Serious Sam : The First Encounter HD (Xbox 360) Review

Most of you have probably read a review for this game or have already played it, I'm not writing this for those people of coarse but for those of you who are on the edge or curious about it. I will do it in the format of, Game play, Graphics, Sound, Control and Overall. I am not going to rate this game with stars or something/5, I am more or less leaving it open for interpretation because I am a fan of it and I'm going to write it in an unbiased point of view.

Game play:
First of all it is a FPS, there is not much to the game play of this game which to some is a good thing. If you're big on story and must have a good story then this game may not be for you. It is fairly straight forward, you start the level and progress through it by killing hordes of enemies while collecting "keys" in certain areas to get through a door. The certain rooms that have those "keys" can be opened with either a certain item to collect or pressing buttons. The style of game play could be compared to that of the old school Doom games so if you were or are a fan of Doom you may like Serious Sam. As I write this there is only a coop mode at the moment for fans of online gaming, this game is made very well for coop whether you are playing with friends or random people. Correct me if I am wrong but I do believe there will be a deathmatch mode for the PC very shortly if it hasn't already been patched.

Graphics:
While it is miles ahead of its original counterpart it still does not compare to actual 360 games. It does look very nice and I would even say its one of the nicer looking XBLA games that are out there but to say its the best looking would be inaccurate. The enemies look nice and the environments also look fantastic, they still don't look as nice as they could. The characters you play as themselves from Serious Sam to any of the other skins you may choose for the coop Play seem rather stiff if you were to look over at your buddy while in a coop game.

Sound:
The sound in this game I wouldn't describe as top notch but it is good. If you have a surround sound setup it would only enhance the experience being able to hear enemies from all sides and behind you, which actually may come in real handy seeing as you will be assaulted from every angle fairly often. Some sounds may get under your skin like the headless suicide bombers that scream as they run at you, on the other hand it is rather helpful hearing that so you know which way to swing around and shoot.

Control:
Obviously the controls compared to the PC will fail in comparison seeing as you use a controller that has less accuracy. If you are a fan of FPS games on consoles like me then you should have no problem. By default it has an auto target so if your cursor is close to an enemy then the projectile will hit them. Seeing as this game is a more run and gun type of game it has no need for looking down sights like a lot of modern FPS games such as Call of Duty. The jump button is mapped to the left trigger while it could have been easily mapped to any one of the a,b,x,y buttons but to say that hinders the game would just be nitpicking.

Overall:
Like I mentioned before if you are a fan of Doom or Doom 2 you may enjoy this game quite a bit. It doesn't have much of a story but a game like this doesn't really need one. It is a fairly mindless run around blast enemies, watch gibs and blood fly around, pick up this key, push that button and open that door type of game but its still is a very fun game to just pick up and play away. It does have a certain satisfaction to it when you blow away hordes of enemies. I said I wouldn't give this a rating but if I really had to I would give it a 4/5... The game is 1200 points on XBLA which is equivalent to $15, it is a very reasonable price for a fun game like this.