The RAPTOR Sniper Rifle (also referred to in-game as the Sniper Rifle or just Sniper), is a powerful long-ranged weapon that appears throughout the Serious Sam series. Depending on the game it appears in, the RAPTOR utilizes either a semi-automatic or bolt-action mechanism, with its rate of fire varying slightly between games.
Overview[]
The RAPTOR Sniper Rifle represents the best and latest in long-distance, high-precision firearms. It utilizes 16 mm armor-piercing, Kevlar-coated bullets, which are powerful enough to penetrate through most known armor types.[2] Given the nature of its firepower, this makes the RAPTOR one of the most powerful long-ranged weapons in the world.[1][3]
The weapon's flexible 2x-4x zoom ratio employed by the built-in scope allows the operator to choose between a larger peripheral field of view and more precise aim at longer distances, allowing the bullets to reach their target with maximum precision.[2] Small and medium-sized targets can typically be eliminated with a single shot, but the weapon has been shown to be less effective against larger hostiles.[2] The RAPTOR's magazine is equipped with an auto-stabilizing, rapid-firing, excess pressure exhaust mechanism that will lower the exit speed of the bullet when it is not fired from a balanced sniping mode.[1] This provides maximum safety and minimizes injures to the user, while also allowing the user to fire the entire clip while sighting through the scope.[1][2]
The RAPTOR fires a single bullet every time the fire key is pressed. There is a brief pause between shots while a new round is chambered into the weapon. After that, it can be fired again. The rifle's scope has a crosshair that shows where the center of the screen is. Noticeably, in all games it appears in (except for in Serious Sam 4) there is no weapon sway when using the scope, allowing the player to land incredibly accurate shots when the weapon is zoomed in.
In Serious Sam: The Second Encounter, on the lower left-hand side of the scope is a triangle that will change color depending on the gun's state; it will be green if the gun is ready to fire, while it will be red during the reload animation.
In The Second Encounter and Serious Sam 2, the damage the RAPTOR does is dependent on the player using the scope or not; if the player is not using the scope, each shot is about as powerful as a 12 Gauge Pump-Action Shotgun blast. If the rifle is fired while the scope is being used, it will be almost as powerful as two rockets. Either way, the weapon will always be perfectly accurate, like other bullet-firing weapons.
In Serious Sam 3: BFE, the RAPTOR sees an increase to damage and is now semi-automatic instead of bolt-action, allowing the weapon to be fired more rapidly. The weapon has high recoil and does the same damage scoped as it does unscoped. The weapon is extremely inaccurate without using the scope, and gives it terrible spread that is similar to that of the Double Barrel Coach Gun.
In Serious Sam 4, the RAPTOR behaves a lot differently than its previous incarnations, having had its damage output reduced by half. To compensate for this, the weapon now deals triple the damage to an enemy when they are shot in the head or any other weak point of their body. Unique to the game, the weapon now carries 10 rounds and has to be reloaded after its expending its magazine. Its scope zoom also cannot be increased like before when holding down the secondary fire key. Like other weapons in the player's arsenal, the RAPTOR can be dual-wielded, although the weapon becomes much poorer in terms of accuracy and the player will be unable to use the weapon's scope. Additionally, the player needs to have the "Dual Wield Harder" S.A.M. skill unlocked to be able to dual-wield the weapon.
In Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem, the RAPTOR is replaced by the TCC-2 "Perun" Crossbow, which is just as deadly, if not, more powerful than the latter weapon.
Appearances[]
The RAPTOR, given its extremely high damage output, is relatively rare. In some games, however, like in The Second Encounter, it is a fairly common weapon. The sniper rifle and ammo for the weapon can also be found in secrets.
Serious Sam: The Second Encounter[]
The RAPTOR appears on the first level of each era. It is first obtained in "Sierra de Chiapas". It appears a second time in "Ziggurat", and for the third and final time in "The Citadel".
Serious Sam 2[]
The RAPTOR first appears in "Ursul Suburbs". It later appears in "Greendale", "Siriusopolis Uptown", and "Siriusopolis Downtown" It can also be found in "Command Center" as a secret.
Serious Sam 3: BFE[]
The RAPTOR is very rare in the Serious Sam 3 campaign, appearing only three times throughout the entire game. Like the XL2 Lasergun, the RAPTOR appears exclusively as a secret weapon. The first time the player can obtain it is in "The Silent Riddler", and again in the level "The Power of the Underworld", and for the the final time in "The Last Man on Earth". Finding the sniper rifle in "The Power of the Underworld" for the first time awards the player with the "Vista" achievement.
Examples of levels where ammo for the sniper rifle can be found are in "Under the Iron Cloud", "Unearthing the Sun", and "The Lost Temples of Nubia".
Jewel of the Nile[]
Unlike in the main campaign, the sniper rifle appears as a reguler weapon in the DLC. Ammo for the weapon is also plentiful, and is often found inside military bases or supply depots. It is found inside the temple where the statue of Isis needs to be placed on "Gathering of the Gods".
Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope[]
The RAPTOR can be bought from the weapons menu just like any other weapon, and it no longer appears in secrets.
Serious Sam 4[]
The RAPTOR first appears in "Gates of Hell", along with its ammunition. A second RAPTOR is given to the player by Annabelle if they choose to complete the "Southern Belle Tower" side quest in "A Breakfast in France". If the player didn't complete the side quest, they can acquire the weapon again in "In Carcassonne". The weapon appears for the final time in "From Earth With Love".
Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem[]
The RAPTOR appears only in the level Siberiade, where it is seen used by One-Eyed Olga, and cannot be used by the player. Outside of that, it has been replaced by the TCC-2 "Perun" Crossbow, but is still usable in moddable versions of the game, and can be placed into custom levels with the Serious Editor.
Tactics[]
General[]
- The RAPTOR is excellent for thinning out a horde of weak/medium strength enemies from a distance, such as Kleer Skeletons and Scythian Witch-Harpies. However, if a horde of enemies is getting close to the player, they should switch to another weapon, as the RAPTOR is not very effective in close quarters, especially given its low rate of fire.
- The sniper rifle is the ultimate weapon against Common Aludran Reptiloids due to them often being spawned in faraway places. It takes three shots to kill one in The Second Encounter and Serious Sam 3, and two shots in the HD and VR remakes. The Reptiloid can be instantly killed if shot in the head with the RAPTOR in Serious Sam 4.
- Using the sniper rifle to take out individual enemies with low health (such as Beheaded Rocketeers or Zorgs) is a waste of ammunition; instead, rapid-firing weapons are best suited for eliminating them.
Serious Sam: The Second Encounter[]
- Individual medium-strength enemies, such as Arachnoids, Minor Bio-mechanoids, Sirian Werebulls and Zumb'uls, can also be quickly defeated with this weapon. This can be quite useful for quickly eliminating single to medium-sized groups of medium-strength enemies, especially if they are faraway.
- Its scope makes the RAPTOR a great weapon to locate and kill enemies placed far away from the player, such as Common Aludran Reptiloids Fiendian Reptiloid Demons.
- The RAPTOR is an extremely useful weapon against Rotating Cannon and Static Cannons, especially from medium to far range. Both types of cannon can be destroyed with a single shot from this weapon.
- Caution should be taken when aiming the scope at rotating cannons, as they will immediately fire an extremely fast cannonball at the player from within their sighting range. It is also easy for a player to get distracted and not notice any stray cannons outside of the RAPTOR scope's field of vision and they may not have enough time to dodge any cannonballs heading their way.
- Despite what NETRICSA says, the RAPTOR is moderately useful against large enemies such as medium Lava Golems or Major Bio-mechanoids, being able to defeat these enemies in roughly four to five shots. Despite that, it's more ammo-efficient to use stronger weapons like the cannon or rocket launcher on said large enemies, as the rounds for the RAPTOR are best spent elsewhere.
Serious Sam 3: BFE[]
- Ammo is very rare for the RAPTOR in the campaign, so the weapon should be used very sparingly or as a last resort against tough enemies such as Major Bio-mechanoids or Scrapjacks, though it is more effective to do this when they have taken sufficient damage.
- Unlike the other games, certain enemies take reduced damage from the sniper, most notably from Adult Arachnoids and Scrapjacks.
- The RAPTOR is ideally the best weapon to use against groups of Scythian Witch-Harpies, especially in Jewel of the Nile, where they are more common.
- In the original version of Serious Sam 3, this weapon is useless against Khnums and Technopolyps due to their high health and that bullet-firing weapons have no effect on them.
- The RAPTOR is also a great weapon against Common Aludran Reptiloids and Adult Arachnoids. It only takes about 4 or 5 shots to kill one.
- If the player has plenty of ammo for the sniper rifle in Jewel of the Nile, the sniper can be used to quickly take out small groups of Hatchling Arachnoids.
Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope[]
- The RAPTOR, especially when dual-wielded, is extremely useful for taking groups of Adult Arachnoids, Cloned Snipers, Juvenile Antaresian Spiders and Zumb'uls.
Serious Sam 4[]
- The RAPTOR is an excellent weapon for sniping out weak or medium targets from a distance.
- The RAPTOR works extremely well against medium or tough targets, such as Aludran Reptiloids, Draconian Burners, Draconian Pyromaniacs, Scrapjacks, and Sirian Werebulls. The weapon can instantly kill any of these enemies with a headshot (or, in the Pyromaniac and Burner's case, their napalm tanks).
- With Rage Serum active, the RAPTOR becomes a lethal weapon to almost every type of enemy, and it can effectively take out tough enemies like Major Bio-mechanoids or Khnums (especially if the Khnum is shot in the head). Using the gadget beforehand helps the player to conserve ammo as well.
- As the RAPTOR only holds 10 rounds in its magazine, the player should be sure to reload often and to do so after finishing off a group of enemies. The "The Quick and the Dead" S.A.M skill can help to alleviate the weapon's slow reload speed.
- It is somewhat effective against Major Bio-mechanoids and Technopolyps, but it takes at least five shots to kill one, so it should really be used against an individual rather than a group.
- Dual-wielded RAPTORs are not ideal for medium to far range combat due to the weapon's poor accuracy when hip-fired. The weapon is, however, deadly to most enemies at close range, and can be useful for gunning down small groups of medium enemies such as female Gnaars, Kleer Skeletons or Sirian Werebulls.
Behind the scenes[]
- The RAPTOR was probably going to be reloadable at one point. This can be see in Serious Editor 3.5's files and enabling the "Shoots to reload" parameter. According to its animation, it was probably going to have the same reload animation as the shotgun, although the player's character will not animate accordingly in third-person.
- In Serious Sam 4's pre-Alpha stage, the RAPTOR had a different model that resembled a hunting rifle. It utilized a bolt-action mechanism just like its Second Encounter variant, except with the addition of an animation for the weapon whenever a new round was inserted into the chamber.[4] This version of the RAPTOR was scrapped before the final version of the game, and was updated with a newer model resembling the M82 Barrett and instead being semi-automatic and magazine-fed. The reason for this was likely due to the weapon's bolt-action mechanism possibly being unreliable for when dealing with large groups of enemies, especially given the delay between shots.
Related achievements[]
Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter[]
|
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| Kill 100 Harpies with the Sniper rifle. |
Serious Sam 3: BFE[]
|
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| Find the Vista secret. |
Serious Sam Fusion[]
|
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| Kill 20 Harpies with the Sniper rifle. |
Trivia[]
- The RAPTOR is the only sniper rifle so far to appear in the series. There is an exception however; the TCC-2 "Perun" Crossbow. While the crossbow is technically not a sniper rifle, it does function in a very similar manner to one. The only major difference being that the weapon uses crossbow bolts instead of high-caliber rounds.
- The RAPTOR appears to be modeled after several real-life weapons:
- In The Second Encounter, the weapon is a modified Heckler & Koch HK41, a semi-automatic version of the Heckler & Koch G3. The only difference between these is the The Second Encounter version has a wood and chrome finish.
- In Serious Sam 2, like the RAPTOR from The Second Encounter, the sniper rifle is also a modified HK41. The only difference between these is that the Serious Sam 2 version has a dark green and black coloration, as well as different scope sizes.
- In Serious Sam 3, the weapon model is a GIAT FR F2, a French 7.62 NATO bolt-action sniper rifle. Also, despite the FR F2 being bolt-action, this weapon is fired semi-automatically. Additionally, due to the firing sound being reused from Serious Sam HD and simply being a cleaner and louder version of the firing sound in The Second Encounter, the player will hear a 'bolt' being primed if they wait long enough after firing a shot, despite no animation accompanying it.
- In Serious Sam 4, the sniper rifle is modeled after the Barrett M82, an American semi-automatic anti-material precision rifle.
- The RAPTOR models in the virtual reality ports have a much larger scope compared to the normal version of the weapon.
- The RAPTOR in Serious Sam 4 has a bipod, but it serves no purpose in-game.
- The RAPTOR will gib a player if they are killed with this weapon.
- Despite not being a usable weapon in Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem, it can be still imported into the game with mods or the Serious Editor.
Gallery[]
Artwork[]
Serious Sam: The Second Encounter[]
Pre-release[]
Retail[]
Serious Sam: Next Encounter[]
Serious Sam 2[]
Serious Sam 3: BFE[]
Serious Sam VR: The Second Encounter[]
Serious Sam 3 VR: BFE[]
Serious Sam 4[]
Pre-release[]
Retail[]
List of appearances[]
- Serious Sam: The Second Encounter (first appearance)
- Serious Sam: Xbox (non-canonical appearance)
- Serious Sam: Next Encounter (non-canonical appearance)
- Serious Sam 2 (non-canonical appearance)
- Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter (non-canonical appearance)
- Serious Sam 3: BFE (Secret only)
- Serious Sam VR: The Second Encounter (non-canonical appearance)
- Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope
- Serious Sam 3 VR: BFE (non-canonical appearance)
- Serious Sam Classics: Revolution (non-canonical appearance)
- Serious Sam 4
- Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem (NPC, cutscene, and moddable version only)
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Serious Sam: The Second Encounter NETRICSA description
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Serious Sam 4 NETRICSA description
- ↑ Serious Sam 3: BFE NETRICSA description
- ↑
Serious Sam 4 pre-Alpha footage on YouTube
