"A fun game that only dissapoints a little bit."

When I first played the original Serious Sam, it took me a while to actually like it. It wasn't until I played Serious Sam: The Second Encounter that I actually started to like it, and now I think of it as one of my favorite games so in recent years. So now we come to Serious Sam 2, but is it as enjoyable as the original and its expansion?

Graphics: 8/10
Let's get this out of the way first, shall we? When it comes to graphics, I don't mind what they look like unless they are uneasy on my eyes. With this game, I did not have any problems with the graphics save for the bloom effect, but it's an optional feature that you can turn off.

Sound: 6/10
I absolutely loved the music in the original and its expansion. I was disappointed with the missing heavy metal tracks in this one, in both the levels and boss fights. In addition, most of the guns sound like toys compared to the ones in the original (instead of a ‘boom', we get a ‘pop'). The other sounds were decent, except for the power up sounds, especially the extra life sound effect.

Game play: 7/10
The first thing that you'll notice about this game is that it relies much more on comedy than the other games did. In my opinion, this only hurt the game. I found that the new enemies were far too strange looking compared to the originals. For instance, the beheaded kamikaze now has a bomb for a head that is attached to a spring. The levels are also less serious this time around, but to tell the truth I didn't like the Egyptian theme of the first very much.

The levels are actually big, but they don't even come close to those found in the first two games. The worst part is that there are invisible walls in almost every level. They aren't there all of the time, but it's enough to become annoying. In addition, you do face huge amounts of enemies, but in small waves of ten to maybe twenty-five. I found that very disappointing considering the end of the second encounter.

In the first two games, Netrisca would give us info on all of the weapons and enemies. Now she can talk, and I found it to be a downgrade. We no longer get all of that useful info on weapons and such, which was fun to glance at. Moreover, I am positive that she was much funnier in the other ones, despite people saying that she was like that before.

The weapons have gotten bigger, and they even added a few new ones. Unfortunately, the weapons in this game are unbalanced. For example, the auto-shotgun can shoot across great distances and may even be more powerful than the rocket launcher (and no, you can not rocket jump in this game). In addition, some of the weapons are useless now; in the original, you would find your self using the duel pistols, but you'll find them collecting dust here.

Re-playability: 8/10
This game is difficult, but there is not much of a difference between difficulty levels. The game itself is of a decent length (a little over three dozen levels). The secrets are, in my opinion, hard to find, so you may find your self replaying the game for that.

Overall: 7/10
This game has a decent length, fun levels, cool weapons, and epic battles. This game is the most fun if you play it without comparing it to the originals. For the $30 I paid to get this, it was definitely worth it.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/09/05