4 ms·

The engine was absolutely breathtaking back in the day. And SS games are aging very well. Sadly they were one of the last pure FPS games.

mattmanser 11y ago
What do you mean by pure? The new Wolfenstein is only 2 years old and a new Doom is coming out soon.
- frik 11y ago
  The new Wolfenstein was more like Half Life, and not a pure FPS. With restricted movement in several gameplay passages, slow narrated passages, etc. A very good game for sure. Return to Castle Wolfenstein was a real FPS.
  - kyberias 11y ago
    What is this definition of "pure FPS" you're using? Isn't FPS simply First Person Shooter? If HL is not an FPS, I don't know what is. FPS article in wikipedia has a screenshot from the original Half Life.
    - Umn44 11y ago
      "What is this definition of "pure FPS" you're using?" High speed, 6+ weapons held at a time, jump strafing, no stupid ironsights, Interesting variety of weapons. Go pickup quake live on steam what a real fps is like and then turn on the difficulty to high.
- venomsnake 11y ago
  Wolf was classes below Return To Castle Wolfenstein. Doom is not out yet, and after Quake 4 I am sceptical.
  - Kristine1975 11y ago
    >Doom is not out yet, and after Quake 4 I am sceptical. They don't have the same developers though: Quake 4 was developed by Raven Software, Doom 4 is being developed by id software.
  - artmageddon 11y ago
    Are you talking about the original Wolfenstein, or the new one? And if referring to the latter, How so? The new Wolfenstein felt very well done.
  - thrillgore 11y ago
    Any future source code releases won't happen with ZeniMax Media as the owner of the IPs. They are investing all their studios in the use of the same engine.
abcd_f 11y ago
Let's not forget SSam's greatest contribution - a copiously lubricated revolver that shot in 1us of clicking a button and with a very satisfying * thump * :)
DanBC 11y ago
> Sadly they were one of the last pure FPS games. I haven't heard about pure FPS before. What elements make a FPS pure or not?
- venomsnake 11y ago
  Typical games I can think of are Doom 1&2, Quake 1,2,3 , UT, Serious Sam and Painkiller. Big weapon pack, Six axis free camera movement, free movement in the levels, free jump, no contextual actions,no cover mechanics and the ability to save during arbitrary points (how the games regressed from that to the current checkpoint absurdity is anyone's guess).
  - frik 11y ago
    > how the games regressed from that to the current checkpoint absurdity is anyone's guess Obviously because of consoles. Earlier consoles had limited save game storage cards, and the cover mechanics was introduced to give people with gamepads a chance. Early cross platform games like GTA 3 and Splinter Cell were a lot easier on PC than on PS2/Xbox consoles (aiming with the mouse is superior). I had hopes that we get more games especially for PC, games used to be a lot better until we got all these console ports starting with Xbox 1 in 2004 and later. But the outlook with Win10 and its spy components is so bad that one can only hope Vulkan (OpenGL next), SteamOS and HumbeBundle get even more traction.
  - elmigranto 11y ago
    > how the games regressed from that to the current checkpoint absurdity is anyone's guess I'd say consoles not having free keys for this functionality, and a bit slower aiming/movement.
  - Umn44 11y ago
    "how the games regressed from that to the current checkpoint absurdity is anyone's guess" Game developers found out most console players suck at gaming.
  - taneq 11y ago
    Doom 1 and 2 are "2.5D", not true 3D. Still classics though. The checkpoint rubbish is thanks to consoles, IMO. >.<
mrob 11y ago
To me, Serious Sam feels more like a 3D version of Robotron: 2084 than a traditional FPS. Very high numbers of simple enemies, enclosed featureless arenas and large open spaces, interactions between the various enemy types forcing improvisation instead of memorization. Robotron is a great game, so this is a clever way of designing interesting fights without needing to spend a long time on map design. The later games switched to a more traditional FPS style, but the original is something unique and I highly recommend playing it.

mattmanser 11y ago

What do you mean by pure? The new Wolfenstein is only 2 years old and a new Doom is coming out soon.

frik 11y ago
The new Wolfenstein was more like Half Life, and not a pure FPS. With restricted movement in several gameplay passages, slow narrated passages, etc. A very good game for sure. Return to Castle Wolfenstein was a real FPS.
- kyberias 11y ago
  What is this definition of "pure FPS" you're using? Isn't FPS simply First Person Shooter? If HL is not an FPS, I don't know what is. FPS article in wikipedia has a screenshot from the original Half Life.
  - Umn44 11y ago
    "What is this definition of "pure FPS" you're using?" High speed, 6+ weapons held at a time, jump strafing, no stupid ironsights, Interesting variety of weapons. Go pickup quake live on steam what a real fps is like and then turn on the difficulty to high.
venomsnake 11y ago
Wolf was classes below Return To Castle Wolfenstein. Doom is not out yet, and after Quake 4 I am sceptical.
- Kristine1975 11y ago
  >Doom is not out yet, and after Quake 4 I am sceptical. They don't have the same developers though: Quake 4 was developed by Raven Software, Doom 4 is being developed by id software.
- artmageddon 11y ago
  Are you talking about the original Wolfenstein, or the new one? And if referring to the latter, How so? The new Wolfenstein felt very well done.
- thrillgore 11y ago
  Any future source code releases won't happen with ZeniMax Media as the owner of the IPs. They are investing all their studios in the use of the same engine.

abcd_f 11y ago

Let's not forget SSam's greatest contribution - a copiously lubricated revolver that shot in 1us of clicking a button and with a very satisfying * thump * :)

DanBC 11y ago

> Sadly they were one of the last pure FPS games. I haven't heard about pure FPS before. What elements make a FPS pure or not?

venomsnake 11y ago
Typical games I can think of are Doom 1&2, Quake 1,2,3 , UT, Serious Sam and Painkiller. Big weapon pack, Six axis free camera movement, free movement in the levels, free jump, no contextual actions,no cover mechanics and the ability to save during arbitrary points (how the games regressed from that to the current checkpoint absurdity is anyone's guess).
- frik 11y ago
  > how the games regressed from that to the current checkpoint absurdity is anyone's guess Obviously because of consoles. Earlier consoles had limited save game storage cards, and the cover mechanics was introduced to give people with gamepads a chance. Early cross platform games like GTA 3 and Splinter Cell were a lot easier on PC than on PS2/Xbox consoles (aiming with the mouse is superior). I had hopes that we get more games especially for PC, games used to be a lot better until we got all these console ports starting with Xbox 1 in 2004 and later. But the outlook with Win10 and its spy components is so bad that one can only hope Vulkan (OpenGL next), SteamOS and HumbeBundle get even more traction.
- elmigranto 11y ago
  > how the games regressed from that to the current checkpoint absurdity is anyone's guess I'd say consoles not having free keys for this functionality, and a bit slower aiming/movement.
- Umn44 11y ago
  "how the games regressed from that to the current checkpoint absurdity is anyone's guess" Game developers found out most console players suck at gaming.
- taneq 11y ago
  Doom 1 and 2 are "2.5D", not true 3D. Still classics though. The checkpoint rubbish is thanks to consoles, IMO. >.<

mrob 11y ago

To me, Serious Sam feels more like a 3D version of Robotron: 2084 than a traditional FPS. Very high numbers of simple enemies, enclosed featureless arenas and large open spaces, interactions between the various enemy types forcing improvisation instead of memorization. Robotron is a great game, so this is a clever way of designing interesting fights without needing to spend a long time on map design. The later games switched to a more traditional FPS style, but the original is something unique and I highly recommend playing it.