Serious Sam

Visually, Sam looks only decent, and slowdown creeps into play from time to time. You've seen better. [Winter 2002, p.106]

Great gameplay, great graphics, great levels, great lead character, great amount of gaming-time hours: you name it this game does it GREAT.

You get just enough time to either shake that turd out of your shorts or to start firing - but not both. [Dec 2002, p.133]

The true beauty of Serious Sam is in its pacing. It's able to maintain a consistently high level of fun by concentrating on the details: the different sequences the monsters come at you, the different sides they come at you and the clever monster placements (high, low, concealed) throughout the levels. These are, quite frankly, some of the best in the industry.

Sure, it's not a budget game like its predecessors, but Serious Sam for the Xbox is easily worth its full retail price and will last you longer than most other action games.

Serious Sam is a true mindless shooter. There is no story, no real idea of what you are accomplishing, and it is almost impossible to run out of ammo.

It’s great fun to play, controls are an absolute dream and there’s nothing better than shooting some headless freaks to bits.

The graphics are very high end, with insanely good lighting effects, detailed textures, huge monsters, trees that shred when blasted with gunfire, gorgeous reflective surfaces.

Takes the FPS genre back to its roots. You feel once again like playing the 1993’s Doom shareware edition, now in full 3D.

Fast and frantic action for the arcade shooter fan, but light on story and strategy. Its graphics are a step down from those of its PC-based predecessors.

An absolute blast to play. It is exactly what it sets out to be -- a mindless, fun shooter.

A good, solid, and fun title that is great for blowing off steam and packs some multiplayer fun. [Dec 2002, p.103]

Playing Serious Sam is like one long deathmatch only the grunts youíre up against are far from clever.

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.

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.

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]

A fun package that doesn’t tax your noggin the way "Halo" did.

It's not about visuals; it's about a throwback to "Doom" with a balls-out style that is outrageous fun. [Nov 2002, p.84]

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.

Long enough for some serious sessions of sordid slaughter, and if you don't take plot too seriously and don't mind some repetition with your ultra-violence, then it's worth your money.