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Serious Sam 3: BFE  -  Beta Preview

When playing a Serious Sam title, players have come to expect more carnage than you can shake a sledgehammer at; the newest installment in the franchise, Serious Sam 3: BFE, is no different. During beta testing I found myself loving every satisfying splatter, blood spray, and explosion.

This game makes most shooters look like a walk in the FPS park, and it’s hard to wipe a grin off your face as you mow down wave after wave of ill-tempered baddies. I was once told that to enjoy life you need to ‘embrace the chaos’; well, to enjoy SS3 you need to not only embrace the chaos, but own it.

The development crew at Croteam promises that their new title “is a glorious throwback to the golden age of first-person shooters where men were men, cover was for amateurs and pulling the trigger made things go boom.” They definitely kept their word, as plenty goes boom ,from Sam’s famous Headless Kamikazes to the hated Gnaar, and a whole bevy of new enemies that you will happily blast into oblivion.

The game is set in 22^nd century Egypt, making it a prequel to previous Sam titles. SS3 features single-player campaign and survival modes, as well as co-op campaign, split screen options, and plenty of multi-player mayhem. During beta testing, only the single player campaign mode was available.

Players will find that SS3 looks good, sounds good, and the Serious 3 engine allows players to view and engage enemies from incredible distances. As someone who prefers to play snipers in other shooters, I appreciated being able to pick off enemies on the horizon. On the other hand, the pacing of this game is fast, and being overrun while hysterically cycling through weapons and spamming ‘melee’ in an effort to keep your head attached to your shoulders is not uncommon. So, sniping works for about three seconds, then you’ll find yourself frantically fighting in close quarters.

Much has been made in online forums about the introduction of both sights and sprinting to Sam’s arsenal. The good news is that neither have a negative impact on the Serious Sam experience.  Sprinting allows you to get from A to B more quickly, a help when traversing SS3’s huge maps; and sights allow you to line up enemies in the distance (without increasing your firing accuracy). As mentioned above, you won’t be doing a ton of firing from a distance anyway, so the sights don’t change much – you’ll be mowing down most of SS3’s hordes without ever thinking about using a sight.

SS3 is set against Egypt’s ancient backdrop of pyramids and ruins, as well as the crumbling urban mayhem of destroyed future cities. The environment is rich and the maps are gigantic, so navigating your way through while fighting countless bad guys can take some time. I tested the game on a new gaming laptop as well as on a four year-old desktop with an entry-level gaming video card and both handled it with no problems. On the gaming laptop SS3 looks fantastic, and on the older machine it managed gameplay with no issues, although it didn’t look as sharp.

Weapons in SS3 are what you would expect, and are exceptionally easy to manage, although having to reload while fifteen screaming Headless Kamikazes are sprinting towards you can seem to take a lifetime. When picking up weapons, you only need to walk up to them on the screen and they are immediately added to your inventory, no need to pick them up or waste time pressing ‘use’. Cycling through and arming yourself with a new weapon is as simple as scrolling your mouse wheel. It’s a fast, simple system for managing weapons on the fly. When out of ammo and you need to resort to using ‘melee’, you’ll find Sam is a badass. With or without ammo, Sam can still make the screen splatter with the gooey goodness of vanquished mob innards.

There is much to like with SS3, but as with all titles, there are a few things players might like to see done differently upon launch. I liked the ability to sprint, but wish I could have fired while using sprint, an option that is currently unavailable. The maps are huge, which I appreciate, but it was also easy to get spun around, especially in urban settings.

Overall, SS3 offers plenty to look forward to for anyone who enjoys fast-paced arcade-style action. Croteam has upped the ante with Serious Sam 3: BFE, taking the franchise to a whole new level. The frenetic action, huge maps, multi-player options, intuitive controls, and overall difficulty make this a game that has high replay value. If you’re a fan of arcade-style shooters, this is one you need to keep an eye on.

Paul de Burger