Serious Sam 3 drops cartoon look

By Robert Purchese Published 21 July, 2009

Too early for other revelations, says dev.

Croteam has told Eurogamer that Serious Sam 3 will drop the series' trademark cartoon look, although the familiar fast and frantic gameplay will remain.

"I can't yet reveal any new features on Serious Sam 3, as it's still too early," began Croteam boss Roman Ribaric.

"However, I believe Serious Sam fans would want to hear the following two things. First, Serious Sam 3 will play like the original Serious Sam. And second, we'll leave the cartoony look behind.

"As for standing up to other games: simply, if it's good to play, it's good to play. Serious Sam games belong to their own unique fast-paced FPS genre and should best be compared to previous Serious Sam games."

Ribaric said Croteam is "knee-deep" in Serious Sam 3 development, which will ramp up proper once Serious Sam HD - the PC and Xbox Live Arcade remake - is done and dusted.

For now, however, Serious Sam 3 has no date. Or platforms - although PC and Xbox 360 are likely candidates. But so was Sarah Palin, and look what happened there.

Did you know that Croteam was making a military game that was halted by lack of investor and publisher support? We didn't until Ribaric told us.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (15) Latest comment 3 years ago

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  • chanderzz #1 3 years ago

    If its dropping the cartoony look does that mean its going to be photoreal? If so do we really need more photoreal shooters? Sam had a nice niche there.

  • TwinFire #2 3 years ago

    As long as the humour is there im not too fussed. Its done cartoony a few times now so why not a fresh look?

  • Perfecto #3 3 years ago

    As long as it isn't crap like Serious Sam 2 then I'll enjoy it.

  • chanderzz #4 3 years ago

    Huzah! Twin fire you are correct, humour is missing from gaming in general!
    Edited by 1 at 21/07/09 @ 15:22

  • zoidberg #5 3 years ago

    What is with the come-out-of-nowhere Sarah Palin remark? Besides being old news. (She's not even a governor anymore.)

  • Golgo #6 3 years ago

    I imagine it's going to be 'darker in tone and more edgy'.

  • frostcircus #7 3 years ago

    2 was really awful. Way too many jokes, none of them funny. In fact it's pretty much a concise collection of things that aren't funny, which I'm sure makes it an invaluable resource of some kind.

    God, there was even an entire chapter dedicated to Elvis impersonators. Bad memories.
    Edited by 1 at 21/07/09 @ 16:00

  • DUFFKING #8 3 years ago

    It could work if they mixed a serious look with ridiculous over top gameplay/scenarios/gore, so it's cartoony in another sense.

    Maybe like Painkiller, but with good gameplay ;)

  • Ryuken #9 3 years ago

    "Did you know that Croteam was making a military game that was halted by lack of investor and publisher support? We didn't until Ribaric told us."

    To be honest most people probably did know they were working on that (there was even a screenshot of a tank), that it was halted was recently revealed on their site as well.;)

    Good thing they're going back to the feel of the original game.

    Stay serious.

  • ChthonicEcho #10 3 years ago

    'Trademark cartoony look'? What? Only the second Serious Sam was cartoony, and it's one of many reasons why it was a poor game. Serious Sam was a mixture of nonsense and seriousness, that is the trademark look and feel of the game. Serious Sam II played like an E game with combat tacked on.

  • Canyarion #11 3 years ago

    D'oh, the first 2 times I read the header, I thought it was about Sam & Max.
    That would be weird, Sam & Max without a cartoon look. =)

  • JensonJet #12 3 years ago

    Ryuken, thanks for the heads-up on the military game shots. The game looks, at least, like it was going to look really smart. The game engine still exists (I assume), and hopefully some elements of the maps/textures/ideas that was going to be used for the military game could see it's way into this Serious Sam game.

  • Dr_Wadd #13 3 years ago

    Oh dear, the visual style was one of the things that made the earlier Serious Sam games so much fun. If Croteam don`t go with that then the more nonsensical elements of the game just aren`t going to feel right, to the point where they'd be better off not including them, and once they go down that route, it just isn`t Serious Sam any more.

  • retr0gamer #14 3 years ago

    Play like serious sam 1? Hmm, I'd rather it had decent level design rather than just big open arenas.

  • SomaticSense #15 3 years ago

    Decent level design over big open areas?

    ...

    ...

    Oohhhh, I understand you now! You want a dull corridor shooter which has pretensions of good level design (because we all know big areas automatically means bad level design), which has far, far fewer enemies to fight at once because you no longer have any room to move around.

    Really, really good idea for a Serious Sam game there. You've hit the nail on the head with regard to what the series is all about. I applaud you.

    *claps*