Overview

Developer: Croteam

More Serious Sam resources

Seriously familiar

When the original Serious Sam compatibility test came out, we didn't know what surprised us more - the fact that it looked and played great, or that it came from a so-far unknown developer in a country that just got out of a civil war. So what is Serious Sam? How about we not mince words and just get to the point. It's Doom. Doom with pretty, 3D graphics.

Not a good place to spawn!

All that blood, those hordes... they remind me of something

Of course, the monsters, the levels and even the setting are different. But when we take a close look at the heart of its gameplay, we can find no game closer to Serious Sam than Doom. You run around levels, killing everything in sight while completing extremely simple puzzles. What makes it different from say... Quake II, Unreal or even Daikatana? After all, they have the same premise: shoot first and make sure you get the last shot. No questions asked.

"Hordes"

The difference, my friends, is that Serious Sam throws Godless Heathen Hordes In Great Multitudes at you. Then, out of nowhere and with absolutely no explanation, Even Bigger Hordes of Far Deadlier Heathens spawns out of thin air, and to top it off, the game will often spawn in (again, with no rational explanation offered) the Coup De Grace of Heathen, Godless Hordes.

It's coming to me, almost got it...

Yes yes, that gibbing definitely brings a game to mind...

Note the one word that all three phrases share - "hordes". There are countless, vicious, bloodthirsty and often headless beasts rushing at you, shooting at you, throwing bombs at you or even trying to trample you. Doing anything and everything in their power to dismember you.

Just over a month ago, Davor "Tome" Tomicic, a level designer, made an update on the Croteam homepage. In that update he stated that he threw in over 1000 (one thousand) fiends into a single map. For reference, Doom has 2367 critters to slay and Doom II had 3735 on ultra-violence mode (according to Davor.) That gives you an idea of where Serious Sam is headed. Although you have to keep in mind that all the monsters won't spawn on the level at the same time, the number is absolutely staggering nonetheless. It's even more staggering once you realize that the trend in PC shooters has been leaning towards fewer but more potent, more intelligent enemies. There were far fewer things to kill in Quake, Quake II and Unreal.

So do the out-of-nowhere spawns...	As well as the constant rocket barrages...
Just look at that gore, it looks like...	DOOM!