Serious Sam: Double D
Score: 80% ESRB: Not Rated Publisher: Croteam Developer: Mommy's Best Games Media: Download/1 Players: 1 Genre: Action/ Platformer
Graphics & Sound: Serious Sam: Double D is not a huge leap forward in visuals from its predecessors, but it's not the same type of game either. It's now a side-scrolling platformer. Sam is pretty small for most of the time you spend playing the game, and its the large enemies that really take center stage. Everything has a hand drawn and colored look to it. It's like the look of a very sophisticated flash game. Backgrounds and buildings are where things fall short the most. There are lots of giant bricks and slabs just designed for hopping on, and really not much in the way of capturing visual interest. So Annie Lennox's "No More I Love You's" is an odd choice for an opening theme to Serious Sam, but it kind of works. Yeah, I'm kidding, though with the game's sense of humor, I really wouldn't put something like that past it. The soundtrack gives you a bit of heavy metal (though pretty generic heavy metal) at the beginning, with pretty subtle background music thereafter. The pyramids have kind of an eerie hum of music, but nothing that gets going into an actual tune. That's ok, since it's usually drowned out by swarms of screaming, exploding, wailing enemies.
Gameplay: Continuing the tradition of the first Serious Sam, there's plenty of humor abounding in Serious Sam: Double D. There are references to other games, and then there are just silly situational humorous bits. At one point, Sam is reminiscing about a nice athletic girl he knew with a nice pair of ... handguns. There are poop references, silly explosion humor and really silly flirting humor. You can even turn the blood effects into donuts instead of blood splatters. It's pretty lighthearted, very juvenile fun. If you still need a feel for the game's vibe, check out the video on the Steam Store site in the links below. Of course, the ridiculous gun-stacker ability is a big, hilarious new thing for Serious Sam. The stack can get pretty tall. If you can't decide between rocket launcher, shotgun or machine gun, then go for it. You can set up different stacker combinations to your heart's desire. The problem with all this is that you still spend all that ammo. Stacking guns is not all that efficient. There are the usual crazy enemies like chimps in hoverboots, headless guys running and screaming with cartoon bombs in their hands. Oh yes, and there are stacks of pancakes with vuvuzelas stuck in them. I really think I can call it a night right there. The secret area traditions of the earliest first person shooters are given a nod in this game as well. I haven't seen a "Secret Gay Wedding" yet, but time for that humor has pretty much passed anyway. Surprises still abound, but mostly in the writing of the dialogue and the, well, endless enemy ambushes. These situations still do get a little creative though. There's one point where you're given a candy trail of sorts with vitamin pack power-ups. You get one, and another one pops up in front of you. You pick it up and another pops up, then another. You get your confidence up and bam! It's the perfect, hilarious enemy ambush.
Difficulty: It may seem that converting Serious Sam: Double D to a side-scroller would make it a much easier game. It has, in some ways. You don't have to spend so much time fine tuning your aiming and worrying about where you're supposed to be going. But the game does manage to keep you on your toes, even at the lower difficulty levels. Enemies pop up from anywhere, and you're penalized quite a bit for standing around. Up the difficulty level a bit, and you'll be swarmed with wave upon wave of chaos. If it's still not enough madness for you, you can always up the difficulty level. If that's still not enough enemies and bullets and bombs coming at you, you can try the unique challenges you'll unlock as you progress through the game.
Game Mechanics: Serious Sam: Double D is a side-scroller platformer. Yes, it's still a shooter too. Basically, you move Sam around with the standard A, S, D, W controls on the keyboard, while you aim with the mouse. This is not as easy as it sounds, as targets appear everywhere, all the time. As always, if you want to up the difficulty, you can always do something like turning the aiming reticule off. The controls do work well, and give you room to get better and master them. Again, you can tweak a lot to get the game to where you want it, if it's not quite working out. Serious Sam takes a bit of a new direction in this game, and that's not entirely a bad thing. This game has enough frantic action to be called a Serious Sam game, but is a bit more accessible to those who aren't fans of the standard first person shooter. It's worth a demo try, that's for sure.
-Fights with Fire, GameVortex Communications AKA Christin Deville
Minimum System Requirements: OS: XP, Vista, 7; Processor: 2.0 GHz or faster (Dual-core recommended); Memory: 1GB; Hard Disk Space: 500MB; Video Card: 128 MB Card, supports Shader Model 2.0; DirectX(r): 9.0c; Sound: DirectX 9.0c Compatible sound card; Additional Optional: Microsoft Xbox 360 Controller or XInput controller   Test System: Windows 7, 3.20 GigaHertz Intel Pentium 4, 3 GB Ram, GeForce GTX460 768MB, Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS
Related Links: Serious Sam: Double D on Steam
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