Serious Sam HD

Enemies spawn wildly from all angles, too - from teleporters, round corners and behind walls, even in the sky or on top of scenery. One set piece in an open, pillared courtyard sees huge, minigun-toting scorpions warping in on top of distant gateways, peppering the field with bullets as the lesser minions get up close and personal.

Crowd control is the order of the day here. The AI consists mainly of getting in range and firing, accompanied in the suicide bombers' case by blood-curdling screams as they zero in on your position. Taking them out obviously results in a gutsy explosion and a wide spatter of gore and, because friendly fire is a factor for the enemy, this can be a useful tool in clearing some room to manoeuvre. Likewise for the golden bulls, whose thundering charges will carve paths through enemy ranks and obstructive scenery.

In a game so sparse, enemies and weapons almost attain the status of characters themselves. Much as you'll grow to resent their effectiveness it's hard not to feel a slight attachment to the flying harpies which screech down from the skies, the stomping Cacodaemons or the brain-in-exoskeleton mechs. They might only be there to serve as impromptu wallpaper, but it's these beasts who add much of the atmosphere.

Guns are, of course, the other star turn. Starting with a single, six-chambered Colt, Sam soon totes shotguns (both pump-action and double-barrelled), chain and Tommy guns, lasers, grenades and missiles. Then there's the hugely entertaining cannon, which sends five-foot diameter cannon balls steamrolling through crowds before they explode.

Alternatively, you can chase cannon balls up with a quick rocket for a low-tech variant on Unreal Tournament's shock rifle. These instruments of entertainment are surprisingly charismatic for military hardware, and favourites quickly emerge.

As you might expect from a shooter so firmly in the arcade camp, power-ups in the form of health and armour are scattered liberally around. Caches are secreted behind panels or under floors. Traps are a regular part of the environment, too, with ever-so-tempting hearts and body-armours often placed in such obvious honey traps that's it's impossible to resist seeing what will happen if you dash straight into them.

On to the graphical update then, seeing as that's largely the point. As you'll see from the shots, everything's received a full overhaul - lighting, textures, shader models, animations. Crisp and well-defined, Serious Sam loses none of its charm from the translation, retaining the original's cartoonish glory despite the sharper edges. Sam's foes are still garish and ridiculous, his surroundings functional rather than lush. Specs are yet to be finalised for the PC version, but we're promised that they're not too demanding.

What you probably want to hear is precisely the conclusion I came to: Serious Sam HD looks set to live up to its titular promise. For fans of the original, that's great news.