| Serious Sam 3: BFE | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Croteam |
| Publisher(s) | Devolver Digital |
| Distributor(s) | Steam (online) |
| Engine | Serious Engine 3.5 |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows PlayStation 3 Xbox 360 |
| Release date(s) | November 22, 2011[1] |
| Genre(s) | First-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) |
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| Media/distribution | Download |
| System requirements
Minimum: OS: Windows XP 32-bit (with service pack 2 or 3) Processor: Dual-core from Intel or AMD at 2.0 GHz Memory: 1GB Graphics: nVidia GeForce 7800/7900/8600 series, ATI/AMD Radeon HD 2600/3600 or X1800/X1900 series DirectX®: 9.0c Hard Drive: 4GB free hard drive space Sound: DirectX9.0c Compatible Sound Card Recommended: OS: Windows 7 64-bit Processor: Quad-core from Intel (i5/i7-series) or AMD (Phenom II) at 3.0 GHz Memory: 4GB Graphics: nVidia GeForce GTX 480/580, ATI/AMD Radeon HD 5870/6970 DirectX®: 9.0c Hard Drive: 4GB free hard drive space Sound: DirectX9.0c Compatible Sound Card |
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Serious Sam 3: BFE is a first-person shooter video game developed by Croteam and published by Devolver Digital. BFE stands for Before First Encounter. It is the latest game in the Serious Sam series and a prequel to Serious Sam: The First Encounter. The game's story takes place in the 22nd century, during Mental's invasion of Earth, as implied in The First Encounter. The game is set in Egypt and features a 16-player co-operative campaign mode, as well as 4-player splitscreen. The game was released on November 22, 2011 on Windows,while the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 versions release date have not been announced yet.[2]
Contents |
Serious Sam 3: BFE's gameplay is identical to the previous titles in the series. Having its roots in traditional '90s first-person shooters, the game revolves around the player facing against hordes of enemies in lush, wide-open environments. Unlike the original game, where the story was in the form of messages from NETRICSA (Neurotronically Implanted Combat Situation Analyzer) implanted into Sam's skull, your only companion in the game, Serious Sam 3 features relatively high-res cutscenes throughout its levels that guide the player throughout the story, as well as phone calls that Sam receives from his superiors (usually Quinn), which he often hangs up or responds sarcastically to.
The player can carry an unlimited amount of weapons, including a minigun, rocket launcher, assault rifle and a cannon. The signature close-combat weapons from the first game, the knife and chainsaw, have been replaced with a sledgehammer with three modes of fire (vertical strike, 180 turn and full 360 turn). There is no regenerating health, instead there are health and armor power-ups scattered throughout the levels that the player must pick up. Additionally, the levels are full of secret areas, where health, armor, ammo and in some cases, weapons from later levels can be found, following the tradition of the previous games.
The gameplay is very hectic and chaotic, with enemies spawning in by the dozen and more consistently in later levels, often overwhelming the player. The environment is fully destructible and there is no cover system, with pillars and walls constantly crumbling into a pile of rubble by enemy gunfire. In addition, explosions form piles of sand and dust, blocking the player's vision and making survival tougher. Blood and gore effects have been improved from previous installments. There are no puzzles, however the player must find keys, pull levers and find environmental anomalies to progress.
Classic enemies such as the Beheaded Kamikaze, Beheaded Rocketeer and Kleer Skeleton return in the game. New ones include the Khnum and Scrapjack (resembling the Cyberdemon and Mancubus from Doom, respectively), as well as the cloned soldiers. The kamikaze has returned to his original design, rather than the goofy one from Serious Sam II. The Gnaar's design has radically been changed from the original game. It is now much larger, differently shaped and walks on all fours, rather than its bipedal counterpart in Serious Sam.
There are several new gameplay mechanics, never before seen in the series: sprinting, reloading, sights and melee attacks. The player can run throughout the level indefinitely. Some weapons need to be reloaded after a certain amount of rounds are fired. The pistol and assault rifle have the ability to aim down sights, making them more accurate when done so. The player can perform hand kills or kick enemies to conserve ammo, depending on the weapon selected. For example, a Gnaar's eyeball can be ripped out or an Antaresian Spider's shell can be broken. This proves largely futile in the later levels, as the player still sustains damage when a melee attack is performed.
Whereas previous games jumped into the action pretty quickly, Serious Sam 3 progressively builds up the levels, getting more intense each time, with new weapons and enemies being introduced at a considerably slower rate than before, until it reaches its climax.
Serious Sam 3: BFE serves as prequel to the original Serious Sam: The First Encounter and depicts the events on Earth before Sam's journey into the past. The horde of space overlord Mental attacks Earth, and after three years, there is no hope but to activate recently found Time Lock, left in ancient times by alien race from Sirius, and change the past. Sam "Serious" Stone and several other soldiers are sent to modern Egypt, which is occupied by bizarre alien army of Mental, which include beheaded cyborg soldiers, magically animated Kleer skeletons, one-eyed beasts Gnaars, bio-mechanoids and gigantic Khnums. All of Sam's squad is quickly wiped out, so he is left to discover a scientist's research and activate two alien reactors beneath Egypt which will power up the Time Lock. Since no human could reach the Time Lock alive, Sam heads to it himself. The game culminates with Sam killing Ugh-Zan IV, the new incarnation of the infamous Ugh-Zan III from Serious Sam: The First Encounter, who, due to time paradox, is the genetic father of his past form. Sam calls Mental on his phone, whose daughter, Judy, answers. Sam asks Judy to give her father a message, that "Sam's coming over to play. And by play, I mean kill him." Sam enters the Time Lock and journeys to ancient Egypt just as Mental "moons" Earth (crushes the moon on Earth's surface), destroying the planet.
Before the release of Serious Sam 3: BFE, three indie games were announced to be in development. All were released around the time of Serious Sam 3's release.
The "Serious Digital Edition" contains (on Steam):
If the game was pre-purchased before release, the exclusive Fork Parker character model would be received. Serious Digital Edition customers receives both the normal Fork Parker and Gold Fork Parker model, while the Standard Edition customers receives the normal Fork Parker model.
While there is no DRM as such in the game that prevents you from playing the game, the game will become much harder on a pirate copy, for if the game detects that it is an illegal copy, it will spawn an invincible scorpion-like character. The creature can charge at you at high speed , melee attack, and can attack from a range with twin chainguns. This character makes progress in the game much harder, and ultimately prevents the player from progressing further. Another method is in the level "Under the Iron Curtain" the game will make your character spin wildly looking in the air.
| Reception | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Aggregator | Score |
| GameRankings | 77.15%[3] (PC) |
| Metacritic | 72/100[4] (PC) |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
BFE has garnered fairly positive reviews. Eurogamer gave the review a 7 on 10, praising the game for what Duke Nukem Forever failed to deliver, however criticizing the redundancy of the title's gameplay compared to its previous iterations in the series.[5] Game Informer rewarded the game a score of 7.75 and praised the game for its graphics and the heavy metal score while being true to its original concept.[6] Destructoid gave it an 8.5, saying "It's a lot of fun indeed. A lot of backbreaking, grueling, soul-destroying fun."[7] Review aggregation web site Metacritic gave the game a score of 70 out of 100 based on six reviews.[8] GameRankings gave the game a score of 77.55% based on 10 reviews.[9]
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