Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack!

Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack! is a 2011 auto-running game developed by Be-Rad Entertainment and published by Devolver Digital. The player controls a Headless Kamikaze that chases after Sam "Serious" Stone, attempting to defeat him. The character moves automatically and can dodge or deflect incoming hazards. Announced in March 2011 and developed over six months, Kamikaze Attack! was created as part of the Serious Sam Indie Series to promote the launch of Serious Sam 3: BFE. It debuted for Android and iOS in September 2011, followed by a release for Microsoft Windows in January 2012. The game received a mixed reception, with praise for its controls, conflicting opinions about its visuals, and criticism for its repetitiveness and lack of appeal to non-fans of the Serious Sam series.

Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack!
Developer(s)Be-Rad Entertainment
Publisher(s)Devolver Digital
Designer(s)Brad Johnson
SeriesSerious Sam
EngineUnity
Platform(s)Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows
Release
  • Android, iOS
  • September 15, 2011
  • Microsoft Windows
  • January 24, 2012
Genre(s)Auto-running
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay
The player character (left) chasing after Sam. The objective is to strike Sam with deflected hazards.

Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack! is an auto-running game in a similar style to Canabalt and Robot Unicorn Attack.[1][2] It puts the player in control of a Headless Kamikaze (or Beheaded Kamikaze), a decapitated humanoid figure wielding bombs that acts as an enemy in other Serious Sam games.[3][4] There are forty levels, split between a desert and jungle environment.[5][6] In each, the character traverses a two-dimensional world in continuous motion.[4][5][7] Their speed increases progressively.[8]

The primary goal is chasing after and defeating Sam "Serious" Stone (the protagonist of the Serious Sam series) after surmounting a pre-determined distance.[2][6] Inbetween, the Headless Kamikaze faces several hazards, including cacti, frogs, rockets, bombs, grenades, gaps, and fences.[4][8][9] These may be avoided by bouncing over them, and some can be destroyed or deflected using the kick ability, which fills the "rage meter" that can ultimately kill the character.[2][4][9] It automatically drains while not in use.[2][4] The Headless Kamikaze has multiple (initially three) lives; depleting them causes the player to lose.[2][7] Certain collectibles may add additional lives, others can instantly empty the rage meter, reset the character's speed, or add multipliers to the score.[2] When jumping over obstacles, holding down the button prolongs the leap, and a second one can be initiated while in the air.[2][4][7]

Every level includes an optional bonus objective consisting of kicking one type of object a certain number of times.[2][8] Achieving these unlocks gameplay modifiers, including a higher frequency of collectibles and a faster drainage of the rage meter.[4][7] Later stages are made more difficult by incorporating more hazards.[4] "Endless" modes have no exit condition, with the player aiming only for the highest possible score through the bonus objective.[4] Highscores could be shared via the OpenFeint and Game Center services.[4]

Development and release

Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack! was developed by Be-Rad Entertainment, an indie game studio founded by programmer Brad Johnson.[10][11] It was Be-Rad's second, having previously released Lame Castle.[12] After Devolver Digital, the publisher of the Serious Sam series, had come across Lame Castle, the company approached Johnson, asking him to develop a game as part of the Serious Sam Indie Series. A triplet of spin-offs to be created by small studios to promote the impending launch of Serious Sam 3: BFE, the Indie Series also contains Serious Sam Double D and Serious Sam: The Random Encounter. He considered this a "no-brainer" and accepted the request.[10][13] Be-Rad decided to create an auto-running game, given the experience they had gathered with Lame Castle and because Johnson thought that such gameplay would better suit mobile phones. He also ruled out making a first-person shooter, as this genre was already covered by the main entries in the Serious Sam series.[10]

Kamikaze Attack! uses the Unity game engine.[10] Johnson repurposed some code from Lame Castle, which allowed him the time to add further features and apply polish to Kamikaze Attack!.[11] Its art assets were hand-drawn.[6] Be-Rad intended to keep players engaged in their game longer than in others in the genre by putting in objectives and boss fights.[11] They also implemented role-playing elements, such as character upgrades, but removed them after playtesting showed that they served no benefit.[14] The studio was given substantial creative control, only receiving feedback on the visual design for Sam.[13] Though production had been planned to last two months, it was finished in six.[11][14] Kamikaze Attack! was designed to run on the Android and iOS mobile operating systems. A Windows Phone port was not considered because Unity did not support the platform.[10]

The Serious Sam Indie Series was announced by Devolver Digital in March 2011.[15][16] An early version of Kamikaze Attack! was exhibited at the PAX East trade show later that month.[17][18] A free demo was playable on the promotional website for Serious Sam 3: BFE, starting in July 2011.[19] Two trailers were published: one in July 2011 to demonstrate the gameplay, and another in September to coincide with the launch.[20][21] The game launched for Android and iOS on September 15, 2011.[22][23] The iOS version, a "universal" app compatible with both iPhone and iPad devices, was distributed through the App Store, arriving first in New Zealand.[5][24] It became available on the Android Market and was additionally made compatible with Xperia Play devices.[1][25] To commemorate the release, Be-Rad temporarily supplied Lame Castle for iPad devices at no cost.[12] Shortly after the game's release, Johnston stated that most players of Kamikaze Attack! had pirated the game.[26]

Kamikaze Attack! was offered as freeware on Android through the Amazon Appstore on November 29, 2011, becoming the storefront's most-downloaded free app of that day. At this time, this version requested the Android-specific "GET_TASKS" permission that Johnson stated was required to use the mobile advertising component Mobclix. The use of this permission caused concern with some users, who left one-star reviews (the lowest possible rating) on the game's Amazon Appstore site, claiming it to be spyware. Be-Rad consequently created a build without this permission that was quickly approved.[27]

A Microsoft Windows port of Kamikaze Attack! debuted on January 24, 2012, as part of the "Serious Sam Lightning Pack", a collection of games offered at a reduced price on the website Indie Royale.[28][29] In this collection, Kamikaze Attack! was delivered with no digital rights management, as well as through the Desura service.[28][29] IndieGala included it on Android in a bundle in May 2013.[30][31] In June 2013, it was included for Android and Microsoft Windows as part of a "Humble Weekly Sale" on the Humble Bundle website to help fund Serious Sam 4.[32][33]

Reception

Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack! received "mixed or average reviews", according to the review aggregator website Metacritic, which calculated a normalised rating of 67/100 based on six critic reviews.[34] It was GameFly's "app of the day" of June 12, 2012.[36] Some critics found that the hand-drawn graphics were appealing and fit its overall esthetic, with Gamezebo writer Kevin Alexander stating that they "come to life in a simple but effective manner".[2][4][7] Andrew Nesvadba (AppSpy) called the visuals "stunning" but noted that they could cause some "confusion".[35] Jason D'Aprile (Slide to Play) described the graphics as an "odd mix of primitive and quaint".[9]

Commenting on the controls, Alexander thought them to be "responsive", while Chris Schilling (Pocket Gamer) opined that they were "immaculate".[2][4] Schilling, who considered Kamikaze Attack! to be one of the better games in the auto-running genre, also lauded it for its "authentic" audio design.[4] Conversely, Andrew Hayward (GamesRadar+) criticized the use of merely one music track.[5] Hayward and D'Aprile also faulted the shortage of art assets.[5][9] Further criticism highlighted the repetitiveness of the game, as Schilling and Thorin Klosowski (TouchArcade) both saw a lack of variety between the individual levels, including the endless modes.[4][7] D'Aprile observed this as its biggest problem.[9] Many agreed that Kamikaze Attack! was a good fit for the Serious Sam franchise, although they believed it would have limited appeal to players with no background knowledge of the series.[2][4][5][9]

References
  1. Caldwell, Brendan (October 26, 2011). "Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack!". Pocket Gamer. Archived from the original on January 27, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  2. Alexander, Kevin (September 18, 2011). "Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack! Review". Gamezebo. Archived from the original on January 27, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  3. Mitchell, Richard (July 13, 2011). "Play as Serious Sam's worst enemy in Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack". Engadget. Archived from the original on February 9, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  4. Schilling, Chris (September 19, 2011). "Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack!". Pocket Gamer. Archived from the original on January 27, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  5. Hayward, Andrew (September 17, 2011). "iPad reviews of the week: VidRhythm, Radballs, DrawRace 2, Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack!". GamesRadar+. Archived from the original on January 27, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  6. Usher, Anthony (July 14, 2011). "Sam 'Serious' Stone coming to the App Store and Android Market in Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack 'soon'". Pocket Gamer. Archived from the original on January 27, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  7. Klosowski, Thorin (September 19, 2011). "'Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack!' Review – Headless Runner". TouchArcade. Archived from the original on January 27, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  8. Fletcher, JC (September 21, 2011). "Portabliss: Serious Sam Kamikaze Attack (iOS/Android)". Engadget. Archived from the original on February 9, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  9. D'Aprile, Jason (September 22, 2011). "Serious Sam: Kamakazi Attack! Review". Slide to Play. Archived from the original on September 24, 2011.
  10. Usher, Anthony (July 26, 2011). "Interview: Be-Rad Entertainment developer Brad Johnson talks motivation behind Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack, future updates, and Windows Phone port". Pocket Gamer. Archived from the original on January 27, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  11. Conditt, Jessica (September 18, 2011). "The Joystiq Indie Pitch: Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack". Engadget. Archived from the original on February 9, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  12. Usher, Anthony (September 15, 2011). "Be-Rad's Lame Castle HD for iPad goes free to celebrate Serious Sam release". Pocket Gamer. Archived from the original on January 27, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  13. Garcia, Louis (April 28, 2011). "Interview Roundup: Croteam and indie developers discuss new titles in the Serious Sam universe". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on January 27, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  14. Johnson, Brad (September 13, 2011). "Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack! Available Sept. 15th". Be-Rad Entertainment. Archived from the original on April 8, 2020. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  15. Orland, Kyle (March 9, 2011). "Three Indie Developers To Get A Bite At Serious Sam License". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on January 27, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  16. Dutton, Fred (March 9, 2011). "Indie devs hijack Serious Sam franchise". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on January 7, 2014. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  17. Fletcher, JC (March 3, 2011). "Serious Sam gets serious indie cred with new Indie Series". Engadget. Archived from the original on July 10, 2017. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  18. O'Connor, Alice (March 9, 2011). "Serious Sam indie spin-offs announced". Shacknews. Archived from the original on January 27, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  19. IGN Staff (July 12, 2011). "Mental's Horde Recruiting Ahead of Serious Sam 3: BFE". IGN. Archived from the original on April 10, 2020. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
  20. Phillips, Tom (July 26, 2011). "Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack! trailer". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on April 10, 2020. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
  21. Wragg, James (September 15, 2011). "Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack! trailer". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on April 10, 2020. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
  22. O'Connor, Alice (September 15, 2011). "Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack hits today". Shacknews. Archived from the original on January 27, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  23. Summerson, Cameron (September 15, 2011). "[New Game] Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack! Finally Makes Its Way To Android – Drop More Than One Type Of Bomb While On The Toilet". Android Police. Archived from the original on January 27, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  24. Taylor, Alex (September 14, 2011). "Hilarious platformer Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack blows up on New Zealand App Store". Pocket Gamer. Archived from the original on January 27, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  25. Johnson, Brad (September 15, 2011). "It's out, Exclamation Point!". Be-Rad Entertainment. Archived from the original on April 8, 2020. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  26. Johnson, Brad [@BeRad_Ent] (September 16, 2011). "Thanks to everyone who's supported Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack! by paying for it, unfortunately most players haven't" (Tweet). Archived from the original on October 10, 2019. Retrieved December 23, 2020 – via Twitter.
  27. Johnson, Brad (November 29, 2011). "Amazon App Store Permissions". Be-Rad Entertainment. Archived from the original on October 10, 2019. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  28. Staff (January 24, 2012). "Indie Royale debuts 'Lightning Packs' with Serious Sam indies". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on January 27, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  29. Conditt, Jessica (January 24, 2012). "Indie Royale presents the Serious Sam lightning deal". Engadget. Archived from the original on February 9, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  30. Peeples, Jeremy (May 4, 2013). "Indie Gala Mobile 3 Bundle Goes Live". Hardcore Gamer. Archived from the original on April 16, 2020. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  31. King, Bertel Jr. (May 3, 2013). "The Indie Gala Mobile 3 Goes Live – Pay What You Want For 9 Android Games". Android Police. Archived from the original on April 16, 2020. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  32. "Serious Sam 4 inbound, to be funded by Humble Bundle proceeds". VG247. June 7, 2013. Archived from the original on January 27, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  33. Whitwam, Ryan (June 6, 2013). "[Deal Alert] All The Awesome Serious Sam Games Are In The New Weekly Humble Bundle, Including Kamikaze Attack For Android". Android Police. Archived from the original on September 10, 2015. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  34. "Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack! for iPhone/iPad Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on May 17, 2019. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  35. Nesvadba, Andrew (September 15, 2011). "Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack! Review". AppSpy. Archived from the original on April 10, 2020. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
  36. Johnson, Brad (June 12, 2012). "Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack! Is GameFly's App Of The Day". Be-Rad Entertainment. Archived from the original on October 10, 2019. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
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