![]() ![]() Many FPS fans will be put off by the lack of strategy, A.I., and story involved. Serious Sam 2 is certainly a niche title. A great Deathmatch or Capture the Flag mode would have helped to extend the replay value of the title beyond the appeal of the single player campaign. ![]() While the co-op mode is fun, it is the same campaign as the single player, and the lack of any competitive online multiplayer modes is disappointing. However the only online multiplayer mode available is co-op, where 2-4 players can join forces to take on the story mode. Online multiplayer is pretty much a must in first person shooters on the X-box, and SS2 makes it’s contribution to X-box live. You’ll probably tune it out somewhere around the thirteen or fourteen thousand kill mark. The music is overly generic, but not offensive by any means. The sound effects are generally good, and some are definitely unique to this series (Exxxttttrrraa Liiieeeevvvaaahhh comes to mind, as do a few others). Some of the lines sound forced and cheesy (well, more so than they are supposed to). The sound in SS2 has it’s positives and negatives. In fact, its length may be one of it’s shortcomings, as it just isn’t consistently engaging enough to keep most gamer’s minds occupied long enough to complete it. There are quite a few as well, over 40, but many gamers not weaned on the Doom formula will grow bored after less than half of that. The levels are well designed, albeit linear, and vary quite a bit (all while sticking to gaming clichés like Snow levels and Forest levels). Once again, you won’t be concerned with the graphics when you start getting rushed by ten or fifteen Orc football players. It’s not genre defining by any stretch, and there are some clipping and environmental issues, but certainly nothing that distracts from the gameplay as a whole. That is, until you realize that you’re basically just killing all the same things in the snow that you killed in the forest. This creates an adrenaline filled, sensation of twitch gaming. ![]() It is not strange to have entire fields of vision filled with enemies rushing you. They will come at you fast and furious, and what they lack in intelligence, they make up in sheer numbers. The enemies Sam dispatches are as unique and varied as any in the genre, from giant Orc football players to Mechanical T-rexes T-rexi T-rex…Dinosaurs. The weapon selection contains many genre staples (Chaingun, Rocket Launcher, Shotgun) and several other, more inventive weapons (the Cannon comes to mind), however you will probably find yourself just sticking to a couple that work and not exploring many of the others. Speaking of those waves of enemies, gamers familiar with the series already will feel right at home in SS2. Gamers who choose to take this series for a ride come for the senseless murder of wave after wave of enormous groups of enemies, and they stay for the….senseless murder of wave after wave of enormous groups of enemies. Besides….Ģ) If you’re playing it for the story….um….Go home. Sound like the worlds most generic premise? (God, I’ve gotta quit asking you guys these questions…) It probably would be if it weren’t for two things:ġ) Serious Sam is pretty much a parody of all things FPS, so an original story would feel out of place. Sam must collect 5 pieces of the “Medallion of Power”. Sam’s arch nemesis Mental is up to it again. The story behind Serious Sam 2 is basically unimportant to the flow of the game, but a story exists nonetheless. But is it a whole lot of fun? Oh yeah….for a little while at least. A cat and mouse war of attrition with enemies that could pass for MENSA members? Absolutely not. Instead SS2 takes us back to the days of Doom (the first one) and offers up a whole lot of run, gun and Gibs. Fans looking for a deep shooter that balances stealth and gunplay with intelligent enemies need not apply. Croteam charges out of the gate once again with Serious Sam 2, the newest iteration of it’s popular franchise. ![]()
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