You won't think Serious Sam is all that serious if you've spent much time looking at the game in action, or even perused static shots. Indeed, a moment's glance at the box, or at the Johnny Bravo-esque Sam himself, should persuade you that the 'serious' bit of the title is actually a joke. But even then, you probably won't be prepared for the sheer mentalness of the action Serious Sam serves up. The plot, which concerns itself with an ancient, superior race that lived in Egypt and a present-day attack on Earth from outer space, is just an excuse to put the player in a sequence of utterly insane battles against some very memorable foes.

There are a lot of good things we can say about the Xbox version of Serious Sam. Rather than just lazily port the PC original straight across, the developer has tinkered with the game to make sure it feels properly at home in its new console environment. Gone is the typical quick-save feature that blights a lot of PC games, and in its place is a system whereby extra lives are have to be earned by racking up good old-fashioned points.

Points are gained by killing nasties, collecting hidden treasure, or even performing 'multikills' - ending the lives of several enemies with one shot of your chosen weapon. The better you are, the more lives you accrue - and when Sam expires, you'll respawn where he dropped after a couple of seconds' breather.

Further concessions to console-land include a spruced-up front end that reflects the game very nicely indeed. On the title screen, Sam poses next to the options and taps the inside of your TV screen; or sometimes, he'll just poke his head up over the bottom of the screen, look around shiftily for a few seconds, then mooch off again. It's gloriously silly, and lots of fun. And the best thing is, that silliness continues into the game proper.

If you didn't like The Library level in Halo, there's a chance you might not go for the flavour of combat that's served up here. It's the same kind of non-stop, sweaty, desperate combat, requiring frantic use of both thumbsticks to simultaneously avoid hordes of mental enemies and keep them in your sights.

The tone is rather different to The Library though, so if (like me) you were too scared to play that level on your own on tougher settings (the shame), you shouldn't have that problem with Sam. Bright primary colours, amusing quips from the man himself and a Fun Dial cranked up to the max mean that this is incredibly tense, but not scary.

Not scary, that is, except for one thing. One type of enemy is funny, but very, very frightening - it has no head, carries bombs, and runs after you until you kill it, or it gets near enough to detonate its deadly load. The thing s, it screams, so you hear it coming. When you can hear it, but can't see it, you might be scared. I was.

There are loads of other great enemies, too. They're like old-fashioned game baddies brought to life in 3D, cloned hundreds of times, and sent into battle. Al at the same time. And wait until you see the bigger ones...

The graphics are colourful and solid too. While they may not be the most cutting-edge visuals you'll have seen this year, the primary colours, big bright lens flare and exuberant weapon effects mean it's very appealing all the same. And since there can be dozens of enemies running about at any given time, plus their projectiles, you don't really have much time for a chin-stroking, bump-mapping ' appreciation session anyway.

And the good points just keep on coming with this game. There's a System Link mode, and you can do Co-op mode over it, too. That's excellent fun. What else? Well, if the gameplay grabs you, it won't let you go for a long time. In a value for money move, both Serious Sam episodes so far released on PC are crammed onto the one disc, making for tons and tons of levels.

The thing is, though, this game is something of an acquired taste. It's incredibly manic and frantic, and if you prefer fighting sophisticated opponents or using stealth to achieve your goals, this probably isn't the title for you. Those not entirely convinced by it could find it all rather repetitive after a while.

But what Serious Sam does, it does very well indeed. It's the closest any game has got to playing like the ancient coin-op Smash TV. It's full of humour, energy, and if you play it close to bedtime you'll be too buzzed to get to sleep. So it's doing something right...

1. Slick, intense arcade shooting
2. Great system link co-op
3. Madder than a bag of spanners

1. Can get repetitive
2. Won't be to everyone's taste

Power
The action is smooth, with loads of enemies on screen at once. But it doesn't push the hardware.

Style
Bright styling, vivid design - like an old Amiga game brought bang up to date.

Immersion
The intense battles are gripping, and the lure to see the next boss keeps you playing.

Lifespan
Can get repetitive if the brutal, simple gameplay doesn't grab you - but loads of levels.

Summary
Hectic blasting with a smattering of laughs, Serious Sam is a very slick, distinctive experience that's well worth trying for FPS fans.