Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter Demo

There's an old discussion among gamers whether or not video games can be considered art as well, along with movies and music. The debate takes into consideration the incredible story writing seen in games over the years, as well as the increasing amount of dedication it takes in order to make the right decisions throughout today's titles.

Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter, on the other hand, does not concern itself with such trivial nonsense and puts all of its effort into rendering as much gore and blood on the screen at the same time, now in higher resolution. As such, the game at hand is nothing more than a total remake of the old classic shooter, which now uses the latest Serious Engine to depict the visceral world of mister Sam.

The remake part is actually as close to the term as you can get without using its slightly harsher alternative, which would be clone. But, since the original team developed this installment as well and it is, after all, Serious Sam, you can disregard this weird situation entirely and just start shooting. Once you do so, you begin to remember what it was like before the “duck to cover” era of shooters, when the only cover option you had was to hide from the big monster behind the smaller monster.

Along with the familiar mobs and levels, Sam's sarcastic personality has been kept intact as well, as well as the copious amounts of humor randomly spread around the game. Although the monsters can now be eviscerated in a more realistic manner, complete with ragdoll effects and vast quantities of blood, the rest of the action remains as ludicrous as it was before, with Sam being able to handle some of the largest weapons ever designed, as well as carry an entire arsenal on his back without breaking a sweat.

Naturally, the “HD” addition in the title is related to the complete modification of the graphic engine, which has been replaced with the high-end Serious Engine 3. Thus, everything from monsters and weapons, to the environment and special effects has been brought into the high definition era, making it a real delight to watch bullets fly through the air and body parts decorating the landscape.

Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter is exactly what it advertises itself to be: a graphically-improved remake of the first installment in the series. Hence, if you enjoyed the first one, there should not be any reason not to enjoy this title as well, especially since you get to relive a few fun memories from a golden video games era.