Review

Serious Sam 3: BFE (Xbox 360)

Serious Sam is back…again. Released last year on the PC, Serious Sam 3 BFE has finally made it to the consoles. How does it fare after a year’s wait…pretty good if you ask me.

BFE is a prequel to the other titles in this classic series. Mental, an evil alien who wants nothing more than to destroy absolutely everything, has been warring with our planet for over three years now. Luckily, we were able to find an ancient machine that allows for time travel. Serious Sam was elected to use the machine to go back in time to stop Mental early on. Too bad we don’t know how to turn the thing on; it’s alien technology after all. As if Sam’s goal wasn’t lofty enough, Mental is sending every alien in his army to stop him cold. That includes monsters that tower over buildings. Yup, things went from bad to serious!

Now that you are familiar with the story, let’s get something out of the way; the PC version of BFE is better on almost all fronts. As cliché as it is to state this, graphically the Xbox 360 version doesn’t hold a candle to last year’s model. Even for console standards, the game doesn’t look as good as it could. When it comes to controls, the keyboard/mouse combo is much better than the Xbox controller. This is mainly due to the fact that there is no easy way to cycle through all of your weapons; you have to use the D-pad for switching. Each direction has a couple weapons tied to it, requiring multiple presses to switch between everything. For instance, pressing left once will get you the shotgun; twice will net you the double barreled one. Having to move your thumb from the left analogue (used to move) to pick a weapon with the D-pad can lead to a quick death. There is a quick select that allows you to switch back and forth between your current and previous weapon though. Still, it is frustrating to not have a way to move while picking a weapon in such a fast paced shooter!

Moving passed the obvious; let’s get into the good stuff. BFE throws enemies at Sam in large numbers, emphasizing quick reflexes over strategic shoot outs. There is no health regeneration, nor cover to hide behind, neither are there any of the modern FPS staples that “help” gamers stay alive. This level of difficulty makes BFE a great alternative to the COD’s out there. This game gets your blood pumping because of the frantic gameplay alone. Outside of the controls, getting ported over to the console did little to diminish that truth. Even after a year of waiting, circle strafing to dodge incoming projectiles while blasting Headless Kamikaze is as exciting as it’s always been.

One thing that makes this version stand out over its PC counterpart is matchmaking. Jumping into a Co-op game is much better over Xbox Live. This isn’t just because of having an easy access to your friends. Somehow, on the backend, it’s able to find gamers and place them with players that have similar internet connections. I never once experienced latency or lag due to someone having a much faster, or a much slower connection. Of course, I don’t know what’s actually going on; I just know that I had more issues with BFE on PC then on my Xbox. Adding to this is the fact that the game automatically saves where you are when playing Co-op (one of my complaints from the PC version). Though it doesn’t save exactly where you were when you quit, it will just save the level you stopped on. Reloading it will grant you the basic weapons a person might have had up until that point in the game. Still, this is better than not saving at all.

Speaking of multiplayer, this brings me to an interesting point about BFE. Apparently, due to Microsoft’s strict limit on how large a Xbox Live Arcade title can be,  BFE had to be split into two separate downloads; resulting in two differently priced versions. Getting the single player campaign, plus co-op and split screen gaming will cost 1200 MS Points. If you are looking to play the more competitive modes like CTF, Deathmatch, etc., then that’s an extra 1200 points. To sweeten the deal, Croteam released the Jewel of the Nile add- on to this DLC pack. It extends the story of the campaign (offering 3 more levels), new weapons, and a couple of classic enemies. To get the full game it runs you $30…which is great for what you’re getting; it’s $10 less than the PC version was without the Jewel of the Nile. On top of that, you get to choose if you want to just have the campaign or if you want to add the competitive stuff as well. Which is something that I feel should be an option for any shooter released today.

All and all, Serious Sam 3 BFE is a fun old school FPS. Not being as good as the PC version or having a split price shouldn’t be a reason for you not to play. It still has the same issues from before (outside of matchmaking); this game is more for those looking for a classic, arcade styled shooter. Something that’s a little different than what’s coming out next month. The option to split up the price makes it even more appealing as you can get exactly what you want, ignoring the rest in favor of saving some money…Awesome!