Serious fun?
In the history of FPS games, there’s only really been one game that had it’s tongue firmly in its cheek when it game to the game itself and that was Duke Nukem. Anyone who’s played that will happily remember handing strippers cash for a quick bit of pole dancing and of course there were Duke’s one liners dropped in to keep the smiles coming. The original Serious Sam made efforts in the same direction and while they weren’t unwelcome Sam’s one-liners did feel like more of a Duke Nukem ‘homage’ than an effort to stand on its own merit. All that has changed with Serious Sam 2 as there’s humour here by the bucket load and it’s all good stuff.
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Click for larger imageThe basic gameplay has remained pretty much untouched. You pick up a weapon, grab some ammo and top up your health and armour before heading off to blast your way through as many bad guys as it takes until you get to the end of the level. Along the way you’ll get bigger and better weapons, encounter tougher and more numerous bad guys and even get some help from the local population.
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Click for larger imageAll of this sounds like fairly basic run and gun gameplay in the original vein of the first FPS games and it is, but Croteam make no effort to dress Sam up as anything other than an out and out blaster. For those of you old enough to remember Xenon 2 on the Amiga, Serious Sam 2 is the FPS version of that… loads of blasting action pulled off with style and aplomb. But that’s all it is… a blaster. There is a story of sorts, but even the developers take the mickey out of it themselves, and although the cutscenes are entertaining and well worth watching, Croteam make it quite clear that they’re well aware that any story is pretty much inconsequential to the game itself. So those of you looking for depth, character development and emotional connection, I suggest trying a few group sessions at the local self-help centre, you won’t find any of that nonsense here.
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