After a gap of about nine years, Serious Sam 4 releases today, telling the story of the events that led up to its predecessor game, Serious Sam 3: BFE. This first-person shooter is developed by Croteam and published by Devolver Digital, and is the tale of Sam “Serious” Stone and his quest to defeat a conquesting horde attempting to take over Earth.
Fans of the series had to wait a long time to get a chance to play Serious Sam 4, and many people were hoping that the prequel would deliver on what people have come to expect from 2020’s level of quality games. The game brands itself as being full of explosives, one-liners, and sci-fi-themed violence that attempts to make the entire game an intense but hilarious experience, and the cheesy action-packed Serious Sam 4 trailer definitely hints that this will be the case.
Now, various online publications are unleashing their review teams on the action game, and it’s time to see whether one of the biggest video games releases of September 2020 will live up to the hype and expectations. It’s not often that a games studio gets almost a decade to work on its next release, and some fans may be thinking of the seven years between The Last of Us and The Last of Us 2, which were both critically very well-received. Does Serious Sam 4 bring anything new to the franchise, or does it rely solely on the nostalgia factor from those who enjoyed the first three games?
IGN (Dan Stapleton)
“Just like all the previous Serious Sam games, the main idea in Serious Sam 4 is “But what if there were even more enemies?” There’s not much more to it than that. This style of run-and-gun action is definitely challenging, it’s just getting played out, and the returns on the investment of simply upping the enemy count and adding dual-wielding have diminished. The variety of bad guys thrown at you is impressive but there just aren’t enough interesting weapons to keep the battles from getting dull, and the lack of drop-in co-op is inexcusable in this day and age.”
Score: 5/10
PC Gamer (Tyler Wilde)
“Serious Sam 4 is fun, and certain ridiculously large battles should get friends laughing together in co-op as they struggle to hose down lines of aliens with lasers. It’s deeply janky, though, and the increased scale isn’t quite as magical as I’d hoped. Where the new Doom games invoke the spirit of a classic with contemporary genius, this is just more Serious Sam.”
Score: 71/100
Destructoid (Chris Carter)
“It’s a simple review for a simple game, folks. Serious Sam 4 doesn’t wildly reinvent the formula; and really, it doesn’t need to. There’s plenty of room for old school style FPS games in an ocean of looter shooters and games-as-a-service titles.”
Score: 7.5/10
The Gamer (Peter Glagowski)
“Rushed is basically the best way to sum up Serious Sam 4. In development for around eight years, I imagine the current global pandemic played a big role in how scattershot everything is. At its core, the weapon feel and early level designs aren’t bad. There’s a solid game buried under these weird choices, but Croteam seems to have shoved it out the door with little finesse. One day, Serious Sam 4 might be a pretty solid little get. As it stands, I can’t see this fourth iteration leading to anything better.”
Score: 2.5/5
TheSixthAxis (Steve C)
“Serious Sam 4 is a natural evolution for the series. There is nothing groundbreaking here but it is just such silly and extravagant fun to play. The endless series of arena battles should begin to feel repetitive but the gunplay and challenge is perfectly pitched so each one provides a satisfying adrenaline rush. While not a true contemporary update like those of Doom and Wolfenstein, this first-person legend comes out guns blazing and, let’s be serious for a moment, that’s what we all wanted him to do.”
Score: 8/10
Shacknews (Josh Hawkins)
“Serious Sam 4 is fun to play – and an even bigger joy if you bring co-op into the mix. If you’re a fan of the series, then you’re going to feel right at home. If you’ve never played a Serious Sam game, then just don’t go into it expecting the same level of narrative as story-driven games, because you aren’t going to find it here.”
Score: 7/10
Attack of the Fanboy (Brandon Adams)
“It’s such a shame, all of it. There are moments where you can steal the slimmest glimpse of greatness in Serious Sam 4. When combat is firing on all cylinders, and the Legion System isn’t crashing your PC, Serious Sam 4 is a decent slice of old-school shooter goodness. Yet, in sticking to its guns, Serious Sam 4 ends up being an aggressively mediocre experience.”
3/5
Windows Central (Zackery Cuevas)
“Serious Sam 4 could’ve been a reboot of sorts, reintroducing the game to the masses like DOOM did when it launched in 2016. But while DOOM 2016 captured the run and gun gameplay of older games with unmatched polish, Serious Sam 4 is plagued by flawed pacing, artificial difficulty, and awful presentation. Couple all of this with a $40 price tag and you’re better off with any of the older Serious Sam games.”
Score: 2.5/5
Overall, it looks like people’s main complaints are that Serious Sam 4 doesn’t really bring anything new to either the series or the genre as a whole, which always begs the question what the purpose of creating the game was. Some people did enjoy the experience, although nostalgia for the older games may have colored this, which some critics acknowledge. With games these days getting more and more expensive, players have to pick and choose what they’re going to spend their money on, and some of these critics just don’t seem to believe this game is worth the $40.
It’s disappointing when a game that has this long to improve itself doesn’t wow audiences, and while (to draw on the previously mentioned example) The Last of Us 2 had some controversy, in comparison with other installments with this type of gap, critics mostly concur Serious Sam 4 just doesn’t do enough with the time it had to create it. If the devs were trying to capitalize on nostalgia, it looks like they fell short on creating a game that would bring new players to the franchise, and reward the long-time fans for the wait.
If players have the right system requirements for Serious Sam 4, they can try the game out for themselves, while keeping in mind the criticism people have about the game. Still, as some of the critics said, the game has some fun moments, and people who want a more campy FPS may find themselves enjoying Serious Sam 4.
Serious Sam 4 is available now for PC and Stadia, with PS4 and Xbox One versions in development.
![\"IT電腦補習](\"http://itteacheritfreelance.hk/test/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/logo2-2.png\"){kind=logo}
www.itsec.hk
www.itsec.vip
www.itseceu.uk
Leave a Reply