at it, best enjoyed in short bursts. The lack of Xbox Live play is a huge mistake for Croteam to make but Serious Sam's co-op play remains largely as enjoyable offline in splitscreen mode regardless.