Serious Sam 2 is a first person arena-horde shooter developed by Croteam released in 2005. And it’s like Deadpool meeting a Saturday morning cartoon for kids: funny, colorful, utterly crazy and really-really self-consious full with moments breaking the 4th wall. This review is based on the PC release of the game.
It’s just full of creativity, humour and frantic action – to be honest, a bit too much of the last thing, actually. The one problem the game has is that it can be quite a bit exhausting. Dozens after dozens of enemies from varied types are attacking you most of the time which makes the level of carnage is just incomprehensible sometimes. It’s a difficult game: you have to quickly apply different tactics under serious pressure.
Fortunately it’s a cheap game, and it shows its cards at the beginning.
After the events of the First and Second Encounter, a group of aliens abduct Sam and they task him to retrive the pieces of a medallion which can defeat Mental. There are five pieces of it on different planets.
The game’s goal is to fight through enemy warrior, get the pieces from semi-bosses and then go to Mental’s home and kick his arse.
Missions consist of a few levels, most of them provide fairly large, open ares and countless waves of various enemies. The areas provide a fair bit of exploration opportunity with a lot of funny secrets and useful supplies. There are also lovely-lovely vehicles. Each mission has a different atmoshpere and setting, and when you reach the end level, you fight a semi boss.
Gunplay is not the perfect, tough. Gun selection is nice, they look good but their feedback is just not that impactful, however, I think it was a conscious design decision. You see, the number of enemies and audiovisual effects can be a bit overwhelming in the game. Dumbing down the impact side of the guns can actually help a bit avoiding sensory overload, and give a bit more chance to the player to comprehend what is actually happening.
My favourite weapon is the cannon which is a true crowd pleaser. When fully charged, it can mow down multiple enemies in a line, or blast even the most powerful into lovely little pieces. Vehicles are fun, effective and they also handle well.
Difficulty can be chosen, I played with medium settings. The AI is simple, it does its job but nothing spectacular. Some airborne enemy types, like the helicopters and witches sometimes fly like they’re being drunk which is simply hilarious.
The game is based on a score system: every enemy you kill, item you pick up matters, and you also get a bonus when you finish a level within the estimated time limit.
The save system is a hybrid: you can use the quicksave function whenever you want to but you also collect lives so you can respawn at various checkpoints.
It was pretty obvious at the last stage of the game. It’s full of shiny surfaces, pretty effects and guess what: advertisments about the game’s engine. Gotta love the humour of these guys.
Serious Sam 2 also gets a thumbs up for having a bright and vivid color palette.
For a game released in 2005 it is natural to run perfectly on my budget Radeon HD6670 from 2011 but it’s still surprising that Serious Sam 2 is that smooth. Frame rate is consistently in the hundreds even during the craziest and most demanding parts with full settings and a 1080p resolution. I’m curious that how well it performs on my HD3650 or 6600GT.
It may look like a cartoon, but Serious Sam 2 is the absolute love-letter for 90’s shooters and deep geekdom. And I love it for that.
Is it worth buying?
First and Second Encounter have a bit grittier tone but this one is light-hearted, vivid and it doesn’t take itself seriously – not even for a second. Fans of the previous games might find it a bit hard to get used to this fact. But I’ve never ever played a Serious Sam game before and I could not have wished for a better entry into the franchise.It’s just full of creativity, humour and frantic action – to be honest, a bit too much of the last thing, actually. The one problem the game has is that it can be quite a bit exhausting. Dozens after dozens of enemies from varied types are attacking you most of the time which makes the level of carnage is just incomprehensible sometimes. It’s a difficult game: you have to quickly apply different tactics under serious pressure.
- How to ration the ammo, HP and powerups?
- Which enemy to kill first?
- With which gun?
- How can you use the attackers against each other?
- How to exploit an area in order to kill your enemies? (Secret objects etc.)
Fortunately it’s a cheap game, and it shows its cards at the beginning.
Story
The game’s protagonist is a badass warrior called „Serious” Sam Stone who fight against hordes of various enemies sent by a mysterious entity called Mental. Mental’s plan is simple: enslave and rule the galaxy.After the events of the First and Second Encounter, a group of aliens abduct Sam and they task him to retrive the pieces of a medallion which can defeat Mental. There are five pieces of it on different planets.
The game’s goal is to fight through enemy warrior, get the pieces from semi-bosses and then go to Mental’s home and kick his arse.
Gameplay Elements
Missions
The game’s story is presented via oldschool video-cutscenes. Objectives can be read before each mission during the loading screen, and additional information is given by Netrisca, a small computer implaneted into Sam’s head.Missions consist of a few levels, most of them provide fairly large, open ares and countless waves of various enemies. The areas provide a fair bit of exploration opportunity with a lot of funny secrets and useful supplies. There are also lovely-lovely vehicles. Each mission has a different atmoshpere and setting, and when you reach the end level, you fight a semi boss.
Gameplay
Gameplay-vise Serious Sam 2 takes inspiration from loads of popular titles like- Duke Nukem 3D: Sam is a big bloke with an a whole lot of one-liners and a badass attitude,
- Unreal and Quake 1-3: fast gameplay with free movement,
- Halo: blue-skinned sexy digital sidekick, vehicles,
- Half-Life 2: advanced physics and puzzles.
Movement and gunplay
Controlling a character in modern games sometimes feels disconnected and indirect because of bad design and overanimation. But Serious Sam 2 is an oldschool shooter in its heart: movement and controls are quick, precise and completely direct.Gunplay is not the perfect, tough. Gun selection is nice, they look good but their feedback is just not that impactful, however, I think it was a conscious design decision. You see, the number of enemies and audiovisual effects can be a bit overwhelming in the game. Dumbing down the impact side of the guns can actually help a bit avoiding sensory overload, and give a bit more chance to the player to comprehend what is actually happening.
My favourite weapon is the cannon which is a true crowd pleaser. When fully charged, it can mow down multiple enemies in a line, or blast even the most powerful into lovely little pieces. Vehicles are fun, effective and they also handle well.
Enemies, AI
There are many different enemy types in the game and some of their design is pretty out there. Space orks. Mechanized spiders. Mechanized giant spiders. Huge, red bull soldiers. Bull soldiers with tank bodies. Ork football players (YES). WITCHES ON BROOMS (YES!). Kungfu zombies. And so on.Difficulty can be chosen, I played with medium settings. The AI is simple, it does its job but nothing spectacular. Some airborne enemy types, like the helicopters and witches sometimes fly like they’re being drunk which is simply hilarious.
Health, score and save system, pickups
As I mentioned, this is an oldschool game so it uses a standard non-regenerating health system with maximum 200 points. You can refill it with health pickups of various sizes. The same principle applies to the armor and ammo.The game is based on a score system: every enemy you kill, item you pick up matters, and you also get a bonus when you finish a level within the estimated time limit.
The save system is a hybrid: you can use the quicksave function whenever you want to but you also collect lives so you can respawn at various checkpoints.
Artistic Elements
Visuals
Serious Sam 2 looks great for its age thanks to the vivid, cartoony graphical style. Everything is overstyled and full of colors, weird design elements. Some reflection and lighting effects were completely unnecessary, I felt that they were just there to show off the rather stunning capabilities of the engine.It was pretty obvious at the last stage of the game. It’s full of shiny surfaces, pretty effects and guess what: advertisments about the game’s engine. Gotta love the humour of these guys.
Audio
Sound design and voice acting is great, especially for Sam’s crazy alien allies from the cutscenes and Netrisca, the implanted computer in Sam’s head. Elly Fairman has such a pleasent and lovely voice.Atmosphere
Missions take place on various planets, each of them has an own theme and design style. Some of them even have different environments within a planet. It shows that a lot of energy went into the design progress because the game is just full of crazy, funny ideas. Just imagine a game where you can ride a huge dinosaur and later fight a huge ape. And a p… no, not gonna tell you, it’s better as a surprise.Serious Sam 2 also gets a thumbs up for having a bright and vivid color palette.
Multiplayer
There are two multiplayer modes for the game: deathmatch and cooperative that supports 16 players at max. Cooperative PvE servers are still out there alive and kicking but the deathmatch mode seemed pretty much dead. According to Serious Sam wikia, the reason is that the game’s netcode isn’t that great when it comes to PvP.Technical
As I mentioned, the game supports larger areas, a high enemy count and it just looks decent in general.For a game released in 2005 it is natural to run perfectly on my budget Radeon HD6670 from 2011 but it’s still surprising that Serious Sam 2 is that smooth. Frame rate is consistently in the hundreds even during the craziest and most demanding parts with full settings and a 1080p resolution. I’m curious that how well it performs on my HD3650 or 6600GT.
Background info and personal connection
I absolutely had no idea what Serious Sam is about before I got this game for free during a promotional period. I once saw a kid playing it, so I guessed it was for his age interval. I couldn’t have been more wrong.It may look like a cartoon, but Serious Sam 2 is the absolute love-letter for 90’s shooters and deep geekdom. And I love it for that.
Summary
Serious Sam 2 is a fast paced, sometimes relentless and overwhelming but thouroghly enjoyable shooter for the geeky mind. It’s funny, it’s whacky and it’s really self-conscious with a smooth a likeable gameplay.
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