You might need a couple of minutes to recover from the originality of it all, but I have to press on. And so it falls to earth's last hope, war hero Sam 'Serious' Stone, to use the Timelock device to travel back in time and save the world! But - oh no! - at the start of the 22nd century a terrifying evil that gets its yuks by destroying entire civilisations appears and humankind is driven back to earth and poised, on the very brink no less, of destruction (no, I haven't slipped into a film review of the Fifth Element, I'm still talking about Serious Sam). In brief, the remains of a technologically advanced civilisation pre-dating the Pharoahs is discovered, which allows humanity to take to space and colonise different planets. Bravely, rather than modifying an existing game engine, they've chosen to create their own, specifically suited to the gameplay they're looking for.Īppropriately, the plot is the thinnest, flimsiest fabrication possible to allow its diverse elements (big guns, ancient Egypt, headless zombies with unlimited ammunition, green monsters that shoot fireballs, and spaceships) to appear in the same game. Serious Sam is a game by small Croatian design team Croteam, intent on recapturing those simpler times.

Intricate plot, multiplayer-specific design and Hollywood-esque set pieces have replaced the simple pleasure of splattering a monster over the textured walls just because it's there. From these humble beginnings FPS has evolved into cinematic experiences like Halflife or immersive, total-freedom games like Deus Ex and System Shock 2. Doom was the catalyst that sparked the 3D revolution, and its simple gameplay - chaingunning your way through room after room of demons - kept people stuck to the screen for months. Yet these giants stand on the shoulders of an ever-so-slightly-popular 1993 shareware release called Doom. They win Best of the Year awards ( Half-Life, Deus Ex), they dominate online gaming ( Counterstrike, Quake III, Unreal Tournament) and they even have professional leagues, so a lucky few can make a living playing them. Let's face it, first-person shooters bestride the PC gaming industry like 3D-accelerated colossi.

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