Review: Serious Sam 3 BFE: Jewel of the Nile DLC

Words by: Phil Kowalski | Posted: 7 months ago | Filed under: DLC, Game Reviews.

Welcome back to Egypt

I like Egypt, I’ve been twice. I’d go back. Unless that is, the whole place is infested with aliens and all I’ve got when starting to get out of there is my bare hands and an odd wrist-whip, stolen from the last Sirian on Earth. I have in fact been to the place that this DLC pack starts at. The Temple of Philae is situated on the island of Agilkia in the River Nile in Egypt and was moved from its original site after the Aswan Dam was built and the original site was flooded for 50 years. The most impressive thing I found while playing this, is that the Temple itself, outwardly at least, has been faithfully recreated for your destructive mayhem.

This campaign map starts you out on Philae; Sam is on his way home, in the curiously 21^st century helicopter, after activating the Time-Lock power supplies. The Time-Lock will not work however, and the reason may be that there is a safety switch at the Temple and Sam must counteract this and discover the guardian of the Temple of Isis. So, you get a lift to Philae and are left there, to fend for yourself. Now, one of the weapons you start with, which you will have got from the last mission in the main game, is the Sirian Mutilator. A whip-like weapon that serves you very well initially, but it’s very clear that you’re going to need something heavier to deal with the hordes you’re about to face.

you poke your head around every corner of the temple with your finger on the trigger

Dotted throughout the level are locked sheds. In these locked sheds are an array of goodies, from shotguns to rocket-launchers, to ammo, health and armour. Your first task while killing these aliens is to find the key to the complex. This universal key will open all the sheds, giving you access to the goodies within, and will also give you access to the heart of the Temple, and underneath, to find the first of your tasks. Complete a task and you’ll be faced with more of Mental’s minions who are out to get you, and the sense of paranoia doesn’t leave you for a second. This ultimately became a little predictable as you poke your head around every corner of the temple with your finger on the trigger. Add that to the incessant screaming from the Kamikaze and you’re pretty much guaranteed to be turned into a gibbering wreck by the end. Impressed as I am by the accuracy of the Temple layout, it’s nice to see that, with the Serious Engine, it’s pretty much all destructible. Dodge a charging Sirian Werebull and the chances are it will crash through some columns, destroying them in the process. This level in itself was great fun, and it expands into more after you’ve completed the initial set of tasks and you get a new toy to play with for the next stage at Abu Simbel. One more mission map is available in this campaign, but rather than spoil it, I’m just going to let you find out where this takes you.

As you progress through this pack, the more you achieve, the more bad guys you’ll have to face. At one point I was firing blindly through the dust, feeling like John McClane, at the wave upon wave of Headless Kamikaze that was screaming my way and having my wife yelling ‘reload, reload’ at me, when she had plainly made it clear that she wasn’t interested, is a sure sign that it draws you in. It is quite simply mental, mental fun.

It is quite simply mental, mental fun

This pack, as well as this new campaign, also adds 3 new weapons in the Laser Rifle, Sniper Rifle and Battleaxe. I managed to find the Sniper Rifle and it proved to be useful in taking out some of the medium-sized bad guys from a distance. There are new versus mode multiplayer games, Capture The Flag, Last Team Standing and My Burden. These add more co-op playability and ultimately more value to the game itself. Throw in Classic Co-op and Coin-op Co-op and you’ve got yourself a bit of a bargain. This expansion for what amounts to a prequel to the first cult game should keep you going until Sam’s all out of grumpy. This DLC pack should be available now, priced at 1200MS Points.

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About Phil Kowalski

A midlander, exiled to the South Coast. I once finished Gremlin's "Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge" & I have the certificate to prove it.

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