If you’re not familiar with the universe of Serious Sam, here’s a quick primer: Anything goes. As Sam ‘Serious’ Stone treks across time, battling arch enemy Mental’s forces, you will encounter enemies and situations that will defy reality and embrace insanity in the best possible ways. Serious Sam is the only game where you can land in ancient Egypt and have then fend off pumpkin-headed lumberjacks carrying chainsaws.
Serious Sam: Double D possibly latches onto the Serious Sam concept more than the core games do. It’s a crazy game from start to finish, never taking itself seriously, and introducing different enemies and scenarios that increase in their insanity as you trek through the 18 levels. It’s also hilarious fun from start to finish, featuring tons of weapons, secrets, and challenges for you to discover.
Double D drops Sam into ancient Egypt first, as Mental’s forces continue to rampage through time. It doesn’t make much sense to Sam, having destroyed Mental when last they met, but Sam, never one to ask questions, begins by shooting every enemy he sees, hoping to find a solution when he runs out of bullets. As Sam, you’ll have some help, though, in the form of the Gun Stacker system. As you find Gun Stacker Connectors, you can enter the menu and stack your guns on top of each other, each one sticking out a bit more than the previous one. You can stack seven guns and carry different combinations of stacks to switch on the fly, opening up varied strategic options when taking down minions and bosses. Stacking two shotguns, two tommy guns, and two chainsaws gives you a gun that fires a wall of bullets with a close-quarters option, while my personal favorite — four rocket launchers, two grenade launchers, and a flamethrower — wrecks bosses with a mountain of fiery explosions.
When you’re not stacking guns, you’re engaging in your standard 2D platforming, though developer Mommy’s Best Games has added the Serious Sam twist. Sometimes your only way across a lava chasm, for example, is to create a bridge of enemy bodies as they spawn and charge at you. It’s a simple touch, but goes a long way toward empowering you as a player — something the Serious Sam games have always excelled at. There are also loads of secret passages, rooms, and Easter eggs buried in Double D for you’re to jump your way to. So if you think going left instead of right, or down a random hole is worth it, it probably is.
The biggest compliment I can bestow upon the game is that Mommy’s Best Games perfectly captured both the feel and comedy of the Serious Sam games. Everything, from the sound effects, music, weapons, and even little things like the reticle changing colors, is all represented here. Enemies spawn in droves, throwing themselves at you. If you didn’t know who developed it, you could easily mistake it for a Croteam game.
Serious Sam: Double D is an amazing feat for an indie game. It has quite a few nooks and crannies for you to explore, challenges for you to conquer after the game is finished, and nonstop action throughout the game. If anything holds it back, it’s some of the annoying one-hit kills when platforming, and Sam’s floaty, somewhat imprecise jumping. Other than that, you can be confident that Double D will offer you lots of replay value and mindless fun.
