Serious Sam

 Xbox
Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 22 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 22
  3. Negative: 0 out of 22
Buy Now
Buy on
  1. TotalGames.net
    70
    Playing Serious Sam is like one long deathmatch only the grunts youíre up against are far from clever.
    All this publication's reviews
  2. Gamer's Pulse
    62
    The lack of an engrossing plot and some repetitive gameplay will probably contribute to a short play life - especially since the multiplayer is so bad.
  3. G4 TV
    60
    The most striking difference of the Xbox version is just how much the game has improved visually. It always looked good, but the polygon count is significantly higher, character models are far less blocky, the weapons look downright incredible, and the texture detail is noticeably more complex in some sections.
  5. Xbox Nation Magazine
    50
    Visually, Sam looks only decent, and slowdown creeps into play from time to time. You've seen better. [Winter 2002, p.106]
    All this publication's reviews
  6. GamerWeb Xbox
    50
    Why this game didn't go through a more rigorous testing period is beyond me. There is no excuse for some of the bugs in this game, especially the visuals.
  7. Electronic Gaming Monthly
    50
    I was lulled into a comatose state after playing about six stages of Serious Sam; making it through another 10 had me flatlining. [Dec 2002, p.258 ; score updated, Jan 2002, p.22]
    All this publication's reviews

Awards & Rankings

59
#59 Best Xbox Game of 2002
48
#48 Most Discussed Xbox Game of 2002

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 22 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 22
  3. Negative: 2 out of 22
  1. LT_Gruber
    Jan 10, 2023
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view. Amazing game that felt totally different from the PC version.

    Serious Sam for the XBOX felt like a totally different game. I already finished Serious Sam: The First Encounter and The Second Encounter many times on PC, but when playing this version, it felt fresh and new, although eighty percent of the game was the same in terms of levels, enemies and story.

    In the core, it is still Serious Sam. The earth is under attack by Mental and his alien horde and earth is overrun, lost completely in disarray. In a desperate attempt to turn the tide, you are teleported back in time to ancient Egypt to, hopefully, change the course of history in favor of humanity. You travel to different parts of Egypt, including Karnak, Luxor, the suburbs of ancient Cairo and the Valley of the Kings.

    On your journey, hordes and hordes of Mentals monsters attack you from all directions and you blast your way to the Great Pyramid, where you defeat Ugh-Zan IV, Mentals most powerful general. After that, you leave a phone message for Mental, telling him that you are coming for his ass and then fly away in your spaceship, which is put down by stupid Serious Sam fans flying in a rocket crate cart and crash into you, starting the Second Encounter.

    In the Second encounter, you start in Sierra Chiapas, in ancient Mayan territory. Your ship is wrecked and not usable anymore. Luckily, you learn about a back-up ship, located in another world. You need to hop between two portals to reach this ancient world and fight your way trough the Mayan lands and towns, Ancient Persia and eventually, ancient Poland. On your journey you are again hindered by even more hordes of Mentals soldiers and three big fat bosses that guard the portals. In the end, you fight the sorcerer Mordekai, who guards the Holy Grail itself. After you whoop his ass, you sarcastically confess your sins in the Grand Cathedral about what you are going to do to Mental when you find him and then fly away in the back-up ship.

    What makes the XBOX version different is a number of things. First of all, you got a score system in which you make combos for higher scores. After enough points, you earn an extra life, another new feature in this game. When you die, you can re-spawn in place and move on. You can also find money and treasure to increase your score even further.

    You also got auto aiming (which can be expected from a console title) and a quick select menu for your favorite four weapons, which are selectable with Y, B, X and A.

    The best difference was the tutorial levels, which all played on present day earth. You complete the levels and then walk up to the teleporter that takes you to ancient Egypt. It is kind of like a mini prequel to the main game. I loved it.

    Levels have been split in multiple parts, mainly because of the memory limitations of the console I guess, nevertheless, it felt like playing more levels, although they were the same length in the end.

    It was strange to see that the XBOX version of Serious Sam featured the Serious Bombs and Chainsaw in the first game. Those weapons were originally introduced in the second game. The models for these weapons are all different too, they look more polished in my opinion.

    The XBOX version of Serious Sam also introduced more cut scenes that all looked a lot like Serious Sam 2’s cut scenes. The PC version had horrible stiff cut scenes in which Sam just moved to a certain item he collected, put it in his hand and the cut scene ended, but here, Sam talks and interacts with the object and environment, making it feel more realistic and fun.

    The graphics and animations are all very different from the PC version. Every enemy has a new touch to them and although they still look the same as the PC version, they have other features on their bodies, other weapons or other clothing or gear. It is funny to compare all the differences with the PC version.

    Sound wise, the game plays and feels the same as the PC version. It is just as epic, nonetheless. Especially the boss battles and swarm battles.

    Finally, you can now collect more ammo, health and armor, even if all is maxed out. The extra health, armor and ammo will simply count as point when you pick them up. This was a nice difference instead of ghostly walking over them.

    The XBOX version of Serious Sam was a lot better than its PC counterparts. It is not entirely fair to compare the two because the XBOX version came out much later, but the improvements and differences gave me a fresh new experience and I loved every second of it.

    Definitely would recommend this retro gem to everyone.    … Full Review »
  2. RealMonkey
    Dec 16, 2021
    10
    This game changed my life forever the cutscenes are amazing the soundtrack is really cathcy also its the best fps game on xbox its better then halo
  3. SebbyPlaysMusic
    Dec 23, 2020
    10
    It's no wonder that Croteam have yet to outdo this game, as it is damn near perfect.

    Looking back on the history of video games, there may    It's no wonder that Croteam have yet to outdo this game, as it is damn near perfect.

    Looking back on the history of video games, there may arguably be one major element that separates the old school from the new: As technology advances, money becomes a greater driving factor for production. What had at one point been someone's personal creative project may require hundreds of personnel and potentially millions of dollars to pull off in today's market. Even disregarding how many games have come out in the past 10-20 years that have been obvious cash grabs, there's still an element of honest companies trying to satisfy expectations based on the trends of other popular games of the time. This brings us to Serious Sam: A shining example of what happens when you let passionate, hungry developers be their own greatest critic.

    While many developers started focusing on adding a more cinematic approach to their games around the PS3 era, this came from just before that. While the first 3D gaming systems were severely limited in hardware and processing power, by the time we reached PS2 and X Box, developers were finally being able to enact concepts they couldn't initially pull off, while still having more incentive to make a game as memorable as possible in every manner other than graphics. In a way, this could be considered one of the furthest true progressions from old-school gaming, as this game excels at everything that made old games classics, while taking elements of some staple 90s FPS games (like Doom) and making them better.

    Best parts of this game:
    - The level design is vast* and expertly layered. Secrets are consistent, but never cheaply hidden, and almost never obvious. The act of uncovering secrets can legitimately keep you on your toes as they do WAY too good of a job at either bringing up enemies when you least expect or taking you to an area you didn't initially conceive of being part of the environment. I'm SERIOUS when I say that these people mastered the average person's expectations to the point of being able to toy with it, like a master poker player who already knew what your next move was going to be.
    *Oftentimes, you'll think to yourself "there's no way they programmed this entire area just to hide a secret." They did. And good thing, because it was way too tempting to explore, especially as a breather from the constant action.

    - The enemies. The kinds of enemies and how many you have to take on. This is the absolute epitome of triggering "fight or flight" mentality, minus the "flight." While there are enemies with different levels of intimidating, there's one particular enemy that's pretty much officially synonymous with this whole series; For anyone who doesn't know, this game is the perfect first experience with it. My first experience: "What's that sound? What's that thing running straight at me from the distance? Why's he yelling like that? OH GOD, WHERE IS IT'S HEAD!? WHY IS IT SCREAMING WITHOUT A FACE!?" [Starts running backwards] ...Ahem.
    While you would think facing literally tens of thousands of enemies throughout the game would get repetitive, it's kind of crazy how the constant variations in the environment actually make the repetition more of a strength; There's a very specific dynamic that keeps this game from being overbearing, between excessive battle scenarios, explorable environments, and a very ironic sense of humor. This leads me to my next point:

    - The writing. I'm assuming if you've come across this game, you've at some point heard of Duke Nukem. While the Duke Nukem series ranges from endearing humor at one point to tastelessly low brow and potentially misogynistic, the character writing here takes a cue from the more self-aware glimpses of Duke Nukem's character, and in turn makes a cliche action hero that's so over-the-top that it enters the realm of pure satire. Not to mention, I would NEVER expect Sam to indicate anything remotely condescending to a female character as he's more the type of person who accepts that life is chaos and jumps straight into it rather than trying to feed a negative, insecure stereotype of manliness; The satire wouldn't be as effective if it wasn't thoroughly aware of what normal should be, or what really makes a man a... manly man.
    While later Serious Sam games would falter here or there by making Sam seem like a sort of expectable, gritty action hero, every line in this game adds to him effectively being the epitome of a protagonist for a totally over-the-top game with just the right aspects of believability to make suspending disbelief feel realistically welcome.

    Altogether, this title is an absolute gem for enthusiasts of intense FPS games, or anyone who longs for a different era of game development when the GAME was the absolute most important part of a video game. This is a prime example of a games flaws being used as it's strengths, and I still enjoy this more than any specific Doom game that's come out to date.    … Full Review »
See all user reviews »