As ‘generic’ first-person shooters go, Serious Sam is up there with the best of them.

And – let’s face it – the market is flooded with generic first-person shooters…

This first Serious Sam (later subtitled “The First Encounter“) was released in 2001. It was developed by Croteam – a Croatian developer – and has been made available on a number of different formats, including PS2, GameCube, XBox, GBA, Linux, XBox 360 and – of course – Microsoft Windows.

Gameplay is enjoyable but bare-bones first-person shooter action, with pistols and shotguns and rocket-launchers and suchlike. Graphically Serious Sam: The First Encounter is not too bad. The lens flare is nice and the monsters are nicely drawn and animated, but the level designs are very simple – perhaps a bit too simple.

You can still buy the Serious Sam games on Steam and GOG.com for less than a couple of pounds, and they are still well worth a playthrough. They’re tougher than they look and provide a decent challenge – even if they do look like stupid kids games.

Serious Sam: The Second Encounter on The King of Grabs

More: Serious Sam: The First Encounter on Wikipedia
Steam: Serious Sam: The First Encounter HD on Steam
GOG.com: Serious Sam: The First Encounter on GOG.com