"Killing me softly..."

After finishing off Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, I was itching for some good old-fashioned shoot-em up style gameplay. When I asked around, the game Serious Sam: Next Encounter kept popping up. After some searching, I uncovered a single copy at my local Gamestop for twenty dollars. I wanted nothing more than some fun, easy, and enjoyable gaming experience. Serious Sam provided satisfaction for all my wants, but there are a few faults that take away from the game’s overall appeal.

With a game like Serious Sam, we can’t expect much of an epic storyline. There is enough background information provided for you to be able understand Sam, his adventure, and his goals. In the beginning of the 21st century, humanity discovered the remains of an ancient race called the Sirians. The discovery of this ancient race was brought to the attention of an evil entity called Mental. Mental has sent his hordes of evil forces back in time to uncover the mysteries of the Sirian race. Seeing this as a threat to the past, present, and future of humanity, the United States military has commissioned a single man to travel back in time and stop Mental’s interference. Sam “Serious” Stone must travel back in time to the era of the Roman Empire. He must stop Mental’s forces from wiping out the history of the human existence. I have one problem with this, though. An evil entity has sent thousands of minions into the past, and we’re sending only one man to stop all of them. It doesn’t make much sense, but at least we’re given something resembling a background story.

While this may not be the deepest game plot conceived, it makes up for the personality and appeal of its hero. Serious Sam is essentially a big, strong, beer-swilling soldier that enjoys wreaking havoc on his enemies. He does his best work when he’s wearing nothing but a t-shirt and some jeans. He occasionally interjects with his own unique observations of his surroundings. His intelligence is clearly shown through statements like: “Hey! A jumping puzzle! Would you look at that? I love jumping puzzles!” Our hero is not exactly Solid Snake, but his easygoing approach to the battlefield makes him a likeable and memorable character.

Sam is being sent back in time to the Roman Empire. Waiting for him are legions of Mental’s foot soldiers. With such odds stacked against him, we can safely assume that Sam’s primary objective is to stay hidden and avoid enemy contact at all times. Of course, Sam likes doing things his way. Defying all logic, our favorite hero doesn’t abide by stealth rules. Instead, he finds the strongest weapon he can get his hands on and charges headlong into battle. Fortunately, Sam’s powerful weapons even the odds enough to ensure his survival. Sam has a wide assortment of a chainsaw, missiles, semiautomatic guns, napalm, and other firearms to see him through the battle. Sam can even drive his trusty Hummer through a swarm of evil minions. Also, most of these weapons have secondary weapon abilities. Some guns can fire ricocheting bullets. Others can fire homing missiles. You can even toggle between napalm and liquid nitrogen spreaders in think of battle. With such a varied selection of weaponry to choose from, you’ll have plenty of fun decimating your opposition.

Even though Sam has vast selection of weapons to choose from, he is still faced with thousands of enemies. This game has a basic linear setup. Sam walks into a wide and open area. His entryway closes shut behind him. Suddenly, swarms of enemies appear out of nowhere. Sam is faced with everything from headless kamikaze soldiers to sword wielding monkey ninjas. The issue here isn’t the varying types of enemies. What makes these battles intense is the sheer number of enemies at a given moment. Sam is often thrust into the center of a battlefield with enemies coming from every direction at once. You may be facing hundreds of a single type of enemy. Since the battles operate on real time, you need to be constantly aware of Sam’s surroundings. If you don’t go into a battle with your eyes open for trouble, you’ll likely be overwhelmed. Once you have taken out every enemy in the area, the door to the next area unlocks and Sam is allowed to stop though. Thus the process of entering, killing, and leaving begins anew.

Also, you are graded on your various killing sprees. You can rack up points by killing numerous enemies in a timely fashion. Once you’ve killed a certain amount of enemies, Sam will bellow, “Yeehaw,” and go into a heightened frenzy of violence. While in this super mode, Sam can move faster and annihilate enemies with efficiency. Also, your point bonus is doubled. Once Sam has snapped out of his stupor, your bonus points will be tallied and added to your overall points. At the end of the level, your points are converted into award medals. If you gain enough points, you’ll be award a gold medal. The gold medals can be used to unlock new features of the game. In order for you to unlock everything in this game, you need to perfect the art of killing and earn the highest scores.

While the majority of the game revolves around the massive battle sequences, there are a few puzzles strewn about the various levels. Sam must find a key or an item to open up the next area. Sam may have to jump over pits of fiery lava. The puzzles are by no means challenging or interrupt the flow of the game. These little puzzles are meant to break of the monotony of the countless killing sprees.

Controlling Serious Sam can prove to be a hassle for a beginner. It takes a bit of practice before you can move Sam effectively. After a few battles, the controls will become natural to you. You need to learn to use the controller’s Control Stick and C-Stick at the same time if you intend to get anywhere. While we aren’t given complete freedom over our control options, we can still select how we want the stick to affect our ability to turn and aim. Also, the game designers decided to completely ignore the huge A button on the Gamecube controller. While the A button would have made shooting much easier, we have to rely on the shoulder button to dish out the destruction.

Since Sam is being sent back to the days of the Roman Empire, we can expect massive buildings, cement columns and beautiful European landscape. For some reason, our trip through time has resulted in a lack of decent graphics. None of the surfaces have unique texture graphics. The massive battlegrounds seem nothing more than large cardboard cutouts. The graphics of the enemies seem to be just a tad blocky. The only redeeming graphical quality lies with the lighting effects. You can see the sunlight reflect off Sam’s guns. You can see the bright flashes of missiles destroying your enemy. Overall, the graphics were disappointing considering the Gamecube’s graphical abilities.

Fortunately, the sound is done with excellent detail. Sam has a deep, macho voice that blends well with his personality. The music matches well with the fast-paced gameplay. When Sam goes into his super mode, the music will transform into a loud heavy metal guitar solo. You can hear the rapid fire of your semiautomatics and the boom of missile explosions. The best part of the sound effects comes with the enemies. You can hear the individual battle cries of the kamikaze soldiers. When a kamikaze soldier charges at you, you can hear him bellowing from halfway down the battlefield. As he gets closer, the roar will get louder. If you let the soldier live, the battle cry will end up as an irritating distraction. Instead of striking fear and confusion into you, the kamikaze soldiers will just give you a headache. The fact that the battle cry has that much of an effect on the gamer presents the quality of the game’s sound effects.

Serious Sam: Next Encounter has such a simple setup. But the overall difficulty, chaotic battles, and likeable characters make this game something to consider. There may not be much strategy when it comes to shooting everything that moves. But there is still plenty of opportunity to perfect your shooting style and unlock everything this game has to offer. If you’re looking for a cheap, fun and addictive first person shooter, give Serious Sam a chance.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/29/04