Serious Sam 2 Impressions

Croatian developer Croteam made a splash with its fast-paced action game Serious Sam. A throwback to classic games like Doom, Serious Sam featured little plot but tons of exciting, over-the-top first-person action. Now Croteam is busy working on Serious Sam 2, the sequel to Serious Sam. Of course, Croteam has already made a follow-up to the first Serious Sam game, called Serious Sam: The Second Encounter. But Second Encounter was a quick follow-up, recycling much of the technology used in the original game. Serious Sam 2, on the other hand, will be a true next-generation sequel.

Croteam is building a state-of-the-art graphics engine to support Serious Sam 2. Using all the latest hardware features used in Microsoft's DirectX 9 protocol, the game will feature cutting-edge graphics with advanced lighting and texture effects. The results thus far are impressive. For instance, part of the demonstration involved a close-up view of a huge, green-skinned alien dressed up as, of all things, a football player. This towering monster's bulging muscles were accentuated by spiked shoulder pads and glistening green skin. And the new environments shown in the demonstration were much more organic in appearance, including trees and plants dotting the landscape.

In addition to the new graphics engine, lead designer and programmer Davor Hunski told us that Serious Sam 2 will also have drivable vehicles, as well as a powerful physics and particle engine. Though the developers are using advanced DirectX 9 features, Hunski told us that they're also keeping in mind that they're going to support multiple platforms, including the Xbox console. So, the game's technology will be able to scale down to work for those platforms.

Hunski also told us that the developer will keep the spirit of the original game. Serious Sam was, and is, all about simplicity and adrenaline. The developers have listened to feedback from their fans, and one of the things they learned was that they needed to include more variety in the game. Serious Sam featured a single setting, the Egyptian Pyramids, which seemed a bit monotonous. Hunski did say that the team has expanded on the arcade style of Serious Sam and, most importantly, has concentrated on keeping it fun.

Croteam was just showing video footage as a technology demo rather than in playable form. However, according to Hunski, the team hopes to get the game finished by year's end.