Serious Sam HD First Encounter is a remake of the 2001 PC original, therefore the Egypt setting of the original is back, as are the men that charge at you and explode in your face. The scorpions that fire gattling guns make a return, as do the sprinting boney beasts, floating heads and men with rotating blades for faces. The enormous beasties that serve as bosses are here too, along with plenty of weapons, pick-ups and secret areas. Serious Sam is an arcade shooter, the kind of which we haven't seen for some time. Playing this HD remake is like you've stepped out of a time machine into the past, and fans of the original will instantly find themselves back in 2001.
For those completely unaware of the series until now, at the time of its release Serious Sam was probably closest in feel and gameplay to the original Doom. There's more depth to the gameplay here, though, with enemies coming at you from all sides, in greater variety and at differing speeds. This is a devilishly difficult game. You're only going to see Serious Sam HD through to its conclusion if you've got great hand eye coordination and the reflexes of a ninja. It's easy to panic when hordes of enemies are bearing down on you, but doing so and wildly firing in all directions is a recipe for disaster.
Little on the market today can be compared to Serious Sam's crazy, relentless action, but the Left 4 Dead series is certainly carrying the torch. Valve's co-op zombie kill-em-up throws wave after wave of enemies at you, but it does so with more intelligence than Croteam's game. Having seen what can be done with swarms of enemies and pacing, Serious Sam HD's completely scripted encounters feel old in comparison, highlighting the game's true age a little more clearly than I'd imagined would be the case.For nostalgia alone, die-hard fans will get a lot out of this HD remake, but gamers who have been spoilt by current genre favourites may well find Serious Sam HD a bit too simple for its own good.
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