Serious Sam 4 (SS4) represents the return to the chaotic action of a series that I seriously haven’t played in over ten years. I have a lot of great memories of playing the first two Sam games way back at their launch, the co-op mayhem of those games was truly a site to behold and to participate in. I actually have skipped the subsequent releases in the Sam series until now, and it’s good to be back.
Though story is not what the Serious Sam games are known for, there is actually a story to the action. SS4 is a prequel to the entire franchise, though it’s understandable if you didn’t realize that going in. The antagonist, Mental, has begun an overwhelming invasion of earth, and humanity’s last hope is the Earth Defense Force that is spearheaded by Sam and a few of this colleagues, including Quinn and the Professor. Whether in single player or up to four player co-op online, players are tasked with destroying massive onslaughts of dozens and even hundreds of alien enemies, the type of which cover a near complete gamut of design in terms of size, strength, and methods of attack.
Fortunately, at your disposal, is an ample supply of weapons, dual-wield capability, lots of ammo, and even some other goodies like Gadgets and, to my surprise, a skill tree that gives players a way to upgrade your character. These upgrades can provide essential and fun things like healing by punching, or the ability to take control of a damaged enemy (think big) to turn the tide of battle. The first Gadget you get reminds me of the Holoduke from Duke Nukem 3D, as it projects a hologram of Sam that enemies rush to attack, giving you a chance to blindside them or at least give yourself a little breathing room while the bad guys attack the hologram. Of course there is a huge variety of weapons to be had, ranging from your fists to the old cannon ball launcher. You’ll have plenty to shoot and even more to shoot at across the sixteen levels of the story mode.
Other than using Gadgets and doing some upgrades from time to time, and veering off to explore side objectives, the gameplay in SS4 is very much like you have probably played before. In Croteam’s own words, ‘if it works, don’t fix it,’ which is to say if you’re looking for wild FPS battles on incredible scale, you’re in the right place. You can cut your teeth on the arts of circle strafing and backpedaling here if you haven’t before, two skills that are essential to survive. Croteam does a very intentional job of forcing players to balance their offense and defense by throwing all kinds of attacks their way — from small, flying, drone-like enemies, to massive, slow, rocket-launching beasts, bullish tank enemies that charge at you, pesky stationary long range enemies, and all things in between. This game will test your FPS mettle, and I value it for that.
This franchise is one that is best played with friends, so I was thankful to secure a second review code and get some co-op time in with a buddy of mine. Unfortunately, drop in co-op is not a supported feature, so you have to setup an intentional time to load out and play, but maybe they can fix that with patching. They are releasing tools to mod the game at least, but whatever they can do to make co-op more user friendly and enjoyable should be paramount on their list. Anyway, compared to playing single player, co-op is almost always more fun in any game, and that is absolutely the case with SS4. Co-op play is basic, it’s essentially each player for themselves in as far as you won’t be able to revive one another or pull off any specifically designed tactics, but, sharing in the chaos of destroying alien invaders is a blast.
Co-op play also makes the game more palatable for longer, since it cuts back on the staleness that could come from the repetition of dealing with the onslaught in single player. Moreover, the single player is pretty hard at times; and given that this is such a shallow game, you can get frustrated dealing with it, or at least I did from time to time. It’s a game hinged entirely on fighting hordes of bad guys with characters you don’t really care about, and a story that is entirely forgettable. As a general rule, co-op can wash over a lot of issues, so, when at all possible, play this game with a friend or three to help combat not only the enemies, but also repetition and frustration.
As far as the presentation goes, SS4 looks good, and I was playing on a PC that is much more aligned with the Minimum required specs as opposed to the Recommended specs. I’m due to build a new gaming rig next year, so I personally experienced some stutter and tearing, but I’m confident most of that trouble stems from my aging computer. My friend who played co-op with me has as slightly better machine than I and thus had a slightly better experience. I liked some of the game’s music more than I was anticipating I would, but the Duke Nukem-esque voiceover and one-liners and constant reminder that Sam is one tough dude are cheesy and tiresome.
At the end of the day, SS4 is what it sets out to be — a racous, over the top, arcade FPS that is best played with up to three friends. If that’s the kind of game you’re looking for, it’s very easy to recommend it. With a launch price of $40, it’s a lot more feasible to get some friends to buy in as well than if the price were $60, so keep that in mind, too.
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