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First impression from intro levels: Terrible, and it's nothing like the first games. Combat starts off melee based, and the sledgehammer tilts the screen all over the place, which is disorienting and the splatter covers your view. The old chainsaw was superior. I hate reloading the shotgun, ammo is sparse. I mean why is that even a feature considering what game this is supposed to be? People in the steam forums have several threads complaining about various aspects of this game that just seem consolized. I'd have to agree, since overall this isn't what I expected from a Serious Sam sequel, especially the more enclosed levels vs wide open areas.

Graphics: Bloated and slow. Overuse of SSAO, HDR, and other various effects that do nothing but slow framerate and distract from the gameplay. Starting levels look more like stalker/rage than serious sam.

Bottom line: DNF. No, DNF was better. I hope the first levels are not representative of the rest of the game. It's a chore getting to the good parts, if there are any.

...you had better be wrong

mikehodges2 wrote:

...you had better be wrong

Ditto. I'm gonna be pissed if he's right.

Though I guess it would mean I don't need to futz around with getting a new video card, and setting up a dual-boot or separate gaming box, so there's a silver lining. (Haven't been gaming for a while, and run Linux on my desktop these days...)

Noooooo.

I am holding out hope. Metacritic has it at 9.9 for user reviews, but I don't know how much of that is just people hyped up for the game that don't own it (much like I think is the disparity between press and user reviews on MW3 and BF3 is a bunch of angry nerds).

Level design and gameplay so far seems like a poor call of duty/battlefield ripoff. The new enemies look more human, levels are middle eastern, the weapons are modernized w/ iron sights, can't reload while sprinting, independent melee moves, the armor/health pickups are styled realistically. There is also a decent amount of spread, which affects accuracy. Explosions cause massive amounts of dust to cloud your view. The destruction of crates is just stupid, instead of splintering, boxes fall apart into a large amount of tiny squares, heavily reminiscent of bloated physx games. It looks and plays like a poor battlefield clone, yet Sam does not even vaguely pull off being a battlefield clone, and these levels are all a huge disappointment. I'm going to attempt to get past them, since I am yet hopeful that the grass is greener on the other side.

<--- Never played a Serious Sam game before

The game is fun so far. I bought it mainly for the split screen aspect as I take my computer over to my family's house to play with my brothers a lot. I had my brothers over my apartment and we played split screen survival and co-op.

I'd agree the game is a little slow starting out (hoping it picks up; our best weapon right now is the Rocket Launcher), but we had a pretty fun time playing. Having never played Serious Sam game (I had gotten the very first one for free from a 7600GT I bought, but had lost it somehow and never got to play) it's kind of what I expected. Just a shooter with fun weapons, lots of baddies (in survival anyway, I wish there were a bit more in the campaign), some laughs, and co-op.

I'd say overall the game looks fantastic, but the dull color palette can make the environment look pretty boring. It's weird though. There are some bits and pieces where the game looks like it was made 10 years ago and others where the engine looks very contemporary. It's hard to put my finger on it. Game looks and plays great on my E6600 @ 3Ghz with 8GB of RAM and a Radeon 6870. Split screening with 3 players got a little laggy, but I think if I spend the time turning the dynamic lighting/shadows off it'll help tremendously.

The level design is a little confusing and pretty unforgiving for co-op. It's easy to get lost in the first few levels, and even easier to get separated from the group. The only thing to help you out is a little arrow that points you in the direction of the other players (which usually isn't very helpful at all). I really do wish the game was more linear in that sense so I could concentrate less on moving and more on shooting.

Dunno about the controls on the keyboard and mouse yet, but the default mapping for the 360 controller is really stupid. It's hard to change to the weapon you want, and B is this Serious Sam "Pokedex" that takes up the whole screen and pauses the game (quite annoying when you're playing with your brother who games on the 360 a lot and expects B to be melee). Luckily you can re-map the buttons (though I think it remaps it for everyone playing on split screen).

Loading times are pretty bad, probably worse if you have a slower drive (I have an Indilinx based SSD). It usually takes me at least a minute to load the game from the desktop, no joke.

But by far my worst grievance was that splitscreen co-op requires you to be connected to Steam. SPLIT-SCREEN!

So, to end: My brothers and I had a great time, with lots of laughs for the 2 hours we played. There are problems though, but all in all, I'm happy with the purchase. Any game that gets me and my brothers playing at the same time (and enjoying it) is worth the $35 I had to spend.

I will be picking up this game shortly to give it a whirl and see what's up.

Fixed the slow FPS. SS3's washed out lighting really taxes my video card, and kicks the fan up to vacuum speed. Apparently the card sometimes throttles down to a low clock speed, and doesn't go back up unless you restart. That's pretty stupid. If anyone else with an nvidia card is having issues with this game, check your card's clockspeed, and maybe restart your computer. Also, if you just installed the game and can't get it to run, try starting it in offline mode. Game plays much better with a decent framerate.

Well I am playing and it takes up until level 3 to get going and after that it's a blast...

Didn't have as much fun playing a FPS till... I don't know... feels like forever.

The game is also tougher than previously (playing on Serious here), so you may want to back off a little to start with if you are not up to serious multiplayer style difficulty level... I mean there is barely enough ammo to kill the hordes... enough, but just

It's insane fun once past the second level especially... apparently what makes levels 1 and 2 better is finding secrets, but they are pretty well hidden, it seems... so that I think is the whole deal with them "or fun" in them, if you play them with just the regular guns you are given, it is not the best, especially level II... but after that it really picks up.

l33t-g4m3r wrote:

Level design and gameplay so far seems like a poor call of duty/battlefield ripoff. The new enemies look more human, levels are middle eastern, the weapons are modernized w/ iron sights, can't reload while sprinting, independent melee moves, the armor/health pickups are styled realistically. There is also a decent amount of spread, which affects accuracy. Explosions cause massive amounts of dust to cloud your view. The destruction of crates is just stupid, instead of splintering, boxes fall apart into a large amount of tiny squares, heavily reminiscent of bloated physx games. It looks and plays like a poor battlefield clone, yet Sam does not even vaguely pull off being a battlefield clone, and these levels are all a huge disappointment. I'm going to attempt to get past them, since I am yet hopeful that the grass is greener on the other side.

Isn't Serious Sam supposed to be an over the top version of classic Quake / Doom style shooters? When did it turn into MW: Serious Sam?

it did not for majority of the game... actually for levels past lvl III... not sure what was the logic there but the beginning is not "classic" Sam... they are indeed more like Sam MW... those first levels are also the shortest (like half size or less than the rest), but as people play through them first, they still last long enough that players get this impression, and in general they are not well liked (I did not really like them much either), but apparently finding secrets there is the key to having fun on those first three levels...

Just thought I'd update this thread. Bought SS3 during the xmas sale, when it was half price.

The first levels are a bit slow, not too many enemies etc, but push through. For example, when you get to the level where you get the minigun, it gets much more...er...serious

Not completed it yet, difficulties on normal, and some bits are particularly tricky, taking me a few tries before I get out of 'kill everything' mode and prioritising certain enemies! Such good fun though, well worth picking up!

I agree; the first level or two is slow (though I can see the reason why they did it that way), but after that it's classic Sam.

I enjoyed the first 2 SAMS though sorry to hear about the comments on this one

Maybe I'll try it when it comes down in price.

mikehodges2 wrote:

Just thought I'd update this thread. Bought SS3 during the xmas sale, when it was half price.
The first levels are a bit slow, not too many enemies etc, but push through. For example, when you get to the level where you get the minigun, it gets much more...er...serious
Not completed it yet, difficulties on normal, and some bits are particularly tricky, taking me a few tries before I get out of 'kill everything' mode and prioritising certain enemies! Such good fun though, well worth picking up!

Thing is, there is way more than two levels before you get the minigun. It's almost half-way through the game before it actually picks up, then you get monster spammed, and since the new enemies are super OP for a SS game, along with the terrible weapon balance, it doesn't match up. Not to the originals anyway. The game just ends up being incredibly frustrating. I played it to the end, but there is no replay value at all due to the horrible weapon imbalance, enemies, and levels being all desert. SS3 talks about dodging and no cover, but that's all lies since they overuse hitscan enemies and the ones that aren't are barely avoidable. Werebull spam is insane, and ammo for the powerful weapons is very scarce.
This review sizes up the game pretty well:
http://www.gamesradar.com/serious-sam-3-bfe-review/

Similarly, while Serious 2 took us to all kinds of lush and colorful environments, BFE returns to Egypt and just lingers there like an unwanted party crasher. The ENTIRE game is a series of brown textures – sand, brick buildings, and so many brown Egyptian ruins that playing this game may make you forget there are any other colors in the rainbow (hey, brown’s in the rainbow, right?). Again, this is such a weird stylistic choice because Serious Sam is supposed to be the respite from “modern” shooters. It’s supposed to be an old-school throwback to when FPS games were about nonstop killing and endless circle-strafing or running-backward-and-strafing.

Look, we understand this game is about throwing insane amounts of enemies at you, but the pacing is all out of whack in a number of places. It’s often lacking in proper lulls and crescendos: you’ll encounter a huge swarm, it’s super intense, and then you clear it out. Great! But then a few random stragglers follow up. Then a few more stragglers. A few more. More. Holy crap, when does this pointless, challenge-free trickle end? Sometimes it might be as many as ten to fifteen “waves” of tiny handfuls of enemies that serve no purpose other than to keep you from progressing to the next part of the level. This structure pads out the game way beyond the length it should be – it can take nearly two hours to get through a level that has a layout of space that would take twenty minutes in any other shooter.

I know the minigun comes in at like level 5, which is half way throguh in terms of level numbers, but in play time, its well before the half way point, given that the later levels take ages!

I understand what you're saying, but I see it in a different light; when it seems like there isnt enough ammo, i figured they're trying to force you to use other weapons more effectively. Quite often, there's a crate of c4 lying around, which is actually pretty damn powerful if you can use it properly (although the dust it throws up makes tyhings pretty tricky). As far as I see it, this is all part of the challenge. I'm currently on the level where there are looads of bulls running at you in the canyon, with several large 'red rocket robot brain' things also shooting at you, and you're supplied with loads of cannon balls. Tricky - yes. Impossible, no. They also load you up with devestator rounds, and rockets, so its a case of figuring out which gun to use when...

I love the way they've set it out. It's obviously not to everyones taste, but it works for me!

P.S. I am disappointed that it's all set in egypt, but I didn't buy this game for the scenery, I bought it for the action, and I'm satisfied that it delivered!