By Howard Wen
Page 1 of 4

You'll probably find yourself running backwards a lot when you first play Serious Sam. That's because, in this first-person shooter, there's plenty of space to run around in but few places to hide. Herds of strange cattle-like creatures called Werebulls try to mow you down with their huge horns -- that is, unless the armies of decapitated zombies, who lug their severed heads like bowling ball bags, don't do you in first.

This set-up sounds pretty typical for the first-person shooter genre, but Serious Sam is anything but typical.  In short, Serious Sam revitalizes the single-player FPS game and puts frenetic action above everything else – something that seemed to fall by the wayside after the genre became focused on deathmatch play and story-driven adventures.  Sam is a return to the origins of the first-person shooter -- to the early game play style of DOOM.

It doesn't look like those old FPS games, though. Gone are the darkly lit, claustrophobic rooms and hallways. This time, bright blue skies and sunlight burst from your computer monitor. The terrain you travel through is a wide-open space. Imagine running across a field while blowing away a stampede of raging mutant buffalo closing in from all directions around you. The designers of Serious Sam have made it a point to set the game's action in environments that are the opposite of those early, pioneering first-person shooters.

If Serious Sam looks different than other first person shooters, it might just be because the game wasn't developed in the United States, where most shoot-em-ups end up having a very homogenized sci-fi look.  In fact, Serious Sam's developer, Croteam, is based in Croatia.  No doubt it's a country you've heard of before, but likely for all the wrong reasons.   Now, moving past the violent break-up of Yugoslavia, Croatia is producing some amazing success stories, one of which is definitely the tale of Croteam.  After all, this small group of 10 guys, ranging in age from 23 to 28, has produced an impressive 3D engine and game that broke into the top 10 sales chart two weeks ago.  It's no wonder some are calling Croteam the next id Software, which is quite a step up from being an unknown developer in a war torn country building 2D soccer games.

Next, Friendships and a Dream Overcome the Odds >