Serious Sam Advance
Serious Sam Advance | |
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Developer(s) | Climax London |
Publisher(s) | Global Star Software |
Producer(s) | Phil Merricks |
Designer(s) |
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Programmer(s) | Rob Brooks |
Artist(s) |
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Composer(s) | Matt Simmonds |
Series | Serious Sam |
Platform(s) | Game Boy Advance |
Release | |
Genre(s) | First-person shooter |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Serious Sam Advance (also marketed as Serious Sam) is a 2004 first-person shooter in the Serious Sam series. The player controls Sam "Serious" Stone through confined levels—first in ancient Egypt, then in ancient Rome—defeating varying enemies using an assortment of weapons. The game uses password in place of saves. Developed by Climax London using ray casting technology and published by Global Star Software, Advance was released for the Game Boy Advance in April 2004. The game received a mixed reception, with praise for its weapons, enemies, level design and sound effects, conflicting opinions about its graphics, and criticism for its controls and frame rate issues.
Gameplay
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/70/Serious_Sam_Advance_screenshot.png/220px-Serious_Sam_Advance_screenshot.png)
Serious Sam Advance is a first-person shooter.[1][2] It contains twelve levels, each composed of enclosed rooms, often in the style of arenas.[1] Some levels contain puzzle elements.[2] The player can freely control the player character within rooms, using the D-pad for forward and backward movement and the shoulder buttons for strafing. Enemies patrol in rooms and attack the player character on sight. Entering a room or passing a trigger causes further enemies to appear and attack. There are twenty types of enemies in total.[2]
The player can attack using ten different weapons, including ranged weapons and a chainsaw for melee.[1][2] The player can aim using the D-pad and shoot them with the A button. Holding down the A button causes the weapon to fire continuously.[2] Aiming can be slowed down by holding the B button, while pressing the button once swaps the active weapon with another.[2][3] Enemies at close range are automatically targeted.[4] Ammunition can be collected through creates placed in levels.[2]
Advance contains no measures to save progress and uses a password system to let the player access later levels after a restart. A leaderboard documents the player's highscore, number of enemies encountered, and number of enemies killed, although that data is also not persisted.[1][2] Up to four players can connect their Game Boy Advance systems using the Game Boy Advance Game Link Cable and compete in a deathmatch mode.[1]
Plot
After Sam "Serious" Stone returned from his mission to 2113's Abu Simbel, Egypt, scientists assessed the Time-Lock technology that Sam used to travel time. Initially, they could only use it to send people to and from ancient Egypt but, in 2020, became able to control the time and place of travellers' destinations. Using this feature, agents were sent to various ancient civilisations to investigate whether Mental—the antagonist in the Serious Sam series—was trying to release his horde on them to alter the course of history. This programme was successful for two years until three agents failed to return, as did the rescue team sent after them. Sam, the only survivor from previous encounters with Mental's forces, was thus selected to travel to ancient Rome in the year 512 BCE.
He initially arrives in ancient Egypt at the Temple of Herkat and fights his way through enemies sent by Mental, crossing the desert and eventually encountering and defeating the Sirian Sphinx. Sam enters a Time-Lock to return home when Mental suddenly interferes and sends Sam to ancient Rome instead. He again defeats several waves of enemies and reaches Caesar's Palace, which was formerly occupied by Gaius Claudius Nero. In the palace, Sam eliminates the Wolfinator, marking the end of Mental's attempt to take over ancient Rome. Wishing to take a vacation on Maui, Sam enters a nearby Time-Lock to return home.
Development and release
Serious Sam Advance was developed by Climax Group through its Climax London studio, which was composed of former developers from the defunct company Crawfish Interactive.[1][5][6] The team employed a game engine utilising ray casting to simulate 3D computer graphics on the Game Boy Advance, a technique Crawfish had pioneered for the platform.[1] Global Star Software, the budget-range publishing label of Take-Two Interactive, announced Advance for the Game Boy Advance in January 2004, alongside Serious Sam: Next Encounter for the GameCube and PlayStation 2.[7][8] Take-Two Interactive confirmed the games anew in March.[9] Global Star Software announced on 14 April 2004 that it had shipped both games for their respective platforms for the North American market.[10] PAL region versions followed on 30 April 2004.[11]
Reception
Aggregator | Score |
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Metacritic | 51/100[12] |
Publication | Score |
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GameSpot | 5.6/10[2] |
IGN | 5/10[1] |
NGC Magazine | 58/100[3] |
Pocket Games | 4.0/10[4] |
Serious Sam Advance received "mixed or average reviews", according to review aggregator website Metacritic, which calculated a score of 51/100 based on nine critic reviews.[12] Craig Harris of IGN and Frank Provo of GameSpot observed that the game often had a low frame rate, which Harris determined caused Advance to be overly difficult.[1][2] Jes Bickham, writing in NGC Magazine, commented that, due to the frame rate issues, the game was "slow and jittery, and ultimately workmanlike and tedious".[3]
Provo lauded Advance's weapons, range of enemies, and level design.[2] He stated that the music was "forgettable", while the sound effects for weapons and monsters were in good synchronicity with the gameplay.[2] Provo considered the graphics superior to other games on Game Boy Advance, while Bob McTague (Pocket Games) described them as a "pixelated disaster".[2][4]
Harris, Bickham and McTague criticised the controls, of whom Harris and McTague felt they were too imprecise.[1][4] Provo believed the game was too short, caused by a scarcity of levels.[2] McTague noted that Advance was faithful to the design of the original Serious Sam games, although Harris and Provo deemed the Game Boy Advance as unfit for any first-person shooter.[1][2][4]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harris, Craig (28 April 2004). "Serious Sam". IGN. Archived from the original on 30 April 2019. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Provo, Frank (18 May 2004). "Serious Sam Advance Review". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 30 April 2019. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
- ^ a b c Bickham, Jes (July 2004). "Serious Sam". NGC Magazine. No. 95. Future Publishing. p. 72.
- ^ a b c d e McTague, Bob (Summer 2004). "Serious Sam Advance". Pocket Games. No. 15. Ziff Davis. p. 40.
- ^ Danish, Roger (August 2005). "Cover Story: Serious Sam II". Hardcore Gamer. Vol. 1, no. 3. DoubleJump Publishing. p. 36.
- ^ Climax London (14 April 2004). Serious Sam Advance (Game Boy Advance). Global Star Software. Scene: Credits.
- ^ "Global Star Announces Serious Sam: Next Encounter For The PlayStation®2 and Nintendo GameCube™" (Press release). Global Star Software. 22 January 2004. Archived from the original on 13 June 2004.
- ^ Thorsen, Tor (8 March 2004). "Serious Sam sequel to hit discount bin". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 10 December 2018. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
- ^ Bramwell, Tom (5 March 2004). "Take-Two confirms Serious Sam: Next Encounter". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 9 August 2020. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
- ^ "Globalstar Ships Serious Sam: Next Encounter For The PlayStation®2 And Nintendo GameCube™" (Press release). Global Star Software. 14 April 2004. Archived from the original on 21 May 2004.
- ^ Bramwell, Tom (30 April 2004). "What's New?". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 9 August 2020. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
- ^ a b "Serious Sam Advance for Game Boy Advance Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 29 December 2018. Retrieved 9 August 2020.