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| Serious
Sam: The Second Encounter |
Reviewed
by Evan 'DarkFriend' Lesser |
Developer:
Croteam
Publisher: Gathering
of Developers
Release Date: February 5, 2002
Pre-Release Info
 Serious
Sam: The Second Encounter is the follow-up release to the wildly popular Serious
Sam that was released March of 2001. The Second Encounter features "more
of the same," following the successful recipe developed for the first Serious
Sam game. Take a lot of heart-stopping action, a stunning graphics engine,
and a pinch of humor, and you've got yourself another winner. Best of all,
the game costs under $20, which makes it affordable for the young'uns on allowances,
the destitute, and guys whose wives can't approve of spending $50 on a computer
game.
Croteam
Croteam is a Croatian PC game developer based in Zagreb, Croatia. Croteam
was initially started as a "garage game development" in 1993.
From there, it has been continually involved in game development. In period
1993-1995, Croteam developed three games for different game platforms: Football
Glory (PC, Amiga), 5-A-Side Soccer (Amiga) and Save The Earth (Amiga 4000). With
the release of Football Glory, Croteam has made a strong presence in the European
market (mainly UK and Germany) and Croteam products were received well.
Since 1995, Croteam works exclusively for the PC platform. Serious Sam:
The Second Encounter is the developer's newest release.
First Impressions
Having played the first Serious Sam game, and following the development of The
Second Encounter closely, I pretty much knew what was in store for me when I first
booted up this game. While waiting for the game to install, I fondly remembered
the long afternoons of mid-2001 I spent mowing down hoards of Kleer Skeletons
and dodging angry Werebulls. The first Serious Sam gave first-person-shooter
fans a big shot of adrenaline that has been missing from the genre since Doom2.
Serious Sam: The Second Encounter promised "more of the same" which
in my mind would be a good thing. Starting up the game, I first noticed
how the graphics engine had some obvious improvements. Thick grass and vegetation
stretched for miles and quickly proved to be both a blessing and burden when fighting
my way to a distant temple. Aside from being beautiful to look at, The Second
Encounter immediately started throwing lots of baddies in your path, basically
picking up right where we left Sam in the first game. Excited about what
was to come, my first impressions were as promising as expected.
Storyline
Storyline? What storyline? If you play Serious Sam looking for a rich
tale to be told, you are going to be disappointed. In a nutshell, the ultra-evil
Mental is up to his ole tricks of trying to dominate Earth and the human race,
yadda, yadda, yadda.. You go back in time, shoot, kill, run, etc..
If you are looking for a story to be told, re-install Half Life, Battlezone, or
some other game. If you want to shoot stuff, and don't care about a real
plot, Serious Sam is your game.
Gameplay
As expected, gameplay in The Second Encounter is fast and furious. In general,
you find yourself fighting in one of three areas: 1) indoors, in close-quarters;
2) indoors, in a medium or large-sized room; or 3) outdoors, in a large area.
Croteam mixes up the three areas above to keep things interesting. The proper
choice of weapons is imperative, as something that is great for destroying enemies
in a huge outdoor arena, is useless in a tight indoor maze.
Like the first Serious Sam, the game engine allows for 50-100 enemies on screen
at any given time. What enemies lack in strength and intelligence, they
make up for in sheer quantity. In Serious Sam, you are probably better off
facing one towering, lava-spewing demon from hell, than 50 Beheaded Kamakazis
all advancing on your position. The large number of enemies to battle is
what makes Serious Sam entertaining, and its a tactic used by the game's developers
throughout The Second Encounter.
Simply put - gameplay is fun, but not easy. Using the normal difficulty,
there were a number of times that I spent over an hour on one area, and often
recalled saved games. Health and ammo are plentiful, but winning Serious
Sam is all about technique. Even if you are an skilled player, my bet is
that you'll eventually find yourself searching the net for cheat codes.
Some fight scenarios are almost ridiculous in the difficulty presented to the
player. Difficult games can be challenging - overly difficult games can
be annoying. Serious Sam: The Second Encounter skates this line often in
the second half of the game.
To dispatch the incoming hoards, The Second Encounter provides players with three
new weapons. The chainsaw recalls the Doom series, but is much more useful.
With a long blade, it is easy to shred Gnars before they even have a chance to
take a swipe at you. Plus, its a blast to use. The sniper rifle is
extremely effective at taking out more powerful enemies from a distance.
In most cases 3-4 shots can fell any monster waiting for you to come into their
attack range. Lastly, the flamethrower is perfect for crowd control, and
sets everything you point it at on fire. If crispy critters are the only
way you like your monsters, the flamethrower is sure to please. All of these
weapons both sound good, and look good.
 Both sound and graphics are top notch, and the gameplay stays speedy, even with
a screen full of baddies. Level design is good, and the sheer expanse of some of the outdoor areas never
ceases to amaze me. Lots of secret areas are placed in each level, and leaves
the player running around searching for all of them before a level is complete.
The variation of day and night levels, along with a nice mix of areas (i.e., jungle,
snowy village, underwater maze) keeps thing interesting, and is nice to see.
The multiplayer games are fun, but don't compare to games like Unreal Tournament
and Quake 3 Arena in terms of quality. Decent net code, a usable in-game
browser, and cooperative play make multiplayer worth a try.
Bottom Line
All in all, gameplay in Serious Sam: The Second Encounter is fun and entertaining.
One can almost regard playing Serious Sam as more of a stress release like chopping
wood or kickboxing than merely playing a game. I find myself booting up
the game to play for 30 minutes at a time, and then stopping for a few hours,
rather than spending an entire afternoon engrossed in the game like one might
be for a slower-paced shooter. There is definitely a place for Serious Sam
in any gamers collection. And at $20 or less, we've finally got a game that
is priced somewhat appropriately for what you get. In fact, Serious Sam
is probably worth more than $20. No doubt, this game will remain on my hard
drive for a long while - or until the Third Encounter comes out.
Pros:
- Huge levels and varied game settings.
- Stunning graphics, decent animation, and nicely done sound.
- Entertaining gameplay.
- Fast and furious action a nice departure.
- No story.
Cons:
- Gets almost too difficult at times.
- The novelty of the game wears off towards the end.
- No story.
Overall:
| Graphics: |
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| Storyline: |
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| Gameplay: |
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| Sound: |
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| Value: |
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| Total: |
7.4 |
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