From the first minute of activation until the end credits you'll kill aliens -- hundreds and hundreds of aliens. They come in different varieties, of course, but they all die, and kill them you will. In a few levels you'll do more than simply kill the aliens; you'll also rescue humans. Thankfully this only involves running around the level finding humans and touching them. There is one level where you defend the humans too, but beyond rescuing and killing there are no other variations of level design. Wait, just remembered, occasionally you'll run into a "boss"-level creature. Wowser!

You'll be killing aliens for more than the mere saving of the world and joy of it; you'll be killing for data points. Almost everything that can be shot gives off an amount of data points. Data points are spent between levels to upgrade technology on the Enforcer. One of the differences between the three levels of difficulty in Enforcer is the cost of technology upgrades. One powerup that unlocks new technologies and letters that spell BONUS are hidden on every level. Collect the letters to open up an extra minigame area at the end of the level. The minigames are actually pretty cool: A couple are based off of classic video games. For instance, there is a Pac-Man level where the Enforcer runs around collecting data points and avoiding the alien "ghosts;" there's also a Frogger level where the Enforcer collects data points through lanes of traffic.

The graphics are decent -- Enforcer is based off the Unreal engine, so it's hard to make it look bad. It's not a first-person shooter, though; instead it's from a locked third-person isometric perspective. This is probably going to drive people nuts at times, because the camera cuts off so much of the level. More than once we wanted the ability to look UP! It's especially annoying when you know the engine has been simplified in order to have this effect.

The game has a multiplayer mode and an Enforcer editor if "fans" out there want to design levels and such. No idea why this game is called X-Com -- it's more likely to piss off the hardcore X-Com fans than suck them in. Ah well, why not trash a brand once you've built it up right?

Serious Sam has set the mark for arcade action games on the PC: If you want to complete in that arena either make it cheaper or better. Unfortunately, this game does neither. Straightforward arcade action, it's simply killing aliens -- and if that's your bag, it's for you. Otherwise, take a pass on what is a black eye on the X-Com name.