The battles have always been huge and the action has been hectic, but the guns often seemed to lack that extra oomph that weapons in, say, Doom or F.E.A.R. Serious Sam has always had a bit of an issue with impact, I think. This probably doesn’t sound like a very glowing review at this point, but we haven’t talked about the action yet. There are some hilarious secrets in this game, some of the best of the series, in fact, but finding them always ends up being far more tedious than it needs to be. You’ll find nooks, crannies, corners, and buildings everywhere in this game, so many that look like they should be hiding something, and yet, they aren’t. Still, it’s not utilized as fully as it could be, and show off one of the chief flaws in SS4’s level design. There are certainly secrets to discover if you ride off into the countryside, and this space is used to great effect for some truly massive battles. The ninth level of the game, A Breakfast in France, is something like 140 square kilometers of satellite-imaged landscape, which you can explore on foot or by motorcycle. But once you get to France, the game opens up in an incredible way. Not so much in the Italy and Rome sections, because there you’re mostly scooting around ruins and war-torn cities. I will say, on the subject of maps, that the scope of some of the game’s levels is incredibly impressive. There’s also the matter of the maps, which are absolutely massive for some reason, and contribute to heavy load times between missions and cutscenes. When everything is loaded, Serious Sam 4 is a gorgeous-looking game, but the moment you turn your head, something is going to go all blurry. This carries over to the gameplay, where textures will constantly be popping in and out of focus at all times, no matter how much or little is going on on the screen. Worse still is how textures are slow to load into scenes, often leaving characters delivering monologues looking like they were hosed down with Vaseline. Serious Engine 4 can pull off some impressive feats, but if it can make people not look like stiff, dead-eyed mannequins, this game doesn’t show it. That goes double when you consider the quality of the cutscenes. I can appreciate that Sam and his cohorts are written pretty well for the most part, but I also know now that I don’t want or need good writing in these games. I didn’t need that from Duke Nukem, or the Doom Slayer, or Caleb, or Dusk Dude, or anyone who’s game was there to let you blast aliens or demons or whatever. I don’t need to meet a charming NPC and then watch them die and Sam be sad and angry a few missions later. I do not need pathos in my Serious Sam game. Sam is written better here than ever before, with witty one-liners, some self-aware humor, and also moments of drama and almost character growth.
#Serious sam 4 series
Also, he will shoot approximately ten thousand aliens, sometimes with rocket-propelled chainsaws.ĭoes that sound like a Serious Sam game? I know that last line does, but the rest? Serious Sam 4 is absolutely thick with cutscenes and dialog, way more than 2 or 3 ever aspired for, and it made something about this series abundantly clear to me. Along the way, Sam will make new allies, lose some close friends, uncover some secrets of history, and suffer a shocking (maybe) betrayal.
Starting in Italy, he winds a bloody path through Rome before heading out to the French countryside, and eventually finding himself in a climactic battle in Tunguska. Teamed up with a rag-tag band of quippy soldiers, Sam is on the hunt for the Holy Grail, said to hold the key to turning back Mental’s forces which have all but conquered the planet. Before Sirius, before ancient Egypt, before Timelocks, we get Sam in his peak Earth Defense Force days. Not content with only having one prequel in the series, Serious Sam 4 is a prequel to the prequel. Nevertheless, if you want more of that Second Encounter goodness (and you’ve already played Siberian Mayhem), this is the sequel you’re looking for. In some ways it even tops them, though the myriad of technical issues and other design choices keep it from being a new high for the franchise. I’m happy to say that, of the main Serious Sam games, this one comes the closest to capturing the magic of the originals. From there, the franchise stumbled through the awkward cartoonishness of Serious Sam 2, fell into the brown military shooter trap of Serious Sam 3, and finally emerged here. What a long and winding road it’s been to get here! The Serious Sam series started with The First and Second Encounters, two games that knew what they wanted to be: goofy, over-the-top FPSes helmed by a parody of the badass action heroes of the time.
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