One of the things I've always enjoyed about the Serious Sam games is how fantastically crazy the whole thing is. The new trailer for Serious Sam 4 released today at the Future Game Show is a case in point.

For some reason, Sam needs to get to the Vatican, and after slaughtering the mental hordes, he asks a local woman on the balcony for directions. In response, she sends him in that direction because the famous Papal car (Popemobile) will get him to his destination faster.

Sam is suspicious, but not the woman. 'Silly boy. It's the new Popemobile."

The new Popemobile turns out to be a huge combat mech, about 10 meters tall, armed with a double-barreled chain gun and a rocket launcher. There is also an activation message befitting the papacy: "All systems ready. Leave it to God.

Things go as expected from there, but I must admit that I wasn't expecting a Cthulhu-esque horror story. The underlying gameplay is obviously different, but that's what you're paying for anyway, and for me the real joy of the game is the sheer ridiculousness of the whole thing: Croteam's embrace of absurdity has made "Serious Sam" the "Duke Nukem" we deserve. Reborn: grumpy, macho, not very clever, but useful in certain ways. I agree 100%.

Serious Sam 4 will be released on September 24. More info on Steam or at croteam.com.