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Serious Sam is a series that I can always come back to and have a good time. The concept is simple. Blow away armies of foes in large in environments. The style of gameplay might not be for everybody but I love it. Serious Sam 1 which consists of Serious Sam: The First Encounter and Serious Sam: The Second Encounter is a classic. At the time they released, they differentiated themselves from others in the genre through not only their gameplay but also through their tone and atmosphere. They’re violent and bloody but also bright and colorful with a dash of humor. They were followed up by Serious Sam 2 which goes full bore in the silly direction but it retains the fun style of gameplay. From what I understand, not everybody was pleased with Serious Sam 2 and the next game in the series tones down the silliness significantly.
Developed by Croteam and published by Devolver Digital, Serious Sam 3: BFE was released for PC in November, 2011, Xbox 360 in October, 2012, and PlayStation 3 in May, 2014. The game did receive DLC called Jewel of the Nile in 2012 and it comes with a new campaign and some multiplayer content. If you own the game on Steam, it along with the DLC are automatically added to Serious Sam Fusion which is a central hub for multiple Serious Sam games; the HD remakes of The First and Second Encounters and Serious Sam 3 along with their VR versions. It also comes with new engine features, patches, and upgrades. For this review, I played the PC version. From Fusion, specifically. I had once heard that Serious Sam 3 originally began as a different game, some kind of modern military shooter, but at some point Croteam changed course and turned it into Serious Sam 3. I can’t find a lot of information on it so I don’t know if that’s entirely accurate.
Serious Sam 3: BFE serves as a prequel to The First Encounter, depicting events on Earth before Sam’s journey to the past. The story begins with Sam and a team of soldiers in a helicopter travelling to modern Egypt which is occupied by Mental’s alien army. Their objective is to find Bravo Team who are protecting a scientist carrying hieroglyphics believed to contain instructions for powering up the Time-Lock. When the helicopter is shot down, Sam is the only survivor and sets out to complete the objective alone. Jewel of the Nile’s campaign is set during the events of the main campaign. Sam is dispatched to an island to locate a fail-safe mechanism which is believed to be the key to turning on the Time-Lock.
Serious Sam 3 tones down the silliness of its predecessor and feels more like The First and Second Encounters in terms of gameplay. If I have any complaints, it’s that it does feel very familiar and lacks the variety of The Second Encounter. For one thing, it’s set in Egypt just like The First Encounter. The difference being Serious Sam 3 is set in modern Egypt. Still, it’s a single setting as opposed to The Second Encounter and even Serious Sam 2 which contain multiple. As expected, the story is not shoved in your face but does retain the series brand of humor and even features some additional characters. The story is conveyed through cut scenes and dialogue and NETRICSA does make a return and serves the same purpose as before but I don’t much care for the interface here. All entries are stacked in a single menu. It doesn’t look organized. I miss the tabs and/or categories like we see in The First and Second Encounters.
One thing I noticed right off the bat is that Serious Sam 3 is not as colorful and vibrant as its predecessors. It seems like the developers wanted to bring back the balance of seriousness and humor of Serious Sam 1 but they also delivered a more desaturated presentation. While the environments are well designed and detailed, I don’t much care for the washed out look because it doesn’t feel like Serious Sam. It doesn’t affect the gameplay in a negative way, mind you, but I like that the previous games, especially Serious Sam 1, delivered violent and bloody action but also bright and colorful experiences. Serious Sam 3 is violent and bloody and it’s bright but it’s not really colorful. Not like its predecessors, anyway. In fact, whenever I fire it up, I always go into the Color Options menu and increase the saturation just to make things pop a little more.
Serious Sam 3 does come with a multiplayer component and the campaigns can be played cooperatively. Series veterans should be familiar with the core gameplay. As expected, it’s all about blowing away hordes of foes in large environments. You’ll need to run, jump, strafe, and shoot to survive and knowing what weapons to use and when and what enemies to prioritize and when are still crucial. While much of the gameplay feels familiar, there are some things that make this entry feel different. And keep in mind, Serious Sam 3 released before Serious Sam 2’s 2021 update. For one thing, you can sprint and in my opinion, this is pretty significant. I welcome it because it means you can outrun several foes now which was not something you could do in Serious Sam 1. Much of the arsenal consists of modern weaponry but some classic weapons do make a return. It should also be noted that several weapons need to be reloaded and I feel that’s also somewhat significant. When using certain weapons, you’ll have to stop firing at times to reload which means you’re more vulnerable during that time.
I do like the firepower and the gunplay feels great. Weapons have good audiovisual feedback and the gore effects are phenomenal. Enemy bodies will become visibly bloody as they take damage and battles often result in bloody body parts littered about. Furthermore, Sam can perform melee attacks, some of which look brutal like when he rips out a Gnaar’s eye or a Beheaded Rocketeer’s heart. While much of the arsenal is different, several weapons function like their classic counterparts, although you cannot dual wield pistols here. My favorite new weapon is the Devastator. It’s an automatic shotgun that fires explosive rounds that can pierce through multiple low tier threats. For some reason, the Sniper Rifle and Lasergun are rare finds in the main campaign but are more prevalent in Jewel of the Nile. I am a little disappointed that the chainsaw and flamethrower do not make a return. Serious Sam 3 features a sledgehammer and Jewel of the Nile features an axe which is basically a reskin of the sledgehammer. These are great weapons for low tier threats but they’re not as good for crowd control like the chainsaw and flamethrower. At least I don’t think so.
Serious Sam 3 does start out a little slow when compared to the previous games. It’s not like The Second Encounter where you start in some large environments and are given some deadly firepower early on. In Serious Sam 3, unless you find specific weapons in secret areas, you don’t get the good stuff until later on and several early environments feature many low-tier threats and smaller areas to battle in. Not only that, not every enemy is relentless with their attacks. For example, the new Cloned Soldiers actually take cover. Then there’s the new Cave Daemons which are agile and will jump between columns and walls and at Sam if he’s close enough. These two enemies are dangerous in numbers but they’re the kinds of foes that enable you to stay back to pick them off as opposed to the rest of the cast which will either unleash projectiles constantly and/or rush you, keeping you on the move.
Most of the classic foes from The First Encounter make an appearance although, the Reptiloid is only present in the Jewel of the Nile campaign. Foes like the Kleer Skelton, Beheaded Kamikaze, and Sirian Werebull come with their iconic audio and Arachnoids also return and are still hitscan types which I still feel is not a good fit for the style of gameplay Serious Sam offers. I do feel most of the new enemies are good additions, although I find the Cave Daemon to be a little tedious. Some of the new threats may change up how you approach situations. The Cloned Soldier and Cave Daemon are good examples and also the Witch-Bride. She can teleport around and is only vulnerable when she’s preparing to attack. She can use her telekinetic powers to hold you in the air and restrict your movement while draining your health. She’s also another enemy that comes with distinct audio so you’ll know when she’s in the area.
I do think the pacing isn’t as consistent as that of the Serious Sam 1 games. While all three have you primarily running and gunning and moving from battle to battle, Serious Sam 3 does slow down from time to time, mainly when you’re in tombs and temples. All or most of these areas seem to be dark and basically guarantee you’ll encounter Cave Daemons and move through many narrow passages. The more open spaces typically feature columns and that’s where the Cave Daemons reside. In general, these areas don’t play out like typical Serious Sam mainly because they don’t throw the typical mobs and waves at you. In Jewel of the Nile, one of these areas is more focused on puzzle solving than battle.
I do like the level design although it’s not as varied as that of The Second Encounter. There’s no bouncy rooms, breezes that blow you and enemies around, or even anti-gravity, and there’s no Power-Ups and few hazards to be mindful of. Although, Serious Sam 3 does feature a jetpack. It’s only available during a boss battle in the main campaign but one level in Jewel of the Nile lets you use it for a good chunk of time, and it makes for a fun way to get around. You’ll battle foes in urban areas, tombs and temples, a museum, and even around a military base, among other locations. The game does feature a mix of tight and open spaces and many of the more open areas are huge in typical Serious Sam fashion and enemies will often come at you in waves and from different directions. There are plenty of secrets to find, many of which house goodies and others are traps so it’s always wise to be alert. Most areas give you plenty of space to maneuver and you’ll navigate around a lot of destroyed buildings and structures and many structures and objects can be destroyed, opening up the battlefields even more. If I have any complaint with the environments, it’s that they do lack variety. Many areas just look and feel similar. Jewel of the Nile’s campaign comes with three new levels. It is a short campaign that can be completed in a single sitting and it is mostly more of the same. The levels are big and do feature some backtracking. You’ll have to find specific items and bring them to specific locations and as indicated earlier, you will have to solve some puzzles at a certain point.
Visually, Serious Sam 3 does showcase a desaturated or washed out look as I mentioned before. But the environments are well designed and very detailed. I like the war torn look and the visual and gore effects look great. Also great are the weapon and enemy models. I really like the designs of the Bio-Mechanoids and Gnaar’s. The game does feature a long draw distance which is typical for the series and the only real eyesore I noticed is pop-in. The audio work is good and still important. You can still identify enemies coming just by listening. The soundtrack contains a good mix of ambient and metal tunes and the more intense tunes kick in when enemies are nearby. In general, I would say the music is a good fit for the setting and gameplay. On the technical side, I encountered no major issues.
I really enjoyed my time with Serious Sam 3. I am a little disappointed with the lack of color in the presentation but, overall, I had a lot of fun. That’s not to say I’m blind to some of its drawbacks. It does feel a little too familiar and lacks variety. Unlike The Second Encounter and even Serious Sam 2, it doesn’t have the same kind of environmental or visual variety. Many areas look and feel the same. While it feels very much like Serious Sam 1, The First Encounter more than The Second Encounter, the pacing isn’t as consistent and there’s not much here we haven’t seen before. But on the plus side, I like being able to sprint, I think the weapons look cool, I like the new foes, and the gameplay is still typical Serious Sam which means it’s fun. It means if you didn’t like the previous games, you probably won’t like this. Ultimately, Serious Sam 3 delivers what you would expect from a Serious Sam game but puts you in a modern setting.
I absolutely recommend Serious Sam 3. If you’re a fan of the previous games, I don’t think this will disappoint. It may not break new ground or do anything innovative for the series but it does deliver the goods and has plenty of replay value. With multiple difficulty levels, multiplayer, and mod support, there’s plenty here to keep you occupied for a while. Definitely check it out.