Serious Sam 3 is the latest in the long-running FPS series and takes quite a radical turn from the second game. While the SS2 was a cocaine-filled fever dream set in a cartoonish world, this entry pulls a 180 with its now bleak & grim setting. We once again play as the iconic Sam Stone as we battle through the events which eventually leads up to the original game. It is a prequel, though the story has always been so nonsensical and tongue in cheek that it really has no bearing on anything other than to give Sam ample opportunities for one-liners as well as a reason to go shoot something. Our journey begins in the city of Cairo that has been consumed by the war against the alien invasion and hasn’t a single soul left.
As per the law of video games, the helicopter we were riding on is quickly destroyed, and we find ourselves on the rooftop of a building with no weapons. That doesn’t stop a hulking cyclops known as a Gnaar from immediately wanting to tear you apart after your first few steps and is where Serious Sam 3 will soon show the direction they are going for in this entry. You kill it by simply pressing E then a brutal animation plays out as you twiddle your thumbs passively watching it occur. Soon afterward you will get your hands on a sledgehammer that kills mid to low tier foes in a single swing and is used to pummel down barricades which may lead to a secret area.
After some time of Babe Ruthing the enemies straight to hell, you’ll slowly but surely begin to amass some actual guns into your arsenal. The first three you’ll encounter are the pistol with infinite ammo, a machinegun containing a laser sight, and a shotgun. Your pistols have always needed reloading throughout the series though now that also extends to the shotgun and machinegun. Due to the small amount of foes you will face in the first few hours it may be an addition hardly worth mentioning at first, however, will eventually become seriously counter-intuitive to its core gameplay once it turns it up a notch. The weapons are a tiny bit less accurate when not using iron sights yet it is barely noticeable. You can still hip-fire anything you get your hands on and easily nail an enemy from great distances.
This title is an extremely slow burner. Your first couple of hours will be spent shooting dudes that have guns in linear corridors, avoiding inexplicably invulnerable turrets that will turn you into mincemeat, and an attempt at horror oddly enough. Once you enter a museum, you will find yourself in a pitch black darkness and have a very limited sight with your flashlight as giant spider-like creatures scurry about. It’s an interesting change of pace but quickly gutted when you realize that even these enemies can be insta-killed quickly by using your QTE melee attack near them. Nearly every attempt to modernize this game has had an adverse effect on it. It is a mix of both old school and modern FPS mechanics that has been cobbled together without going far enough to appeal to either audience. This resulted in a fracture that gave this title a feeling of inconsistency of what exactly it wants to be and thankfully, while the first half wants to be a modern shooter, the second half recaptures the spirit of its namesake. Mostly.
Serious Sam is primarily known and remembered for two things, the sheer amount of enemies it will throw at the player and the beautiful wide open areas to battle it out. Rare would be the moment when you aren’t holding down the firing button while keeping a keen eye on the chaos to dodge every attack that may come your way. Kleers that attempt to lunge at you and rip your face off, giant mechs whose deadly rockets can be shot out of the air and the ever deadly headless Kamikaze who’ll send shivers down your spine once you hear their iconic scream are all still present. The problem for the first half was how they were put to use in their weird attempt to conform to other shooters of the time. While the reloading function is there to stay, it still has all it needs to be a good Serious Sam game. You can still carry every weapon you come across, there are a plethora of secrets to sniff out, and the new gib system makes defeating enemies more satisfying than ever before.
Returning features also include the ability to change to blood green, remove it or even make enemies pop out flowers instead, should the violence be off-putting. It also retains its quicksave key, and despite its other faults, difficulty isn’t one of them. You will be attacked from the air, from behind and just about anywhere at anytime. Enemies are typically teleported in as well meaning that you can walk into an utterly desolate area, pick up an item, then find yourself completely surrounded. Saving often is invaluable as it begins to kick off the training wheels and makes you earn every inch of ground you take, right before running straight back as they spawn in a group of Kamikazes for a surprise hug. When it hits its stride, it becomes challenging not to love the game to bits. Unfortunately, these moments of excitement are frequently interrupted by the underground temple sections.
In them, you explore a pitch black area so they get some use out of their flashlight gimmick and are typically tasked with finding levers or some other form of out of place puzzle. Often times one of the most annoying enemies can be found down there too making it an even more frustrating situation. These creatures resemble demonic monkeys as they jump and cling in between pillars to stay out of sight then attack when you get your eyes off them. They are not much of a threat, just a complete pain to fight and always arrive in large groups. As dull as the underground sections are, they would have been a nice distraction should they have not been so overused. After encountering those cave demons, you’ll also start finding them above ground as well, wherever multiple pillars may lie.
Another new enemy is known as the WitchBride and is even more of a pain to fight. She is an airborne enemy, is bulletproof unless she is about to attack with a force choke, and teleports around after a bit of damage. Once in her grasp, both movement and aiming becomes very difficult, with the only way to get free is to break her line of sight or somehow manage to get a shot off on her. Her presence really breaks up the flow of combat, but in a bad way and she is just an unenjoyable enemy to fight. The sniper rifle has been replaced with an explosive weapon called The Devastator for some reason, so the only other weapon actually effective on her is the overkill portable Cannon if you can manage to hit her with it. Interestingly enough, the sniper rifle, as well as the lasergun, are actually still in the game though as secret weapons with very limited ammo.
Coop gameplay makes a return and allows you to experience the campaign with up to 16 other people. There is a survival mode to see how long you’ll last before your untimely demise and a multiplayer mode that is completely barren at the time of this review. For PC gamers you’ll also have the Steam Workshop to replace or add in new character & weapon models as well as some custom maps to play through. When all is said and done, Serious Sam 3 isn’t a bad game, it is just one that does everything in its power to sabotage itself. Nearly every new feature save a few such as the gib system and a few new weapons have been counter-intuitive to the core gameplay. The moments it shines the brightest are when it harkens back to what the older games of the series were all about, and by the end, it did indeed start to give them a run for their money. These occasional moments of brilliance in the second half of the campaign does offer some enjoyment for those that stick with it long enough. Serious Sam 3 is a title I’d ultimately recommend to fans of the series, though for newcomers, you may want to consider getting the first game instead.
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