BlueSmoke - Preview : Serious Sam : The Second Encounter

		Date	: Jan 6th, 2002
		Genre	: Action
		Developer	: Croteam
		Author	: Jin-Ning Tioh

Earlier this year, a relatively unknown company created a suprising hit, stirring waves within the gaming community by eschewing the very conventions that supposedly made modern action games great - An ingenious plot, memorable characters, squad-based tactics and intelligent enemies. Instead, Serious Sam : The First Encounter simply bombardered gamers with non-stop action, violence, gibs and absolutely no attempt at remotely thinking opponents at all, with players taking on the role of Sam "Serious" Stone, a special forces dude mowing down wave after wave of enemies, ranging from harpies to small poisonous toads. Serious Sam was a desperately needed breath of fresh air, harkening gamers back to simpler times, when run n' gun tactics were the order of the day.

Now, just barely a year after their massive success, Croteam has just recently finished the process of creating the second episode to the massively popular series, already going gold not too long ago. Convieniently named The Second Encounter, this episode will feature dozens of even more serious levels, three new weapons of mass destruction, seven new enemies and three new environments. So saddle up, and read on to find out more.

After destroying the influence of Mental and hijacking the Sirian spacecraft in ancient Egypt, Sam immediately headed directly for Mental. Unfortunately however, Sam lost control of the ship and instead crashed deep in the South American Mountains. Now, surrounded and outgunned by enemy forces, Sam must battle his way through scattered Mayan and Aztec ruins of Sierra de Chiapas, the Serpent Yards and the City of the Gods, then to Persepolis, the capital of the ancient Achaemenian civilization and possibly even Europe during the Middle Ages. As in The First Encounter, huge open spaces with tons of enemies and seamless indoor/outdoor transitions prevail here. Hundreds of enemies, including old foes such as the Gnaar and Beheaded Kamikaze, and powerful new foes, including Cucurbito the pumpkin, the Fiendian Reptiloid Demon, Zumb'ul from planet Ras-Ad-Nyk and the Zorg Mercenary and Zorg Commander from Beelmez IV, will attempt to stop Sam at every turn. Cucurbito the pumpkin will rush at players with a chainsaw, the Fiendian reptiloid demon wields indestructible balls of lava, Zumb'ul from planet Ras-Ad-Nyk fires off twin rockets of incredible destruction and the zorg mercenaries wield massive laser rifles.

In addition to his old arsenal of weapons, including shotguns, Tommy guns, lasers, cannons and rocket launchers, Sam sports three new weapons of mass destruction, including the RAPTOR 16mm Sniper, 'Bonecracker' P-LAH Chainsaw and the XOP Flamethrower. The chainsaw is surprisingly powerful at close range, able to cut through most enemies in a concentrated swipe or two. While it may seem strange to have a sniper rifle in such a fast-paced game, it is a surprisingly useful weapon, able to pick off a significant portion of enemies rushing at you from a distance. An important point to note is that the RAPTOR rifle is more powerful when fired in zoom mode, even at close range. Finally, rounding out the list of weapons is the XOP flamethrower, capable of spewing extremely flammable streams of napalm that will consume even the largest of enemies in a matter of seconds, including even the towering bio-mechs. This allows players the pleasure of setting just about any creature and nearly every object in the levels on fire.

Four new power-ups have also been announced, three of which being the Serious Speed Boots, Serious Damage and Invulnerability. Serious Speed Boots provide players with a temporary but fantastic boost of speed, allowing players to dodge bullets, rockets and enemies with ease. Serious Damage causes players to inflict more damage than ever possible temporarily, even killing Kleer Skeletons with a single round from a single-barreled shotgun. Invulnerability will prevent Sam from coming to harm for a period of time, buying him time to turn the tides of a battle against the forces of Mental.

In addition to the three new environments, several visual upgrades have been added to the already impressive 3D engine. Some of these visual upgrades are more than just eye candy, as they also play a crucial role towards gameplay. One such visual upgrade are the new particle effects, which allows for massive levels filled with beautifully rendered fields of grass, bushes and trees. Some of the taller grass will impair your vision, making it harder to spot rushing enemies until they're fairly close to you. Fortunately, part of your new arsenal includes the chainsaw for close encounters. You'll find that scrambling up to higher ground as quickly as possible is a good tactic of spotting enemies and raining death from above. Another new enhancement was created and implemented specifically for the new XOP flamethrower - The ability to set any creature and nearly every object in the levels on fire. Overall, the graphics are looking better than ever, and Sam never looked this good.

If the demo and screenshots released are any indication to go by, then we are already cracking our knuckles in anticipation of the second episode of the Serious Sam saga. With the three new environments, you can expect the game to probably be even longer than the original. And with its low price tag of $19.99, cooperative and fragmatch multiplayer modes, The Second Encounter is shaping up to be yet another massive hit within the gaming community. We look forward to mowing through hundreds of enemies by the 5th of February, 2002. In the meantime, though, be sure to check out the neat screenshots below.