Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter

Let's not waste time preaching to the choir. Serious Sam HD is Serious Sam: The First Encounter wearing a shiny new HD hat. It's exactly the same game, but prettier. If you loved the insanity of Croteam's wildly unapologetic crowd-management blaster the first time around, you'll love this.

Serious Sam was never supposed to be about complex narratives or character development. Its raison d'etre was the shameless abandonment of realism; here is a game which wears its batshit crazy colours on its pumped and veiny biceps with pride. It's also a game which rarely asks you to reload, let alone consider the moral implications each time you pull the trigger.

Sure, as you navigate the tombs and plains of ancient Egypt you'll be pushing the odd button and finding occasional secret stashes. But mostly, by which I mean almost constantly, you'll be pumping rounds from a healthy array of satisfying weapons into the faces of lunatic monsters.

Usually this will involve circle-strafing around large open areas as dozens of screaming, headless suicide bombers, skeletal horses, mutated golden bulls and what are essentially Monster Munch creatures swarm towards you maniacally. No cover, not much exploration and no tactics to speak of, just a cross-hair, a few tonnes of charging flesh and a pocket full of hurt. It's the simplicity, countered by the incredibly intense pace, which holds the interest here - pure gaming escapism.

Crisp and well-defined, Serious Sam loses none of its charm from the translation, retaining the original's cartoonish glory despite the sharper edges. Sam's foes are still garish and ridiculous, his surroundings functional rather than lush.

What you probably want to hear is precisely the conclusion I came to: Serious Sam HD looks set to live up to its titular promise. For fans of the original, that's great news.