Graphics:
When Serious Sam was first released, the visuals were on par with the top state-of-the-art graphics found within any of the best first-person shooters. Unfortunately, with this latest release, this franchise has fallen significantly behind the curve. Nonetheless, what you see at the highest settings is still incredibly bright, colorful, and crisp, with an amazing ability to animate tons of objects on the screen at once with no significant slowdowns. Indeed, with rare exceptions the frame rates are quite smooth.

Both indoor and outdoor environments are rendered with equal effectiveness. Many of the open panoramic vistas are downright gorgeous. You see lots of flowers and grass on the ground, but much of it is easily recognized as two-dimensional. The diverse enemies appear ferocious and cute at the same time, decently rendered though without a high polygon count; at close range most look impressive, but the action is so frenzied that you rarely can stop to appreciate them unless you are about to get killed. However, nobody would rate the appearance of these beasts as comparable to the high standard set in Doom 3.

The special visual effects are mixed in quality. The smoke is outstanding — close to the most convincing I have ever seen in a computer title — but the depiction of water is just above average and that of fire is merely adequate. Shadowing and lighting effects are decent but not exceptional. The explosions are initially impressive but, as alluded to earlier, get more than a bit predictable. A few special settings are very well done, such as spikes poking out of a pool of blood and the dank sewer environment.

The cut scenes are a source of real irritation. First, the graphics quality of these transitional cinematics is noticeably lower than those during the gameplay. Second, although you can disable captioning during the action sequences, you cannot do so within the cut scenes; the result is that some of the humor is spoiled because you are forced to see the punch line prematurely. Third, early in the game, there are just too many cut scenes, interfering with the smooth flow of the gameplay. Fourth, and perhaps worst of all, when you see Sam’s face in the cut scenes, it is often so crudely rendered as to be stunningly deficient.

Interface: Serious Sam II utilizes the standard first-person shooter mouse-keyboard input system, and Croteam has honed this to perfection. You may alter the default settings if you wish, but I found no reason to do so. The control system is highly responsive and in no way restricts the arcade reflex action during the game.

The menu system and play screen are both early to interpret and relatively Spartan in design. It is very nice that when you are in battles you do not have a lot of indicators cluttering up the screen. One minor gripe is that the scroll bar and the up-and-down arrows do not work on the load menu; instead you counterintuitively have to resort to the up-down keys or the mouse wheel to get to the save you desire.

As is typical of computer offerings but still atypical for console releases, you may save and load at will, with an easy-to-use quick save system. One of the most pleasing dimensions of this release is that, unlike many recent first-person shooters, the load times are extremely short, both when you are loading a save game or transitioning between levels.

Gameplay:
Playing Serious Sam II is like being at an arcade shooting gallery. You keep the trigger firmly pressed, destroying everything that opposes you, and the frenetic combat action never lets up. Your foes usually come at you in a series of waves, and just when you think you have finally gotten rid of all of them another swarm appears. There are so many adversaries firing at you from all directions that the best survival strategy is to keep moving. I wish these encounters represented more memorable epic moments the way there did in the first installment of this series.

As you progress, you notice that the level design is pretty linear, with only the occasional appearance of multiple ways to go that lead anywhere; often, as is typical of releases of this type, the best way to know you are not retracing your steps is the appearance of a new clump of enemies. To spice up the action, lots of pickups of all sorts are scattered about, and lots of secret areas are hidden in the large settings. Nonetheless, after a while the action gets highly repetitive; even within a single battle, there are times where you have to kill the same type of foe attacking you in the same way so many times that you wish it would all just end.

I have always enjoyed the lighthearted humor present in the Serious Sam series, and there is a lot to laugh at here. Particularly the frequent gaming-related humor is really funny (for example, after killing a giant insect, Sam announces that there are no bugs in the game). However, some of the jokes do not work well, and I find that the little smurf-like creatures you are helping on some of the levels get really annoying.

Multiplayer:
As with the earlier installments, you can play Serious Sam II in multiplayer cooperative mode with your friends. Up to 16 players can play over a LAN or the Internet. A wide range of difficulty settings allows you to set up the multiplayer to suit the abilities of the human players. With multiple humans fighting the enemy creatures together at one time, you can implement different combat strategies and experience a whole new level of euphoria. While this is the only multiplayer mode available (deathmatch is noticeably missing), it is an absolute blast. Thankfully, there is no significant lag when you play.

Sound FX:
The sound effects in Serious Sam II are generally great, including the realistic weapons fire and the satisfying groans and grunts of the creatures. Some noises really stand out; for example, the sound of ammunition pickups for plasma rifle is deliciously squishy. There is not much innovative in the audio, but it is very fulfilling.

The vocal effects are a bit uneven. Sam’s voice is perfect as always, deep and gruff and somewhat self-deprecating. But some of these effects are extremely grating, such as when you here a female voice screaming “extra life” or “serious damage” when you collect certain pickups. The smurf-like inhabitants often issue utterances that are just plain nonsense. Lastly, the woman who guides Sam around by reminding him of objectives often simply states the obvious.

Musical Score: Like the vocal effects, the music in Serious Sam II is a mixed bag. Some of the background tunes seem generic, rather tuneless with just a repetitive beat in the background. Nonetheless, when enemies approach, the score helps to heighten the excitement, and generally the soundtrack matches the lighthearted tone of this offering. The music in the the latter sections of the game is by far the most rousing.

Intelligence & Difficulty: Serious Sam II has five levels of difficulty — tourist, easy, normal, hard, and serious. This accommodates a wide range of player abilities, making the title accessible for novices and experts alike. Regardless, though the challenge increases the farther you progress, the overall difficulty is a bit lower than most of today’s first-person shooters.

As is typical of this franchise, there is no noticeable artificial intelligence in Serious Sam II. Foes just run straight at you, with no subtlety or dodging or blocking moves.

Overall: Serious Sam II is a fun and frenzied shooting romp, but — as a longtime fan of the franchise — beneath my expectations. It seems as if the developer’s mindset has been kind of frozen in time, reluctant to add new innovations to the series that would deepen and diversify the gameplay for its many fans. Somehow the tone of this installment is not just silly and lighthearted, but also a bit more cartoonish and childlike. Those who love retro first-person shooters and who are frustrated with the new wrinkles in recent releases in this genre will certainly enjoy this title; but many hardcore gamers will have progressed beyond what this release offers. In particular, the repetitiveness of the gameplay will leave many gamers limp. I still had fun with this release, but it clearly needed more oomph to be really taken seriously.