Journal #8385
Posted 10 years ago2014-06-09 12:30:33 UTC
So after having Serious Sam 3: BFE for ages, I've finally gotten around to actually playing it (and finishing it). I've played through The First and Second Encounters several times, and I still love 'em. Haven't touched SS2 any more than the demo.
This one though... I can't put my finger on how I feel about it.
Yes, it does have the more "modern" quirks, I.E. aiming, reloading, sprinting, and I thought that that might harm the game. But really, they impact it so very little. Sprinting, eh, who cares. Aiming is only with a few weapons and even then it's not like they're particularly inaccurate without doing so. Reloading is a little annoying, but again, it's only with a few weapons, and all in all doesn't make a whole lot of difference.
More than anything I was worried that it wouldn't recapture the feel of the previous games. I mean, the first two set the bar pretty damn high, so I wasn't expecting "better than", I just didn't want "way worse". But the more I play it (started on a second run through, on Serious of course =P), the more I realize that beneath the more modern perspective, it really hasn't changed much at all.
Weapons do pretty much the exact same amount of damage to enemies as in the past (5 rockets for Major Bio-Mechanoids, 4 for Adult Arachnoids, 2 bullets for rocketeers, etc). The pistol is no far reach from the .45s, perhaps slightly more useful. The shotguns are exactly the same, bar the 10-clip of the single now. The Assault Rifle is the Tommygun. It fires roughly the exact same speed, does the exact same damage, is just as useful. Minigun, Rocket Launcher, Lasergun, Sniper Rifle and Cannon are no different either. I miss the Knife, but the sledgehammer is just as practical. The Devastator seems to have replaced the Grenade Launcher, and frankly I didn't really get what it was there for (a faster-velocity rocket launcher, basically), but in use it seems different enough to justify it. The C4 is new, and I quite like it. Fills a nice niche left by the other weapons.
As for the enemies, not a whole lot changed there either. Beheadeds are the same. The Clone Soldiers are effectively just the Zorg from Scecond Encounter with different guns (distanced them from the Rocketeers, which I'm very okay with). Gnaars look quite different, but are functionally the same. Bio-Mechs, Arachnoids, Kleers, Werebulls, Witch-Harpies... They're all there. The Highlander's replacement (whatever they're called... Knumm or something?) are more of a bother than the Highlanders were. I don't like the Technopolips, but they fill a good role. The Scrapjacks are just a beefed up version of Zumb'uls. Wasn't fond of them to start with, but that's just me.
The final boss was a bother, since it took me (and my co-op partner (brother)) quite a while to figure out what we were supposed to be doing, but that in itself isn't necessarily a bad thing.
I'm not sure how I feel about the Sniper Rifle and Lasergun. They (and their ammo) are only ever found in secrets, meaning that compared to the other weapons, you really have to moderate your usage of them. Especially considering that they're not all that particularly more useful than the other weapons (sniper rifle especially, does the same damage as the rocket launcher), they seem needlessly limited.
If nothing else is worth saying about BFE, you must really appreciate how smoothly they blended modern shooter-ness into a classic-style game. With the aforementioned quirks (and shreds of PLOT), players who aren't used to the Serious Sam-style stuff are eased into the experience more (by the last few levels, you're pretty much playing Second encounter). The plot felt like it was just being shrugged off a bit by the end, which was a bit jarring.
So yeah.
tl;dr: Played Serious Sam BFE. Feelings status: Mixed
This one though... I can't put my finger on how I feel about it.
Yes, it does have the more "modern" quirks, I.E. aiming, reloading, sprinting, and I thought that that might harm the game. But really, they impact it so very little. Sprinting, eh, who cares. Aiming is only with a few weapons and even then it's not like they're particularly inaccurate without doing so. Reloading is a little annoying, but again, it's only with a few weapons, and all in all doesn't make a whole lot of difference.
More than anything I was worried that it wouldn't recapture the feel of the previous games. I mean, the first two set the bar pretty damn high, so I wasn't expecting "better than", I just didn't want "way worse". But the more I play it (started on a second run through, on Serious of course =P), the more I realize that beneath the more modern perspective, it really hasn't changed much at all.
Weapons do pretty much the exact same amount of damage to enemies as in the past (5 rockets for Major Bio-Mechanoids, 4 for Adult Arachnoids, 2 bullets for rocketeers, etc). The pistol is no far reach from the .45s, perhaps slightly more useful. The shotguns are exactly the same, bar the 10-clip of the single now. The Assault Rifle is the Tommygun. It fires roughly the exact same speed, does the exact same damage, is just as useful. Minigun, Rocket Launcher, Lasergun, Sniper Rifle and Cannon are no different either. I miss the Knife, but the sledgehammer is just as practical. The Devastator seems to have replaced the Grenade Launcher, and frankly I didn't really get what it was there for (a faster-velocity rocket launcher, basically), but in use it seems different enough to justify it. The C4 is new, and I quite like it. Fills a nice niche left by the other weapons.
As for the enemies, not a whole lot changed there either. Beheadeds are the same. The Clone Soldiers are effectively just the Zorg from Scecond Encounter with different guns (distanced them from the Rocketeers, which I'm very okay with). Gnaars look quite different, but are functionally the same. Bio-Mechs, Arachnoids, Kleers, Werebulls, Witch-Harpies... They're all there. The Highlander's replacement (whatever they're called... Knumm or something?) are more of a bother than the Highlanders were. I don't like the Technopolips, but they fill a good role. The Scrapjacks are just a beefed up version of Zumb'uls. Wasn't fond of them to start with, but that's just me.
The final boss was a bother, since it took me (and my co-op partner (brother)) quite a while to figure out what we were supposed to be doing, but that in itself isn't necessarily a bad thing.
I'm not sure how I feel about the Sniper Rifle and Lasergun. They (and their ammo) are only ever found in secrets, meaning that compared to the other weapons, you really have to moderate your usage of them. Especially considering that they're not all that particularly more useful than the other weapons (sniper rifle especially, does the same damage as the rocket launcher), they seem needlessly limited.
If nothing else is worth saying about BFE, you must really appreciate how smoothly they blended modern shooter-ness into a classic-style game. With the aforementioned quirks (and shreds of PLOT), players who aren't used to the Serious Sam-style stuff are eased into the experience more (by the last few levels, you're pretty much playing Second encounter). The plot felt like it was just being shrugged off a bit by the end, which was a bit jarring.
So yeah.
tl;dr: Played Serious Sam BFE. Feelings status: Mixed
6 Comments
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There's some decent stuff on the Steam workshop to make it a little more wacky, too.
I have higher hopes for Sam 4, the developers have already confirmed multiple locations and no Egypt. If they put the crazier gun designs back in and get straight to the punch, I think I'll love it.
Edit: and yes, the C4 is a really good addition, I had a lot of fun with it.
The other thing as well is that I've yet to see any game do parody well. Parody is not about pointing out a convention or situation and being self-aware about it. 3 fell smack bang into that lazy form of parody.
Honestly Scotch, play Serious Sam 2.