Whenever I hear the term "video game" I immediately think of the Serious Sam games. Pure 100% action packed mother♥♥♥♥ing balls to the ♥♥♥♥ing wall holy ♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ I'm getting my ♥♥♥ kicked fun.
What is Serious Sam The First Encounter? It's an old-school First Person Shooter, you shoot things, pretty simple stuff, right? Well, the thing about Serious Sam is that it does it so well, all you really need in a game like this is shooting. None of that modern military shooter garbage where it pretends to be "realistic" or "tactical" and it takes itself too seriously. Ironically, Serious Sam doesn't take itself seriously at all, it's fairly ridiculous actually. Non of that two weapon limit crap and health regeneration that seems to be the norm nowadays, this game is seriously bat-♥♥♥♥ insane cranked up to eleven.
So why is the game so good? It's fun, for one thing. It's you against a horde of enemies, you shoot everything that moves and it's extremely satisfying to do so. You have a wide arsenal of weapons to help you take on the extreme amounts of enemies flying at you constantly. Each weapon is so finely crafted and balanced to suit each situation in the game and you'll learn over time to know what weapon to use when and on what enemies. You can't just stick with the same weapon because you also have to worry about ammo conservation and it might not work as well as other weapons depending on what situation you're in. You'll slowly but surely adapt to the idea of switching weapons constantly and you better, or you'll get your ♥♥♥ kicked.
The insane variety of weapons you get is ludicrous, and you can carry them all at once. You got your shotguns, minigun, rocket and grenade launchers, laser gun, ♥♥♥♥ING CANNON and more. The game also gives you these weapons at a nice pace as you progress through the game. You'll need every single weapon because this game isn't easy, you will always be attacked by tons of enemies and you'll need to use whatever you have. As for the enemies, there's a very large variety of them as well, and some of the enemy designs are fairly amusing; like headless screaming suicide bombers called "Kamikazes", scorpions with chainguns, reptilian creatures that throw homing balls at you and many more.
The level design is nothing more than serviceable, which isn't a bad thing, it does its job, the enemy placement is occasionally very well and the game has nice pacing. You can also look for secrets which are fairly well placed actually, secrets help you out by rewarding your exploration with health and ammo. But what I like about the level design the most is that it isn't the maze-like level design of some other old-school and classic FPSs, THANK GOD (yeah, I'm talking to you, Doom 2!). All I want in a game like this is to shoot the ever living ♥♥♥♥ out of everything that moves and I don't want to spend time figuring out where I'm supposed to go. Occasionally mid-way or at the end of a level you'll be fighting a boss, and these aren't just bosses, they're the size of a building, they're massive and very fun to fight, some of which you will later encounter as regular enemies once you've defeated them.
The game also has a storyline, rather forgettable and it's nothing more than a setting for the game but the intro to the game sums it up very nicely. Humankind uncovers some advanced technology from another race, eventually they are attacked by aliens and at the point of being entirely doomed, they send Sam "Serious" Stone, a hero wounded countless times but never defeated, through an artifact called "The Time Lock"; which has the power to send a single person back in time, so Sam is sent thousands of years back in time when humankind had a fighting chance to defeat Mental, the evil bad guy who is responsible for all this mess; and thus Sam fights his way through Mental's horde and whatnot. The Protagonist is likeable and quite awesome though.
The game also has multiplayer. STAY FAR AWAY, besides the fact that the multiplayer is dead, deathmatch is so incredibly unbalanced and pointless. There's also co-op, and it's up to 16 players which is kind of awesome but in my opinion, this game shines the most in singleplayer.
It's also not a bad looker, while the graphical fidelity isn't incredible, it still has some nice textures and shadow effects, modeling is good but the animations are a bit meh. The game is also very colorful, even though it takes place in Egypt which is always great. Also, the soundtrack is fantastic, it fits the game very well. I also have to mention the excellent sound design in this game. If you listen closely, you can hear the enemies that you are about to encounter and each enemy has its own sound, so you know what to prepare for when you're about to enter a new area or a room. And when you are surrounded by enemies, know which direction they are coming from because you can hear them very well no matter which direction (if you're using headphones, of course).
In conclusion, if you're into the golden age of FPS, then you've probably already played this game, if you haven't though; definitely be sure to give it a try. I'd go as far as to say that this is probably the best game to start with for people new to the FPS genre. And as a remake, this is just as good if not better than the original version.
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