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Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter Review for Xbox 360

Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter Review for Xbox 360

Seriously Dated

Serious Sam may have never reached the same heights of popularity as some of the other first-person shooter heroes, but there are still plenty of gamers out there with fond memories of the hero and his fast-paced, deliberately straightforward games. Earlier this year, a HD remake of Serious Sam: The First Encounter made its way onto Xbox Live, and an HD update of the second game hit PCs this summer. Now, Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter has launched for Xbox Live Arcade. So is it worth your time?

Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter screenshot

The answer will really depend on how much nostalgia you have for the early days of first-person shooters. The genre has changed immensely since the early days, with more engaging stories, cinematic moments, careful weapon balancing, and more. Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter has none of these things. It’s a straight-up run-and-gun fragfest with little in the way of depth, plot, or variety. You shoot hordes of enemies, endure a little bit of dreaded first-person platforming, and that’s really about it.

That’s not intended as an insult – the Serious Sam games have always been designed to be old-school, with the focus much more on gunplay than story or problem-solving. That’s not to say these qualities are completely absent from The Second Encounter. There’s a story, although it’s primarily told through menu screen text. There are puzzles, but they mostly involve searching for hidden rooms. Sam himself does have a personality, but it’s limited to a few short one-liners – some of which break the fourth wall and poke fun at other game characters or gaming in general.

What you’re then left with is the opportunity to run through expansive levels and blow away everything that moves with a huge arsenal of (often ridiculous) weapons. You’ll seldom go more than a few seconds without an enemy attacking you, often from behind or above. If you don’t stay on your toes, you won’t last long. Fortunately, you’ll amass a ridiculously large selection of weapons quickly – so many that it can be tricky to find the gun you’re looking for in your arsenal. There’s a quick-save feature mapped to the Y button, something you’ll want to remember when you get past a difficult section. There are no checkpoints to be found in The Second Encounter, so forget about that quick save button, and you’ll soon regret it.

Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter screenshot

In some modes, The Second Encounter’s basic gameplay works, and in others it really doesn’t. The core campaign mode is usually my favorite part of a shooter. Here, it’s my least favorite. Moving from point A to B through a large, sparsely populated map with the trigger constantly depressed is just not what I’m used to anymore. Today, the best shooters have highs and lows. They feel like a roller-coaster. There’s no drama to The Second Encounter, no variety or surprise. I love shooting enemies as much as the next guy, but a little diversity would be nice.

However, you could probably say the same thing about any classic FPS, so I don’t want to judge The Second Encounter too harshly for staying true to its original (severely dated) design. Fortunately, while the campaign did bore me to tears, there are plenty of other gameplay options in Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter, the best of which is Survival Mode.

Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter screenshot

Just as the name suggests, Survival Mode tasks you to stay alive as long as possible. Each of the Survival Mode maps has its own twist, but all through seemingly endless waves of enemies come at you from all corners. The reason that this mode worked so well for me is that it plays to the game’s strength – fast and furious action that keeps you running and gunning at all times. They literally don’t make them like this anymore – the action is so frantic that staying alive for more than a minute is a real challenge, even on the default difficulty. Each of the stages has a series of medals to earn for surviving a particular length of time, and most only require you to stay alive for a minute and a half to earn a bronze medal. It’s much more difficult than it sounds.

Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter screenshot

Along with Survival Mode, there is also a standard deathmatch mode and some unique competitive modes like Beast Hunt, which requires you to earn a certain number of points by killing enemies before you can attack the other players. At launch, the competitive gametypes seem pretty sparsely populated – as with the campaign, the deathmatch mode feels simplistic compared to the current crop of shooters. Fortunately, there are also co-op versions of the campaign and Survival modes, which truly change the dynamic of each. While co-op certainly improved the dull campaign mode by making things move along at an even faster clip, co-op survival mode is easily the standout game type in the package for me.

No matter which game mode you choose, you’re not going to be getting a stunning visual experience. Despite the “HD” in the title, The Second Encounter still looks worse than most other downloadable games out there. The color palate is limited, the characters are blocky and simple, and the textures fail to impress. Fortunately, the enemies of The Second Encounter are as zany and unique as they always were. Screaming headless suicide bombers, bone-throwing horned skeletons and giant rocket launcher-toting mechs definitely give the game its own distinct feel, that’s for sure.

Your enjoyment of Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter will largely depend on how much nostalgia matters to you. I played the original Serious Sam games back in the day, but looking backwards has never held much appeal for me. I’d rather see what’s next than revisit what came before, especially where early 3D games are concerned. But if you like looking back at gaming’s history, as many gamers do, then there’s plenty of reason to check out The Second Encounter. It’s packed with tons of gameplay options and has the same quirky sense of humor about itself that it always did. But if you pick up Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter and expect that the “HD” means it won’t show its age, then you’re likely to be disappointed.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 2.6 Graphics
The updated visuals look better than the original version, but still quite ugly by today’s standards for downloadable games. 3.3 Control
The controls never get in the way of the fast-paced action, but the available button layouts could be a little stronger. 2.8 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Sam’s voice work is funny, but the music and sound effects are mostly forgettable. 3.5 Play Value
With multiple game modes, there’s plenty of content here to keep old-school gamers busy for hours on end. 3.0 Overall Rating – Fair
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

  • Unique enemies and bosses: Fight with twenty-seven nightmarish warriors in Mental’s army, including old favorites from The First Encounter like Beheaded Kamikaze, Syrian Werebull, and Kleer Skeleton. Go head-to-head against five new enemies and three new bosses.
  • Special weapons and power-ups: Wreak havoc with a huge arsenal of weapons including three new toys, the Sniper Rifle, Flamethrower and Chainsaw. Use power-ups to additionally increase your fighting and agility skills.
  • Various environments and secrets: Unleash mayhem on three different spectacular worlds, South America, ancient Mesopotamia, and medieval Europe. Discover over 130 secrets including over fifteen brand new ones hidden in the fray.
  • Multiple game modes: Play co-op with up to eight players in campaign cooperative mode or the new Co-Op Survival mode, try eight classic and brand-new Deathmatch maps, stay alive as long as you can in specially designed Survival maps, fight against your friends in more Versus modes including Beast Hunt and My Burden, or compete against other teams in team matches including Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and Last Team Standing.

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