Despite being around for over 10 years, the Serious Sam franchise is still relatively unknown among console gamers. While the various games in the series have come out on the consoles, the releases were often overlooked, which is a shame considering how fantastic the series is. However, with the release of the Serious Sam Collection, gamers no longer have an excuse not to check out this franchise as all four games in the series are bundled together for one low price.
For $39.99 you receive four different games, a compilation of almost every release in the franchise to the current date. At $10 a game, with each game taking hours to complete, you’re definitely getting bang for your buck. For the most part, all the Serious Sam games play the same: first-person shooters that takes its cues from the Doom era and not Call of Duty. What this translates into is hundreds of enemies onscreen at once with a story that amounts to “kill everything in a level and survive.”
The first two games in the series, Serious Sam: The First Encounter and Serious Sam: The Second Encounter, are not just straight ports of the classic PC releases. Both games have been given a makeover, sporting a new graphical look that puts them on par with many of today’s newest releases. The gameplay is at the most basic of the Serious Sam series, following the outline listed above. This doesn’t make them bad games, as if you are a gamer looking for a game that is a love letter to 90s, then these two games will scratch that itch. There really isn’t a lot to say about the first two games in the franchise: they are well-made, entertaining, mindless romps that dissolve the genre into its purest form.
Serious Sam 3, on the other hand, tries to mix up the formula a bit and here is where the franchise stutters. Originally released in 2011, Serious Sam 3 begins with what is said to be a parody of the Call of Duty franchise. The levels are very linear, heavily scripted and even a stealth sequence is thrown in for good measure. The problem is, this parody isn’t well executed and drags on for hours before the game finally opens up to the gameplay you’d expect in a Serious Sam game. Tough it out through those first few awful hours and you’ll be treated to a game that retains the elements the franchise is known for while upping the enemy count tenfold.
The final game in the collection, Serious Sam Double D XXL, is an independent game made by a completely different company, which is immediately apparent as this game is a 2D action platformer. It’s a decent game and worth a playthrough but it’s more of an added bonus to the package rather than a reason to buy it.
Released for the Xbox 360 on July 23rd, 2013, at $39.99 the Serious Sam Collection should definitely be a purchase for any gamer who is a fan of first person shooters.