Serious Sam 3 VR: BFE - Impressions

Game: Serious Sam 3 VR: BFE

Developer: Team 6

Publisher: Maximum Games

Reviewed: Oculus Rift

Serious Sam is a video game series that’s been running since 2001 where gamers can expect an over-the-top first-person shooter experience. The series is often compared to the Duke Nukem franchise as players fight off creatures and enemies in a more carefree manner. However, this installment we’re talking about today isn’t a brand new entry to the series. Instead, this takes the previously released Serious Sam 3: BFE and turns it into a VR adaptation.

The Serious Sam 3: BFE installment released back in 2011 and serves as a prequel to the first video game in the series, Serious Sam: The First Encounter. Overall, the video game takes place in the 22nd century where our protagonist must fight off the Mental invasion on Earth.

As mentioned, the development team Croteam has released the video game once again though as a VR port. So how does the VR port hold up? Luckily it’s quite nice and something worth checking into if you enjoy the old school first-person shooter experiences.

Visually along with the audio soundtrack are on par with its initial 2011 release, but now you get the VR depth and feel as you play the game. Luckily, there are a few options to choose from when dealing with movement.

I personally don’t enjoy the teleportation feel as it can be a bit cheap when battling select enemies that charge your way. For instance, I found that if I equipped a sledgehammer then I could teleport through the enemy and deal damage without taking a hit.

Speaking of enemies, these character models are great in VR and certainly a thrill when you see some massive monster leaping at full speed right in your direction and results in feeling like a brand new game rather than a VR port.

Being a Serious Sam title, there is a wide range of destructive arsenal to choose from giving you the power at delivering a nasty blow to anything that leaps, runs, or crawls your way. If you’re looking to take a break from the campaign then it’s worth noting that developers Croteam have also included a number of Multiplayer game modes as well.

With multiplayer, gamers can go through a standard Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Last Man Standing, Last Team Standing, Instant Kill, along with cooperative game modes.

Both HTC Vive and Oculus Rift users are able to enjoy the video game today, our review copy was played on the Oculus Rift with the Oculus Touch controllers. However, the developers have kept in-mind of various comfort levels in terms of room sizes for both headsets. Players can enjoy the game seated, standing, or even with Room-Scale.

My one problem with the game setup came with Steam VR and that seems to be the case for a few Oculus Rift users. For whatever reason, tracking within Steam VR is a bit off, but if you have the Oculus Rift software to recognize all VR video game titles and apps on your desktop then the game tends to run a bit easier executing it from the Oculus Rift software.

All-in-all, if you’re looking for a chaotic carnage driven VR title and enjoy the golden years of first-person shooters then you’ll want to give Serious Sam 3: BFE VR a try. The game is currently available today through the Steam marketplace.