{"id":1520683,"date":"2021-12-21T13:37:45","date_gmt":"2021-12-21T18:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.playstationlifestyle.net\/?p=858913"},"modified":"2021-12-21T13:37:45","modified_gmt":"2021-12-21T18:37:45","slug":"serious-sam-4-review-seriously-stunted-ps5","status":"publish","type":"station","link":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/plato-data\/serious-sam-4-review-seriously-stunted-ps5\/","title":{"rendered":"Serious Sam 4 Review \u2013 Seriously Stunted (PS5)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It has been ten long years since Serious Sam 3: BFE<\/em> first released on PCs. That game was a prequel to the now 20-year-old original Serious Sam<\/em>, and developer Croteam is back with another prequel. Yup, Serious Sam 4<\/em> is a prequel to the prequel. But is it any good? Find out in our Serious Sam 4<\/em> PS5 review.<\/p>\n

Serious Sam 4 PS5 Review\u00a0\u2013 Seriously Slow<\/h2>\n

The PlayStation 5 has a seriously impressive solid state drive, with read speeds of at least 5.5 GB\/s. This has, in my experience with the system thus far, resulted in games that load within just a couple of seconds. I saw it with Assassin\u2019s Creed Valhalla<\/em><\/a>, where loading the game, with its massive world, from scratch, clocked in at 15 seconds, often much quicker. Serious Sam 4<\/em> somehow takes much longer than that game, and Serious Sam<\/em>\u2019s assets are decidedly simpler than any Assassin\u2019s Creed<\/em> game. Load times don\u2019t make or break a game, of course, but that\u2019s not all that\u2019s wrong with Serious Sam 4<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Serious Engine 4 runs Serious Sam 4<\/em>, and it seems it needs some serious optimization. The game\u2019s environments and character models wouldn\u2019t look out of place as a PS4 launch title, never mind a next-gen console. The engine can handle an impressive number of NPCs, but at a steep cost. Frame rate drops are all too common when a bunch of enemies are on-screen, but then they are also common for no good reason at all when simply walking around an area that is devoid of enemies. There is a graphical option to target either graphics quality or rendering performance \u2013 it is highly recommended to play in the performance mode to ensure frame rate drops are less common. Rest assured, though, you will still run into them.<\/p>\n

Outside of performance hiccups, Serious Sam 4<\/em> is a first-person shooter with some fun callbacks to how games used to be. Sam can carry an arsenal of weapons, beginning with a knife and humble pistol, and he quickly picks up bigger and badder weapons such as rifles, rocket launchers, sniper rifles, miniguns, and more. A skill tree also allows the player to dual-wield weapons, gain health by performing melee kills, or even ride some of the larger enemies. All the while, the game shepherds the player from area to area, using such old tropes as locked doors (which even Sam complains about needing to go find keys for) and health and armor that must be replenished by finding pickups.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Serious Sam 4 PS5 Review\u00a0\u2013 Seriously Annoying<\/h2>\n

Sometimes, progression is blocked until all enemies in an area are killed. The design is to have you run around a labyrinth-like area and use the terrain to your advantage. The reality is it\u2019s usually simpler to walk in, trigger the enemies to start spawning, then back out from the entrance and have the enemies come to you, in an almost single-file manner, thus removing a lot of the planned challenge of the new area. Now, of course, you don\u2019t have to play the game this way, and in fact several areas lock you in to prevent you from doing this. However, most areas have a chokepoint that can easily be used to employ the same tactic. So, the main challenge in Serious Sam 4<\/em> lies in figuring out which area works best to funnel enemies into. Also, and this may be the most subjective part of this review, the Beheaded Kamikaze enemies are the most annoying enemy I have ever encountered. Their screams are funny for the first few seconds, but then become annoying quite quickly. It\u2019s even worse when one can\u2019t seem to route themselves around a corner of a building towards you, and you have to hunt them down just to get the noise to stop.<\/p>\n

Much like the action shooters of the \u201890s before it, Serious Sam 4<\/em> includes various rendering and other options to have some fun with. Bloody gore can be replaced with fruits and veggies in the \u201cHippie\u201d mode, or candies in the \u201cKids\u201d option. Colors can be messed with in presets, or manually adjusted to have trippy visuals to attempt to make the rather bland environments more interesting. Reticles can be removed, damage numbers can be shown, and even the player model can be changed (cutscenes still show Sam, however).<\/p>\n

\n