Serious Sam 4

[Apeirogon]

There are no THAT much of a problem with performance. There are micro freezes for seconds-half seconds which happens once per minute-two. It looks like engine trying to load assets while nothing particularly happens. Or garbage collecting things. Or something else, not sure what exactly happens there.
Graphics is okay, time of pre Crysis graphics have passed long ago. Models looks okay, textures are okay, shaders are okay, lighting are okay.
Overall, I would name it a version 1.0. There are some small bugs, for example circle-strafing around some enemies shows up that they can shoot at player without being fully rotated to face player (same as doom imps), but nothing game breaking. Some patching would be nice, but you can enjoy and have some fun from it even now.

[xenoxols]

The game was incredibly disappointing for me. I wouldn't recommend buying until at least a year of patches, and then heavily discounted. I really wanted this one to be good.

[Apeirogon]

After playing slightly more in it, turns out that some animations, especially in cutscenes, are bad. Like in a bad SFM video. And I dont mean intentionally bad videos. Same can be said for quick kill animations.

But gameplay still solid. Its actually a shooter when you actually CAN and SHOULD shoot to win. And this is for real, not like in SOME shooter where instead of shooting you should "RIP AND TEAR YEEEEEE RIP AND TEAR...also, did you know that you can RIP AND TEAR?....here, let me smudge you in the face that you can RIP AND TEAR so you wont forget it...oh, and did I mention that you can RIP AND TEAR?" with melee attacks. Too bad I forgot how this game are named..."Perdition Perpetually"? "Demise Forever"?...eh, didnt matter, I have 200 shells in my ammo reserve and Im happy just because of this.

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Yes I dont like that much amount of executions as in this "unnamed game".

[Redneckerz]

Very mixed bag really. The Legion System is more of a trick than a proper implementation. Visually, ground textures are a big step back from Sam 3. Visually, Sam 4 looks a lot like 3, sans PBR materials and what not.

The limited team available and focus on ports over the years may not have helped the lengthy development. In many ways Sam 4 feels like a Sam 3 DLC. But when it works, it does give you that classic experience.

But the Legion System being a glorified mock up is just sinful given its advertising.

[xenoxols]

Maybe this isn't a legitimate complaint, but I really think the game should have been at least somewhat cartoony.

[neoworm]

Played first 3 levels yesterday and I can't complain. It took a little while to get rolling, but the gameplay is really solid and I love the enemy design. They are simple but each have it's role, it's counter tactics and the levels actually use them well. Even though Serious Sam is kinda well known for arena fights it's nothing compared to DooM Eternal where EVERY combat was in locked up arena. SS4 actually have levels with some flow and not a start/stop feel of modern DooMs.
It's a pity that I don't have that good computer to punch up the visual quality, because the enviroments are gorgeous. Yet I sacrificed the quality to get smooth FPS and good resolution so I can pick up enemies from far away.

And I agree the stylization should be little less realistic. Some monsters are too easy to get lost in the enviroment, especially Kleers. They need some beef and more visible siluette, right now they are almost see through.

[Redneckerz]

Setting the graphics settings to Vivid will definitely change the look of the game. Makes you wonder why this was not the default setting. See Framerater's post-patch video:

[rgk]

Maybe this isn't a legitimate complaint, but I really think the game should have been at least somewhat cartoony.

Yes, as long as they don't go too far like Serious Sam 2. In Serious Sam 4, I had trouble seeing items over the background, or which beheaded enemies I was fighting against. The rocket/grenade/firecracker have different shirt colors, but the lighting made it hard to distinguish which was which. The video above in Vivid looks much better, I should have tried that.

What I missed the most from First and Secound Encounters were the crazy trap rooms, with spikes, bumpers, inversion of gravity and so on.

About the Legion system, it is just there as a backdrop to feel immersed in an apocalyptic battle while fighting the final boss.

But overall, the shooting was the best in the series. Dual-wielding made the gigantic fights epic and fun. It has rough edges, but it is a worthy Serious Sam game.

[Kinsie]

This game must have done well. "Devolver has acquired Croteam. Maybe Croteam has acquired Devolver. Either way, we’re married now."