"Just be prepared for an entirely new Sam experience with over 12 new single-player levels and all the benefits of Seriously Warped Deathmatch in the box!"
Words of the wise or in
this case words of the CEO of Croteam - the team who designed this year's
sleeper hit (enticingly titled) Serious Sam: The first encounter - Roman
Ribaric. Ribaric in a recent interview announced the release of the next
"episode" of their very fresh, addictive and successful game. For the
uninitiated, earlier this very year Croteam released Serious Sam:
The First Encounter, a game which they termed as the game they wanted DOOM
to be. Due to it's very competitive pricing and addictive gameplay,
Serious Sam did pretty brisk business - as if anybody expected otherwise.
Serious Sam screwed the conventional beliefs of making an action game: a
comprehensible storyline, scripted events, a plot, NPCs or even playable
characters or AI. Just waves and waves of unrelenting enemies rushing at
you, while you wondered which weapon in your incredible arsenal would
these onrushing poor saps be a victim to (it generally was the Rocket
Launcher, loved the rocket launcher, mmmm....rocket launcher). The game
reminded you of DOOM and Wolfenstein, and if it didn't then the designers
probably didn't do the job they set out to do.
Now from the same team comes more of the same, which in this case isn't necessarily
a bad thing. Croteam reportedly have been working upon the sequel as soon
as they released the first game. The game consists of new
environments - three of them to be exact, seven new enemies and three new
weapons.
Three new environments have been added to the standalone sequel-of-sorts.
Sources at Croteam say there is going to be a mountainous
and jungle infested area that is peppered with Aztec and Mayan ruins, in
short the game reportedly kicks off in an Aztec environment with you
kicking (again) the butts of on rushing fools. This Aztec environment will
start in the fairly open areas of Sierra de Chiapas and then move on to
the crowded and ancient city levels of Serpent Yards and City of the Gods.
The thing about the first Serious Sam was it's smooth seamless transition
from outdoor areas to indoor areas. That hasn't changed, in this Aztec
environment you will be running through cramped temples to plush green
valleys with no hesitation from the game's engine. In all, you can expect
to find 12 of these massive levels spread throughout the game's three
areas, one of which will take place around Persepolis, the capital of the
ancient Achaemenian civilization now buried near Tehran, Iran. Croteam has
hinted that the third area will be located in Europe during the Middle
Ages.
Q: You've said that there will be three new weapons in The Second
Encounter, one of which is the chain saw. What are the other two? Will all
the weapons from The First Encounter still be available in this game?
Roman Ribaric: All the weapons from the first one will be in the game. The
second is the flamethrower. It does incredible amounts of damage and uses
the same fuel as the chain saw--gasoline-based napalm.
So your arsenal has has increased, mmmm..... more weapons of mass
destruction. The first of the new weapons is the the "Bonecracker"
P-LAH chainsaw. Remember DOOM, remember the chainsaw that sounded like a
cookie cutter? Well meet it's big brother. I always said it's more fun
mowing down alien ass than trees. The second new weapon you'll find is the
Raptor 16mm sniper rifle. I still haven't figured out how you are going to
snipe alien stupid-asses rushing at you at the speed of knots. But the
kind folks at Croteam inform me that because of the game's large levels,
you'll often come across areas where you'll spot a horde of enemies
rushing at you from a distance (which can scare the pants off you) , a
significant number of which can be picked off using this rifle before the
enemies reach you. Interestingly enough, the Raptor rifle seems to be more
powerful when fired while in zoom than without it. Bringing up the rear is
my all time favorite weapon in FPS-s the flame thrower, dubbed in this
game as the XOP flamethrower. Now not only can you set fire to the ugly
mother aliens but also to any and every object in the game. This was
specially implemented in the game engine to support the inclusion of the
flame thrower.
Q: Will the creatures you face in Second Encounter be bigger, stronger
versions of those from the Egyptian levels, or are there new enemies?
A: We have only talked about and shown one enemy so far from the game,
Cucurbito the Pumpkin. He is very fast and charges at you to attack with
the same chain saw you use.
I loved the kamikazes from the first game. The big huge bulls that charge
at you, loved playing matador with that. The skeleton thingies called
skinnnies or sumthing gave me a heck of a hard time. I loved the Gnaars
reminded me of my math teacher from 7th grade. I loved the enemies from
Serious Sam: The first Encounter. Well Croteam's not going to disappoint
this time around too. Several new arrivals that include cucurbito the
pumpkin, a pumpkin-headed scarecrow that rushes at you with a chainsaw;
the fiendian reptiloid demo, a 20-foot creature that resembles the
original game's aludran reptiloid and throws indestructible balls of lava
at you; and the zorg mercenaries, aliens which wield massive laser rifles,
are out to kick your ass to the moons.
Q: Have you made any technical changes to the 3D engine from The First
Encounter?
A: New [particle effects] have been added to our engine, allowing
procedural effects for drawing grass, bushes, and trees. This technology
gives us great control over tweaking the game for better overall visual
performance. Overall Serious Sam: The Second Encounter is looking better
than The First Encounter already, as you can see from the screenshots.
The Second Encounter has made some minor but not insignificant
enhancements since the original, including some visual upgrades in the
already impressive 3D engine. Specifically, some of the levels now have
entire fields of grass--particularly in the early jungle
environments--that are rendered procedurally for beautiful results. But
effects like the grass aren't just for eye candy; they actually make the
game tougher. Some of the taller grass will impair your vision, making it
harder to spot rushing enemies until they're fairly close to you. You'll
find that finding and getting to high ground as quickly as possible is
much more important in The Second Encounter than it was in The First
Encounter.
Serious Sam: The 2nd Encounter is shaping upto to be a great followup. If
you loved the game which you probably did, this is a game to look forward
to. Call him Sam.....call him Serious. You could also call him no-nonsense
Sam but don't, coz he would just kick your bitchy lil ass. Look out for it
this November.
