See also:
- Breather Level:
- "Memphis - Sewers" is a small level with few enemies, and is placed between two enemy-heavy levels "Memphis - Suburbs" and "City of Memphis - Metropolis".
- "Alley of the Sphinxes - Approaching Thebes", located between the aforementioned "City of Memphis" and the labyrinthine and also enemy-heavy "Thebes - Karnak". The only difference with the above is that Sam loses most of his weapons during the transition.
- Demonic Spiders:
- The major biomechanoids. While the minor biomechanoids are a joke, the major ones have dual rocket launchers (which do about 100-150 damage a shot) and 750 HP, allowing them to tank 5 of your own rockets before going down. You still need to be careful after you kill them, as they will shoot one more rocket forwards as they are going down.
- Arachnids. They have the only Hitscan attack in the game and the adults have 600 hp, making them some of the tankier enemies. It doesn't help that the game likes to put them in spots far away from you, usually allowing them to get a few shots off before you even realize where they are.
- First Installment Wins: This game, along with its expansion pack, are both considered the best in the franchise. All of its sequels and spin-offs have been divisive at best.
- Goddamned Bats: Marsh-Hoppers are jumping, suicidal frogs. To make a point of how annoying they are, two of TFE's "boss fights" involve large numbers of them. They become much more manageable in The Second Encounter, though there's still the occasional wave where they approach you from multiple directions, making them harder to manage.
- Porting Disaster: The Palm OS port. Someone had the brilliant idea to make a port of the first game for PDA devices. The result is a game with a very choppy framerate and no music that plays more like Wolfenstein 3-D than Serious Sam. Series fan Framerater has an entire video
covering this version in full detail. - Scrappy Mechanic: In the Xbox port, Sam automatically picks up... well, pick-ups, even if he's completely full in whatever the pick-up is supposed to fill, making it really easy to waste health and ammo.
- Shocking Moments:
- For a good sense of the game's scale, you kill almost 500 enemies in the demo level alone.
- The level "The Great Pyramid" starts with a night battle against hordes bigger than any previous encounters. And then there's the entrance of Ugh-Zan III, a kaiju-sized boss who comes from behind. What follows is a race towards the Pyramid while you deal not only with a boss who can Heal Thyself and shoot with powerful weapons, but also against waves and waves of the worst baddies the game has to offer.
- Slow-Paced Beginning: The first two levels play out like a standard early FPS (to the point the TFE demo instead uses a later level). Then you get to the end of the third level, and suddenly hundreds of enemies start spawning all at once and running towards you. That's when the real game kicks in.
- That One Boss: The Zerg Rush of Marsh-Hoppers is this to some. It doesn't help in the first instance that your best weapon for the situation is... the underwhelming Tommy Gun. The second instance becomes more manageable by way of having the Serious Minigun and the Rocket Launcher, as well as a bigger arena. Though you won't get to the next area unless you destroy the other waves of enemies.
- That One Level
- "Oasis". The section between entering the temple and marsh hopper room is very difficult due to a lot of enemies spawning in relatively tight spaces. This leaves you two options: Either use still relatively weak non-explosive weapons and get overwhelmed or use explosives, risking self-damage.
- "The Great Pyramid" starts with a few, yet massive, waves of enemies in the first area that can easily overwhelm you from all sides. Afterwards you move on to the exterior, where you will not only fight the regenerating Ugh-Zan III but also horde after horde of the worst the game has to offer. This is actually the best part for some players, since it gives a nice "Holy fuck!" feeling the first few times.
