Serious Sam: Next Encounter Critic Reviews

While the single player game is basic and ultimately boring, the game more than makes up for that with its online play.

This is unapologetically brainless fun at its most brainless and fun. Give it a shot.

Delivers all the requirements of an exciting FPS, and the 20-buck asking price is a sweet incentive. Second Encounter is a shooter with simple requirements: A minimum of brains and maximum of reflexes.

Those wanting a deep, story oriented game should definitely look elsewhere but if you want a game which you can pick up once every few weeks and have nothing to worry about other then destroying hordes of enemies, then Serious Sam: Next Encounter is definitely it.

Hidden levels, new features, and cheats all await the dedicated gamer. However, it will take a seriously patient player to not only finish the game, but to go back and earn the gold medals.

The game has the energy and vibe of a Roger Corman film, and like Corman's movies, Serious Sam: Next Encounter not only feels like it was created in just a few days on a very low budget, but it's also obvious from the puckish spirit of the final product that the people who made the game had one hell of a time doing so.

The Croteam-developed games developed a sense on tension because it was a bit tougher. Here, you are given much ammo to destroy the enemies so it becomes even more of a shoot-a-thon.

The overall concept is repetitive (walk in area, door shuts, tons of monsters come at you until all of them are dead), but the furious action keeps the game interesting.

Offers no new concepts, no realism and is highly repetitive, yet what it does it does so well. It provides the perfect environment for a quick blast about, either on your own against endless hordes of colourful monsters, or with friends.

Next Encounter is one of the grandest and busiest console battlefields yet created. This is a spiritual update to Space Invaders, a one-trick pony that kicks harder than most FPS thoroughbreds, making the "Medal of Honour" series seem like a vain diva by comparison.

The graphics and sound are far from revolutionary, the weapons basic, and the story a total throwaway, but when the gameplay is as fast and frenetic as this, no one will care.

Sam has some of the craziest yet most ingenious enemies in a shooter - I dare you to come up with a better enemy than the headless screaming kamikaze bomber.

The online multiplayer component may not be deeply compelling, but the lighthearted monster design, lack of pretense and serious carnage make this game easily worth the $20 price tag.

If you can forgive the game's dated-looking graphics, its rather basic gameplay model, and its comparative level of ease--which is, admittedly, a lot to forgive--you can have a good time with Serious Sam: Next Encounter.

If you miss the old days of "DOOM" or just want a cheap thrill, then Next Encounter will help pass the time even if it may make your brain feel like it's shrinking.

Ten years ago this balls-out approach might've been considered fresh, but today it feels like an empty stereotype of the genre's past. Some might dig its old-school vibe, but I'll take a pass.

It is cheap and cheerful but it ultimately fails to do itself justice on the PS2.

It looks and feels somewhat like a game in the series, but in the end is miles away from touching the real Serious Sam games.

No one should really expect it to be cutting edge entertainment, although it does succeed in providing a new spin on long abandoned gaming principles. Despite its overtly simplistic nature, it's still a blisteringly entertaining romp in small doses, providing you take it in the right spirit.

If you’re sitting at home in your ripped jeans, watching "Army of Darkness" on VHS and have a crumpled Jackson in your pocket, this game is not only calling you, it’s running at you, screaming with a hissing bomb in its hands.