Speaking of which, this video helped me understand what Worm was talking about:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQGO46QGlbk
It looks like a turbo-charged EDF 3 in first-person view.
Really decent graphics, settings and enemy designs, and even Sam himself looks cool in this one. I really don't know how I could get into the first game now that I've seen this...
Games
[PC] [360] [PS3] Serious Sam 3: BFE
Moderator: JC Denton
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[PC] [360] [PS3] Serious Sam 3: BFE
by icycalm » 01 Dec 2011 12:14
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icycalm - Hyperborean
- Joined: 28 Mar 2006 00:08
- Location: Tenerife, Canary Islands
by icycalm » 01 Dec 2011 13:11
And the "Hero" track is going on the Insomnia Mix. If you don't know what that is, you soon will. This game is going to knock something off my most wanted list. Either Nuclear Dawn or Gears 3.
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icycalm - Hyperborean
- Joined: 28 Mar 2006 00:08
- Location: Tenerife, Canary Islands
by SriK » 01 Jan 2012 21:09
I've been playing through this lately. Currently on stage 9, and I can confirm this game kicks ass.
First things first, the level design is a huge step forward from the original game. The open-field fights are still there, but this time they're littered with tons of destructible cover and other useful architecture. In addition to those, you've also got fights taking place on highway underpasses, city blocks and streets, and a few tense corridor sections. None of these are just boring square arenas, either; there are tons of architectural features, like choke points and small buildings or structures with multiple entry/exit points. This stuff matters and you'll need to use it to your advantage, especially on higher difficulties where you have less ammo and can't afford to take as much damage. Checkpoint spacing is also great, and health/ammo pickups are rationed perfectly around it, which means that this game can be comfortably played with auto-saves only. This is what I've been doing, on Hard difficulty (which, true to its name, is actually hard.)
The encounter design and enemy variety are also fantastic. The game does a great job of mixing different enemy types up and introducing new ones, so no encounter ever feels like a situation you've already seen. It helps that many enemies also have more advanced behaviors than just running straight at you this time (though some still do, like the Beheaded Bombers and Kleer Skeletons), since they can also take cover or attempt to split up and surround you from multiple directions. Individually regular enemies still aren't too smart, though (with the exception of the Aurigan Cave Demons, a new enemy which latches onto walls or columns and constantly jumps from column to column trying to get in an ideal position to attack you — makes for some really tense fights, especially when they're combined with other enemy types), but this is a Serious Sam game so you're not going to be encountering too many individual enemies on their own anyway. The bosses also kick ass, and many of them return later on as regular enemies.
There's a new melee attack where, when some enemies get close to you, you can press the "E" key (or whichever key you have it mapped to) for an instakill animation. Usually, this leaves you with a trophy in your hand at the end (e.g. a Kleer Skeleton head or a Gnaar eye) which you have to throw away before you can use your weapons again. It's a bit overpowered in the slower beginning portions of the game, when there aren't that many enemies being thrown at you, but when the game's pace ramps up it becomes much more risky. It saves time and ammo, but it also slows you down, temporarily leaves you without a weapon, and leaves you open to attack from other enemies.
Another new mechanic introduced is weapon reloading. From what I've seen some people have complained that this "disrupts the flow" of combat, which is dumb and untrue. What it actually does is add yet another variable to follow within each firefight, and sometimes even makes you switch weapons since you can't afford to not have any firepower for a few seconds while hordes of different enemy types are coming at you. Some weapons (e.g. the assault rifle) also now have iron sights to make aiming at faraway targets easier, but this cuts your movement speed about in half.
Sprinting is the last addition to Sam's moveset from the previous games. You're able to press the Shift key to run, but you're unable to use your weapons while running, and you're still slower than some of the faster enemies (e.g. the Kleer skeletons.) It's slightly flawed in that it's still a bit too easy to run back and give yourself more space, but that isn't something that works in every scenario. Overall, though, I think it works pretty well, and it helps make the pace of the game even faster.
So far most of the weapons have been fairly standard, but every one is useful. Right now I have: sledgehammer, pistol, pump action shotgun, double barrel shotgun, assault rifle, minigun, rocket launcher, C4, Devastator, Mutilator arm bracelet. None of these weapons make another completely obsolete; even the sledgehammer is useful in times when you can't use the melee attack but still don't want to waste ammo on any of your guns. It's slightly slower than the melee on many enemies as well (e.g. the spiders.)
One of the best aesthetic quirks the game has is the dust that gets kicked up when you fire your weapon or make something explode. It sounds like a small thing, but it adds up and limits your range of visibility, and it's yet another factor that keeps you moving around, trying to get a good angle to aim at enemies and see what's coming at you.
All of the above-mentioned stuff combines in the game's firefights. What it ends up doing is making you follow a bunch of constantly changing factors all at the same time, moreso than the first two encounters did. It's fantastic stuff, and it's way better than TFE. Unfortunately, however, the game starts off a bit too slow; the first two levels are, for the most part, pretty boring. I'm guessing they're the reason why the game got mediocre reviews.
The game looks really good, too! Lots of environmental detail, and lots of PC-specific customization options. I'm currently playing on a version of the "Vivid" color scheme with the saturation slightly turned down. Music is mostly ambient stuff which turns up in intensity when enemies appear, but it works pretty well ingame; the boss themes are especially nice. Even the short "story" cutscenes at the end of levels are fairly entertaining, and the bestiary which appears when you click the middle mouse button is a really nice touch.
I haven't tried co-op or Survival mode yet. If I do I'll make another post with my impressions on those as well.
First things first, the level design is a huge step forward from the original game. The open-field fights are still there, but this time they're littered with tons of destructible cover and other useful architecture. In addition to those, you've also got fights taking place on highway underpasses, city blocks and streets, and a few tense corridor sections. None of these are just boring square arenas, either; there are tons of architectural features, like choke points and small buildings or structures with multiple entry/exit points. This stuff matters and you'll need to use it to your advantage, especially on higher difficulties where you have less ammo and can't afford to take as much damage. Checkpoint spacing is also great, and health/ammo pickups are rationed perfectly around it, which means that this game can be comfortably played with auto-saves only. This is what I've been doing, on Hard difficulty (which, true to its name, is actually hard.)
The encounter design and enemy variety are also fantastic. The game does a great job of mixing different enemy types up and introducing new ones, so no encounter ever feels like a situation you've already seen. It helps that many enemies also have more advanced behaviors than just running straight at you this time (though some still do, like the Beheaded Bombers and Kleer Skeletons), since they can also take cover or attempt to split up and surround you from multiple directions. Individually regular enemies still aren't too smart, though (with the exception of the Aurigan Cave Demons, a new enemy which latches onto walls or columns and constantly jumps from column to column trying to get in an ideal position to attack you — makes for some really tense fights, especially when they're combined with other enemy types), but this is a Serious Sam game so you're not going to be encountering too many individual enemies on their own anyway. The bosses also kick ass, and many of them return later on as regular enemies.
There's a new melee attack where, when some enemies get close to you, you can press the "E" key (or whichever key you have it mapped to) for an instakill animation. Usually, this leaves you with a trophy in your hand at the end (e.g. a Kleer Skeleton head or a Gnaar eye) which you have to throw away before you can use your weapons again. It's a bit overpowered in the slower beginning portions of the game, when there aren't that many enemies being thrown at you, but when the game's pace ramps up it becomes much more risky. It saves time and ammo, but it also slows you down, temporarily leaves you without a weapon, and leaves you open to attack from other enemies.
Another new mechanic introduced is weapon reloading. From what I've seen some people have complained that this "disrupts the flow" of combat, which is dumb and untrue. What it actually does is add yet another variable to follow within each firefight, and sometimes even makes you switch weapons since you can't afford to not have any firepower for a few seconds while hordes of different enemy types are coming at you. Some weapons (e.g. the assault rifle) also now have iron sights to make aiming at faraway targets easier, but this cuts your movement speed about in half.
Sprinting is the last addition to Sam's moveset from the previous games. You're able to press the Shift key to run, but you're unable to use your weapons while running, and you're still slower than some of the faster enemies (e.g. the Kleer skeletons.) It's slightly flawed in that it's still a bit too easy to run back and give yourself more space, but that isn't something that works in every scenario. Overall, though, I think it works pretty well, and it helps make the pace of the game even faster.
So far most of the weapons have been fairly standard, but every one is useful. Right now I have: sledgehammer, pistol, pump action shotgun, double barrel shotgun, assault rifle, minigun, rocket launcher, C4, Devastator, Mutilator arm bracelet. None of these weapons make another completely obsolete; even the sledgehammer is useful in times when you can't use the melee attack but still don't want to waste ammo on any of your guns. It's slightly slower than the melee on many enemies as well (e.g. the spiders.)
One of the best aesthetic quirks the game has is the dust that gets kicked up when you fire your weapon or make something explode. It sounds like a small thing, but it adds up and limits your range of visibility, and it's yet another factor that keeps you moving around, trying to get a good angle to aim at enemies and see what's coming at you.
All of the above-mentioned stuff combines in the game's firefights. What it ends up doing is making you follow a bunch of constantly changing factors all at the same time, moreso than the first two encounters did. It's fantastic stuff, and it's way better than TFE. Unfortunately, however, the game starts off a bit too slow; the first two levels are, for the most part, pretty boring. I'm guessing they're the reason why the game got mediocre reviews.
The game looks really good, too! Lots of environmental detail, and lots of PC-specific customization options. I'm currently playing on a version of the "Vivid" color scheme with the saturation slightly turned down. Music is mostly ambient stuff which turns up in intensity when enemies appear, but it works pretty well ingame; the boss themes are especially nice. Even the short "story" cutscenes at the end of levels are fairly entertaining, and the bestiary which appears when you click the middle mouse button is a really nice touch.
I haven't tried co-op or Survival mode yet. If I do I'll make another post with my impressions on those as well.
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SriK - Joined: 05 Nov 2011 15:12
by ray » 03 May 2012 18:51
SriK wrote:Unfortunately, however, the game starts off a bit too slow; the first two levels are, for the most part, pretty boring. I'm guessing they're the reason why the game got mediocre reviews.
When I played Sam 3 for my first time I finished the first 2 stages and a bit of the third. I didn't go back to the game until today, even though I enjoyed what I'd played well enough, and I'll be fucked if it doesn't start picking up exactly after where I stopped.
I really like how Croteam have incorporated features like iron sights and instakill melee attacks into a Doom-lineage shooter. It all fits together really well. What a badass game.
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ray - Joined: 22 Feb 2009 19:33
9 posts
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