A serious contender
18 October 2011 | By Richard Lane
A month or so ago I got a chance to play a few chunks of Serious Sam 3. While impressed by the frenetic action and sheer banana-snorting insanity of the game, the code was clunky and poorly optimised. Now Croteam have sent us an updated preview code which contains the entire game save the last level. That being the case, here’s a list of what the developers have improved:
1) Everything.
Although the highest settings are still a little too much for my (admittedly ageing) rig, this code is far more stable and less prone to crashes. In addition, parts that were clearly unfinished in the first preview code have had the missing parts filled in. Absent sound effects, graphical glitches and half-baked melee attacks have all been fixed.
Speaking of melee attacks and finishing moves, I should probably mention that Serious Sam 3 has melee attacks and finishing moves. Now, if you’re a long-time fan of the series, melee attacks might seem a little incongruous with the design philosophy of Serious Sam (almost as incongruous as ascribing the phrase “design philosophy” to the game) After all, you don’t want to be locked in a finishing move animation with thirty Kleer Skeletons racing to see which can be the first to ram itself ribcage-deep into Sam’s backside.
Croteam have obviously considered this, and so melee attacks are lightning-quick. Stomping on a minor arachnoid, tearing out a Gnaar’s eye or, my personal favourite, ripping out a Beheaded Rocketeer’s heart are all performed in milliseconds. Of course, if you try to use them all the time you’ll be overwhelmed almost instantly, but used intelligently they can be a great way to save ammo.
And saving ammo is important, because all the bullets in the world aren’t enough to stop the massed multitudinous army-horde-legion of extraterrestrial monstrosities that you’ll be facing on your mission to save the earth.
The latter half of that sentence is really all you need to know about the story. There’s some nonsense about a time-lock which somehow causes all the creatures from all the hells of all the civilisations in all the universe to come crashing down on the earth like a giant Monty-Python-esque foot, but really all you need be aware of is “bad thing happens – Sam needs to go to Cairo to stop it.”
The earlier preview code consisted of sections between three levels from rather dispersed parts of the game. Now I’ve seen the game more or less in its entirety, I can say the construction of the environments is very cleverly done. Beginning amid the ruins of central Cairo, Sam gradually moves out from the city centre, through suburbs to outlying settlements to recognisable Egyptian landmarks and finally the open desert.
There’s something about an incremental change of scenery that is far more satisfying than one which is stark and sudden. Maybe it adds to the sense of progression that all gamers naturally crave, but there’s no doubt that the scenic alterations are neatly aligned with the pacing of the game. The cramped confines of civilisation slowly fall away to far more open spaces that are filled with evermore absurd numbers of enemies. By the time you reach the second-to last level, the scale of the battles becomes genuinely mind-blowing. We’re talking scores of enemies rendered on screen.
I think that’s what stands out most about Serious Sam 3 – the pacing. With games of this kind it’s all too easy to unremittingly bombard the player with action and explosions and the like. The first third of Call of Duty: Black Ops sticks out in my mind as having horrendous, relentless pacing that made you feel constantly lost and befuddled.
There are no such problems here. The game is consistently intense, but there are moments of respite in which you can gather health and ammo along with your breath. Yet at the same time the game never lets you gain the upper hand. It’s always one step ahead of you, and just when you’re beginning to think you’ve mastered it, just when you’ve learned how to strafe in ways that defy Euclidean geometry, the game suddenly throws a square into your seven-sided circle and forces you to completely reconsider your approach.
I find it quite difficult to put my finger on what makes the game so compelling. I know I said “pacing”, but that’s a fairly vague term. I think part of the problem is there’s very little that’s new here. In fact, there’s considerably less content than in Serious Sam II. Certainly the enemy roster is a great deal smaller, although I imagine that has much to do with the game being a prequel to the First Encounter (don’t think about that too much or you’ll get a headache). I do worry about that lack of new content. While I really enjoyed the game, I couldn’t help but wish for a new weapon here, a unique enemy there.
This issue only really becomes evident in the latter part of the game, where there are a couple of gameplay scenarios that are repeated pretty much identically. It only happens the once for both, and the game is fairly substantial otherwise. Steam reckons I sank eighteen hours into it, but that includes the previous code and frankly I wouldn’t trust the Steam timer to boil an egg for me. That was on Normal too. Make no mistake, this is by far and away the toughest shooter to be released this year.
I also felt that, toward the end of the game it was overly reliant on one particular tactic to outfox me, which was to repeatedly assault me with Kleer Skeletons. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that they’re the most common enemy in the game. They’re dangerous and the developers clearly know it, but in the last couple of levels the Kleer Skeleton party should have moved on and made room for something new. Instead they keep coming at you like some drunk who is determined to be friendly with you despite the fact that you’re clearly not interested.
Nevertheless it’s going to be interesting to see how well Serious Sam 3 does being released so close to Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3. Both franchises have a lot of clout, and there’s a risk of Sam being buried underneath the weight of their respective reputations. On the other hand, after so many military shooters and with both of those being so similar in design, there’s a good chance that Sam’s deliberate divergence will attract a fair few disillusioned FPS fans.
Most anticipated feature: That final level that Croteam are hiding from us. I shudder to think what levels of epic madness await in there.
1) Everything.
Although the highest settings are still a little too much for my (admittedly ageing) rig, this code is far more stable and less prone to crashes. In addition, parts that were clearly unfinished in the first preview code have had the missing parts filled in. Absent sound effects, graphical glitches and half-baked melee attacks have all been fixed.
 |
| That’s gonna need a plaster |
Speaking of melee attacks and finishing moves, I should probably mention that Serious Sam 3 has melee attacks and finishing moves. Now, if you’re a long-time fan of the series, melee attacks might seem a little incongruous with the design philosophy of Serious Sam (almost as incongruous as ascribing the phrase “design philosophy” to the game) After all, you don’t want to be locked in a finishing move animation with thirty Kleer Skeletons racing to see which can be the first to ram itself ribcage-deep into Sam’s backside.
Croteam have obviously considered this, and so melee attacks are lightning-quick. Stomping on a minor arachnoid, tearing out a Gnaar’s eye or, my personal favourite, ripping out a Beheaded Rocketeer’s heart are all performed in milliseconds. Of course, if you try to use them all the time you’ll be overwhelmed almost instantly, but used intelligently they can be a great way to save ammo.
And saving ammo is important, because all the bullets in the world aren’t enough to stop the massed multitudinous army-horde-legion of extraterrestrial monstrosities that you’ll be facing on your mission to save the earth.
The latter half of that sentence is really all you need to know about the story. There’s some nonsense about a time-lock which somehow causes all the creatures from all the hells of all the civilisations in all the universe to come crashing down on the earth like a giant Monty-Python-esque foot, but really all you need be aware of is “bad thing happens – Sam needs to go to Cairo to stop it.”
The earlier preview code consisted of sections between three levels from rather dispersed parts of the game. Now I’ve seen the game more or less in its entirety, I can say the construction of the environments is very cleverly done. Beginning amid the ruins of central Cairo, Sam gradually moves out from the city centre, through suburbs to outlying settlements to recognisable Egyptian landmarks and finally the open desert.
 |
| You got blood on my gun |
There’s something about an incremental change of scenery that is far more satisfying than one which is stark and sudden. Maybe it adds to the sense of progression that all gamers naturally crave, but there’s no doubt that the scenic alterations are neatly aligned with the pacing of the game. The cramped confines of civilisation slowly fall away to far more open spaces that are filled with evermore absurd numbers of enemies. By the time you reach the second-to last level, the scale of the battles becomes genuinely mind-blowing. We’re talking scores of enemies rendered on screen.
I think that’s what stands out most about Serious Sam 3 – the pacing. With games of this kind it’s all too easy to unremittingly bombard the player with action and explosions and the like. The first third of Call of Duty: Black Ops sticks out in my mind as having horrendous, relentless pacing that made you feel constantly lost and befuddled.
There are no such problems here. The game is consistently intense, but there are moments of respite in which you can gather health and ammo along with your breath. Yet at the same time the game never lets you gain the upper hand. It’s always one step ahead of you, and just when you’re beginning to think you’ve mastered it, just when you’ve learned how to strafe in ways that defy Euclidean geometry, the game suddenly throws a square into your seven-sided circle and forces you to completely reconsider your approach.
I find it quite difficult to put my finger on what makes the game so compelling. I know I said “pacing”, but that’s a fairly vague term. I think part of the problem is there’s very little that’s new here. In fact, there’s considerably less content than in Serious Sam II. Certainly the enemy roster is a great deal smaller, although I imagine that has much to do with the game being a prequel to the First Encounter (don’t think about that too much or you’ll get a headache). I do worry about that lack of new content. While I really enjoyed the game, I couldn’t help but wish for a new weapon here, a unique enemy there.
This issue only really becomes evident in the latter part of the game, where there are a couple of gameplay scenarios that are repeated pretty much identically. It only happens the once for both, and the game is fairly substantial otherwise. Steam reckons I sank eighteen hours into it, but that includes the previous code and frankly I wouldn’t trust the Steam timer to boil an egg for me. That was on Normal too. Make no mistake, this is by far and away the toughest shooter to be released this year.
 |
| Can’t…kill…fast enough |
I also felt that, toward the end of the game it was overly reliant on one particular tactic to outfox me, which was to repeatedly assault me with Kleer Skeletons. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that they’re the most common enemy in the game. They’re dangerous and the developers clearly know it, but in the last couple of levels the Kleer Skeleton party should have moved on and made room for something new. Instead they keep coming at you like some drunk who is determined to be friendly with you despite the fact that you’re clearly not interested.
Nevertheless it’s going to be interesting to see how well Serious Sam 3 does being released so close to Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3. Both franchises have a lot of clout, and there’s a risk of Sam being buried underneath the weight of their respective reputations. On the other hand, after so many military shooters and with both of those being so similar in design, there’s a good chance that Sam’s deliberate divergence will attract a fair few disillusioned FPS fans.
Most anticipated feature: That final level that Croteam are hiding from us. I shudder to think what levels of epic madness await in there.
