Serious Sam: The Second Encounter Demo

As far as shooters go, basically everything is acceptable, as long as the result is fun and the gameplay good enough to justify the crazy choices. Thus, ridiculous enemies and oversized guns can be easily integrated into the story, especially if the main character is worthy enough to wield giant rocket launchers and tackle mall-sized enemies.

Serious Sam: The Second Encounter is the continuation to a great first part and it basically follows the same concepts, although it adds a lot more insanity into the mix. Hence, in case you had fun with the first episode, this second installment barely changes anything when it comes to the actual gameplay mechanics, which should make it the ideal sequel.

On the other hand, a lot of content has been added for the new missions, which includes monsters, locations and weapons. Naturally, Sam received a bit of voice acting as well, which can be enjoyed in the form of witty one liners spewed in-between killing two massive robots. The story behind the events still revolves around the evil Mental, but it is mostly about Sam exploring various locations and collecting rare artifacts.

In case you are not familiar with the Serious Sam saga, it should be noted that it can be quite difficult to clear certain levels, unless you try it on the lowest difficulty level. Anything else, on the other hand, is significantly harder and it can get frustrating at times, at least until you get the hang of the mechanics and you improve your reflexes. Once you manage that, the game gets very rewarding and the experience is definitely worth the effort.

Graphically, the game received a few updates and improvements, although nothing too serious, since it is the same engine as before. The new monsters are very detailed, though, and so are the nice environments you get to visit this time around, even if some landscapes could have used a bit more vegetation, or some other objects to fill the desolated plains.

Serious Sam: The Second Encounter accomplished its purpose and did exactly what a sequel like this should do: more mobs, more weapons and a variety of new scenarios. Hence, the original game is basically continued into this second part, without affecting the successful gameplay mechanics or ruining the atmosphere in any way.