Serious Sam: The Second Encounter (PC)

With all the high-tech stealth going on in games like Metal Gear Solid 2 and Rogue Spear, it's nice to get back to a good old shoot-em-up sometimes. The first Serious Sam caught a lot of eyes by providing non-stop action, with dumb enemies who run right at you, plentiful ammo and large, open environments.

Serious Sam: The Second Encounter is more of the same, so if you played the first game and loved it, you'll dig it. If you haven't you should at least give it a shot. It's the kind of game you can throw on when you want to play for 10 minutes and don't want to worry about where in the story you left off, or if you'll make it to the next checkpoint before dying.

While tough, the game is also very forgiving, with lots of weapons and health lying around. Sam also makes lame wisecracks along the way, Army of Darkness-style (or Duke Nukem-style, if you prefer). And the techo-lite soundtrack is amusing, kind of what we imagine a Croatian nightclub must sound like.

This is all testosterone, all the time, so don't look for any female characters at your disposal. But if don't mind stepping into the shoes--or combat boots--of a Rambo clone for a while, you should check out Serious Sam. --SV

SCORE: 8.0