I walked into EB one day, loaded with extra change and gift certificates. Going around to the Bargain Bin, one particular case attracted my eye. It was excessively shiny, and... well... shiny. Oops, that's not that game I'm reviewing. I actually bought another game that day, by the name of Serious Sam. It looked like a fun game, so I bought it for a neat $9. I played... and played... until about 3 months later I wrote this review. Nice story, huh?

This game accomplishes what Oni didn't in terms of graphics. The levels in this game are huge, not unlike Oni, yet accomplishes exactly what it set out to do. In this game, you don't run around looking for stuff. The "stuff" comes around looking for you, in the form of thousands of enemies. The number of enemies this game throws at you is amazing. I noticed slowdown only in one particular point when I literally had several hundred enemies chasing me down a street. I mean, the levels are just huge! You'd figure this would cause a decrease in terms of detail, similar to Oni. Wrong. The detail on every building and structure is awesome. Despite being almost 2 years old as I write this, the graphics can definitely be defined as "jaw dropping". Gotta love that excessive blood too.

I loved the music in this game. I can't remember every piece of music in this game, because there were so many and so wonderfully varied. While we don't know what music from Egypt actually sounds like, much of the music in this game is influenced by Hollywood's version of it. It also helps to create mood as well. If there is no enemies in the area, the music might be quiet, in the background. If an enemy appears, the music will crescendo and build in tempo. The voice work? Absolutely hilarious. Every once in a while Sam will make up some comment about something on screen, and no matter how cheesy the line may be, it always brought a smile to my face. Dammit, I have to give another 9?

It's an arcade style FPS, plain an simple. There is not epic story to tell like in Halo. Well, maybe there is, but it is told in a much more simple fashion. Less glitz, more kill everybody you see. That's actually what you do most of the time. The game will throw hundreds of enemies at you at once, give you a crap load of ammo, and let you have at it. The sheer amount of ememies, the power of your weapons, the humor, and the difficulty make this a great game. Actually, it has many difficulty settings. Playing it on tourist can result in some rather fun "beat the entire game with a knife" situations. Oh, and playing this game in co-op or in deathmatch is a lot of fun too. That's the best way to sum up this game, it's fun. Not seriously innovative, not seriously epic, simply serious fun.

Typical FPS controls. They're a bit more responsive than usual, but with good reason. You'll need every ounce of "twitch" in your wrist to respond to all the enemies surrounding you.

For such a "serious" game, I had crap loads of fun playing this. There's honestly no other way to sum up this game, than to say it was "fun". It was also "fun-ny". After all, the fun is what playing games is all about, right?

+ HUGE levels

+ Funny voice clips

+ Fun

? Maybe that shotguns just a wee bit too accurate in deathmatch

Overall (not an average): 8.5/10
You'll have a grand 'ole time