Serious Sam Collection
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Critic Reviews for Serious Sam Collection
Serious Sam Collection is two-thirds amazing, but the final third is a real technical mess; Serious Sam 3: BFE is one of the least impressive Switch ports we've ever seen. It's playable, but surely the machine that can push out an acceptable version of Doom can manage this? There's the potential for early patches to improve matters, but the way it is now, we can only recommend The Serious Sam Collection as a great way to play the First and Second Encounters. That's not what's advertised, though, and as a result, we can only give this package a cautious recommendation. A three-game collection should be a three-game collection; not two games and the faintest suggestion of one.
Despite my griping about Serious Sam 2 not getting any love in this collection, I do think it is a great place to start with Serious Sam. Not only is it a set of great games, but there’s also multiplayer and co-op. This is a set of games anyone who has loved the new Doom games should at least try, and at the regular price of $30 there’s very little reason not to. Serious Sam 3: BFE still goes for more than this collection on PC by itself, no DLC. It’s a steal, especially if you can grab a friend to play the whole campaign with.
A compilation of Sam Stone's best adventures comes to Xbox. Unlimited action and enemy waterfalls in different scenarios of the world and history. It's time to get serious with Serious Sam Collection.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
All in all, the Serious Sam Collection is a brilliant bundle of nostalgic fun. While the simplistic gameplay, and the endless hordes of enemies might be exhausting and even repetitive to some, it is still a well-functioning blast to playthrough and a must-have, especially for fans of the genre.
Still, for those who love old-fashioned, action-packed first-person shooters where taking cover is frowned upon in favour of outmanoeuvring your aggressors while unleashing a hail of bullets, Serious Sam Collection is a must-have. Packing in a massive amount of content, there’s so much strafing and shooting to be done here as you move through wonderfully scenic environments.
The Serious Sam Collection undeniably has a lot of content, but the purchase decision will hinge on what fondness you have for it. This is likely an easy buy for the devotees or those who hold nostalgia for it, but as a first timer the flaws inherent in game design, technical performance, and audio design make the experience for me death by a thousand cuts. The Switch has better classic shooters and many well-made homages to them; seek out those before you settle for this.
Still, the console version remains a fun experience and despite its dated looks, Serious Sam immerses its players completely, transcending them in the middle of the action. You don't need strategies or tactics, just the controller and the mood to blow up everything alien you encounter in the game world. Technically there are no improvements, the fun is still as mindless as ever, and the price of the package is a fair one.
Serious Sam remains the perfect foil to all the self-serious and often toxic shooters that we see today. All three games (and the two DLC expansions) that are contained in this collection are pure, unmitigated fun, and there's not a single (admittedly high-quality) rendition of Ronald Reagan across any of them. Not coincidentally, while I've already deleted that CoD off my hard drive, the Serious Sam Collection will stay on my Switch for quite some time to come. In short bursts - particularly on the commute after a hard day's work - there's nothing more cathartic.
