You may get some use of it on easier difficulties, but on normal and higher, you will almost never use it because that will signal a quick death. Sam also has execution moves now, similar to Duke Nukem Forever, but they don’t give back health, and enemies can still attack you during the overly long animations.

This could also explain a weird energy gauntlet you get later on, which creates a line of energy that spreads through multiple enemies and kills them after a few seconds, but actually keeping them trapped in the line seems completely random, and it’s useless in mobs because it takes far too long for the kill effect to happen. This is only an issue when explosions are done, which is a huge problem because kamikazes are everywhere and late game play requires you to focus almost entirely on explosive weapons to make it through massive mobs. The game often feels like more of a tech demo than anything else, which would explain why the dust is turned up so high that it often hides enemy positions from you. This is extremely bad now because two of the best weapons in the whole series, the electric gun and sniper rifle, are secret found only, and the same goes for their ammo. Sam will sometimes bounce off surfaces, and it’s never obvious what structures you can and can’t jump on or what you’re expected to jump on. Secrets are now hidden in closed off areas that require platforming to reach, and the platforming is extremely messy. The problem is that Croteam kept putting in secrets in a way that only really work with a physics engine. Even the lack of a physics engine is forgivable after remembering how janky it was in Serious Sam 2. The gnaars has some fantastic animation and expression work behind them, and the monster designs are easily some of the best in the whole franchise. It has some impressive texture work at moments, and the particle effects are well utilized. It does not help that the character animation is possibly the worst in the series overall, Croteam trying to do in-game cutscenes with models that have strange, inhuman lips, bizarre body structure, and the same sunglasses put on every character because I suspect the eyes in the new Serious Engine 3.5 would fall so deep into the uncanny valley that the devs decided it was best to never show human eyes at any point. Dick sounds gruffer, and this new voice he’s been directed into lacks the personality he used to bring to the character.

Worse, Sam’s one liners and jokes rarely land, usually lacking set-up, or relying on duller cliches than usual. Sam and his military buddies, who mostly exist to get killed off, don’t mesh with the few other human characters, and don’t take the situation all that seriously. The end result is tone whiplash, where it’s difficult to tell if Croteam wanted to make another comedy or a darker, more gritty alien invasion story. The narrative is a clean slate change up, showing how Sam ended up being the one to use the time-lock to fight Mental throughout Earth’s history. Manual information based around Sam being a space captain with a redemptive streak are hinted here through some graffiti but go against his characterization as a dude-bro military lunkhead here, and the entire concept of scientists in the future sending Sam supplies through the time-lock was thrown out the window with the end of the game.

The BFE part of the title means “Before First Encounter,” the return of the alien killing adventurer being a direct prequel to the first game in the series, and a bit of a soft reboot. Serious Sam 3: BFE was the product of both desperation and wanting out of a creative rut. Forever was a product of over-ambition and poor management. Released just a few months after the much mocked Duke Nukem Forever, Serious Sam somehow found himself in the exact same position as ol’ Blondie, but for different reasons. Games were becoming more expensive to make, and they definitely did not have the resources to make a new Serious Sam game and an improved engine both – at least from what one can infer playing through Serious Sam 3. One problem: Croteam were not doing well financially after a string of failed projects, and their new publishing partner was still growing into a proper force in its own right. Eventually, they found a working relationship with the then new Devolver Digital and got to work making HD remakes of their first two games, putting Serious Sam back in the public consciousness and preparing the world for a new entry in the series. This included a modern military shooter that the financiers backed out of, and a failed pitch to Id for a new DOOM game. With the game’s disappointing sales, Croteam had to buy back the rights to their signature series from 2K, then shopped around for awhile for work. The times were not kind to Croteam after Serious Sam 2. Serious Sam Spin-Offs After Serious Sam 3.

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