serious sam double d xxl

Microsoft is taking some of the sting out of the returning school season by offering up a ton of great Xbox Live Arcade content at deeply discounted prices. Starting …
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We’ve just seen the release of Serious Sam Double D XXL, a game we recommended for its classic shooting action rebuilt into two dimensions. Behind all its artistic style, crazy weapons and even more crazy enemies is one man: Nathan Fouts, owner of indie development studio Mommy’s Best Games. We caught up with him to ask about how he put together Serious Sam Double D XXL, starting from its inception on PC to its massive expansion on Xbox Live Arcade.  When we asked how it feels to have the game out and finished, he joked, “I think I’m still ready to go back to sleep!”

Serious Sam’s jump to 2D

Serious Sam is a beloved franchise known for its old-school Doom-esque shooting that relies heavily on strafing and jumping while making players fight off swarms of aliens, monsters and headless kamikaze bombers. Leveraging his PC popularity, Serious Sam has gone on to make numerous cameos on Xbox Live Arcade in both new and classic games. However, they have all been 3-dimensional first-person shooters. How did Fouts score a gig that involved smashing it into two dimensions? As it turns out, “Devolver came to us and said that they were interested in this prospect and that it involved Croteam [the creators] and the Serious Sam franchise,” he explained. “I just about flipped my lid. I couldn’t believe it. [They told me] they liked our stuff and they’d like us to do this indie version.”

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Serious Sam Double D XXL was developed by Mommy’s Best Games and published by Mastertronic Group Ltd. It was released on February 20, 2013 for 800 MSP. A copy was provided for review purposes.

After his success on PC, Serious Sam has been a frequent star in the Xbox Live Arcade. Each iteration is known for its signature crazy-mob-running-at-you chaos, with heavy emphasis on strafing and dodging. Now, in the surprisingly novel twist that is Serious Sam Double D XXL, this frantic formula is reimagined into a 2-dimensional side-scrolling twin-stick shooter, and manages to retain that signature panic of the previous games. With it, it introduces the surprisingly deep gun stacking mechanic that sets it apart as its own worthy entry in the series.

Originally released on PC in August 2011, this version on XBLA is an updated “XXL” version that adds challenge levels, two-player co-op, gun upgrades, and additional polish and tweaking to vastly improve the original game.

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[springboard type=”video” id=”641767″ player=”xbla001″ width=”640″ height=”400″ ]

Devolver Digital and Mastertronic, have announced that Serious Sam Double D XXL will launch February 20, 2013 on Xbox LIVE Arcade. …
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