Customer Reviews

Serious Sam: Second Encounter

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Serious Sam: The First Encounter" was released less than a year ago, and was an immediate hit with critics and fans. Developed by an unknown team from Croatia, Croteam, "Serious Sam" offered fast-paced, Doomesque action, along with great visuals, all for under $20 bucks. Powered by the "Serious" game engine, "Serious Sam" was able to throw out huge numbers of enemies at the player, onscreen at the same time, without a decrease in system performance.

Sam "Serious" Stone is back in the sequel, "Serious Sam: The Second Encounter," and is better than the original. It looks great, too, using an enhanced version of the "Serious" engine. This time around, environments are varied and colorful; the original Sam featured desert environments that all looked essentially the same.

Gameplay remains the same: proceed through a level and destroy everything that moves. Various power-ups are provided, such as invulnerability and super-speed, which prove to be invaluable in some levels. There's not much thinking here, just blasting monsters into oblivion.

Sam ships with the standard multiplay deathmatch, but also features cooperative multiplayer, which allows you to join in with other players online to battle through each level. It's great fun, and at under $20, a great bargin.

I played the Serious Sam: Second Encounter Demo. It includes Single Player, Multiplayer, and Co-op play. Single player seemed groundbreaking, same as the first Serious Sam, but with even bigger environments, more variety in enemies (the old ones make a return but look a lot netter - nicer textures, geometry, etc.), A LOT better graphics, and more weapons (but I was disappointed that they did not include the flamethrower, Sniper Rifle was a "serious addition" though).
The demo also featured a new array of power-ups, such as Serious Speed, Invincibility, and Serious Damage.

I was really amazed when I noticed the improvements in the Serious Engine. The game looks simply fantastic!! It is still as fast and furious as its predecessor, and still offers huge environments swarming with tons of enemies, but the graphics sure make one hell of a difference. Grass, trees, water, and buildings, and the sky look more realistic than ever, and the video options menu allows you to adjust everything, from raising the anisotropic filtering to 128 to adjusting your refresh rate of the monitor, you will find every graphic option there without even leaving the game. And did I mention that the models improved much? That's right, those low-polygon enemies had some major makeover. Sam also looks way better than he did before.

The soundtrack is pretty sweet too, suites the FPS genre and the particular setting in the game perfectly, the music changes into a faster tempo when Sam faces any baddies and gradually gets softer when they are gone. The music is a mix of techno and the Aztec drumbeat, just like the first one was the mix of techno and the Egyptian music.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the singleplayer, especially the part where you get to the Jaguar Valley - an open ended valley, probably the biggest environment in any FPS on the market, it's area seems even bigger than any level in Halo. There you will really get a feel of the freedom that Serious Sam 2 offers. I did not see any slow-downs or lag throughout the whole demo in single player while it was set to quality; my average framerate was 60fps - very nice. I have a P4 1.4 GHz, 512 Megs of RAM, and a Geforce 3.

I highly recommend downloading the demo of SS: SE... It will justify buying it, believe me. The gameplay is same as the first Serious Sam or as any old-school shooter (Doom, Quake, Duke Nukem 3D, Wolfenstein 3D, etc.) Any FPS fans gotta love it!

I'm gonna say right off I have only one flaw with this game, and that's that the weapon sounds are a bit undesirable. They could just have a bit more..umph?

The reason why is that this game is WAAAAAY over-the-top. IT's supposed to be. That's what makes it so much fun. And really really funny in places. Of course, what's a really-way-over-the-top game without some really-way-over-exaggerated weapon sounds?!

I'll also tell you straight off there's a secret with a reference to Duke Nukem Forever, and I almost DIED when I finally got the joke.

People have been reviewing this game saying that it's nothing but mindless shooting. I say that's not true. While there is TONS of shooting involved, sucessfully defeating the 'waves' takes some strategy. For instance, there are these bone-horse things that gallop at you in a line. The only way to defeat them is to stand back and fire something at them (I reccommend the flamethrower on these things), so you have to choose a spot making sure you can back up without running into a wall (because you are totally [out of it] if this happens. It happened to me, and EVERYTHING just corners you).

Then there's also decisions about what to shoot first. Sometimes the game is gonna be throwing HUGE waves at you. You're gonna have to decide who's gonna come down first. If you take out the horsey thingies and the bigger, tougher monsters are too close, you're gonna die. If you take out the bigger, tougher monsters and the horsey thingies are too close, if you don't have space to start backing up, you're gonna die. Personally I think playing this game more easily and not dying is all in having a good shooting strategy.

And then, this game isn't all shooting. There are a few interesting puzzles. And when one of those pills appear, you already start snickering and save before picking it up, cause you know something extremely bizarre is about to happen.

And then: This game is FUNNY. Get that in your mind. FUNNY, FUNNY, FUNNY. IF you don't think it's funny, go stand in a field while the headless dudes with bombs on their hands run towards you yelling "Aaaaaarrgghhh!!!" without laughing. Then, even fighting the waves is pretty funny for a while. It's like, "Oh my god! What the [heck] were these game developers thinking??!!? AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHRRGGHGHHHH!!!1"

This game also has plenty of secrets. For example, one of them spawns a *BLEEEP! Censored! Otherwise the secret will [stink] and you will scream "I WANT REFUND".* which is really funny.

Then, the levels are truly amazing. They're huge. You don't think huge? THINK BIG. Like, really big. Without fog. Buildings all over. Like, so big it takes you 20 minutes to walk around one area. Just ONE. Weapons and monsters all over the place!

And not once does it lag.

If you think this game is mindless shooting, think again. Get Serious Sam for the serious fun and lose some sleep.

..Serious Sam is far superior. It plays well on any decent machine, it is correctly priced and the graphics are outstanding. It is amazing how the game engine allows you to walk into the background scenery, like near the end where you have to walk towards a cathedral in the distance. It is barely visible when you start the level but you do walk right up to it! The detailed textures in the levels' buildings are amazing.

And of course there are gobs of monsters to shoot down... I love using the new sniper rifle and flamethrower weapons.

I have played some more expensive games that were nowhere near as good as Serious Sam. I can't wait for the conclusion, and that is my only gripe, the single player game was too short.

This is one of my favorite games, period. It's one of those games you gladly show off to friends and encourage them to buy.

Single-player mode is really nice. The graphics, combined with the music, create an excellent environment for mayhem. Serious Sam can be said to be a parody of First Person Shooters--and a damn good one at that. Many weapons with huge numbers of enemies, which screams for multiplayer action.

And this is where, I think, Serious Sam is head-and-shoulders above the competition: Cooperative Play. It's the single-player mode but networked so you can play over the Internet or LAN. And it is awesome! I never thought FPS's could be this fun until I played Serious Sam coop with 3 of my best friends. [Hey, watch where you shoot that rocket launcher! If you do that again, I'll kill you with my cannon!] Co-op is -so- good that more people play Co-op online than Deathmatch. Internet play is surprisingly good on my 56K modem, no less.

Deathmatch is good as well, especially now that Croteam put a total of 8 DM maps into SS: TSE. And they are high quality. I highly recommend you download a few user-created ones from seriouszone.com, though.

... The replay value is huge. This game is over a year old now, but its fandom just keeps growing.

Personally, I think GTA3 and Unreal Tournament 2003 are boring games. Serious Sam: The Second Encounter is the game I keep returning to. It's crazy fun (and funny).

Reviewer does not have his information correct.

Serious Sam 1 and 2, by Croteam, does NOT use the Quake 3 Engine. Serious Sam (1) was originally merely a tech demo for a graphical engine, now known as the "Serious Engine". The game was later built around this engine, when the engine proved to be so popular and impressive. Serious Sam 2 uses a modified/extended version of this engine.

Wow, just finished playing the game and it was extremely engrossing, you absolutely didn't want to stop playing the game till it was finished and then you get the promise of one more Serious Sam game to look forward to. Impressive graphics and excellent gameplay make this one of the best all around fps shooters out right now. One of the most overwhelming features of this game is the incredibly huge number of enemies you face at one time during the game. At one point, in the the last few levels, there is an area called the "corridor of death" where you face probably 500 or more enemies at one time. Unfortunately, this is also the downside of the game as well. Because of the sheer number of enemies you face throughout the game, it makes an invulnerability cheat code almost mandatory or even the best players won't make it very far into the game.

One thing about this game is that you need a very fast computer to play.

Anyway, When you first start the game, it starts the same way as the demo version. You run up to the temple battling several monsters along the way. Several things change once you get in the temple.

When you first go in, you think that it will be easy because you mastered the demo. YOU ARE DEAD WRONG. Everything is different and turned around and several new weapons appear before you think they should.

You must play the full version to get the real feel of the game because the demo left you hanging.

I've played alot of video games but I can say straight off that this has been one of the best I have ever played.
Why do I say that?
Well the great graphics,sound,gameplay,intense immersion and challenge aside,this is one of the few games I own that I keep coming back to play again....and AGAIN!
Both of the incarnations of Serious Sam(1 & 2)are on the same high quality scale of the first person shooter genre and rate very high marks indeed.
Croteam the creators of the Serious Sam phenom were to release a third and final game to end the series but to date this unfortunately has not come to pass.
But I'll continue to keep my fingers crossed and on the trigger ready and waiting for that day when Mental and his minions challenge us once again to a battle to the death.
A game no true gamer should be without in his collection.

I've played a lot of first person shooters, and quite a few platform games (like tomb raider), and I find that this game takes great qualities from them both.

For FPS fans, the gameplay is fierce. Tons of weapons, lots of ammo, and billions of enemies streaming at you from all sides. However, a bit of stealth and your sniper rifle will improve your chances of surviving a walk into the open.

The environments are huge, with great detail. No, not up to the 2004 releases like Doom3 or HalfLife2, but the textures are very detailed. While the textures are a bit repetitive, this allows for very fast gameplay. Your computer won't have any trouble drawing a vast valley with four massive pyramids and with dozens of enemies (some three times your size). The view distance is amazing, with only the detailed grass having an obvious draw distance (a very nice touch that allows you to feel completely surrounded by grass without having to draw all those polygons throughout the map).

The first world you navigate through is "Mayan". I actually work in Mexico and can tell you that the textures used for those maps are amazingly authentic. Some are actual photographs of famous Maya murals that make wonderful wall textures, making you feel like you're in a Maya palace.

Finally, the little puzzles and secrets that are found throughout the game give it a kind of "platform adventure" feel to it. This may be annoying to FPS fanatics who only want to walk down corridors and shoot whatever pops up. Serious Sam Second Encounter gives you all the action, with the added desire to explore every nook and cranny of the huge maps. The puzzles are not tricky, generally fun and sometimes skill-building.

I highly recommend this for some FPS fun on the lighter side of Doom3.