Review: Although this game depresses me, it’s not because I’m fighting the undead!
It is perhaps the most successful PC franchise of all time! In the early 1990’s id Software released the phenomenon Doom to the masses, and it took the world by storm. If you lived under a rock, the game was a well crafted and action packed first person shooter where you fight hellish demons and the undead in several dire locations. The Doom series has been on a long hiatus after Id branched off into other titles, but it finally reappeared on the PC again in the highly anticipated Doom3 in 2004. It was only a matter of time, but now we get a console translation here on what has to be one of the biggest games for the Xbox in 2005. Let’s see if the new Doom can live up to the legacy.
Unlike Doom games of the past the sequel actually has a story line this time. You are a generic Marine soldier looking to find some work, so you are sent to a remote research station on Mars that has been experiencing strange accidents. It doesn’t take long for something to go horribly wrong and that’s when your fight for survival begins. There were times I liked having a story around so we can finally understand why demons are trying to kill you here, but then again there are times I just wanted to shoot stuff and reading files every so often gets annoying.
If you are a fan of the older Dooms, you’d better get ready for a few changes. First off the new game has updated the controls so now you get to control the Y and X axis with the two analog sticks (like Halo and Goldeneye 007). Not a bad change since most First Person games play like that, but the other new features are not so welcome.
The Doom games have always been known for being edgy, but Id Software really wanted this game to be a really terrifying experience. One thing they did to add a lot of atmosphere was to make the game extremely dark, and there are times when you need a flashlight just to see where you’re going. This doesn’t seem like a big deal, but you can’t use your gun and the flashlight at the same time and that’s just an open invitation for any demon to kill you. Why in the world doesn’t this guy just hold the light in the other hand? Another thing that angered me was the game has no map or radar here either. It’s a good thing the stage designs are fairly linear and straightforward, but the environments do tend to look the some after a while.
That brings me to one of the biggest draws of the game – the stunning new graphics of course. Like most of the best looking games on Xbox, Doom3 has advance real time lighting effects so everything exhibits a lot of detail, and features excellent use of shadow. The enemies, for example, are some of the most gruesome creatures to appear in a game and they are even well animated. The game may look amazing, but I noticed a few problems like when some dead bodies look like they are floating in midair. There isn’t much in the way of music in Doom3, but I was expecting that since this is a horror game. It does have decent voice acting and impressive sound effects in the right areas so if the rotting mutants don’t freak you out then the noises in the backgrounds will.
Doom3 also comes in two sets you should be aware of. One is where you just get the game by itself and the other is the exclusive Limited Edition package with some really great features. Not only do you get the game in a special silver case (like the Halo 2 Limited Edition set) and a few interviews and a G4 TV special, but it also has the original Ultimate Doom and Doom II in all their glory. You can even play the game’s Death Matches over LAN, but there is no online support just to let you know. Although the graphics are certainly ugly in both games, the action is unbelievably quick and it is just as fun as ever. At times I even preferred the older games to the newer Doom so the package is well worth picking up even if it an extra 10 bucks more.
