 This article contains spoilers. Read at your own risk!
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The Mech is a controllable vehicle featured in Serious Sam 4.
Overview[]
The mech is a large, human-controlled bipedal vehicle that was made by the Earth Defense Force for use in heavy combat situations. The second mech variant seen in the game is used as a personal vehicle for the Pope. The mech is quite fast, amd is able to travel much faster than the player's movement speed, but it cannot jump. It has a boost that allows the vehicle to strafe in any direction, which can be useful for dodging enemy fire, especially during boss fights.[1] Having 4000 HP, the mech is highly durable and resistant to small-arms fire, and can withstand a ton of damage from projectiles before it can be destroyed. The main body of the mech is fully rotable, allowing the player to attack from a 360 degree angle and maintain awareness of their surroundings. However, turning the mech around at a sharp angle takes some time, as the legs have to adjust to this new position.[1][2]
There are two variants of mech seen in the game; the standard military version (the most commonly seen), and a second one called the "popemobile", which has a unique silver paintjob with purple stripes featuring golden crosses on its legs.[1]
The mech comes equipped with a HUD that displays a health and ammo count meter. As the mech takes damage, its health bar will drop; the amount of damage the mech has sustained is also indicated by the glass on the interior cracking. When the mech has been critically damaged, an alarm will sound signifying that destruction of the vehicle is imminent. Once the mech has been destroyed, the player will die instantly (regardless of how much health or armor they had prior to using the mech) if they are inside it, which will force them to reload to the last save point.
Weaponry[]
The mech is equipped with an arsenal of weapons. Despite having an ammo counter, the mech's weapons all have infinite ammo and are reloaded automatically. The rocket launchers and miniguns can also be reloaded manually with the reload key. Reloading does, however, give the weapons a short delay before they can be used again.
The mech's primary armanent consists of two miniguns, two rocket launchers, and a grenade launcher. The miniguns (fired with the primary fire key) have an extremely high rate of fire, and will deal explosive damage to anywhere the bullets land, while the rockets (fired with the secondary fire key) can deal very high damage to tough enemies, such as Khnums and Major Bio-mechanoids, in just a few hits. The mech's grenade launcher (fired with the jump key) is useful for clearing out hordes of weak enemies that can swarm the mech on the ground, such as Beheaded Kamikazes, Octanian Commanders, and Octanian Gamma Troopers. The grenade launcher, like the rocket launchers and miniguns, has a short cooldown before it can be used again.
The mech's immense size can allow the player to walk into enemies, which will instantly kill them. This can prove useful in situations where the player is dealing with medium to large groups of tough or armored enemies and needs to thin their numbers. Still, this is inadvisable, as it leaves the mech highly vulnerable to damage.
Appearances[]
Serious Sam 4[]
Sam goes for a ride in the popemobile.
In the chapter "Machina Ex Deus", Sam first comes across the mech after following Nonna's directions to the Vatican. He enters the mech and comes across some strange-looking barriers made from tentacles. He destroys them with the mech's weapons and eliminates all of Mental's forces along the way. When he makes his way to the Vatican, the sudden appearance of the Megalopolyp startes a fight between the two. Thanks to the mech's weaponry, he is able to kill the creature.[1]
A second mech appears in the level "One for the Road"; its only purpose is to provide the player with a quicker way towards the long stretch of road towards the town. Like with the Megalopolyp boss fight, a large group of enemies will appear along the way. Upon reaching the town, a pop-up will appear alerting the player that the mech has low battery and will turn off after a while, forcing Sam to ditch the mech and continue on foot.
A third mech appears at the end of the final level of the game. "From Earth With Love", after the player manages to succesfully destroys all the rods on Ugh-Zan VI. The mech will then be dropped from above and can be used to finish off Ugh-Zan. The mech is not required for this boss fight, so whether the player wants to use it or not is completely optional.
Tactics[]
General[]
- The mech's miniguns are extremely effective for clearing the way of weak enemies (Beheaded Kamikazes, Combat Drones, Octanian Gamma Troopers, Gnaars, etc.) and medium targets, such as Adult Arachnoids, Kleer Skeletons, Hatchling Arachnoids, Minor Bio-mechanoids, and Scrapjacks. As the bullets cause an explosion when they hit something, this can be used to wipe out entire swarms of enemies with ease.
- The rocket launchers, while extremely powerful, are best reserved for tougher opponents like Khnums, Major Bio-mechanoids or Technopolyps. It only takes several rockets to kill a Major or down a Technopolyp. Khnums require more than four rockets due to their high hitpoints.
- The grenade launcher is best used for when the player is being overwhelmed by swarms of weak enemies like Kamikazes and is busy dealing with tougher opponents.
- When inside the mech, it is very important to focus on high-priority targets, such as Arachnoids, Khnums, Major Bio-mechanoids, and Technopolyps, and eliminate them as quickly as possible. Their attacks/weapons can deal a lot of damage to the mech and quickly destroy it if they are not taken out in time.
- Projectiles launched by enemies can be avoided by sidestepping with the mech or shooting them down with the miniguns.
Megalopolyp boss[]
- The tentacle barriers created by the Megalopolyp take a considerable amount of time and damage to destroy. Constantly firing rockets at the barriers is the quickest way to get rid of them.
- Debris such as vehicles hurled by the Megalopolyp are the player's biggest threat during the fight, since they can deal a ton of damage to the mech and quickly deplete its health. It can be easy for a careless player to ignore these projectiles if they spend too much time concentrating their fire on the Megalopolyp.
- Debris tossed by the Megalopolyp should be shot down with the miniguns or rocket launchers as quickly as they are spotted. Alternatively, they can be dodged by sidestepping.
- The Megalopolyp's tentacles can be dealt with by sidestepping out of the way with the boost key or shooting them, which will force them to retreat back into the ground.
Related achievements[]
Serious Sam 4[]
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| Ride the Popemobile to victory. |
Behind the scenes[]
- In the early versions of Serious Sam 4, upon dying in the boss fight with the Megalopolyp, the player would respawn without a mech and quickly die from the Megalopolyp's attacks. This was fixed in a later patch.
- An early Siberian Mayhem concept depicts the mech with a large tentacled arm and parts of a helicopter protruding from the right side of the vehicle, along with more tentacles on the top with a M1A1 Abrams's tank turret. The concept title is called "mech boss". This indicates that the mech was going to be fought as a boss at one point in the game, but it never made into the final version.
- Also, judging by the fact it had parts of other vehicles assembled into it, this suggested that the the mech boss would use the tank turret to fire projectiles at the player and also be able to use the helicopter's missiles and machine gun in a similar manner to that used by the Technopolyp.
Trivia[]
- Both levels "One for the Road" and "From Earth with Love" can be finished without using the mech, as the player is not required to enter it.
- In the level "Machina Ex Deus", the player is forcefully put into the mech during the cutscene and cannot manually leave it, making this section impossible to complete without cheating or mods.
- The popemobile version of the mech has a unique start-up animation when the player enters it for the first time, which involves the mech's onboard AI arming the weapon systems and beginning a depressurizing sequence. This is a scripted event and does not occur when the player enters any other mechs that appear in the campaign.[1]
Gallery[]
Serious Sam 4[]
Retail[]
Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem[]
Artwork[]
List of appearances[]
- Serious Sam 4 (First appearance)
- Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem (Concept art only)
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Serious Sam 4 level: Machina Ex Deus
- ↑ Serious Sam 4 level: One for the Road
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