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Essays 01 October 2019, 17:49

author: Bart Swiatek

Top 10 Games in Which Americans Save the World

American heroes have completely dominated the world of cinema and video games. From historical characters in steampunk mechs, to secret agents, and marines armed to the teeth, the list of the best heroes from the land of the free has it all.

Table of Contents

Serious Sam (series) - Uncle...?

SERIOUS SAM:

  1. Developer: Croteam
  2. Publisher: various, including Gathering of Developers, Take 2 Intractive, Devolver Digital
  3. Genre: shooter
  4. Platform: various
  5. Release: original release in 2001; the series is still active

It's hard to find a game that would be further from reality than this one. The adventures of "Serious Sam" have about as much to do with seriousness as a porcupine with a cable-operated excavator. That said, it doesn't stop it from being a great game, or, in fact, a great series of first-person shooters – corny, simple in principle, and devilishly hard during the actual gameplay. In these games, agility and a good eye are more important than logic, reasoning, and... well, pretty much everything, except maybe a sense of humor.

What about Prince?

Sam "Serious" Stone shows great resemblance to another video game character – the Duke from the once-cult Duke Nukem series. The hero created by 3D Realms had a slightly more subtle sense of humor and showed a distinct weakness for cigars, but that's actually the only (relatively) noticeable difference between the two. The heroes could just as well be brothers – they're both big-muscle dudes who only think about killing aliens, and sleep with a shotgun under the pillow.

The title Sam is a very American American – he walks and talks as if he was taken straight from a parody of action films of the 80s. Even his name is a pun on an American stereotype (who hasn't heard of Uncle Sam?). You're a soldier with has only one goal – the ultimate extermination of all sorts of alien creatures, the legions of the main villain of the series, the ominous Mental. The actual scenario of Serious Sam itself is – oddly enough – more complicated, and involves, in particular, time travel and... the search for the Holy Grail. The plot, however, is a mere pretext for a continuous, unrestrained, and bloody saving of the world, using a mechanical saw, a machine gun, or a grenade launcher.

Why is it worth it?

Serious Sam provides endless deposits of bad guys to mow down, combined with a solid dose of humor. It's the perfect game to relax after a long day at work. Higher levels of difficulty will be a challenge even to the most demanding fans of first-person shooters – for example, opponents periodically become invisible in the Mental mode. Real serious business.

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