Introduction
Get ready for the Serious Sam game that should have been Serious Sam The First Encounter, with many bug fixes and issues solved that occurred in the previous entries in the series. There are some bigger issues like an endless horde of minions, there are almost 2k minions in the last map. The death loop issue has been mostly fixed due to many autosaves occurring. Most of the levels are fun and interactive but in the end, it gets a bit of a slog. Serious Sam 3 BFE is a first-person shooter that likes to take things to the extreme.
There are many weapons for you to use on the hordes of enemies, they seem more balanced with the smaller enemies having fewer health points than in the previous games. I did enjoy Serious Sam 3BFE more than Serious Sam 1. The story is fun but I am still disappointed that I did not get to see Mental in the final boss fight but once again it is Ugh-Zan and the boss fight is pretty bad. The mechanic to fighting him is bad and you will have a hard time figuring out how to defeat him. The scenery of fighting the end game boss is also very bad but there are also good points in the gameplay.
What did I think of playing Serious Sam 3 BFE?
I liked the better graphics that I saw in the footage and the enemies looked great in their upgraded form, the levels looked a bit bland and I saw mostly sand and temples.
The sound effects are good and of course, the one-liners that Serious Sam spouts out are amazing. Of course, there are ridiculous amounts of enemies in Serious Sam!
I saw many pyramids and valleys in the footage and some other people that play a part in the storyline.
I was very curious about the storyline since I always wondered how Serious Sam got to the time lock but I still think this game should have been the first one in the series.
When are we finally going to get the ending of Serious Sam that we deserve? We want to fight Mental!
I gave this game a rating of 7.5 based on the footage that I have seen before playing.
The graphics look good but the scenery and environments look a bit bland, the sound and sound effects sound perfect for Serious Sam 3 BFE.
I felt interested to start playing the game and I hoped that some of the issues that occurred in Serious Sam The First Encounter would be fixed.
Story
The story takes place before the first encounter even though that makes no sense, you play as Serious Sam and you will need to rescue professor Stein since he has information on the time lock. There is only a small resistance of humanity left and they are trying to get the time lock activated to send someone back in time to stop Mental from awakening and attacking earth. Serious Sam and the resistance will have to make a last stand in surviving the hordes of Mental that has killed almost all of humanity.
Can you help the resistance in activating the time lock and saving humanity?
I rate the story with an 8.6.
The story sounded really amazing to me and it worked wonders, it gives you a real incentive to immerse you in the story while working on activating the time lock. We know of course that Serious Sam makes it through the time lock but what happened before it and why does Serious Sam want to kill Mental so bad? Of course, he tries to destroy the earth but I feel this story is a part of the origin of how Serious Sam came to be but I believe we are getting another origin part of Serious Sam in Serious Sam 4. I wonder if Serious Sam 5 will be the final ending of Serious Sam?
Gameplay
In Serious Sam 3 BFE you will need to destroy hordes of enemies and for that, you will of course need some guns. Guns will come plenty and in many forms. You will see many guns come back from previous games like the cannon.
The pistol has infinite ammo but other guns will need ammo to work, you can only use guns after you have found them but you will lose them at a certain level. Using explosives is always a good idea, you get a rocket launcher in this game along with C4 explosives. A good thing is to watch your health points, you have a maximum of 100 health points but with a secret health pack, you can upgrade this to 200 health points. Some of the smaller healing items will heal you over the 100-health point mark. Armor is more effective in this game than in previous entries of the series and it feels like you can really use it.
There are no longer death loops and this was a major upgrade for when you accidentally save at the wrong time. There are many autosaves that will help you. You can find loads of ammo and there are also some boxes with infinite ammo, there are insane numbers of enemies in each level. Some of the levels are a real slog when you are shooting at enemies for over two hours. You can walk freely into the desert as far as you want, there is no invisible barrier! Oh, there is a giant worm though that insta-kills you if you wander too far from the path.
The game is split into many different mission sections with each mission providing a bit of the story until you reach the end. You will get a clear objective on what to do and the route is usually clear but exploring in other ways usually leads to secrets. You need to figure out puzzles along the way while defeating many hordes of Mental. You will face a mini-boss at the end of each section but this mini-boss will become one of the normal enemies later on in the game. The end game boss fight is poorly made and should have way more clear markers on what to do. The enemies are actually rendered when they are sitting on buildings, this is a huge upgrade from Serious Sam The First Encounter. The enemies keep spawning behind you which is a cheap tactic to getting you killed, when I have cleared a room, I do not expect that there suddenly is a suicide bomber in my face that appeared out of nowhere. You can use melee on enemies in Serious Sam 3 BFE but this might not be a wise choice when you are surrounded by many enemies. It is fun to rip out someone’s eye though.
I rate the gameplay a 7.2
The gameplay was very fun until the later levels when the enemies became way too much to keep killing them, it was a real slog when you need to walk over two hours while killing enemies.
The last levels of Serious Sam really bring the gameplay down but the first levels are really great.
Sound and Graphics
The sound and sound effects fit the game perfectly and the one-liners that Serious Sam spouts out are great and contain lots of humor.
The graphics are good but you get to see the same decorations many times and a lot of the scenery feels bland. You see many temples and valleys.
The graphics are much better in the first levels and gets worse as you progress in the game. There are not many different enemies, I would have expected more variety.
I rate the sound and graphics at 6.8
The graphics are what brings the rating down, the developers did an amazing job but they should have used a lot of different sceneries.
I would also love to have seen more different enemies.
What did I think of Serious Sam 3 BFE after playing?
I did enjoy the game a lot but at the later stages, it felt more like a chore to keep killing so many enemies. Killing over 2k enemies on one level is not fun anymore!
Using the sledgehammer I was able to reveal secrets and able to find new guns.
My favorite weapon was the devastator and it was really overpowered but the ammo was scarce until in the later levels. I was glad that most issues were fixed like the death loops and enemies that are invisible while out of rendering.
The biggest problem is that enemies respawn in rooms that you have cleared, this usually ends with a swift death when you think you are retreating but instead meet another horde of enemies.
It is really hard to say if the game lived up to the expectations that it gave me before playing, the first levels felt really amazing but the later levels were a slog.
I rate the game after playing with a 7.3.
The game is good and the gameplay is really fun but I see lots of people that would rage at the later levels.
My personal rating
I really like the quotes that Serious Sam says, are you guys having an ugly contest? The graphics look good but then again the scenery is very bland.
I had hoped there would be more different enemies but it was almost all the same enemies from the previous games in the series, there is one enemy that casts a slow-motion effect on you which usually ends in disaster.
The last levels were a huge problem for me and it felt good when I finally reached the end-game boss.
My personal rating for this game is 6.3.
Pros and Cons
Pros
– The story is crafted really well and I like that you get to see how the time-lock machine gets powered up.
– loads of guns to crush those enemy hordes.
– The one-liners that Serious Sam spouts out.
– There are many fixes in Serious Sam 3, the death loop issue has been fixed.
– The first two parts of the game are really great with great sceneries and graphics.
– Lots of enemies to crush with your seriously amazing guns!
– All your base are belong to us!
Cons
– The last part of the game feels like a slog with many repeated graphics and too many enemies.
– The enemies spawn in rooms that you have cleared, this usually leads to problems when retreating.
– The end-game boss fights is crafted poorly and it is not clear what you need to do.
I would recommend this game to people who love first-person shooter games and people that love the Serious Sam franchise.
Thank you Ignas for requesting this amazing game!
I give this game a final score of …drumroll…
7.5
Leave your thoughts about the game in the comments.
I hope you liked reading this review, I hope to see you in the next review!
