An enjoyable shooter that will offer some serious mindless fun despite some repetitiveness and dated visuals.
(-) decidedly dated visuals / gets repetitive very often / no depth to speak of / awful vehicle handling / tacked on platforming sections are no fun
Serious Sam the Next Encounter knows exactly what it is, an old school shooting game that throws depth on the wayside in favor for cramming the most action for your moment. Its grip on this approach is firmly established, and it accomplishes everything it sets itself to. It also happens to be a unique combination between a modern shooter and a edgy cartoon, having the seriousness set aside (irony, much?) for a silly, tricked out shootout against an immeasurable range of mutants and aliens. It certainly has its problems, like the guaranteed monotony that will set in on occasions, as well as its decidedly dated graphics, but Serious Sam the Next Encounter is still a good time.
The story isn't much to write home about, just a convenient excuse for our alpha-male protagonist to travel back in time in different locations answering to different breeds of monsters, even if the last scenario was crazier than the last and showed no coherence in between. Sam is looking to stop Mental (not the best choice for a name of a villain, but considering the nature of the game, it's all good) who's plotting to cause destruction in the past and change history to achieve world domination in the future. The tale is actually a little to extreme for its own good, and some readable text between levels isn't exactly the most interesting story telling device either. Sam himself is a likable character though, even if he doesn't make his presence known very well except for some occasional voice quips and thankfully scare cut-scenes.
Serious Sam is a one-trick pony. Each levels involve you briefly wondering through the levels, then a cluster of enemies will mascaraed toward you to try and destroy you. There's virtually limitless types of enemies you'll see throughout the game, from flying and walking monster eye-balls, rabid buffalo, energy shooting ogres, Parana, the infamous suicide bombers, and a lot more, which they all behave differently. For instance, many of them are just stupid and blindly run toward you with the only intention in mind is to get shot, but ogres stay back in the distance and snipe from afar. Buffalo are very dangerous, which take a fair number of bullets to take down and run really quick, and one collision could spell out a massive bit of damage. But as many types of enemies as there are, you're doing the same thing at each level; fighting enemies, getting a check-point, then fighting more enemies, then repeat process until you complete the level. There's very little time for you to experience, well, something else.
It may be for the best though, because the one significant exception is the chance to use the Serious Jeep, which is useful because it cannot take damage from foes and is equipped with a useful turret, but the controls and handling aren't right. You accelerate with one analog stick and steer with the other, and the movement is so insanely unresponsive that using it is just a chore. Luckily, you're never required to use it for any situation. It's a shame the same can't be said about some intrusive platforming sections that scribble their unwelcome way into the game. There's a jumping puzzle with revolving tubes and moving blocks over molten lava in one level, and Sam even makes a joke about it when he sarcastically snorts "Hey! I love jumping puzzles!" But the controls don't mesh will with precise movement, so it'll take you a few frustrating tries. Even worse later in the game are floorboards that only ones coded with a certain image are able to be walked on, while the others are transparent and will drop you into an empty room. You'll be forced to make guesswork for ten minutes or longer just to make your way across, it feels like it was just forced into the game for some form of joke, but nobody's laughing. Serious Sam really needs to make up its mind on whether it wants to be a mindless shooter or a jack of all trades, preferably the shooter.
The game tries to make up for its severe lack of death by the variety of enemies as well as giving you access to different weaponry as you play. Dual hand-guns are great for quick killing, you also have a chain-saw which is of little use except for the stupid enemies that run up to you as if they want to give you a hug or something, a flamethrower, a massive sub-machine gun which can net you insane combos with skill, and toward the end of the game an unbelievable plasma ray. Experimenting with these guns can keep the game fresh, thinking of new ways to rip through your foes.
But you'll need to think quick, because the enemies just never stop. Sometimes they'll be literally tossed from the sky to the level, and other times they'll come at each side and box you in. Dealing with them will require lots of blunt force, which means there's never a dull moment. You're constantly shooting, but that fails to elevate the issue of the repetitiveness. Serious Sam is unapologetic-ly doomed to only short gameplay spurts at a time, as you'll quickly become bored. What difficulty setting you choose could influence how long you actually play though, as the difference between settings is staggering. Normal difficulty will give you an insane challenge, summoning loads of enemies with insurmountable skill which while frustrating to deal with, will push your gaming skills and in return be the most satisfying. The easy difficulty is great if you just want to complete the game, but much of the thrill in putting yourself in danger is all but lost.
Graphically, Serious Sam is a technical disaster. While there are varying type of environments, from a sandy dessert, icy peak, ancient ruins, forest, an astounding variety, Sam's world has a shockingly low polygon count and it's just not appealing to look at. The enemies, while charmingly goofy, aren't much better. It allows the game to handle the hoards of enemies that plot your doom with only occasional slow down, which is nice, but any quality visuals has been lost in the feat. But looking at the game in an artistic perspective, some may appreciate the different cartoony art style and enjoy the game because of it. Like they always say, beauty is merely in the eye of the beholder. The audio doesn't play much part in the game. Sam's few voice clips can generate a few guilty chuckles, but the music is unnoticeable at best, and some of the sound effects from the enemies can be grating, especially the obnoxious scream with the guys strapped to the bomb running toward you, a constant ear-wrenching sound you'll be hearing throughout the experience.
Like most shooters nowadays, Serious Sam has an online component as well as some split-screen multiplayer, which is a decent distraction but the real heart of the game is contained in its 41 level single player campaign, which will last a broad twenty hours or more. Serious Sam will more than satisfy anyone's taste for quick action without all the runaround, although it should only be turned to for brief sessions because it set itself up decisively in the wake of repetitiveness. In the end, Serious Sam the Next Encounter is an enjoyable shooter that will offer some serious mindless fun despite some repetitiveness and dated visuals.