Serious Sam 3 is hardcore, difficult, and lovely

[Lazybones]

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/reviews/2011/12/serious-sam-3-is-hardcore-difficult-and-lovely.ars

Looks like something fun to play at a LAN party

[Mr. Analog]

Dang, this may have to go on the ol' Christmas list!

[Darren Dirt]

When I heard about it early this year, the one thing that jumped out me:

64* player co-op.


:speechless:




*edit: dang, wuz jus' rumorz i guess, it's "only" 16. (but, it's set in EGYPT again, so that totally makes up for it! Just something about that Egypt setting, takes me back to the simple purity of fun experience when playing the original Sam... plus, melee attacks ftw, apparently )


"The enemy placement and movement is conducted like instruments in a symphony. It's a wonderful thing to play, even as you're cursing the game's difficulty. You'll find yourself getting into a rhythm-game like zone, and that's a wonderful feeling." <-- bingo! that sums up what makes Sam awesome, imo.

PS: ever seen such overwhelmingly positive comments for a new game release? it's like tons of people are saying "yay, I can re-experience the FUN that shooters used to bring me (but don't anymore)!"

[Mr. Analog]

Serious Sam always reminded me of those old school space shooters (and some racing games), where if you lived long enough through the onslaught you got into "the zone", this was something that really stood out for me back in the days of Doom and Quake and to a degree more modern FPSs, the thing that I find with modern gameplay is that it tends to be more complex bursts rather than a more constant pressure.

I'm not sure where that style of gameplay really comes from (I'm thinking Half-Life where there were equal parts puzzle solving to run you ass off and shoot straight action), but there's something to be said about just mindlessly running around blowing stuff up.

Thinking back to another game I recently played / reviewed (Mirror's Edge), the main failing there was the momentum was constantly being broken. You have a game where when things are "flowing" it feels great, that's the rush you want, nay, beg for in a game. When it falls apart though it feels awfully frustrating... popular FPSs like MW3 aren't immune to this, the way cutscenes sometimes transition you brain is still in "gotta do stuff" flow mode and then BAM you hit a part where your hands are still working the controller but what you're looking at has shifted to just in-game video. Not AS jarring as falling 25 stories but still, it interrupts things.

Interrupting things breaks immersion.

[Darren Dirt]

Serious Sam always reminded me of those old school space shooters (and some racing games), where if you lived long enough through the onslaught you got into "the zone", this was something that really stood out for me back in the days of Doom and Quake and to a degree more modern FPSs

that's something the Ars review also said -- that it's almost like a 3D-perspective update of the classic old wave-after-wave space shooters (like Galaga, etc.) and like you said it's a really cool feeling, almost something poetic, when you are dodging and hitting and not even thinking, just being One With The Game

[Mr. Analog]

haha, exactly, get the "Rush" cassette cranked on full and go to town heh

[Darren Dirt]

"lovely" = "PERFECT"?
http://kotaku.com/5874297/could-serious-sam-bfe-be-the-perfect-game

so ... anyone have Xbox360 copy they want to unload? If not, might just head to the mall and actually buy a game (sight unseen)... #wayoutofcharacter

[Mr. Analog]

Very rarely do I pick up FPSs for my XBox, so no, I'll probably get my hands on it via Steam prior to Fraga.

Apparently the first parts of the game are fairly mundane but it escalates into the madness we come to expect from Serious Sam...

[Darren Dirt]

The article I linked to claims it's really well balanced ... in a game of this genre that's the most important thing. In games like this the real intense FUN comes from the novelty-frustration-release cycle imo.

[Melbosa]

Very rarely do I pick up FPSs for my XBox, so no, I'll probably get my hands on it via Steam prior to Fraga.

Apparently the first parts of the game are fairly mundane but it escalates into the madness we come to expect from Serious Sam...

Watch for a steam sale during July... usually put the end of 2011 FPSs on at that time.

[Mr. Analog]

Or at random...

I fully expect SS to go on sale between now and then.

DD: Balance is such a tricky thing to gage, but SS sure looks like a lot of fun

[Melbosa]

So here is something interesting:

While the game features no DRM to prevent a copied game from being played, if the game code detects what it believes to be an unauthorised copy, it alters gameplay to make play exceedingly difficult. An invincible scorpion-like monster is spawned: this creature can charge at high speed, melee attack, and attacks from a range with twin chainguns. This makes progress in the game much harder, and ultimately prevents the player from progressing further. Another method is in the level "Under the Iron Cloud", the game will make the player's character spin wildly looking in the air.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serious_Sam_3:_BFE

Videos of the creature and other articles: http://techreport.com/discussions.x/22124, http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/12/07/serious-sams-drm-is-a-giant-pink-scorpion/

[Mr. Analog]

That's freakin' hilarious!

[Thorin]

I like how the scorpion has gatling guns instead of pincers.

It's an interesting take on fighting piracy, but man, it'd suck to get a false positive.

I wonder what other things they're going to try to do to stop piracy...  The always-connected-to-a-server-to-check-validity DRM is a real pain if you're not somewhere with internet.  But ultimately, everything they do can be circumvented by crackers - it's just a matter of how much time it'll take.

[Mr. Analog]

Well I HOPE that Devolver Digital (the publisher) can stick to Croteam/GoD's roots and not worry too much about piracy, word of mouth is what got Serious Sam where it is.

It helped that it was pretty cheap to buy when it hit the scene so there wasn't really an incentive for gamers to pirate it.

It is being distributed via Steam though so, if you pick that method, standard Steam DRM applies...