"Whoa, baby, this is serious!"
For years now, Serious Sam has been leaving a humongous dent in the first-person shooter genre, between hundreds of enemies piling on the bullets at once and the ridiculous sense of humor that most games of these type forego. Sam takes his killing seriously, as you've seen from the first two Serious Sam games on Xbox Live, and he's got the weapon arsenal to back up his smarmy mouth.
He'll be doing damage again later this year when Serious Sam 3: BFE makes its Xbox Live Arcade debut, courtesy of the wildly creative folks at Croteam, and PC/Steam owners will also get an extra dose of Sam fun when the Jewel of the Nile pack arrives in a few months. We recently took the time to chat with Croteam creative guy (hey, that's what he likes to be called!) Davor Hunski about what to expect from the XBLA game, as well as what's next. (Serious Sam 4, we bet…)
First off, the first two Serious Sam games were "brutal" successes on Xbox Live. What's your guys' secret in making these games run so well on the console?
Davor: The Serious Sam HD titles played very well on Xbox Live Arcade and a ton of credit has to be given to our Serious Engine 3. Our team built it with a focus on PC but an eye toward consoles and it made for a rather nice transition. Croteam was able to keep all of the brutal action and massive amounts of enemies that makes the games so fun – this is something we are working hard to deliver on with Serious Sam 3: BFE on Xbox Live Arcade this fall.
What can fans expect when Serious Sam 3 drops for the console this fall? More madness? Break it down for us.
Davor: Absolutely, all of the madness and over the top action will be there with the only real big difference being that the main game's single player and co-op campaign modes will be sold as the primary download with multiplayer versus modes and the upcoming Serious Sam 3: Jewel of the Nile expansion sold as DLC packs. This is only due to file size limits on Xbox Live Arcade that restricts a game of this massive size to be sold all at once. The great news is the total cost of all these together will be less than the original retail price of the game at launch on PC so the Xbox Live Arcade user will get great value in the end.
Where's Sam going this time with the story? Besides killing everyone, obviously.
Davor: Well, Serious Sam 3: BFE is a prequel to the original game, Serious Sam: The First Encounter and takes place in near-future Egypt during Mental's invasion of Earth. Sam and his team are battling through hordes of minions in an effort to send Sam back in time to ancient Egypt where Mental first made contact and overran human civilization. But mostly it's about killing everyone.
What changes have you made to make this the best Serious Sam on console yet?
Davor: Our team actually tried to make as little changes as possible when compared to Serious Sam 3: BFE on PC. Compared to the original games the missions are larger and in many cases more intense because of the fantastic new visual design and evolved gameplay mechanics like melee attacks and things like jetpacks. But really we wanted to stay true to what makes Serious Sam games so fun – intense and brutal combat that is always about the action and what your move is from second to second.
What online features can we expect? Is multiplayer in there?
Davor: Serious Sam 3: BFE on Xbox Live Arcade will maintain the awesome campaign co-op and crazy multiplayer versus modes like deathmatch, capture the flag, and team deathmatch. Newer modes like Beast Hunt and Survival mode will be tons of fun as well. In addition to those modes being online we also have some local multiplayer options as well for those to like to battle live and in person!
What's your favorite weapon in the game? Something new perhaps? Or do you like to stick to the classics?
Davor:Wow, hard to say. You can't go wrong with the double-barrel shotgun or rocket launcher when it comes to taking care of business. I would say one of those or the new Sirian Mutilator. That is some fun right there!
Finally, what's the chances we might see a Serious Sam 4 surface? Or can he take the pressure? 😀
Our man Sam can always take the pressure so it's a safe bet that plans are underway for his next adventure already!
