Review: Serious Sam.

Introduction

Let me warn you, before you read any further, that this review is divided into two distinct parts. The latter of the two parts is a traditional game review, with the highs, lows, hits, misses, and even a couple of screenshots. The first part, however, is an overview of the approach that Croteam took to marketing and selling the game. If you’re just interested in how the game plays and whether or not you should buy it, skip ahead to the review. If you want to know a little bit about what I think Serious Sam means for the future of the gaming industry, please read the first part.

Croteam was founded in 1993, and produced several games for the Amiga and PC, but have been pretty much silent since 1995. I don’t know when they started working on Serious Sam, but I remember them getting press from PC Gamer as an underground hit in the making (one of the few things PC Gamer was right about these days). If you surf around the Croteam website you’ll find that the development team consists of only 10 people! Anyways, Croteam continued development with relatively little publicity aside from what gaming mags and web sites gave them. It wasn’t until recently that much fanfare was made about Serious Sam at all. (Hell, IGN didn’t even preview the game, and they cover just about everything). So where am I going with this?

A while ago, Croteam announced that Serious Sam would retail for $20. While most people spotted it as a potential super-bargain, a few of my friends and I began discussing what this low price would mean for the gaming industry. It has long been the stance of the gaming industry that they have to charge ~$50 for a game in order to make ends meet, due to development costs and substansial losses to pirating. On the other hand, it has long been the stance of gamers and warezers everywhere that pirating would decrease to the point that it didn’t affect sales if games were sold at a more reasonable price. Yes, I know that games have been released before for $20, but they have all either sucked or been quickly thrown together to please a limited audience (hunting sims).

Now, I won’t deny that pirating is a severe issue in the gaming industry. Companies have tried all sorts of weird protection schemes, and all of them have been cracked one way or another. What makes this move by Croteam so interesting is that they released Serious Sam with no copy protection whatsoever! Is Croteam suffering for that? Let’s see:

(Stolen from Game.Ars)

These figures are based on PC Data’s ratings and are for the week ending March 31. 1. Black & White – Electronic Arts 2. The Sims: House Party – Electronic Arts 3. The Sims – Electronic Arts 4. Tribes 2 – Havas Interactive 5. The Sims: Livin’ Large – Electronic Arts 6. Serious Sam: The First Encounter – GodGames 7. Roller Coaster Tycoon – Infogrames Entertainment 8. NASCAR Racing 4 – Havas Interactive 9. Age of Empires II: Age of Kings – Microsoft 10. Command & Conquer Red Alert 2 – Electronic Arts

A number six debut may not seem all that good for Serious Sam, but I would argue otherwise. Three of the games above it are “Sims” products, and The Sims was one of the best (and best selling) games of last year. In addition to their healthy user base, they have a pretty large ad campaign in both print and the web. Black & White has been widely publicized and highly anticipated, and many gamers saw Tribes 2 as the second coming of Christ. So, when you look at it, Serious Sam premiered against some very tough competition and managed to come away pretty well.

So does the industry have a future in $20 games? Probably not. As encouraging as Serious Sam’s performance is, I just can’t see more companies giving up the extra $30 a game. Furthermore, more companies are moving towards the subscription-based model, so while we may see a decrease in the upfront price, it’ll still be $5-$10/month to continue playing the game. Either way, I tip my hat to the people of Croteam for trying something new.

Onto the review!

Graphics

The first thing that hits you when you load up Serious Sam is how gorgeous the game is. Somehow Croteam managed to make an engine that handles cramped indoor environments, huge outdoor expanses, hundreds of little enemies, giant enemies, reflection, real time lighting, bump-mapping, fog, and more, all running smoothly on last-generation video cards (I ran it on my trusty G400 MAX at 800×600 with no slowdown). Enemies are fairly well detailed, but the lack of detail is easily forgivable when you realize that dozens of enemies appear on screen at the same time (more on that later).

The textures aren’t spectacular, but they aren’t poor either. They are bright and colorful in the outdoor levels, and dark and drab indoors, appropriately setting the tone for every level. The most amazing thing about the textures is that they don’t get blocky or blurry when you get up close. Instead, Croteam implemented some funky effect that maps another, more detailed texture over the main texture. The effect of the sub texture is simply to add slight color variations to the main texture, but it works incredibly well on the stone and sand textures that dominate the game.

The architecture in the game is a little bland. Normally, I would bitch and moan a bit about this, but I won’t here for two reasons: One, the architecture fits the setting, and the levels are simply huge, so they obviously had a lot of ground to cover, and two, the architecture doesn’t interfere with the game play. There’s nothing I hate more than running backwards from an enemy, dodging his shots, trying to save my life, only to be caught in some decorative nook that the level designer thought would look pretty.

This isn’t to say that the graphics are all good, though. While messing around in a Deathmatch game, I noticed something a little troubling with the dynamic lighting. For those of you who don’t know what dynamic lighting is, it’s the effect that brightens an area in the game in real-time. In other words, some effects, like the shadows of buildings, are pre-calculated and “static” during game play. Other effects, like the light from an explosion or the flame on a rocket, are calculated as the game is played, and change as the situation changes (rocket is launched, flies along its path, then detonates on its target), and are thus “dynamic”. Anyway, I noticed that the dynamic lighting wasn’t being applied to all surfaces. It’s a tiny thing, and I’m not even sure if it happens anywhere else in the game, but I felt it was worth mentioning nonetheless.

Notice how the ceiling is dark, as is the top of the column.

Now, notice that the ceiling is illuminated from the rocket, but the top of the column is not. Please, let me know if anyone has a solution to this, or theories on why it is (I have a few of my own, but haven’t had time to investigate them yet).

The other knock I have on Sam is the animations, or lack thereof. While every creature is well animated in life, most of the larger ones have only one death animation, and it gets tiresome to watch over and over. Not a huge thing, but it would be nice if the giant mechs had four or five death sequences.

Sound

Until recently, the aural experience was commonly overlooked in gaming. Sure, some games were released with great soundtracks, and others had high quality sound effects for weapons, and some even had voice actors do the speech for lead roles. Well, Serious Sam ignores all that, and the effect is wonderful. The soundtrack is forgettable, but sits in the background and fills the silence. The weapon effects aren’t spectacular, but they do a great job of not becoming annoying, which is impressive given that I’ve fired in excess of 100,000 rounds of ammo in the game. The designers of Sam realized that you would be spending minutes at a time firing, and they did a great job of keeping any sound from becoming irritating.

So if nothing individual is spectacular, how can the sound as a whole be so good? Serious Sam simply makes the best use of sound of any game in the past year. Many of the monsters announce their presence through sound. Often, you’ll hear an enemy a good ten seconds before you first see it, and let me tell you, those ten seconds are some of the most intense in gaming.

In one setting, you are in a wide corridor, with high walls on both sides. Behind you is a spiked pit that you can’t cross back over. In front of you is a lot of open space, and about 300 yards away the corridor takes a sharp left. You advance slowly at first, unsure of what’s to come, but you pick up speed as it becomes clear that there are no enemies in sight. And then you hear it, faintly, but you know what it is: the deep, thunderous rumble of werebulls. Now, you’ve heard single werebulls before, and they don’t sound like this. In fact, you’re heard a dozen werebulls before, and they don’t sound like this. You know you’re in trouble.

That type of situation is repeated dozens of times in the game, and it never gets old. The sounds in Sam are used incredibly well to create suspense, anticipation, and excitement. Without them, the game wouldn’t be nearly as engrossing.

Gameplay

If you loved Doom, Doom 2, and Duke 3d, you’ll love Serious Sam. If not, go elsewhere. Seriously, it’s that simple. Sam takes all the complex AI advances made by Quake 3, UT, and Half-Life, and throws them right out the window. Monsters do two things: fire at you and move towards you. They don’t dodge. They don’t coordinate attacks. Hell, sometimes they even shoot each other.

So how exactly do the monsters provide competition if they’re dumber than dirt? Lots and lots of little monsters, and a few really big monsters. As I hinted at earlier, there are a ridiculous number of monsters in some parts of the game (especially on higher difficulty levels!), and it is these sequences that bring back the glory-days of Doom 2.

Unfortunately, the monster’s simple AI necessitates that the levels are fairly simple in layout. Expect lots of wide-open spaces, whether flat plains or rolling hills, and little interesting architecture to keep your attention. The game doesn’t get boring because of the plain levels, but the SS sequel is going to have to incorporate better design to satisfy me.

How exactly do you take care of so many monsters? Lots of big, nasty weapons. The traditional cast, shotguns, rocket launchers, chain guns, and the like, are augmented by one truly unique weapon: the cannon. I mean an honest-to-goodness, ripped-right-off-a-pirate-ship cannon. The cannon is the “BFG” of Sam, but it adds a lot more fun (and takes quite a bit more talent) to use well than the ueber-weapons of other games.

Basically, the cannon fires huge cannon balls that explode once they stop. The only thing is that they don’t stop very easily. A normal cannon shot could take out a dozen small enemies or two large werebulls before it exploded. Holding down the fire button results in a more powerful shot that can take out at least five werebulls and as many small enemies as it can hit. But hitting the enemies is where the skill part comes in: the enemies don’t line themselves up for you. A lot of battles are fought by clearing a path between you and a better position from which to blast enemies. It’s a neat twist on the frantic gaming theme, and keeps later levels from getting repetitive.

Multiplayer is a mixed bag. Deathmatch is kind of boring because the weapons are so ridiculously overpowered. The Tommy gun can rip people apart pretty fast, and I’d hate to think of what the chain gun would do. Lag is certainly an issue, but I don’t feel that it’s significant enough to detract from the amazing fun that Coop Sam provides. Coop FPS’s against the computer haven’t really existed since Quake 2, which I feel is a tragedy. Blasting your way through level upon level with friends is incredible fun, and saving your buddy with a well-placed rocket is a thrill I won’t soon forget. Even after you beat the single player game, the Coop mode, with it’s plethora of options, will keep you playing the same levels over and over.

Well, I may seem like I’ve covered all my game play bases, but I actually saved the best for last. One of my biggest gripes with games like Half Life and even the almighty Doom 2 were the crappy end guys. Doom 2′s final boss was pathetic, and Half Life’s giant flying fetus was an injustice to the rest of the cast (some would argue that Half Life went to shit once you went to the other dimension, but that’s another article). Sam’s end battle is THE BEST ONE I HAVE PLAYED IN YEARS. I hate to sound clichéd, but it takes the entire style of play and elevates it to the next level. Not since Super Metroid has a boss gotten my adrenaline pumping so hard. I don’t want to ruin it for you, but Sam’s final level delivers in spades.

Extras

Ok, so the game’s a little short, and the deathmatch isn’t much. So is Sam really worth even $20? You bet! The Sam engine is a tremendous technological achievement, and Croteam has opened the SDK up to the public, so expect lots of mods in the near future.

On top of that, the model designer and level editor used to create Sam are included on the CD, and while I haven’t played with the modeler, the level editor is top notch. It’s a little hard to get into, but there are some great tutorials for it over at http://www.massassi.net/serious/ that will get you editing in no time. Maybe you’ve used some other the other level editors. My personal favorite (pre-Sam) was UnrealEd, because I hated waiting the hours it took to compile a large Half-Life map. Unreal Ed took maybe a minute to do all the lighting, and another 2 minutes to load the engine so you could test your engine.

The Sam editor changes all that. Levels have no compile time, and to test it, simply press ‘t’, and your 3D view suddenly drops you into your level, pistol in hand, and (in my case) werebulls charging full steam. Instant level testing! Anyway, I don’t have the space or energy to list all the other cool features of the SS editor and engine (like multiple gravities!), but rest assured that this is a great tool for an aspiring level designer.

Final Say

If you like action, and you like being on the edge of your seat, get Serious Sam. It’s the greatest thought-free gaming I’ve played in a long, long time.