Serious Sam HD Preview Page 2

06 Oct 2009 at 14:57:10 by John Robertson

Each area is filled with various enemies and pick-ups like ammo, health, and weapons - the latter of which do the floaty, spinny thing that I haven’t seen in an adult-orientated FPS for a long while.  Enemies come in all shapes and sizes, from towering mechanical behemoths (some of which bear more than a passing resemblance to that evil two-legged robot from Robocop to the politically correct delights of the screaming, headless suicide bombers (known as the 'Headless Kamikaze') who run at you with the kind of fearless ferocity usually reserved for Michael Moore at feeding time – not a pretty sight.

To aid you in your crusade you’ve got a whole host of weapons at your disposal.  From standard FPS fare such as the shotgun and magnum to the heavier, more destructive delights of the minigun and some sort of green laser cannon, there’s a huge range of weapons to get to grips with.  You’ll need to progress to the later stages in order to obtain the most powerful weapons on offer, but the steady stream of firearms laid on at regular intervals should satisfy all but the most impatient of players.  Once you’ve got your hands on a fancy new weapon you’re given every opportunity to use it, as the availability of ammo was never an issue throughout the stages we played.  It’s a great feeling knowing that you needn’t worry about saving your ammo for any potentially difficult situations that could arise in the future, allowing you to experiment with various weapons to your hearts content – or until you come across one that you simply can’t bring yourself to return to its holster.

If all of the above sounds familiar, it’s because it is.  Aside from the visuals, the game is virtually identical to the original.  Completely re-skinned in HD using the new ‘Serious Engine 3’ (whatever that may be), the game is miles ahead of where it was in 2001.  Textures have a much greater level of detail, both in terms of the environment and the enemies and, combined with the new particle and lighting effects, add a layer of visual depth that was lacking in the original.  To say it looks as good as a modern, full-priced FPS would be stretching the truth a bit, but for a downloadable PC game being sold at a reduced price-point they’re as good as you would expect.  There’s also the added treat of dismemberment this time round, allowing you to look on in grim delight as arms, legs and other miscellaneous body parts spray in all directions after an up close and personal chat with the wrong end of a shotgun.

If you’re looking for a bit of good old fashioned videogaming fun then Serious Sam HD might be what you’re looking for.  Due to the relatively simplicity of the core gameplay, the experience as a whole doesn’t seem to have aged all that much.  Whether it can maintain interest down the stretch remains to be seen, but the planned 16-player co-op (which we weren’t able to see in action) should help provided the servers stay populated.  Due for release at the end of October, it’ll be interesting to see how well Serious Sam HD goes down with a modern audience.  Whatever the outcome, it’s one that old-school FPS fans should keep an eye on.

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