Serious Sam 3: BFE

About Serious Sam 3: BFE

Serious Sam 3: BFE is a chaotic first-person shooter from developer Croteam that launched in November 2011. This title serves as a prequel to the classic The First Encounter and arrives on PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Linux, and Mac. Devolver Digital handled the publishing duties for this indie action game. The story places Sam Stone in modern Egypt during an alien invasion led by the villain Mental. Humanity faces extinction while soldiers try to activate a time machine called the Time-Lock. You play as Stone after your chopper gets shot down and your squad gets wiped out. Your goal involves finding ancient Sirian tech to reverse time before the moon crashes into Earth. It is a loud, fast-paced trip back to the days when cover was for amateurs and shooting everything in sight was the only strategy.

Gameplay

You run through huge open levels while hundreds of enemies charge you at once. The game does not hide behind complex mechanics or subtle stealth. You pick up heavy weapons like the minigun or rocket launcher and spray bullets until the screen fills with explosions. Combat relies on constant movement and dodging attacks rather than taking cover behind walls. You cross ancient tombs, pyramids, and deserts while fighting off demons, mercenaries, and giant monsters. The single-player campaign offers a linear path with puzzle elements involving finding keys or activating generators. Multiplayer supports split-screen co-op and online matches where you can team up with friends. Sessions feel like frantic marathons where you manage ammo and health packs while pushing forward. Controls are straightforward enough to grab any controller and start shooting immediately without reading a manual.

What Players Think

Critics and players have mixed feelings about this release based on available data. The IGDB score sits at 70.4 out of 100 from 177 ratings. Most players seem to appreciate the arcade style but find the story forgettable. Community moods lean towards nostalgic frustration rather than pure joy. The average playtime for the main campaign runs about eight hours for most people. Completion rates are low since only 62 achievements exist and the average unlock rate sits at just 19.3 percent. The rarest achievement, Reindeer Hunter, has a mere 2.30 percent unlock rate. Review snippets often praise the chaos while complaining about technical hiccups or difficulty spikes. The game sells cheap at $2.99 on the Humble Store, which is its historical low price point.

PlayPile's Take

This shooter works well if you want mindless fun without caring about plot depth. It costs only $2.99 right now so trying it out carries very little risk. The achievement system offers some long-term goals but the 19.3 percent average unlock rate suggests most people quit before seeing everything. You will not find a deep narrative here since the story is just an excuse to shoot aliens in Egypt. The game shines during multiplayer sessions where you and friends can cause maximum destruction together. Avoid this if you want stealth mechanics or complex strategy. It is a solid choice for anyone who likes running through hordes of enemies with big guns. Buy it on sale and blast your way through the chaos.

Storyline

Prior to AD 2060, humanity had slowly begun uncovering artifacts and ruins left behind in ancient times by the Sirians, the famous and long-thought extinct race from the place of Sirius. Unfortunately, Mental has chosen this time to turn his attention upon Earth. He dispatches his space fleet carrying his endless hordes to attack Earth, leading a three-year conquest that has humanity driven almost to the point of extinction. In a last-ditch effort, the survivors turn to the Time-Lock, a recently excavated device supposedly capable of granting a single person the ability of time travel via an inter-dimensional portal. Through it, that person could reach a pivotal point in time and alter events of the past. But as the device lies dormant, they must first discover a means to turn it on. Sam "Serious" Stone, part of the Earth Defense force, is dispatched with a detachment of soldiers in the Alpha team to modern Egypt, which is occupied by Mental's alien army. Their original mission is to recon, rendezvous, and extract Bravo team who are protecting Dr Stein, a scientist carrying hieroglyphics believed to contain instructions for powering up the Time-Lock. Sam's insertion goes haywire as his chopper is shot down and both teams are quickly wiped out. However, he is able to recover the hieroglyphics from Stein's phone in the museum and transmit them to headquarters. Deciphering indicates there is a hidden Sirian chamber below the Great Pyramid. Sam clears himself a path to a tunnel underneath the Sphinx and descends into the Pyramid. He not only discovers the hidden chamber but recovers crucial information and a bracelet device from the remains of what might have been Earth's last Sirian. In order to power the Time-Lock, two dormant but incredibly powerful plasma-energy generators need to be activated. Hellfire from Charlie team inserts Sam to bring both online. This is slowly accomplished and Team Charlie is staged to enter the Time-Lock. Sam is relieved of duty and in the process of being extracted from Cairo, but is shot down once again and is forced to flee towards the lost ruins of Nubia. Traversing through more tombs, Sam gets back in touch with Hellfire and learns that Mental's forces have overrun the human military and killed them all shortly before dying herself. Now determined to finish what the Sirians has started, Sam vows to use the Time-Lock himself and kill Mental in the past before he can destroy humanity in the present. Sam then makes one last travel to Hatshepsut Temple, where the Time-Lock is located. The struggle to this destination ends with Sam killing Ugh-Zan IV. With Ugh-Zan IV dead, the Time-Lock then activates, displaying an inter-dimensional portal to 3000 B.C., the timeline where the Sirians became extinct. Sam calls Mental on Stein's phone and is answered by Mental's daughter, Judy. She tells him that Mental is planning to "moon" him. Sam notices the Moon plummeting rapidly within Earth's atmosphere and escapes through the Time-Lock to 3000 B.C. as the Moon impacts Earth, destroying the planet.