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Khorus said:
I enjoyed it. If you don't like FE or SE though, there isn't any reason to pick it up. It's overall not as challenging either, but it has it's moments there.

Level design is still it's weakest point, though. I'd like to try my hand at some maps for it (or SE:HD) at some point.

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Khorus said:
FE as it's set only in Egypt.

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Jello said:
Well I got it on release day and I have to say I'm pretty happy with it. Those review scores don't surprise me much either, I don't think the first or second encounter got more than 80% but I could be wrong. I'm only on the sixth level, and I do have some gripes but all in all it's a fantastic game, and still fun as hell to shoot things. Plus Sam, unlike Duke Nukem can actually make me chuckle.

As for the gripes, I'm fine with the sprinting, since it's not mandatory and it's unlimited so you don't end up panting like an 80 year old man with asthma after going ten feet like Duke did. The iron sights as well aren't necessary, and completely useless on the pistol and only marginally useful on the automatic rifle. The reloading on the single barrel shotgun really annoys me though. I expected it on the pistol and the double barrel since that's how it worked in the original, but one of the advantages of the single barrel was uninterrupted medium damage at close to medium range. Having it reload, but not making it any stronger or more accurate to compensate is pretty detrimental. The last thing is the FOV, I can't stand having it at the default, which I think is 90 actually. It still seems like I'm missing most of what's going on, so I changed it to 100 and it's more comfortable.

The level design so far has been mostly close quarters, with a few larger areas. The second level rather sucked however, since it was all indoors with annoying little spider creatures all over the place, however just starting out on the sixth level it's a large open area like you'd see in tfe and tse.

Anyway, gameplay wise, it plays almost identical to the original games, aside from the reloading gripe, and if you loved them, you'll love this one. It's more of the same, looks pretty good, and it's always fun to blow a Kleer apart in mid jump with a double barrel shotgun.

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MegaDoomer said:


Is the reloading a show stopper or fairly minor in your view?

Also with "the original games", is Serious Sam 2 included, or just TFE and TSE? Because I rather was dissapointed by SS2.

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Jello said:
The reloading isn't really a show stopper, but it is annoying. I expected it with the pistol since the Colt in the original games had reloading as well to compensate for the fact that they had unlimited ammo, but I didn't really expect it with the shotgun and the assault rifle. It does get annoying when I'm trying to clear out a room with the assault rifle and I have to stop to reload. But again, the rest of the game makes up for it, but it's something I'll probably try to find a mod for at some point. It doesn't affect all weapons though, the rocket launcher and the laser gun still work exactly the same. So yeah, not something that destroys enjoyment, just a design decision I disagree with. I loved my full auto Thompson spitting out 400 rounds with no reload.

As for Serious Sam 2 being included with the deluxe edition, it's not, only the 'classic' versions of The First Encounter and the Second Encounter are in it. Since I already have those on disc from way back when, the additional bonuses didn't really seem worth the extra price so I just got the regular version. Serious Sam 2 isn't even on Steam, from what I've heard they're having issues with the publisher, 2K Games. Not a real loss, from what I played it was a bit too cartoony and silly as Craigs said, and I just didn't find it as fun as TFE and TSE.

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Jello said:
I'd give it an 8 out of 10 as it is, and I'd also give it an 8 out of 10 if it didn't have reloading. I may have highlighted it as my complaint, but it's not horrible. It's annoying, but as I said, the rest of the gameplay makes up for it. An 8/10 to me means a very solid and enjoyable game, well worth the purchase. Especially because Croteam decided the $40 price was a good target, and they were right.

I wouldn't dissuade you from buying it due to the reloading, it's annoying, but it doesn't break the game, and I wouldn't take points off. It's still fun, and throwing a C4 charge into a group of charging enemies and watching the body parts fly is fun. Shooting a rocket into a minor biomechanoid and watching it's legs give out as it fires a last burst from it's laser cannon is still fun. Jumping to the side of a charging werebull and firing a load of buckshot in it it is still fun. And my favorite thing from Serious Sam is back, firing a double barrel shot gun at a Kleer skeleton as it lunges at your face, then smiling when you see the broken bones flying past you.

Basically if you liked The First Encounter and The Second Encounter, you will like it. If you didn't like them, then avoid it, it will not convert you.

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MegaDoomer said:

So basically the reloading is an annoyance, but nothing more

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TheEndOfUs said:


I think its better, it made the game more challenging & forces you to be more tactical. Also, is this game harder than FE & SE? Im playing on normal & got my ass kicked a couple of times. The classics were easy as pie on normal difficulty (minus the insane kleer wave on FE).

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GooberMan said:
They really should have just ditched the urban levels and started at the Sphinx level. Pretty much fantastic from that point on.

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MegaDoomer said:
How many levels are the Urban levels (first 3 levels, first 4 or 5 levels, etc.) and is there enough good after that (how many levels are there from Sphinx on?) for you to recommend the game despite the slow start?

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GooberMan said:

About the first four from memory. I did start proper enjoying the last urban level though, it started to feel like SS should. Those levels almost seems like they're in there as one big joke, showing how boring a modern shooter is compared to the later mayhem of the game.

It really needed to be an hour or two shorter though for maximum effectiveness. But I've put 20+ hours in to the game according to Steam and I still haven't seen the end. Same deal with the original Sam games - the first levels were reasonably quick (less than half an hour each) with later levels taking at least an hour. 12 levels total works out to be a very end-heavy game. Especially that last level. I've been on it for two hours so far and I'm not sure how much longer I have to go. Or how many more enemies they could possibly spawn. Pretty funny though, the savegame takes a couple of seconds to save thanks to the amount of data it needs to track.

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