Serious Sam 4 Reviews

Serious Sam is a series that has long alluded me and I’m starting to think it might have been for the better. Although this fourth iteration might feature some staggering, titanic battles and silk-smooth gunplay, its existence feels like a clear reminder that it’s often best to let the past stay dead. Serious Sam 4 is an excavation from a long-outdated era that is more Duke Nukem Forever than it is Doom.

Like with the aforementioned Serious Sam 3: BFE, there’s again room for lengthy debates about whether this more serious modern military setting is the right call for the franchise, and if the opening hours could be paced differently. And while this console version is by no means perfect, with the keyboard+mouse combination generally working much better for Serious Sam games and an uneven performance even on Series X, I do think that this latest installment should still be played by any fan of old school shooters. It may not revolutionize the formula, but the new iteration of the engine allows the game to unleash thousands of enemies at the same time, giving the player levels of chaos and destruction they have rarely witnessed in a video game. I can close an eye on some of the jank when I can blow up dozens of headless kamikazes, with Sam delivering intentionally corny one-liners after, and I suspect other people who grew up on this franchise may be able to do the same.

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

I won’t lie, I was cautiously optimistic before tackling the PlayStation 5 version of Serious Sam 4. Our colleague, Jordan, may have had a harsh time with original PC release, citing its many performance issues and glitches, but I thought that Croteam would have used its extra year of development time to fix these issues prior to releasing the game onto next-gen platforms. We’ve seen what the PS5 and the Xbox Series X are capable of with shooters such as Halo Infinite and Deathloop, so th...

It is a shame that Serious Sam 4 is not able to live up to the series’ legacy. While the franchise has never been associated with particularly groundbreaking or polished titles it has previously been able to offer enjoyable experiences with its own identity and fun gameplay. Serious Sam 4 is too bogged down by questionable design and poor presentation to manage that, and instead feels like a title quickly thrown together with an overnight script than a cohesive product.

Stick Serious Sam 4 in performance mode, then, and while your experience won’t be perfect on PS5, you’ll still have a bloody good time. It’s perhaps the humour and simple premise of the game that will be more divisive; some will love it for its daft one-liners and balls-to-the-wall action, others may find it too repetitive and macho. If you like the idea of butchering an entire army of monsters ranging from vampires to reptilian demons that throw green balls of energy at you, however, then be sure to give it a go. And what other game lets you loose in a combine harvester to up your body count?

Serious Sam 4 isn’t as linear as previous games in the series. There are secondary quests within levels to obtain exclusive weaponry and make the character strong as hell. Once a level has had every single enemy dispatched of you are able to freely explore the environment which turns out, is pretty detailed.

We want to emphasize that 5 will always be the “average” number, not 7. So by far, it’s 50% great and it’s also 50% bad.

Serious Sam 4 feels like a game that suffered through development hell. The core gameplay is still tight and satisfying. There are some innovative new ideas that expand on the series' longstanding formula. But there are a lot of elements that just don't fit, feel half-finished, or just distract from the best aspects of the game. I really hope the fans and Croteam can have an ongoing discussion about Serious Sam 4 and bring it up to a higher standard that everyone is happy with.

There is some joy in the cheesy story, almost like watching a B-movie that's so bad it's still entertaining. The experience could have worked as a parody to other shooters, but the poor level design and inconsistent quality smack of missed potential overall. At the very least, four-player co-op is available, and playing with a small group of friends might be just what Serious Sam 4 needs to ascend from 'lackluster' to 'janky-but-lovable.' Unfortunately, with a $40 price tag, most players would be better off buying Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter and The Second Encounter if they want to re-live the glory days of the franchise.

Serious Sam as a franchise is something that never really crossed my radar. I may have seen its name every so often during a Steam sale or referenced in conversation when talking about how most FPS games do not let players run wild enough, although for the most part Serious Sam was an anomaly to me. That all changed however as soon as I first loaded up the newest game. How had I never played this franchise before? It looks like if someone made a game in Garry’s Mod about character named Sam...

Serious Sam 4 may not differ too much from its norm but it brings the high-paced frantic FPS action that fans love to an entirely new level.

While the jank is present for all to see, it’s not something that completely ruins the experience. Regardless of that, it’s a cheesy good time that’s worth at least a playthrough. In this day and age, sometimes we just need to hold down the trigger and scream at the top of our lungs. Serious Sam 4 succeeds on that front, and delivers it with a dual rocket launcher-wielding grin on its face.

The alien hordes are back, but you can dual wield chainguns, so everything's going to be fine.

It's been nearly nine years since gamers last stepped into the stressed jeans of one Sam Stone, the titular Serious badass of the series. Set in the idyllic backdrop of Western Europe, from Rome to France and beyond, it's up to one member of the Earth Defense Force to save their mother Earth from a massive alien attack in Serious Sam 4.

Serious Sam 4 has everything fans of the series could want and more. The fights are chaotic and extremely violent and the gunplay is the best its ever been. It can get a bit redundant and it overpromised on certain features, but anyone looking to demolish thousands of aliens will find tons to love here.

It’s been nine long years, but Serious Sam Stone is finally back with a brand new first-person shooter for all your gun-slinging needs. Serious Sam 4 is a fresh new take on the Serious Sam franchise and acts as a prequel to the original three games. Don’t worry, Serious Sam fans, everything you love about the franchise is still here, including all the epic battles and frantic action. However, the developers have put in a substantial amount of work in every other aspect of the game to make it feel like the most complete Serious Sam experience to date. In truth, while I’ve played all the previous Serious Sam games to some extent, I usually ended up getting bored and moving on to something else. This is not the case with Serious Sam 4, it was an absolute thrill ride from start to finish and easily one of the best first-person shooters of 2020. It has its flaws, which we’ll discuss, but if you’re looking for some action for your itchy trigger finger, Serious Sam 4 might scratch that itch.

Serious Sam 4 succeeds where it needs to, and fails where it's not really all that important. An unchanging series that is a must for fans.

Though flawed, this blast from the past manages to scratch an itch that is over a decade old

When combat is firing on all cylinders, and the Legion System isn't crashing your PC, Serious Sam 4 is a decent slice of old-school shooter goodness. Yet, in sticking to its guns, Serious Sam 4 ends up being an aggressively mediocre experience.

Serious Sam 4 is a natural evolution for the series. There is nothing groundbreaking here but it is just such silly and extravagant fun to play. The endless series of arena battles should begin to feel repetitive but the gunplay and challenge is perfectly pitched so each one provides a satisfying adrenaline rush. While not a true contemporary update like those of Doom and Wolfenstein, this first-person legend comes out guns blazing and, let’s be serious for a moment, that’s what we all wanted him to do.

Serious Sam 4 has done seriously well for a series that hasn’t seen a mainline game in nearly 10 years. Croteam went all out on this one and has filled it to the brim with rewarding gameplay, hidden goodies, and a great soundtrack to boot. Unfortunately, there are a few kinks in this pipe, such as the sub-par story, weird character models and animations, and other gameplay bugs. But no doubt, you’ll only be interested in carving through hundreds, if not thousands, of enemies with a huge arsenal of skills, weapons, and gadgets, and that’s exactly what Serious Sam 4 has done so well.

Serious Sam 4 is a delightfully old-school first-person shooter that doesn't bring a ton of new stuff to the table but still hits all the right notes.

The best thing about this game is undoubtedly the fast paced action and enormous enemies that swarm about like flies.  The best thing is killing off an entire screen full of enemies and riding away while Nettie makes a hilarious comment about the massacre.

No summary available

Just like all the previous Serious Sam games, the main idea in Serious Sam 4 is “But what if there were even more enemies?” There’s not much more to it than that. This style of run-and-gun action is definitely challenging, it’s just getting played out, and the returns on the investment of simply upping the enemy count and adding dual-wielding have diminished. The variety of bad guys thrown at you is impressive but there just aren’t enough interesting weapons to keep the battles from getting dull, and the lack of drop-in co-op is inexcusable in this day and age.