Serious Sam - Should have asked where to start...

As part of a recent sale (that is still going!) on some Serious Sam titles, I figured about now was the time to start actually picking up some Serious Sam. It had been on the back of my mind for about a year, and I figured it was about time to try it...

This is something that is probably obvious to a lot of people, but old video games have a unique charm to them. With Serious Sam being a part of one of the early First Person Shooter games, I thought that perhaps it could be another good entryway into another series I could possibly enjoy!

So far, we have not quite hit that stage... I picked up The Second Encounter HD and while I had gotten a few laughs from the bit of gameplay I had played already, it didn't really click? It felt like I was playing a relatively obscure game that didn't quite get out the door. Maybe by limitations at the time, that's how it was made to come across? Or maybe I was not starting with the right game?

Is there any sort of game I should start with? SS3 looked good, and it has some mechanics I'm familiar with.