Sick and tired of waiting for Mr. 'Fancy Pants' Duke Nukem to get his act together? Perhaps the calm reserve of Doom 3's marine lacked a certain ounce of attitude? Or maybe Pariah's gun toting doctor was just a little too implausible? Well fear not dear FPS fan, for Serious Sam Stone is back for yet another attitude induced onslaught against the evil forces of Mental. Prepare to travel across time and space in this raucous universal rescue and find out if you truly are 'the one'.

Many gamers may be familiar with the original Serious Sam game and its series of add-ons that featured as a collective package re-released for the Xbox. The original game was manic to say the least and while its premise was simple enough (blast away until you can't blast no more), it managed to tap into an unusual primal pleasure layered deep within our Darwinian cortexes. The game was fun and it managed to re-introduce many of us to the amusing gratification of a trouble-free first person blastathon. However, game design has changed greatly since then and with the advancement of the AI super trooper, lush particle environments, and intricate physics engines, the standards of yesteryear may pale considerably. Yet Serious Sam 2 remains resolute, hoisting its shotgun high afar the evening sky and spraying it with a healthy dose of black rain. In this long awaited sequel players will once more square-off against a universe filled with rocket wielding devils, giant stingy bees, eight legged freaks, zombie accountants, witches, orcs, the centaur, and a ubiquitous Chinese Prince 'and that's all just for starters. The pace of Serious Sam 2 is fast, frantic, often relentless, and gamers will have to keep their trigger finger from cramping across seven unique worlds, numerous level bosses (wait till you meet Hugo the ultimate robot) as you piece together the iconic Medallion of Power 'the universe's ultimate weapon against evil.

Serious Sam 2 features a solid collection of 15 weapons for players to experiment with, including the usual sawed off shot gun, Uzis, mini-guns, grenade launchers, sniper rifles, and the left of center Clawdovic Cacadoos Vulgaris (think exploding kamikaze parrot). With so many things-that-go-boom you think you'd be in for a royal treat, right? Unfortunately, not quite. While there is a great variety of weapons to choose from, they basically have little strategic variation between them. Quite often I found myself using either one of the shot guns, or mini-guns, and weapons like the sniper rifle were practically useless; the shot gun can still shoot as far, have greater impact, and is easier to control 'go figure. Fortunately there is plenty of ammo, armor and other 'serious' stuff to collect, so even while you are blasting away on your preferred weapon you will be able to do a bit of treasure hunting along the way.

Serious Sam 2 also features several vehicles to joy-ride about in. My personal favorite would have to be either the fire breathing dinosaur, or the hoverfighter that is a supped-up racing pod with overcharged plasma guns. Other vehicles include the hovercraft spaceship, which basically dices anything in its path, and giant glass balls similar to those found in the highly addictive Super Monkey Ball Deluxe. Overall the vehicles were a lot of fun to use and certainly revived the gameplay from its insistent shooting-gallery fervor.

It is true that Serious Sam 2 won't tax your cognitive abilities. In fact, I would posit that as you progress through its quick-twitch offerings you may even begin to forget your name, date of birth, and sense of purpose in life. I must confess it is not that Serious Sam 2 is void of fun (it indeed has its moments), however the gameplay is ridiculously repetitive as you simply move from map to map, shoot for the sun, and raise the body count until you're puffing along inside of a waking coma. Furthermore, thanks to the limited AI of enemies (Read: cannon fodder) and an auto lock-on feature, the game requires little to no skill when fending off the enemy. Often I felt my frontal lobe begin to degenerate as I progressed through Serious Sam 2 entranced in its bright colours, wave after wave of re-spawning monsters, and incessant rattle of the formidable mini-gun. Simply stated, Serious Sam 2 is like shooting fish in a 10 to 15 hour long barrel. If it were not for the game's harder difficulty, 1337 players (that's 'elite' for the non-elitists out there) would run away in absolute horror. Honestly, the game's simplicity really comes as no surprise, but it would have been nice to play something a little more challenging than what was originally offered several years ago. Still, Serious Sam 2 delivers exactly what you might expect: intense action, plenty of fire power, long enough gameplay, and a town or village to paint red.

The new Serious Engine 2 performs a fairly solid job producing several vibrant worlds for players to rampage through. Upon entering the first chapter (an idyllic tropical oasis) I was utterly impressed with the intensity and richness of the engine's colour pallet. Locations sparkle and shine with crystal clear waterfalls and rock pools, rich blue skies expand beyond the horizon, and landscapes dazzle with sunsets and lens flares. The environments are consistently presented in their rich tone and for the most part are rather sizable. Also, in the tradition of old-school game design, the levels only get better as you progress through the game. I was particularly fond of planet 'Sirius' (yeah I couldn't believe it either), with its high-rise siriusopolis and hover-cars screaming about overhead. The lush foliage of Greendale was also quite gratifying and mowing down Centaurs in my hovercraft was a royal hoot indeed. However, even though outdoor environments are considerably grand in scale, you cannot help but feel each map is unashamedly 'boxed in.' The draw distance is strong enough, but the environments are always encased within a canyon or rock face of some type. Fans of the original will no doubt feel a little un-eased by this fact, considering that the original game felt much grander in scale.

Serious Sam 2 also has an unusual simplistic charm about it. Textures are not overdressed 'grass looks like Astroturf- and levels are designed with a relative similarity; although their theme will change throughout each of the game's chapters. Characters and enemies look somewhat basic, too; so don't expect realistic flesh tones or the more polished detail-layers witnessed in games like Halo 2 or Doom 3. Fortunately, character animation is presented rather well and watching dozens of enemies splatter and spray across the screen without the frame-rate missing a beat receives brownie points in my book. Unfortunately the absence of a sophisticated physics system means that you're basically playing in a static environment. While barrels will roll around and explode skywards when shot and trees will bend in the breeze, Serious Sam 2 certainly falls below the modern real-world Newtonian precedent. However, considering how fast you'll be dodging and weaving to avoid enemy fire, you will hardly have time to ponder the game's visual ramifications.

Serious Sam 2 also features many in-game and end of level cut-scenes, and they work incredibly well. Let's face it, for a run-of-the-mill shooter Sam's cinematic escapades certainly help alleviate what could potentially have been a monotonous affair. The cut scenes are surprisingly well rendered yet still maintain the simplicity of the game's premise and overall design.

Just as odd is the game's soundtrack, which is a mixture of pretty much anything you could imagine. One moment players will be rocketing through a tropical oasis to the tune of a seismic jungle rhythm, and the next you are transported into a world reminiscent to Alice in Wonderland and sounding like something akin to a Brothers Grimm fairytale. However, while its odd collection of tunes may sound a little out of context it is actually quite an entertaining collection. The soundtrack of Serious Sam 2 will certainly excite the primordial senses, and when the heat-of-battle picks up, so to will the game's lineup of unusual melodic themes.

The inclusion of quirky voice acting also makes a refreshing addition to Serious Sam 2, and Sam Stone sounds sufficiently gruff for the occasion, too. All of the game's characters have distinct calling cards (who could forget the deafening yell of the mad Kamikaze Bomber) and serves as an alarming cue to immanent danger (which is pretty much all the time), or an insight into a helpful situation. However, many of the sound effects used for the various tribes' people are frequently recycled, and like many of the visual props found in the game, they sound more like acoustic window dressing. Each tribe will use the same greeting sounds and war cries, and this unfortunately diminished the game's immersion.

Cut scenes also feature plenty of slapstick/low-brow humor. Unfortunately much of it was found to be rather uninspired. With one-liners such as 'you could be your own planet, you'd have to hold your pants up with an asteroid belt,' or 'I love collecting big guns it looks so Unreal' the game's humor will barely raise more than a faint smirk. Sam will endlessly mash his way through a chorus of uninspired gag related material, such as multiple references to historic gaming and movie icons like Conan the Barbarian and the unforgettable ''blonde guy who takes forever,' Duke Nukem. Quite often I was eagerly waiting to let roar with an eruption of joyous bellyaching, but for the most part the humor of Serious Sam 2 just fell way short.

In the game's favor Serious Sam 2 offers full Xbox Live support, so if you can find competition online, you'll be sure to have a blast indeed. Not only is that but system link and multiplayer support also offers cooperative play against friends. Furthermore, players can access unlocked levels through the games menu for instant quick play action. To be certain, the addition of full Xbox Live support is only of benefit to Serious Sam 2.