Compari-shot: Serious Sam's HD return

by Andrew Yoon { Jun 25th 2009 at 4:45PM }

Click to embiggen.

The upcoming PC and Xbox 360 re-imagination of Serious Sam: The First Encounter is more than an HD reboot of the classic Croatian FPS. Take a look at this comparison pic to see all the new enhancements made. Nearly every aspect of the game's visuals has been changed. The textures are sharper and cleaner than before. The original's perfectly flat lawns are now replaced with individual blades of grass -- and look at that foliage, rendered with some classy Crysis-styled soft focus. Notice the dynamic shadows over our pumpkin-wearing, chainsaw-wielding friend? Now, imagine this level of detail on hundreds of on-screen enemies. It's no wonder we're excited to see Serious Sam make his long-awaited return.

Gallery: Serious Sam: The First Encounter HD

Tags: comparison, croteam, serious-sam, serious-sam-the-first-encounter-hd

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Avatar (Steam: tmawds) @ Jun 25th 2009 4:52PM

This is unrelated, but important. I've noticed lately that everytime I close a window or tab that is at Joystiq.com, new windows start spawning with this URL address:

www.joystiq.com/#&ch=wb.jystiq&prop=anonymous

They spawn about every second or so, and I know that it's not my computer because I've formatted and gone to here first and the same thing happens. I've seen something like this before, and it turned out to be a virus that attempts to overheat the user's PC by overworking the processor. Happened to a friend of mine who didn't think of simply shutting of his computer. Anyway, thought you should know.

Ordeith @ Jun 25th 2009 7:32PM

Might have something to do with Joystiq's crappy coders:

Webpage error details

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Char: 28
Code: 0
URI: www.joystiq.com/2009/06/25/compari-shot-serious-sams-hd-return/

Message: Invalid character
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URI: www.joystiq.com/2009/06/25/compari-shot-serious-sams-hd-return/

Message: Invalid character
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URI: www.joystiq.com/2009/06/25/compari-shot-serious-sams-hd-return/

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Message: Object expected
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URI: www.joystiq.com/2009/06/25/compari-shot-serious-sams-hd-return/

Message: Object expected
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URI: www.joystiq.com/2009/06/25/compari-shot-serious-sams-hd-return/

Anthology @ Jun 25th 2009 7:46PM

@Ordeith:

I sure hope you're not implying that all websites should be entirely W3C-compliant at all times.

Perhaps you should go make your own news blog.

Wes @ Jun 25th 2009 9:33PM

Same thing happens to me in IE7 or FireFox. I'm tempted to try IE8 but I'm not confident it'll help or fix the problem as I believe the problem too lies with Joystiq's coding as it only happens on Joystiq.

Sadly, if I am using IE7 because I just wanted to quickly wikipedia something and get distracted. Before I know it, I have 5-6 good pages open with useful information like my hotmail account, wikipedia, a few news sites etc including joystiq. I close Joystiq and CRAP, it screw up closing all the other 5-6 good pages. What-a-waste.

Joystiq, please fix your crappy coding of your crappy rediculously ad-filled website.

DaveMcRae the Haiku Artist @ Jun 25th 2009 4:56PM

Hordes of enemies
in front of you and your gun
it's Serious Sam

Dave @ Jun 25th 2009 4:57PM

Haiku Artist, hard at work.

MuToiD_MaN @ Jul 27th 2009 6:18PM

That's an awesome modus operandi.

MuToiD_MaN @ Jul 27th 2009 6:24PM

That's an awesome modus operandi.

Lemme try!

Scorching desert sun
A tempting hundred health pack
My instant regret

mr nimblewick @ Jun 25th 2009 4:58PM

Individual blades of grass!!! Finally!!!

Danthok @ Jun 25th 2009 4:59PM

Any word on a price that I missed? As far as I am concerned this is a must buy.

Dirty @ Jun 25th 2009 5:02PM

$800, but hey its a must buy.

Einhanderkiller @ Jun 25th 2009 5:03PM

$15 on Xbox Live. I'm assuming it'll be the same price on the PC at retail and through digital distribution.

Lustis @ Jun 26th 2009 5:14AM

I didn't even know this was being re-released. My day has been made!! This is a must buy for me too

capt_carl @ Jun 25th 2009 5:14PM

How much?? I thought it was XBLA-exclusive until I saw PC also.
Totally buying. SSFE and SSSE were cheap, so I expect this to be the
same.

seriousam7 @ Jun 25th 2009 5:14PM

I love this game!!! If you couldn't tell by my name.

Bobs @ Jun 25th 2009 5:24PM

Serious Sam > Duke Nukem

...

there I said it! Now downvote!

LordToastington @ Jun 25th 2009 5:27PM

You are correct, sir. Upvote commencing.

Sir Buzz Killington( The Artist formerly known as Jakka) @ Jun 25th 2009 5:56PM

Firing +1's for maximum effect!

Sly @ Jun 25th 2009 6:49PM

upranking his weakpoint for massive plussage!

Peace Fog @ Jun 25th 2009 7:57PM

at least Sam's future looks promising

Lustis @ Jun 26th 2009 5:15AM

I do agree with you, but I don't see how it is related

Hyamzy @ Jun 25th 2009 5:26PM

This game truly defines the word EPIC!!

Neuromancer @ Jun 25th 2009 9:01PM

Whoah, it's Dr. Gordon House!

CmpsdNoMore @ Jun 25th 2009 11:42PM

I never understood the attractiveness to the Serious Sam games. I'm not saying it's a bad game, it's just not for me.

Sir Buzz Killington( The Artist formerly known as Jakka) @ Jun 25th 2009 6:01PM

You. Bad guys. Shoot them.

It's a love-it-or-hate-it game like Painkiller.

Grimcicle @ Jun 25th 2009 6:53PM

It's a game that really hearkens back to the Wolfenstein 3D/Doom days of first person shooters. You're a dude, you shoot things, and you don't care why. It's just mindless fun.

Neuromancer @ Jun 25th 2009 9:02PM

It was notable for the sheer numbers of enemies onscreen at a time, compared to other shooters.

Grimcicle @ Jun 25th 2009 5:32PM

The lack of a PSN version is rather disappointing.

Hiroken @ Jun 25th 2009 5:45PM

Agreed.

Sly @ Jun 25th 2009 5:57PM

agreed, especially after seeing how well they're upgrading the graphics.

Anthology @ Jun 25th 2009 5:34PM

"...more than an HD reboot..."

"...[going on to discuss only graphical changes]..."

So... It's an HD reboot then?

Brian @ Jun 25th 2009 6:02PM

Omg Michael Jackson Is Dead. No Lie. RIP Man.

FNG @ Jun 25th 2009 6:13PM

8 year old boys are now safe... safer?

Drew -- PS360: uphillbothways @ Jun 25th 2009 6:50PM

Ppl here at my work are shocked and dismayed. I'm honestly not very broken up about it.

Veotax @ Jun 25th 2009 6:09PM

Holy shit, I wasn't expecting such a big update. All I was expecting was for the game to run in HD and maybe have some less fuzzy textures.
I wasn't expecting all this.

Nice

Glenn @ Jun 25th 2009 7:30PM

........aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

*BOOM* *BOOOM* *BOOOOOOM*

seriousam7 @ Jun 25th 2009 7:38PM

"stupid headless freaks"

Bushman311 @ Jun 25th 2009 8:25PM

God bless those crazy Croatians.

MAspiderface @ Jun 25th 2009 9:53PM

No PSN version? Fail.

Bobs @ Jun 26th 2009 12:07AM

aight sick lol

Guess I'm not the only one then ...

evilspoons @ Jun 26th 2009 11:42AM

Man, I remember when the tech demo for this game came out and it looked FANTASTIC and totally stressed out my video card. I can't remember whether I had a Geforce 2 GTS or Geforce 4 Ti at the time, but it was super awesome.

I'm thinking I may just buy this for some mindless shoot-em-up fun.