Graphics and Sound

Draw distance

The Second Encounter uses the Serious Engine, as in the first game. The Serious engine is known for unrivaled draw distances – if you see a tiny building in the distance there’s a good chance that you’ll be walking in it in 20 minutes without loading a new level. Besides the “neat” factor that the engine can do this, it helps the gameplay since there’s much less loading than your average first-person shooter. Less loading allows this game to have constant action for 20-minute stretches or more. This long draw distance also allows a few tricks not seen in other FPS games. Several times you’ll see tiny specs flickering in the distance. They could be bugs for all you know, but if you zoom in with the sniper rifle you’ll see that those specs are actually swarms of creatures heading right for you.

Wind God

Arena ball

Church of Sam

Another good feature of the Serious Engine is the ability to display dozens of enemies on the screen at the same time. Along with the great level design, the ability of the engine to handle tons of enemies on the screen at once are the two factors that make The Second Encounter a lot of fun. In single player games I only experienced the engine chugging when there were a lot of enemies very close to me in wide open spaces with a lot of buildings around (not often). In multiplayer games the engine chugs more often, usually in large areas with a lot of enemies and your teammates shooting a lot. I’m sure it has to do with the net lag rather than the graphical end of the engine.

All in all the Serious Engine is still good, even after it’s been out so long. No one else has attempted such a long draw distance since the first Serious Sam. In The Second Encounter it’s all about “bigger is better’, oddly enough an American standard made by a bunch of Croatians. The Second Encounter also goes the opposite direction of dark and dreary FPS games and uses a lot of bright colors and sunny environments. It may not have some of the bells and whistles of an engine like Quake 3, but the Serious Engine is still fun to use.

Slippery when reflective

Not a background, it’s the level

The moving darkness

Doppler Shift

There’s nothing quite like the Doppler effect in The Second Encounter. From far off you hear a distant murmur drowned out by the explosions of nearby combat. The next thing you know you’re running for high ground as that murmur is the unmistakable scream of a Kamikaze with your name on it. Sometimes you’ll be standing in complete silence surrounded by darkness, only to have that familiar Kamikaze scream cut through room. The enemies screeching and weapon effects really send your adrenaline pumping since they’re done well and placed at the right times. Whenever Sam speaks up it’s funny, a la Ash in Evil Dead. My favorite: “What are you waiting for, a one-liner?”

The music shines as well. The background music gives way to hectic fighting music whenever enemies are near (a good way to know if you’re in for a fight soon). When you reach a boss metal/industrial tracks kick in. All of the music is done very well, which surprises me since this game was made on such a low budget. There are plenty of games with a much better budget that didn’t get the sound effects or music nearly as well as The Second Encounter.