Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter Review (Ω Yukich)
Running Backwards - Again - Not First Time
So after the events of UnSerious Samus To - which you can read here:
https://steamcommunity.com/id/yuuuuki/recommended/204340/
Our main hero, made a TIME PARADOX: caused major havoc and mayhem on Mental's favourite planet. Until that, Mental did not knew who Sam even is, so he decided, that Earth - is a major threat - and declared war on it, dooming our planet on complete exterminatus. So Sam was forced to travel in time - again, and here we are, back in Egypt....
...Nah, Im just screwing with you.
Anyways, after Mixed responses on previous game, Croteam started to develop a new engine, SE3. Rumors are - they were planning to make some military shooter and the engine showed good promises. So they decided to test its capabiltes on old games, and also make profit from re-selling them.
And thats how HD SS1 were born.
Whats the difference?
Most people would ignore this game, since I recently completed the original game. But Im a man of principle, and also stubborn MF, and also I hate myself....(I just want it to end...)
So anyways, here's another link where you can read about SS1:
https://steamcommunity.com/id/yuuuuki/recommended/41050/
Major aspect of this game though, are the graphics of course, new lighting engine, dynamic shadows that actually work, detailed layout of the levels, more stuff on the screen, DX11 support, physics, ragdolls, better water effects, textures...you get the idea. The game looks pretty and more believable.
But the changes do not stop here. Some rooms, secrets, spawns, etc. Were changed. Be that quality of life, engine capabilites (no more Gravity-Changing BS, some would consider this a downgrade) or making the game more newbie-friendly.
Also weapon change is faster now.
And some enemies, because of the physics - are behaving a little different and sometimes weird now.
More blood, gore, enemies lose a chunks of meat after being bombarded by heavy weaponry - great stuff.
There are also minor bugs, like monster stuck behind locked doors, soft-locking you for eternity, but its extremely rare, Im just "lucky"
All of those changes, are easier to see if you just played the original games recently, otherwise, you wont notice most of them.
Although, to be fair, some models and secrets were already remade back in the Xbox(Original) version of Serious Sam1, but not on such degree. And also, Xbox version sucked in every way possible, so moving on.
No changes on the music, sounds or voiceover - its mostly the same.
I do believe thare are most hardcore fans who would say - that the original version is better and more Serious way to experience SS1, And I Totally Respect That Opinion but - whatever which you like.
Finally, the game fully suports modern systems and you won't need to start praying before each launch of the game, it will launch on almost every system. Its well optimized and the number of config options is astonishing.
The only personal problem for me...
Achievments Rant
So this game got achievments, right? 35 of them, 24 (TWENTY-FOUR MIND YOU) of them are Online achievments, be that Coop and mostly DeathMatches. You read that right, a game that is mostly about playing solo vs hundreds of monsters - have the most achievments ONLINE. The online is dead and I also dont have friends, so those are impossible.
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE.
The game wants me to complete the game on Serious difficulty (its not hardest, there are two more, which are BS), whilst also speedrun each level, not firing any bullet (you can use rockets, lasers and so on), completing some levels on 100% and all of this - without loading.
While all of this sounds like...uh "fun"....for torturing yourself for eternity, I still understand that those achivos are either a sick joke, or just made for true diehard hardcore Serious Fans, that I am certainly NOT.
Hell, there's an achievment just for the completing the game and guess what - only 10% of players actually beat the game...legally....that says a lot.
So Im not gonna do them, legit way, at least.
Kids, if you gonna make games in the future, And wanna make achievments, look forward in time a little and think how to make them - enjoyable at least.
8/10 - still medicore, although this time, graphics DO matter
Have a random meme that I found:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3zMSLWxGDI&ab_channel=WEAPONSFROMGAMES