Serious Sam 3 Getting Serious Art Style?

[Keane Ng]

Serious Sam 3 Getting Serious Art Style?

Croteam's Roman Ribaric has confirmed one thing that will be different about the new Serious Sam game: It will drop the series' trademark cartoony aesthetic, possibly indicating that the series is getting a serious makeover.

Some things about Croteam's Serious Sam series are staying the same, but some things are going to be different when Croteam puts out the third game in the franchise. "I believe Serious Sam fans would want to hear the following two things," the studio's Roman Ribaric told Eurogamer. "First, Serious Sam 3 will play like the original Serious Sam. And second, we'll leave the cartoony look behind."

Serious Sam's art style has always suited its decidedly over-the-top tone, but now that the series is ditching the cartoony angle, where else is there to go? Gritty realism? Post-apocalyptic browns and grays? Does saying goodbye to the cartoony aesthetic mean saying hello to a more...serious look?

However it ends up looking, Ribaric thinks it'll stand up to its peers in the FPS genre. "As for standing up to other games: simply, if it's good to play, it's good to play," Ribaric said. "Serious Sam games belong to their own unique fast-paced FPS genre and should best be compared to previous Serious Sam games."

Speaking of previous Serious Sam games, Croteam is currently preparing an HD remix of Serious Sam for the PC and XBLA. That might be the last time we ever see Sam as we've known him thus far, so be sure to savor the seriousness. I hope Croteam's got the right angle for this: I don't want to see Sam turn into a grizzled space marine.

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[Del-Toro]

Really? That game's cartooneyness made it a lovely change from more serious faire, everything else is either pure grit or anime. Nothing wrong with those in and of themselves but a little bit of variety is needed now and again and Serious Sam provides that by being a parody of videogames in general. If they are going with a realisic look then we can at least hope they will use the aesthetic to parody generic steroid popping space marine shooters or something.

 

[squid5580]

Can't we have both? A realistic looking wacky off the wall art direction? Sure when I say it like that it does sound like an oxymoron. And I am struggling to figure out how to phrase this correctly. It doesn't have to be all brown and grey to be considered realistic does it? Can't we have a brighter world full of rich details with wacky critters that are made with the same attention to detail?

 

[Susan Arendt]

Well, guess this means I won't be playing Serious Sam 3. No disrespect at all to the developers, but the ridiculous over-the-top cartooniness was what set Serious Sam apart for me and made it something special.

 

[Archemetis]

If a game seems to be popular simply because it's a wacky, cartoony FPS, then why would it be a "good thing" that they've ditched the cartoony side?

Shooting themselves in the foot much?

Although saying that, It's entirely possible to have a realistic "looking" game with wacky cartoon hijinks. I mean imagine a bog standard man doing things that cartoon people do...

I'm thinking the villain from Who Framed Roger Rabbit style...

 

[Mardy]

Ah crap, if it turns out to be a generic gritty grey game I probably wont buy it. However if it still have the "over-the-top cartooniness" charm I guess I'll give it a look.

 

[AboveUp]

Well, guess this means I won't be playing Serious Sam 3. No disrespect at all to the developers, but the ridiculous over-the-top cartooniness was what set Serious Sam apart for me and made it something special.

That's basically what I was going to post as well.
Why not just make an entire new game series with a more "serious" attitude, while keeping the old gameplay style from Serious Sam? That way they could at least keep Sam the way he is without irreversibly destroying the image that people have of him and his old games.

This reminds me of what's happening to Max Payne.

 

[Aura Guardian]

I played the Gamecube version of Serious Sam and loved it due to the graphics and gameplay. Hopefully they change their minds about this.

 

[SomeGuyNamedKy]

To me, this is like saying we're tired of being unique, let's be generic!

 

[-Drifter-]

Has no one here played first/second encounter? Those ones weren't cartoony, really, but that doesn't mean they weren't colorful, over-the-top, and fun. I actually preferred them to any of the other Serious Sams. As long as they don't go down the path of gray, brown, and gritty (and judging by the screenshot, I'd say that's not the case) then I don't see what the problem is.

 

[HuntrRose]

Has no one here played first/second encounter? Those ones weren't cartoony, really, but that doesn't mean they weren't colorful, over-the-top, and fun. I actually preferred them to any of the other Serious Sams. As long as they don't go down the path of gray, brown, and gritty (and judging by the screenshot, I'd say that's not the case) then I don't see what the problem is.

Pretty sure that screen was from Serious Sam 2.

 

[manaman]

If a game seems to be popular simply because it's a wacky, cartoony FPS, then why would it be a "good thing" that they've ditched the cartoony side?

Shooting themselves in the foot much?

Although saying that, It's entirely possible to have a realistic "looking" game with wacky cartoon hijinks. I mean imagine a bog standard man doing things that cartoon people do...

I'm thinking the villain from Who Framed Roger Rabbit style...

That was where I was going to go with a post. Maybe nobody was happy with the cartoon look on this game and wanted to try a new approach, and they liked it.

 

[Hazy]

Cartoon and Serious Sam go together like PB and J.
It would kill the wacky and nonsense feel, methinks.

 

[dochmbi]

Well, guess this means I won't be playing Serious Sam 3. No disrespect at all to the developers, but the ridiculous over-the-top cartooniness was what set Serious Sam apart for me and made it something special.

Yes, I feel exactly the same way. This has to be some of the worst gaming news I have read this year.

 

[Brotherofwill]

Well, guess this means I won't be playing Serious Sam 3. No disrespect at all to the developers, but the ridiculous over-the-top cartooniness was what set Serious Sam apart for me and made it something special.

That's basically what I was going to post as well.
Why not just make an entire new game series with a more "serious" attitude, while keeping the old gameplay style from Serious Sam? That way they could at least keep Sam the way he is without irreversibly destroying the image that people have of him and his old games.

This reminds me of what's happening to Max Payne.

Me too. Pass.

 

[T-Blade]

I looked around again and found some Screen shots and they pretty much look the same but update version of the game.
The Trailer looks awesome and I have to say I am a Fan boy for Serious Sam so yeah, I'll be buying it
Edit: I though I might aswell add the Screen shots here.
[spoiler/][img/]http://viper455.googlepages.com/Mech1.jpg[/img]
[img/]http://viper455.googlepages.com/Minigun.jpg[/img]
[img/]http://viper455.googlepages.com/Level.jpg[/img][/spoiler]

 

[MarsProbe]

Well, guess this means I won't be playing Serious Sam 3. No disrespect at all to the developers, but the ridiculous over-the-top cartooniness was what set Serious Sam apart for me and made it something special.

Sounds something like what I was thinking. The thought of Serious Sam taking on a more...realistic tone does not sit well with me.

I can't imagine taking on a giant 4-armed alien wielding guns the size of jet planes would feel quite the same without the style of the original games.

Hmm, wasn't there an easter egg of sorts in the first game, stating that all the following Serious Sam games would be decidedly average up until a point where one of them was set entirely within a dingy sewer system. The old style is one of the things I liked about the SS games. One of the others being the parts where there is enough ammo lying around for you to be able to hold the fire button down for a whole 5 minutes without pause...

 

[Cortheya]

I hope this doesn't mean that it will become too similar to other games in an attempt to appeal to more people.

 

[scotth266]

Why is everyone so averse toward this?

Over-the-top cartoony violence will likely be just be replaced by over-the-top violence of a more realistic flavor.

I haven't played the previous games, so maybe I can't really talk much about this, but it seems a lot like the previous arguments about Left 4 Dead 2 and Diablo 3: "I don't like this, because it looks DIFFERENT!"

It doesn't really matter as long as they preserve the general idea behind the series, does it?

 

[dochmbi]

@ scotth266: The visual style was part of the general idea behind the series, so if you change it, it's no longer a serious sam game.