Poll: Serious Sam is 19 years old

[BFG10K]

So I just finished replaying 1st Encounter HD and Legend of the Beast, and am replaying 2nd Encounter HD. The remastered versions look really nice:

Spoiler

The initial release back in 2001 was known for:

• Huge draw distances and massive monster counts while running really fast.
• Primary OpenGL renderer with a custom in-house engine which was rare outside of ID Software.
• Really advanced graphics rendering including lens flares, environment mapping, and the Radeon’s tri-texturing support.

1st encounter is probably my favorite. I really liked the ancient Egypt theme.

2nd encounter was also good, though the first half of the game is way too easy while the second half has a big difficulty spike. Also the sniper rifle is really overpowered. You can basically finish the game with just the sniper rifle and the shotgun.

Legend of the Beast was also pretty good, though they should’ve allowed more weapons.

I couldn’t get into 2 at all. It just fell completely flat.

3 had promise until I realized modern day Egypt was boring. Also the weapons were horribly unbalanced to the point of the non-hitscan weapons being basically useless. I played almost the entire game using the basic assault rifle for this reason. I also didn’t like the maze indoor pyramid sections and how your movement slowed down there. Also the pillar monkeys were annoying.

Jewel of the Nile was bit better than 3 due to the sniper rifle being available, but still wasn’t that great.

 

[Zenoth]

First one for me, it's also the only one in the franchise I completed. The Egypt theme helped a lot, being a huge fan of Powerslave, I remember seeing some previews of the first Serious Sam and thinking it'd be the closest thing I could get to another FPS with a similar theme going. I have played the 2nd and 3rd games but never finished them, lost interest somewhere in the middle in both of them.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

I was never able to get into any of the SS games.

Maybe I was just playing them wrong and was too bullheaded to read a guide or walkthrough, but the games basically felt like you got dropped into a level then quickly overwhelmed by a hoards of bum-rushing enemies with basically 0 AI other than to rush you. I'd last like 5-10 minutes, die, then quit.

 

[rivethead]

I was never able to get into any of the SS games.

Maybe I was just playing them wrong and was too bullheaded to read a guide or walkthrough, but the games basically felt like you got dropped into a level then quickly overwhelmed by a hoards of bum-rushing enemies with basically 0 AI other than to rush you. I'd last like 5-10 minutes, die, then quit.

I only played the 3rd and Jewel of the Nile - and I loved them. But I definitely know what you're talking about. They definitely felt like that. Surprisingly, there actually is some strategy involved: where to engage the hoards, where to move to , and (the biggie) what weapon to use for what enemy.

 

[SAAA]

I only played the second encounter but coming from Doom like games the open spaces of Serious Sam and the silly amount of enemies at times felt very fresh, also a nice collection of weapons all more or less useful as I was spending way too much ammo to keep using one anyway.

Difficulty felt just right as you can be quickly overwhelmed even on easy if you let too many sides open while enemies keep coming.

There are some secrets and fun jokes here and there, not bad at all for replay. I'll take my time to start over from one if I ever feel the itch again.

 

[pcmax]

Wow 19 years! Great times cooping with my coworker through first and second encounters.

 

[ElFenix]

first encounter was maybe the most fun i've ever had playing a video game and definitely the only one i've ever yelled "holy _____" when some ginormous boss appeared on screen (not the last one)