Intro

Believe it or not, the graphics/performance settings can actually have a huge impact on your gameplay, especially if your computer can't handle maximum setiings. This is why I decided to make this the first section. If your game already runs at 30-60 fps or higher, good for you. You can skip to the next section. If your computer struggles to run the game at barely even 30 fps, I recommend you stay here and read this section.

Checking the System Requirements

Your system should at least meet the minimum system requirements. If you have anything less than that, the game won't run nearly as smoothly as it should, and that's if it will run at all. If you don't know where to find the system requirements, they're near the bottom of the store page.

Now, if your system doesn't meet the minimum system requirements, you should stop reading this guide, and, if you bought the game already, either go out and get the hardware you need or sit in the corner and regret wasting your money on a game your computer can barely handle or can't handle at all.

If you do meet the minimum requirements, good. If your system meets the recommended requirements, better. If your computer is above the recommended requirements, congratulations; you officially have have the rights to brag about how rich and spoiled you are.

Step 1: Setting the Resolution

The minimum framerate you should have is 30 fps, but 60 fps is recommended. Before starting, I'd recommend you go to Advanced Options and enable the "Show Framerate" option. The first step is to set the game resolution. It's usually recommended to set it to your monitor's native resolution. For me, this is 1920x1080. Yours may be the same, or it could either be higher or lower than mine. Most games these days autodetect your monitor's resolution, so just pick the largest resolution available if you don't know your monitor's resolution. Also, as an added bonus if you didn't know your monitor's resolution before: Congratulations! You now know your monitor's resolution.

Step 2: Performance Settings

Step 2a: Autodetect

The second step is to set the performance settings. The easiest way to do this is to click the "Autodetect" option. Based on your CPU speed, this could take anywhere from seconds to a minute or two. Once it's finished, try exiting the pause menu (If you see that the game has set everything to Ultra settings, see Checking the System Requirements: Paragraph 3, Sentence 3). The game should manage at least 30 fps now. If you're okay with this, you can skip to the next section.

Step 2b: Manually Changing the Settings

If you're a true PC gamer who doesn't take framerate lightly, go back to the Performance opthions, click on the "CPU Speed," "GPU Speed," or "GPU Memory" option and click "Customize." I recommend you click "GPU Speed" first, as the settings there will make the most difference to your framerate.

Now, you may be intimidated by all of those options. You may ask yourself, "♥♥♥♥♥ is this?" "What the hell do most of these even do?" or "what is graphics. halp." Well, the way I like to do most things is through trial and error, so just go nuts with the settings. Throw the settings at the wall to see what sticks, and if something doesn't go the way you wanted it to, just change it back and/or click "Autodetect" again and start over. Do the same with the "CPU Speed" and "GPU Memory" menus.

If you don't like trial and error and/or think it's a waste of time, you could always go through the alternative, boring process of searching what each individual setting does, but who wants to do that?

If you've gotten your desired framerate, great. You can skip to the next section.

Step 3: Final Tweaks

If you can't stand how the game looks now that you've lowered the settings, the only thing I can recommend is to lower the resolution. I usually lower a game's resolution to 1280x720 if I have to. If you can't stand how the game looks on lower settings AND can't stand anything below your monitor's native resolution, but you still want to play the game, your only option is to go out and buy better hardware for your computer and never get a console because even the PS4 and Xbox One can barely manage 30 fps at 720p for many most almost ALL games.

Intro

Sound can also make a huge difference on gameplay. Maybe even more than graphics. If you think you have the best audio setup possible, you can skip to the next section. If you don't have the best audio setup possible but don't want a new one, you can skip to the next section. If you don't have the best audio setup possible but can't afford to get a new one right now, I recommend you stay here anyway just for future reference for when you can afford it. If you don't have the best audio setup possible and can afford AND want to get a new one right now, DEFINITELY stay here because I can give you some recommendations and info on what you should get.

Types of Audio Setups

Generic Speakers
Price Range: Low-Medium
Quality: Very Low-Medium
Channels: 1 (Mono) or 2 (Stereo)
Usefulness: 2/10

Speakers are an okay option if you have a low budget and aren't a serious gamer. Then again, if you aren't serious, why did you buy a game with "Serious" in the title? That said, on to the next setup.

In-Ear Headphones
Price Range: Low-High
Quality: Very Low-Very High
Channels: 1 or 2
Usefulness: 2/10 for mono, 5/10 for low quality stereo, 7/10 for high quality stereo

In-ear headphones are a great choice for gamers who don't have a large budget but still want high quality audio. Buying in-ear headphones can be very risky, though, due to their range of quality.

Tips for Buying:

If you want to get in-ear headphones, always check the box to see if they're stereo, check the kbps rate (The higher the better), and for the love of God (Or whatever you believe in), avoid generic Apple headphones AT ALL COSTS.

Recommendation:

If you want high quality (Who the hell doesn't?), I'd recommend Sony. I have a pair of Sony headphones, and they're very high quality for only around $8-15. If you want to buy them, click here.[www.amazon.com] Of course, it's only a suggestion. You should definitely do your own research. Who knows, you might find something even better. Anyway, who am I to tell you how to spend your money, right?

Over-ear Headphones
Price Range: Medium-Very High
Quality: Low-Extremely High
Channels: 1, 2, 4 (Surround), 5.1 (Surround), or 7.1 (You can guess what this one is. Surround.)
Usefulness: 2/10 for mono, 5/10 for low quality stereo, 7/10 for high quality stereo, 6/10 for low quality surround, 9/10 for high quality surround

Over-ear headphones are the optimal choice for gamers who are serious about their sound. If you're one of these people, this is the section for you.

Tips for Buying:

These headphones have a high range of price and quality, so you'll have to do a lot of research before buying one of these. If you're looking to buy surround sound headphones, though, it's completely worth it if you check the quality. I'll give you this warning for free: The Razer Tiamat is the first true 7.1 surround sound headset, and like many things, it sounds too good to be true, right? Right. Sure, it has physical 7.1 speakers rather than using software to simulate 7.1, like all other 7.1 headphones, but like all things, that comes with a compromise. I've seen many bad reviews about the audio quality of the Tiamat. One person even went so far as to say the quality was on par with those $2 headphones you can buy on airliners, and according to him, that wasn't an exaggeration. Basically, as tempting as true 7.1 sounds, stay away from the Razer Tiamat.

Recommendation:

Now for a good headset recommendation: From personal experience, I can say that the Razer Megalodon has great virtual 7.1 surround sound at pretty high quality. Even though it uses software rather than hardware to emulate surround sound (It only has two speakers, but the software tricks your brain into thinking the sound is coming from all around you), it does the job nearly as well as an actual home theater would. Again, though, this is only a suggestion, and you're the one who ultimately decides what to do with your money (Unless you're a kid who lives with his parents, in which case, your parents have that jurisdiction. And if they let you buy this game, tell them that I don't trust their jurisdiction very much).

Intro

Now for the part you all came here for. The part that will might has a small chance of giving you the skills needed to beat the game survive to see the second chapter stay alive long enough to kill a bad guy or two.

General Tips

1. Stay alive

Self-explanatory. If you can't do this when facing the first enemy in the game, you need to stop playing on Serious difficulty. Wait, you're saying you WEREN'T playing on Serious difficulty? Not even Mental? And you were killed by the FIRST ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ENEMY in the game? That should be easy enough even on Hard. Seriously, if you're that guy, go back to playing Candy Crush or whatever ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ mobile game you people play these days.

2. Reload frequently

So, I see you weren't "that guy" and succeeded in the first step. Good. From here on out, the game's gonna get a bit harder. Once you pick up the pistol, you'll need to focus on how much ammo is in your magazine. It's always a good idea to reload whenever you're not being bombarded by enemies. If your magazine runs out of ammo in a firefight, it'll be that much time (And health, more importantly) to reload before you can fire another shot. If you do have to reload in the heat of battle, here's a tip suggested by anomalouslymandatory: Remember: The pistol has unlimited ammo apart from the 10 rounds in the magazine, so don't worry about conserving ammo yet; we'll get to that when you find the shotgun.

If you do have to reload in the heat of battle, here's a tip suggested by anomalouslymandatory: If you press the sprint button at the right time while reloading, it will interrupt the reloading animation, but the ammo will be loaded into the gun. This sounds like it takes some practice, but once you master it, it could be helpful later on.

3. Conserving ammo

Great, so you found the shotgun. "But wait, it doesn't have unlimited ammo like the pistol does!" Of course it doesn't, ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. This is an FPS. Which is why you'll have to learn to conserve ammo. Basically, only shoot when you absolutely need to. No spray-and-pray allowed. This game doesn't like spray-and-pray, and it WILL brutalize you if you try it. Furthermore, you should try to use the right guns on the right enemies. For now, you should use the shotgun on anything except kamikazes. For the kamikazes, use the pistol. That said...

4. Choosing the right weapon for the right situation

Switching weapons in Serious Sam takes less time than in most games, and that's for a reason. And that reason is going to prevent you from switching weapons in mid-firefight. Because as superhumanly fast as the weapon-switching is, it still takes up valuable time you could be spending shooting bad guys. Wasting time in mid-firefight in any Serious Sam game can and will take away valuable HP, so you should choose the best weapon for each situation. Since it's nearly impossible to assess the situation before being neck-deep (Or even deeper) in battle in Serious Sam, I can almost guarantee you'll die once or twice (Or ten times) before finding the right weapon to use. Based on personal experience, here's a table showing which weapon to use on which enemies (In the order you encounter them, to the best of my memory, so that's helpful, too):

Thanks for reading this guide. If it helped, be sure to thank me in the comments below. If I gave nothing but tips that are already common knowledge, feel free to yell at me if that makes you feel better. Again, whenever I think of anything else or someone in the comments tells me something I don't know, I'll update this guide.

Goodbye, and have fun!