Serious Sam 4

The hectic FPS genre – which believe me, has a different feel than modern FPS genre titles – is alive and well, arguably being stronger than ever. When considering a game like Serious Sam 4, a classic example of these shooters, I was happy to hear about it when it was first announced. However, I don’t know about you, but I begin to get wary of such FPS titles once they reach sequels higher than 3. There’s something that seems to haunt theses installments that transcends even the best game series out there. Serious Sam 4 is a bit of a different beast altogether since it keeps a lot of the love and spirit of its predecessors and introduces some new ideas, but also falls short in a lot of places that make it an ‘alright’ game overall.

The Good

Keeping up with modern FPS giants, Serious Sam can hold its own by showcasing some fantastic level design, scenery, and gunplay. First, the levels are honestly fun to traverse through due to their unique mix of complexity and simplicity. Most of them are pretty linear, but there are a lot of smaller, intricate pieces that make up each level that keeps it fresh the whole way through.

You might have to go back through a couple times to take it all in since you’re always moving and fighting for your life – quite like the frantic pace of the Doom series and Duke Nukem – but that makes it that much more fun. The graphics and sets for each level are fantastic. Each area feels unique and carefully laid out to encourage a bit of divergence here and there for the player.

Finally, this game focuses on giving you every chance to decimate the intergalactic hordes of enemies led by Mental. Mini guns, laser guns, cannons, the Black Hole, drones, and a litany of other weapons and gadgets are at your disposal to cause some carnage. There’s never a dull moment and you constantly feel like you’re an action star. Plus, there’s plenty of great lines thrown in there to complete the action movie star experience (some of which won’t make you roll your eyes, anyways).

The Bad

SS4 carries on the legacy of previous games well. That being said, I think the developers had some trouble utilizing all the new ideas that they’d implemented effectively. For starters, I loved the settings of the game – they’re well made, diverse, and great to look at. Unfortunately, that’s where the love ends. It wouldn’t ultimately matter where you were fighting Mental’s hordes because the environment is hardly used nor does it make a difference.

Second, a lot of aspects of the skill system were underwhelming and downright unnecessary. It seems like a lot of the skills presented to the player would have just worked best in a simpler level up system – I’m not sure why ammo drops and dual wielding weren’t a part of your skillset once you start playing for this type of game.

Bottom Line

Additionally, side quests always seem like a good idea, but again does not work because of the gameplay that Serious Sam is based on. A rapid-fire run and gun experience only gets bogged down by this addition. Finally, secondary characters are pretty weak (though this isn’t why you play the game) and the Legion system (mechanic used for spawning purposes) was marketed far too heavily on bears little/no impact on gameplay in the end.

Pros:

• Fast-paced gameplay
• Lots of weapons
• Great level design

Cons:

• Environments underused
• Side quests bland, slow down pace
• Skills should have been streamline/reworked to be likable