Serious Sam: Next Encounter review (GameCube)

There are no aesthetics in Serious Sam, just sort of a hodgepodge of random enemies that contrast oddly against the environments, as well as each other. Most of the enemies are transplants from Croteam's Serious Sam games, though, as with the rest of the game's presentation, the models have been severely dumbed down. There are some new enemies created by Climax for Next Encounter, but most of these lack the ludicrous-but-inspired designs conceived by Croteam. Technically speaking, the game is, by no exaggeration, ugly. Environments and monsters are equally crude looking, lighting and particle effects are all but nonexistent, and everyone is plastered with really low-res, nasty-looking textures. To its credit, though, the game maintains a solid frame rate, no matter how many enemies are on the screen, even when playing in split-screen.

The screaming, headless kamikazes, one of Serious Sam's most brilliantly conjured-up enemies, has the same continuous scream as always, and it still evokes a satisfying level of dread. It's the best thing that the sound has to offer, as the sounds made by the other monsters seem bland. The weapon effects are hit-and-miss, with the chaingun producing a satisfactory racket, but the handguns and the Uzis both sound muffled and underpowered. Sam himself will occasionally drop little one-liners, and both his voice and his attitude give him a kind of Duke Nukem flavor, though without so many bad double entendres. The game breaks out with some squealing rock guitars whenever things are about to heat up, serving as a good audio cue to be on your guard. It's the only piece of music in the game really worth mentioning, and it does a fine job of getting the blood pumping, although it would be been nice if the game included other tunes as well.

If you've been playing the Serious Sam games for the PC or Xbox, you'll find that Next Encounter can't compare to any of Croteam's games. It is, however, still a pretty fun, simple action game. If you can forgive the game's dated-looking graphics, its rather basic gameplay model, and its comparative level of ease--which is, admittedly, a lot to forgive--you can have a good time with Serious Sam: Next Encounter.