A friend took a long time attempting to convince me to try these games. I finally gave in getting the first two games with Postal 1. I can safely say this guy is much more than a Duke Nukem clone. Easily two of the craziest FPS I have ever played. Thankfully I like stuff like Doom, Quake II and a few FPS classics.
1. Serious Sam: The First Encounter (2001)
I first knew of the first two Serious Sam games in a old retro store. I was with a friend, I remember seeing both of them on the shelves. Obviously the first game's cover does remind me of several things including Duke Nukem. Trust me despite some similarities they're games are very different. Duke Nukem 3D had smaller levels that requires several key cards with a smaller set of enemies.
Serious Sam is more like give me less key items but more of everything else. Maybe even more than that there you have Serious Sam. The levels are very huge in size with a ridiculous number of enemies. It's like many classic FPS took several levels worth of enemies to put them in just one level. Imagine doing that the entire game now that's a lot of enemies.
You get to travel around ancient Egypt exploring many areas. Of course there are important key items but trust me this game will help you out. There is an information part that does explain many things. Even there the game has humor. I could do a joke right now that could pass as a Serious Sam. I would rather date a female kamikaze with huge bombs now that's going to be explosive.
Come on that was funny guys. You get a lot of great weapons that mostly meant for facing hordes of enemies. Speaking of them you know in many FPS they're intelligent for the most part. Yeah only the final boss has intelligence lol. Majority of your enemies are instinct to mindless based. This allows a greater number to over whelm any enemy in no time.
There's a great variety of enemies with oddly kamikazes being my favorite. They don't have heads running with two bombs in each hands saying aaaaahhhhh lol. Serious Sam does require for you to use your head for some puzzles. For me the biggest surprise is platforming. Usually many great shooters doesn't nail platforming well.
WOW Serious Sam nails that to me is mind blowing. There is plenty of easter eggs including finding a group of deformed developers. I do like a lot of Sam's lines. In a way he comes off more fun than Duke Nukem. Almost like how Deadpool to Deathstroke. Although Deathstroke is still the more awesome character.
The soundtrack is amazing with some of the finest sound effects I ever heard. This game would've came out a little earlier if it wasn't for a few things. Stuff like Duke 3D and Quake introduced forced the developers to bring those to this game. They took time to decide making their own engine. At the time it was expansive bringing another company's engine.
The final boss is widely known for being difficult. Ugh-Zan III takes a lot more damage than most enemies. You have to go to the final destination where you have to keep your distance from him. After a little while you will notice there are ramps. Which will drop you into four hoops. Among the fourth one with the boss as close to the center as possible.
The huge UFO will fire a powerful beam on him dealing a lot of damage. You will have to do this often enough to help saving some ammo. Of course prior to this you already dealt with a ridiculous number of enemies. I will say I do love this boss monster. He ended up being a great final boss I wouldn't mine facing again.
2. Serious Sam: The Second Encounter (2002)
Sometimes advertised as an expansion to The First Encounter but still a sequel. Serious Sam: The Second Encounter came out several months later. Technically speaking with some releases had both of them together. Hard to believe both games are technically Serious Sam 1. You know like Sonic 3 was basically two games with some clear differences.
The levels are much bigger than the previous game. Some levels blew my mind the insane detail they put in. There is way more enemies too with the final level having a little over a thousand enemies. Now that's like having majority of enemies in most levels of Duke 3D in one long level. Some levels will throw curve balls you wouldn't even seeing coming.
This will test how well you play a FPS. The soundtrack is once again amazing. It is so good that I already know I'm playing for hours. Just imagine playing these without sound like I did trust me it just isn't the same. Now that's like doing the same with Doom it just isn't right. Serious Sam: The Second Encounter does do some things better than the previous game.
They went out of their way to reference Christmas very late in the game. I triggered two secret Santas lol. Speaking of easter eggs, I came across three phone booths. Sam is taking to his future self that went through he's going through at that time but doesn't help much lol. I guess Doc Brown wasn't there to tell him by talking to yourself could alter the course of time itself lol.
I do like Cucurbito the Pumpkin a lot. Those are crazy chainsaw men with a jack-o'-lantern head. I am a sucker for anything Halloween related. OMG these guys are very fast but a little tricky to dodge. For me the levels were like three levels of the previous game put together in length. It is very similar to Banjo-Tooie doing the same exact thing.
Eventually I'll finish that game anyway this game ended up being more fun than the previous game. Some areas actually freak me out since they sent so many enemies very quickly at you. The final boss is much easier although he will keep spawning enemies. In a way he is similar to The Icon of Sins of Doom II.
Serious Sam: The Second Encounter takes place right after the previous game. There are some later rereleases that combines both games into one with Gold having fan levels. Speaking of both games have many versions exists I'm so confused. More recently they got both the VR treatment. Serious Sam controls the world maybe even the entire universe lol.
This section is related to both Serious Sam games...
They took solving puzzles & surviving death traps from Quake maybe possibly Shadow Warrior. Obviously the general game play is very similar to classic Doom series. The weapons themselves seem like more similar to those in Quake II. From the very start to the end, I still wanted more. I can't say any FPS that game this many enemies on screen at once.
Thankfully both Serious Sam games gives you a lot of ammo. Way more than most FPS did the time. In fact I thought at first I cheated by accident during the first run. I didn't use any cheats in both first runs of them. Usually numbers like that I see with cheats. Serious Sam has a strange humor that sorta reminds me of Deadpool.
I believe that is possibly referencing Lo Wang in the classic Shadow Warrior. When you are running into doors or walls. He will say stuff like I'm running into walls now lol. Not one level looks a like surprisingly between the two games. Even if the later counted as an expansion I would've said it's the longest expansion I ever played.
It took me nearly twice as long without codes to finish The Second Encounter. According to the in game time it took me almost nine hours. Trust me when I said this is not ripping directly off Duke Nukem 3D. The overall experience is so different that I don't even need to go further. Serious Sam himself is quickly becoming one of my favorite FPS characters ever.
I can't believe I'm even saying this. Prior to playing both of them I prefer Duke Nukem 3D. Now I am the opposite. Both of them are very fun games. The levels stand out more in the long run. The sound effects alone are better. I still prefer some songs including Duke 3D theme song. Very quickly you will get use to being over whelmed by enemies.
Surprisingly the enemies will hit you in virtually every possible angle imaginable. A lot of times at once greatly forcing you to think fast killing enemies as well as taking risks. Honestly I am very happy to own both of them in my GOG collection. I now will look forward to playing more Serious Sam games in the near future.
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