from the playing area, the game restricts them from going too far. The gameplay was given a more arcade touch. A life system was implemented into the single-player game making use of the score. The player is granted a new life for every 100,000 points, which allows respawning at the place of death rather than at a save point. Combo points were added for killing multiple enemies at the same time, which allows a faster increase in the player's score. Further changes to the game include the addition of treasure, weapons that were added into The Second Encounter can now be found in some of The First Encounter levels, and a different save system. Due to the hardware limitations of the Xbox, instead of allowing the player to manually save at any point during a level in the PC versions, there are save points that are designated by red phone booths that can be found in each level. Auto-aiming was also added to the Xbox version to compensate for the degree of control usually offered by a keyboard and mouse setup. The Xbox Serious Sam was nominated for GameSpots 2002 "Best Shooter on Xbox" award, which went to MechAssault. Reception Kevin Rice reviewed the PC version of the game for Next Generation, rating it four stars out of five, and stated that "Hmmm, should you get Deer Hunter XXII Extreme Plus [...] or Serious Sam for the same price? This is a no-brainer purchase for any FPS gamer." In the United States, Serious Sam: The First Encounter sold 83,000 copies by October 2001.The First Encounter was the recipient of various editorial and consumer praise, with an overall review ratio of 87/100 on Metacritic. It also received numerous awards, including multiple Game of the Year awards.Serious Sam won The Electric Playground''s "Best Independent PC Game" prize, and was a nominee in the show's "Best Shooter for PC", "Best Graphics in a PC Game" and "Best Action Game for PC" categories. Game of the Year 2001 — GameSpot Game of the Month April 2001 — PC Gamer UK Best Value Priced Game 2001 — GameSpy Best End Boss 2001 — GameSpy Premier Awards 2001 — Computer Gaming World Action Vault Award 2001 (Outstanding Achievement in Technology) — IGN Action Vault Award 2001 (Surprise of the Year) — IGN Platinum 2001 Award — Gamer's Pulse Editors' Choice Award 2001 — IGN #1 PC