In addition to transforming a hectic FPS into a sidescrolling shooter, Serious Sam Double D introduces a foe whose cleavage you’ll want to avoid.
To lead into Serious Sam 3, Croteam announced an interesting trio of titles from independent developers that will bring the series to genres other than the first-person shooter. One of those games, Serious Sam Double D, was on the floor at PAX East 2011 and it was much more than a basic sidescroller starring the character from Serious Sam.
Mommy’s Best Games, known for popular Xbox Live Indie Games titles like Weapon of Choice and Shoot 1up, was contacted by Croteam to make Double D, which turns Serious Sam into a title similar to Contra or Metal Slug. I got to spend some time with it and was impressed with how well Double D captured the feeling of Serious Sam in both gameplay and sense of humor.
The core of Serious Sam has always been engaging in battles that start out hectic, become overwhelming, and then crush your soul. In Serious Sam Double D, this concept has again been realized, but from a 2D perspective. All your favorite Serious Sam foes will be included, but Mommy’s Best Games’ Nathan Fouts was also given the go-ahead to create some of his own, such as the hilarious Femikaze which takes the bombs off of the Beheaded Kamikazes’ hands and puts them on a lady’s chest instead. I guess we know where the title came from (aside from the whole “2D” reference).
Fouts also created a very cool gameplay mechanic in the Gun Stacker, which allows Sam to whip out all of his collected weapons at once and stacks them on top of each other for simultaneous fire. That means the shotgun, assault rifle, plasma weapon, and more can all be used to annihilate enemies at the same time. Players will need to use the Gun Stacker too, because waves of enemies of many varieties will flow toward the player from all directions at a constant pace, while Sam will also have to go up against foes 10 times his size. In other words, it’s a Serious Sam game.
Even further, Fouts was showing off Serious Sam Double D‘s Porta Pad which Sam can use like a trampoline to hop higher than normal. As you can tell, Serious Sam Double D is being taken quite seriously and looks like it’ll be a fun extension of the Serious Sam universe. It doesn’t have a final release date yet, but is expected before Serious Sam 3 hits shelves in summer 2011.
