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I’ve been looking forward to playing Serious Sam 4 for a while. It ran like shit on our hardware so we decided to wait until after we upgraded or built a new PC. Waiting to play it might have been for the best, anyway, since it’s my understanding that it released with several technical issues. We did build a new PC and instead of immediately jumping into Serious Sam 4, I decided to play through the previous games first as a refresher. It’s a series I immensely enjoy and that includes Serious Sam 2 and its more silly nature. The Serious Sam 1 or Serious Sam Classic games introduced players to the world of Serious Sam and its unique brand of gameplay; blowing away hordes of foes in large environments with awesome firepower. They’re also bright and colorful games with a nice blend of seriousness and humor. Serious Sam 2 retains the unique brand of gameplay but aims for more humor which didn’t seem to sit well with everyone, I guess. The developers toned down the humor significantly in Serious Sam 3 and the result feels a lot more like the classics but with some modern touches. And then comes Serious Sam 4.
Developed by Croteam and published by Gathering of Developers, Serious Sam 4 was released for PC and Stadia in September, 2020, and PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series systems in December, 2021. For this review, I played the PC version. It was originally titled Serious Sam 4: Planet Badass but the subtitle was dropped due to localization issues. For the longest time, I was under the impression the game was actually set on a planet called Badass. But, alas, that’s not the case. It’s set on Earth. Although, given the series brand of humor, I think that would have worked. One thing about Serious Sam 4 that really excited me is the Legion System. The game’s Steam page describes it like this, “Serious Sam 4 unleashes some of the biggest moments in the series’ history with the new Legion System and battlefields teeming with thousands of enemies!”. Unfortunately, it turned out to be some bullshit marketing but we’ll get into that.
Serious Sam 4 is another prequel, this time set before the events of Serious Sam 3. A massive portal opens in Tunguska, Russia, allowing Mental’s forces to invade Earth. As The Earth Defense Force scrambles to the repel the alien invasion, a unit led by Sam “Serious” Stone is sent to Rome to meet up with a priest who claims to know the whereabouts of the Holy Grail which is believed to be a powerful alien artifact that can be used against the aliens. The plot is primarily conveyed through cut scenes and dialogue but is far from the highlight.
Once again, the series brand of humor is in full force here but it doesn’t quite reach the ridiculousness of Serious Sam 2 in my opinion. Serious Sam 4 features multiple characters that I think you’re supposed to care about but they’re terribly developed and much of the writing and dialogue is poor. I don’t mind stupid and silly humor and some of the humor here did land for me but a lot of it did not. The plot is actually pretty straightforward, not unlike its predecessors but many interactions simply aim to be humorous and, like the series brand of gameplay, the series brand of humor might not be for everybody. On the plus side, NETRICSA returns and the information it contains is organized again much like its classic iterations. I don’t much care for the simplified NETRICSA interface in Serious Sam 3. I prefer the tabs or categories. Organization. Also unlike Serious Sam 3, Serious Sam 4 is more colorful and as a result of that along with the humor on display, I feel the tone and atmosphere are more reminiscent of those of the classics than what you experience in Serious Sam 3 and even 2. It’s not quite as serious and gritty as 3 but also not as cartoony as 2.
As of this review, Serious Sam 4 comes with a campaign that can be played cooperatively but no competitive multiplayer modes. It also comes with a Survival mode consisting of three maps. Right off the bat, I want to say I enjoyed my time with Serious Sam 4 and despite the familiarity of the gameplay, it does feel somewhat refreshing. As expected, it’s all about blowing away mobs of foes and some areas will throw wave after wave of enemies at you. I think it’s safe to say, if you didn’t like the previous games, you won’t like this. As it relates to the gameplay, my biggest disappointment is with the Legion System. Not that it’s bad but it’s just not what I was hoping for. Keep in mind, I didn’t do any research on this before playing so I went into it with what was described on the game’s Steam page.
As indicated earlier, the way the Legion System is described makes it sound like you’ll face thousands of enemies at a time. The reality is you will but the only times this occurs is at the very beginning of the campaign and again at the end. In fact, it’s the same battle. A battle with thousands of troops on the battlefield – friendlies and enemies, and it does make for cool flashy action but it definitely feels scripted. And this is without adjusting enemy multiplier options. If you actually read up on how the Legion System spawning works, it’s different than the regular spawning system. The rest of the campaign is your typical Serious Sam experience so don’t go into this expecting the Legion System to be present throughout.
There’s a lot of things I like about Serious Sam 4 and one of those things is how it feels. How it feels to play. It’s fast-paced, movement feels great, and the gunplay is by far the best in the series up to this point. The game does introduce several new features including critical hits. The weapons have great audiovisual feedback, enemies bleed when shot or hit, they can be turned to gibs, and there’s a kind of chunkiness to the shooting and gore that I really like. Once again, battles can result in bloody body parts littered about the battlefields. You get to blow away enemies with an awesome arsenal consisting of mostly familiar or returning weapons but also some new ones. You can find upgrades for several which are alternate fire modes and the Death Ray for the Lasergun is one of the greatest things ever. The AutoShotgun and FRPCL are two new weapons. The AutoShotgun is just a blast to use, no pun intended, but the FRPCL is easily the most interesting. It functions similar to the rocket launcher but fires homing explosive chainsaws and it also doubles as a chainsaw.
One of the biggest things introduced in Serious Sam 4 is skills. As you navigate the environments, you’ll come across Sirian Artefacts of Might which grant skill points that can be spent to unlock skills. These include dual wielding weapons, faster reloading, melee attacks replenish health, and a chance enemies can drop items upon death, among other things. Many of these are quite beneficial and the more I unlocked the more powerful I felt. I do kind of wish there was a New Game Plus mode so I could replay the campaign while retaining my skills, weapons, and upgrades. From what I understand, this is something I can look forward to in the standalone expansion, Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem, which we are reviewing separately.
Other new features include side objectives and gadgets. As you progress through the campaign, you’ll come across optional or side objectives to complete. While objectives aren’t really new to the series, there are many optional objectives here and the rewards for completing them is what makes them worthwhile. You’ll have to investigate areas, destroy portals, assist NPCs, and even complete a text adventure in one level. Most side objectives take you on a route away from the main objective and the reward is often Gadgets but some offer other things. Gadgets can also be found in the environments. In fact, many secrets house gadgets. I see gadgets as power-ups. Power-ups that can be stored and activated manually and only last for a limited time. Rage Serum increases your speed and damage output, Time Warp slows down enemies and projectiles, L.I.F.E. replenishes some health, the Black Hole pulls enemies in and kills them, and that’s only some of them. Several gadgets can make battles significantly easier and by the middle of the campaign, I found it wise to save some for really tough battles or any I was struggling with.
I would say Serious Sam 4 is better paced than the previous game. It’s also not as slow to start. You’ll end up in some pretty hectic battles early on and the environments start to become massive when you get to France. In fact, some are so big that there are points where you’ll be given vehicles to get from A to B. The campaign takes you to Italy, France, the Arctic, and Russia, making for a good variety of locations. You’ll battle foes on streets, in the countryside, colosseum, around a military base, castle, and even an oil rig. Most of the campaign has you engaging enemies on-foot but there are points where you’ll get to pilot mechs and use them to annihilate armies of foes which is always a lot of fun.
I won’t tread on too much of what I talked about in our reviews of the previous games because the core gameplay is basically unchanged. It’s all about running and gunning and blowing away mobs of foes and knowing what weapons to use and when and what enemies to prioritize and when are still crucial. None of that has changed. Serious Sam 4 gives you some new tools and toys to play with but the core aspect of the series remains intact. The new tools and toys along with the new foes just make things a little more refreshing. At least I think so. Many foes will be familiar to series veterans but there are several new threats here, too. The variety is excellent and I welcome the new cast. I don’t much care for the new Bio-Mechanoid look and I do like the new Witch-Bride behavior. In fact, I prefer it to how she behaved in the last game. She no longer holds you in the air. Instead, she warps around the battlefield and hurls things at you. There are numerous points in the campaign where you’ll get to fight alongside friendly NPCs, including an Arachnoid informant. One thing I will say about having all these characters is that you don’t feel completely alone even during gameplay. While you will battle solo for most of the campaign, I found fighting alongside NPCs to be enjoyable. They will actually shoot at and kill enemies. They’re not just there for show.
I immediately increased the saturation in the Color Options menu just like I do in Serious Sam 3 but Serious Sam 4 is a more colorful game in general. When compared to the last game, the environments are more diverse and detailed. Some of the scenery and backgrounds are truly gorgeous. However, pop-in is rampant. I found it to be much more noticeable here than that of the previous games. And not just typical things like objects and foliage popping into view. Textures, too. It even happens during cut scenes. All the pop-in is a bit of a blemish on an otherwise detailed and beautiful presentation. As for the audio work, I would say it’s in line with that of the previous games and many classic foes come with their iconic sounds. Audio is still an important part of the gameplay. You can often tell what foes are coming just by listening. I do like soundtrack and I think I like it more than that of Serious Sam 3. There’s some excellent tunes here ranging from classic Serious Sam orchestral sounding tunes to metal tunes that really kick ass. On the technical side, the game ran great most of the time. I noticed some hiccups or hitches in the frame rate when things got super busy but I did not encounter any major issues.
I really enjoyed Serious Sam 4 and all of its new features. I welcome everything about it. Even the Legion System which is only on display twice. As scripted as it is, it does add a certain kind of intensity to the gameplay. Other than that, it’s typical Serious Sam with some new stuff. I did not play much of Serious Sam 4 at release. Mainly because it ran like shit on our hardware at the time. But from what I understand, it released with several technical issues. Other than the rampant pop-in, I can’t really say I encountered too many problems. However, I’ve read that Croteam has released several patches since release. That said, in its current state, as of this review I think it’s a fine game and I had a blast playing it. In fact, it’s up there as one of my favorite modern shooters. The gunplay is excellent and I think the game is better than Serious Sam 3. And I like that game a lot. But 4 has more features, it’s more colorful, I prefer the pacing, and its got more variety in terms of enemies and environments. It feels more like classic Serious Sam with enough new stuff to make it feel refreshing rather than just more of the same in a new setting. It comes with a fun, action-packed, and lengthy campaign that can be enjoyed with others and it support mods. It’s a game that can keep you busy for quite a while.
I absolutely recommend Serious Sam 4. If you’re a fan of the previous games, I think you’ll really enjoy this. I would even go so far to say the game is a bit underrated. I can understand technical issues turning people off but I didn’t play it much at release. I had a really great time and I think it’s safe to say that every main game in this franchise delivers the goods. They may not be everyone’s cup of tea but they do offer plenty of action and enemies to shoot if that’s what you’re looking for. Some issues aside, they offer consistently fun fast-paced action and Serious Sam 4 is no exception. Definitely check it out.