Introduction
In this game, the battles take place in the same way they do in Final Fantasy but instead of using swords and standing still, you will run backward while holding guns and shooting enemies.
Serious Sam the random encounter is not a long game and can be completed in two hours if you play the game casually.
You will have different guns in the game to use against the enemies. The enemies and guns are the same as in the other Serious Sam games.
There is humor in Serious Sam the Random Encounter. This was very much appreciated by me. The best way to play this game is like Serious Sam says: shoot things until they are dead.
I do recommend this game to anyone that likes the Serious Sam franchise.
There will be spoilers in this review!
The story
Chaad Sheen hasn’t been defeated yet and there is one place he would never expect Serious Sam to show up, the future.
Serious Sam will travel to three worlds to find Chaad Sheen and defeat him once and for all. Random encounters will occur with every step you take in the story.
Serious Sam won’t be alone to defeat Chaad Sheen. Mercenary Bim and cowboy Bam will join you in the quest to defeat Chaad Sheen.
The plan to reach Chaad Sheen is simple and has been mentioned before by Serious Sam, shoot everything in sight. After traveling through the desert and the temple your party will be complete. You are now ready to destroy Chaad Sheen.
You find a spaceship in the form of a giant pyramid and you enter the pyramid spaceship. You solve the puzzle and a giant demon appears. This is Ugh Zan. Strangely enough, after the battle ends the game ends as well. My game crashed and I could not see the ending cut scene, my save file is corrupted.
If you have played Serious Sam the first encounter you will notice similarities between the storylines. Most likely they made little changes and rehashed the story.
The story is very simple but this game was not made with the expectation of a great story.
The party members
The characters you will use in the game and a short description. Serious Sam: I am seriously going to shoot things.
Bim: I am going to shoot things even more.
Bam Maybe we need a plan to kill Chaad Sheen?
The gameplay
You will need to cross three small overworld sections that are split up in three levels each. Along the way, you will meet Bim and Bam and shoot enemies.
You can swim to reach chests with new items to use. In each level, there will be multiple chests to gather. A tip: Keep the serious bombs for in the last world.
You have health and armor for each party member that can be restored by completing battles swiftly or by using items. There are different guns in Serious Sam the random encounter that can be swapped during battle.
Each turn is five seconds of shooting before being able to choose again with what weapon you want to shoot. All different weapons are explained in the section below. You can move the characters when you are walking backwards to try and avoid any incoming damage.
There will be small puzzles involved like swimming in a pattern, jump pads, and golden keys. For some unknown reason I never encountered the second world boss, this may be a bug in Serious Sam the random encounter.
The first two worlds are not really hard but you can feel the difficulty increasing as you progress the story. In the third world, the difficulty will suddenly reach insane proportions. After three attempts I have managed to defeat Ugh Zan. I could not see the ending of the game. The game crashed and my screen went black. After rebooting in what felt like ages in fear, I needed to defeat the Ugh Zan again. My save file was gone! All the progress had been deleted due to a corrupted save file.
The items can have a serious effect on the game if you use them right. The serious bomb is the most important are best to be saved for the boss fight with Ugh Zan.
The Serious bomb will wipe out all small enemies from the world and deal immense damage to the boss. Saving the item called serious speed for Ugh Zan can also be very useful. You will run backwards as fast as Sonic the Hedgehog.
I don’t advise using the cannon weapon. The charge up time is not worth the wait for me. Instead of waiting, you can better start shooting things with any other weapon.
Trying to save all items is the key to an easy defeat of Ugh Zan.
Weapons
Revolver
The revolver will automatically target the enemy that is the biggest threat to you at the current time.
Shotgun
The shotgun weapon will shoot enemies that are close to you. When choosing to fire the shotgun you can select the range of the shotgun.
Minigun
The minigun will fire in a straight line and can be targeted in different directions when firing.
Laser
The laser will fire in a straight line and also push the enemies away.
Sniper
The sniper will fire one single powerful bullet in the targeted enemy. You will need to aim for a critical hit spot.
Rocket launcher
The rocket launcher will fire rocket-propelled grenades between a selected range before firing if the rocket-propelled grenade hits the targeted enemies they will explode. In this game, you cannot blow yourself up.
Grenade launcher
The grenade launcher will throw a single grenade on a selected spot. This weapon is hard to aim but deals immense damage when it hits the targeted enemy.
Cannon
The cannon is the strongest weapon in the game. It takes one turn to charge the cannon. A very dangerous weapon to use but can change the tide of the battle when used correctly. I advise you to use this weapon in boss fights or in a tough spot.
The game took me about one hour and thirty minutes to complete. Please note: I go through games faster than the average player. Even though the game crashed I did not feel like replaying it again. I don’t like that my save file is corrupted and it might take awhile for me to get over it.
If I could have finished the game properly it might be fun for another playthrough to try different tactics in killing the enemies.
Pros
– Serious Sam The Random Encounter is a fun game to play for a Sunday afternoon.
– You cannot kill yourself with the rocket launcher.
– I like that they put the word serious anywhere it is slightly possible.
– The (short) story contains my humor.
Cons
-A game-breaking bug occurred where my save file got corrupted.
-The story is rehashed from Serious Sam The First Encounter with a few additions. I had expected more originality.
-The game is way too short. I would have liked if Serious Sam the Random Encounter had included more weapons and would use eight worlds instead of three.
-The difficulty spike from world two to three is steep.
Even though this is a very short game I would still recommend this game to you. It was very fun to play through except for the game-breaking bug.
I give this game a…drumroll…
6.1!
I hope that you liked to read this review about Serious Sam the Random Encounter! Please leave your thoughts about the game in the comment section.
I do not own the images in this review. I used images from the internet due to my corrupted save file. Starting from next week (25) each week there will be two reviews instead of three. By doing this I can better review the games and deliver better quality! I hope everyone can understand this decision.
