Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil for Windows

If you're like me and are kind of tired of the "dime a dozen" multiplayer games that have inundated the market in recent years, and would instead appreciate a game dedicated to providing a thrilling single player experience, than don't hesitate in picking up Doom 3 and enjoy all that it has to offer.

Doom 3 incorporates the best graphics I've seen to date in a FPS. The use of real time lights/shadows in conjunction with volumetric smoke, advanced shader techniques for effects like fire, and a "realistic" physics model all combine to present a world that can suspend disbelief and allow you to "feel" what it might be like to have Hell breaking loose all around you.

I found it rather amazing that even with Doom 3's impressive game engine, it will run quite nicely on relatively low-end machines. A friend of mine is running the game quite smoothly with an AMD 2.5Ghz processor, 1 Gig of RAM, and an old Geforce 4 ti 4600 card (the older video card being the relatively weak-link in this setup). Running Doom 3 on his machine at 800x600 (which looks much better than any other game I've seen running at that resolution), High quality, AA and AF off with all other Advanced Settings on, produces great visuals and smooth frame rates (30+). The lack of AA and AF does produce some jaggy edges, but over all, the game looks great.

Doom 3's use of scripted events and seamless "cut-scene" cinematics go a long way in creating contiguous game play that never really takes you out of the action. The latter is accomplished via the camera shifting from the 3rd person view of cut scenes to a zoom straight into the back of your characters head to place the view back into 1st person. It might be a minor thing, but I feel developers sometimes become a bit over zealous in creating great cut scenes that unfortunately feel more like you're watching a movie than playing a game (which can have the unwanted effect of taking the player out of the game so to speak). Doom 3's transition system made me feel like the action never stopped (aside from loading the next level, which is fairly quick).

Doom 3's effects combine to provide some amazing situations at various times throughout game. Seeing a large "Pinky" demon come charging out of the shadows straight towards you creates more than a few moments of panic as you fumble to train your gun on the rampaging beast in an attempt to drop it before it gores you to death. Even seeing a slow shambling zombie emerge from the shadows can give you a cool horror movie kind of thrill. Demons like the Cherub, which are half infant/half wasp like creatures, punctuated the disturbingly tormented environments Doom 3 presents to its audience.

The sounds produced by Doom 3 are also top notch. Hearing the hiss of an Imp in the shadows will most definitely give you pause before entering that darkened corridor. The explosion of a portal that signals the arrival of a new demon or even the falling of a ceiling panel will both have the effect of making you jump, or at least provide a level of anxiety as you wonder what is going to happen next. 5.1 surround systems (or better) will produce the most accurate and intimidating soundscapes, but even in straight stereo, the sounds will augment your game play.

Readers of "Dungeons and Dreamers" know that John Carmack feels the gaming community, when given the proper tools, will create and sustain a huge/active multiplayer and user created mod environment (as occurred after Doom 2 and Quake). There are already mods available for Doom 3, and new multiplayer maps are only a matter of time. That being said, there are still going to be those people that will feel slighted by Doom 3's "lack of multiplayer support". If diverse online multiplayer is what you're primarily concerned about, I'd suggest buying UT2k4 or BF: Vietnam. Doom 3 provides the bare bones of multiplayer death match type maps. While they might not be innovative, the included maps are still enjoyable in conjunction with the new level of detail and realism Doom 3's engine provides.

Are there things Doom 3 could have improved on? Certainly. While I found the enemy A.I. more than appropriate and acceptable, it would have been cool to see things like Imps that would jump back onto the ceiling during combat and attempt to drop directly on top of you (I found myself looking up continuously half expecting this to occur at any moment). While I enjoyed the use of the PDA's in telling a great deal of the story, I would have liked a few elements of the game to have had a bit more explanation and continuity (what exactly was happening every time the screen went red looking like your player was having a vision?). As far as I'm concerned, these minor criticisms are far out weighed by Doom 3's excellent presentation and game play.

In my opinion, Doom 3, much like Painkiller and to a somewhat lesser degree Far Cry, represents a sorely lacking commodity in today's "me-too-multiplayer-only" market place. The awesome single player experience with its stunning graphics, mood altering environments, incredible sound, and evolving storyline make Doom 3 one of the best, if not the very best, FPS I've played to date. Combine this with a game engine that has great optimizations built in to allow even low end machines to run without forcing players to tweak settings for a month, and you have a winner that should provide the basis for many new games in the near future.