![]() Though the shades wearing hero has a craving for destruction as deep as his gravelly voice, he often shows surprising intelligence and sensitivity, which often works not only for comic effect but also to give the narrative real heart beneath the bombast. When his compatriots were talking about the Da Vinci Code and asked his opinion on the famous book, Sam replied “No literary merit” I genuinely laughed out loud. Not having played a Serious Sam game before, I didn’t know what to expect from the gruff-looking protagonist. Serious Sam 4 starts Sam off in the middle of Rome, travelling with a convoy of hoo-rah military stereotypes, trying to fight through hordes of alien invaders and help to liberate Earth from the extraterrestrial yoke. The Serious Sam series is known for a less than entirely serious take on the FPS genre, showing an affinity for classic genre staples of wanton destruction seasoned with a goofily fun narrative. ![]() There’s plenty of room for old school style FPS games in an ocean of looter shooters and games-as-a-service titles.Serious Sam 4 Review: Serious Sam is a Serial SlaughtererĪre you tired of carefully preserving ammo, cowering behind cover and taking measured shots? Serious Sam is back to save the day as he runs around like an Olympic sprinter, throwing highly explosive C4 around like rice at a wedding. Serious Sam 4 doesn’t wildly reinvent the formula and really, it doesn’t need to. It’s a simple review for a simple game, folks. It can be touch and go, but the engine holds up fairly well regardless of what’s happening. On PC, I also had two crashes - though they were relatively painless since the game auto-saves often. ![]() At points, Serious Sam 4 can’t handle the overload of enemies, resulting in some braindead AI just sitting there while you blast them. That minimalism sometimes comes at a cost though. It’s neat, as you can even outrun it: it’s that minimalistic. If you’re ever confused on where to go (which should be rare, given the linear nature of a lot of stages) you can trigger a small optional breadcrumb trail with a button press. The RPG elements also don’t get in the way, as there’s a small skill tree with upgrades like “enemies drop items now,” “deal more damage at lower health” or “dual wield heavy weapons.” There’s some groundwork here for “builds” but for the most part, you just shoot stuff. Weapons are very responsive, and Croteam does a decent job of allowing the friendly AI to participate so it feels like there’s actually a conflict. You blow shit up, then do it again.īut blowing everything up does feel good. You can aim down your sights with the right mouse button (a returning mechanic from 2011’s Serious Sam 3), fire with your left, and bring up the gigantic weapon wheel with middle-click. This is a tried and true FPS, as all you’ll need is a scant few buttons and your trigger finger. “Reasonable” is a pretty apt way to describe this game, actually, as Serious Sam 4 has little interest in breaking the mold. There’s also a Serious Editor tool coming “within a month or two” as well as “additional multiplayer modes.” Simple enough. All of this madness happens across a 16-mission campaign, with concessions for co-op play. As a whole, it feels like a reasonable mix of openness and guidance. In fact, the scale is a tad smaller than I expected. Not every level follows the “hundreds of enemies on-screen” shtick. If you’re invested in this series, just know that Serious 4, like Serious 3, is also a prequel - so you aren’t getting too many juicy details you didn’t already know. It doesn’t take itself too seriously (ha), but there are elements of grit and plenty of cheese involved. The tone of Serious Sam is somewhere between the Earth Defense Force series and an American action romp like Independence Day. And the fourth iteration kind of keeps rolling with that gimmick, pitting you against screens of enemies at once, with a ridiculous Euro-trip story to boot. The titular Sam is leading the charge against a massive collective of intergalactic Mental forces in the swift intro mission, literally fighting an army of troops: a franchise staple. Serious Sam 4 does what the series has always done: it goes big and casts a wide net. Serious Sam 4 (PC, PS4, Stadia Xbox One) They aren’t ready to let go of Sam just yet, though. Since then Croteam has broken away from their reputation as “the Serious Sam studio” a bit, having given us the universally acclaimed Talos Principle. ![]() I still can’t believe that the original Serious Sam came out nearly 20 years ago. ![]()
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