Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil for Windows
- ESRB Descriptor: Blood and Gore Intense Violence
- ESRB Rating: M - (Mature)
- Publisher: Activision
- Genre: Action
- Platform: Windows
- Game Series: Doom
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89
Live and Die by the Flashlight
Pros
Graphics, sound, mood, freaky-awesome
Cons
Omit the pros and it's a plain shooter
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Definite must-buy. Play it at night with no lights to really experience it. Play it on hard mode too, don't cheat yourself.
Doom 3 is a game about "almosts but not-quite's" in just about every aspect. Despite that and all it entails, it's indeed a very good game and one that needed to come out. Doom 3 brings something new and refreshing to the FPS (first person shooter) genre: immersion in a scary way. It's not a pee-your-pants scary, but it will definitely make you jump or twitch from time to time. In a sea of FPS games, let's say we strip the name and creator of each and label it with a one-sentence description that best fits the game. Doom 3 could easily be labeled "science-fiction horror, not recommended for those easily terrified or susceptible to nightmares/insomnia." And it would probably be the only title on that particular shelf as well (though American McGee's Alice could be in a nearby category for "strange and deranged" since Doom 3 has it's own).
Doom 3 is not the typical FPS that people have been used to playing (even compared to previous versions of Doom). You will not have legions of enemies thrown at you nor will you be running wildly with guns blazing and body parts flying (oh but there will be body parts though). What you will experience is a game that creates a mood which puts the player on edge and gives you the feeling that something lurks behind every dark corner and hallway. Doom 3 achieves this with it's powerful graphics engine and spectacular sound effects.
Graphics
The environments are highly detailed, textured, and they pay attention to light sources and lighting effects. It's quite stunning watching the gameplay just to see how good the game looks. It looks darn good. With the powerful engine, the creators find ways to show a disturbing environment in true hellish fashion. Lights flicker on and off, gasping for power. Lamps and strobes will cast a light that casts shadows properly. Corpses are intermittant, oftentimes found near blood-stained floors (or walls, ceiling, depending on which direction the corpse was dragged or splattered). The enemies are quite life-like and in-your-face (if you let them get that close). All the halls and floors are highly detailed. If you haven't seen the movie Event Horizon it might be a good time to watch that movie and enjoy it for what it's worth. Doom 3 reminds me of that with it's depiction of chaos and destruction, especially toward the later parts of the game where it has lots of blood, creepy, and twisted.
Sound
The sound actually plays more of a role in this horror game than the graphics and it's meant to be played with 5.1 surround speakers too. All the ambient sounds in the background from the hisses and clanks of machinery, to the groaning walkways, anguished cries of help echoing in the distance, unearthly sound of footsteps, and low growls around or behind you, puts the player in a slight state of paranoia. You think there is something coming after you and you're not quite sure from where. Whether it's the questionable footsteps, or whispered voices, or something inexplicable entirely, you get tuned into the game and react just as much from the sounds as to what you actually see happening. As an added effect, the game has data-disks that can be found, which sometimes contain important information though most of the time they do not. But what they all do contain are voice recordings of the owner (obviously dead), emails to and from workers in the facility, or both. The voice recordings are done fantastically and add a good something to the game's environment. Sometimes they are casual banter, gripes about the job, or concerns about the mental states of others on the base. The player will often pick one up and listen as it talks about strange occurances in the facility, or about bad things happening with no real explanation, or accidental deaths. As the game progresses we get to learn more about what is really happening behind the scenes as we find data-disks from more important people. But the entire time we get a sense dread and helplessness the makes the player feel mostly alone in a very dark, dangerous place. We're talking some fun stuff here.
Gameplay
The gameplay is where Doom 3 gets a little weak. If you strip away the sound and the graphics you'll end up with a very simple and very bland game. Run, point, shoot, turn, etc. The AI isn't very bright at all, though they are persistent. I found a few cases where they wouldn't cross through a doorway and I was able to blast them without them returning fire. One doesn't get to lay prone, crawl, or lean around corners, but for this type of game it isn't necessary at all. There isn't much room for strafing and dodging and rockets for most of the game, but those who aren't crying about it are backpedaling or ducking around corners properly. The game starts to feel a little repetitive once the player gets a hang of the "surprises." Even with the mood of the game, you'll find that Doom 3 will throw "cheap scares" at you, and eventually some of them get predictable. Predictable, like a suspicious feeling when you see a new weapon, powerup, dark corners, or just the feeling "it seems about that time again". There are many who get irritated that certain events will trigger enemy spawning (picking up a certain item, moving past a certain point in a room, activating a console, etc) near or behind you, especially after you cleared that area. Some people feel that it's cheap for that type of spawning, even though it was common for Doom 2 and we accepted it back then. But Doom 3 wasn't really meant to be some new revolutionary gameplay. It was meant to be Doom 2, but to scare the pants off of you with an awesome graphics engine to google your eyes.
I haven't tried the multiplayer since GameSpy is still setting up the beta for Doom 3 multiplayer support. From what the game has to offer, I think that it will make a stronger multiplayer game than single-player game once they make larger multi-player games, and possibly co-op modes.
Update 10/20/04:
Well the servers have been up on Gamespy and many of them are 8-player (or larger) deathmatch games, which is cool. Unfortunately there aren't enough players to get a good game, yet. The server-lag is really bad, which I am sure is contributing to the lack of players. I also think that the hosting servers and players' computers can't handle the graphics strain and are all lagging. The small amount of multiplayer that I did play was pretty fast-paced and deadly. I got the same rush blasting people with the shotgun, just like waaaayyy back in the day when Quake2 multiplayer was the game to play. I hate to admit it, but it seems that good Doom3 multiplayer games aren't going to be available on Gamespy or public servers until people's computers tech up a little bit to handle the graphics. By the time the trend moves up, I'm pretty sure that new multiplayer FPS games will eclipse Doom3 while the current popular ones will remain at the top. I'm positive that Doom3 will have a sizeable niche, it'll just take some time (hopefully not long!).
Story
You get sucked in pretty quick, then it kinda hangs for awhile as you crunch through levels moving deeper into the base, then the gameplay ramps up with awesomeness towards the end of the game, especially when you get to visit hell. But the story kinda falls short with a some things left unexplained at the end. A bit of a bummer, but that last part of the game really kept things interesting (even though the game adds new little tidbits as you go along to bring in a bit of freshness to the claustrophobic mood). Bosses aren't thrown at you after another, or by stages, but are tastefully placed. The pace is pretty good, as they feed you some new little elements as you go along, just when you think nothing new is going to happen (like the sentries that will fight with you for a bit).
Physics
The game doesn't do much for active environments, but the little that it does have shows a powerful physics engine that will probably be put to good use in some other game. You can kick some boxes around, knock lamps and laptops off of desks, push around carts and whatnot. Glass doesn't shatter and lights don't burst if you shoot them though. Can't blow up the toilets with grenades either (I'm waiting for the game that lets me do that AND more). But blasting an enemy splatters blood on the walls and floors quite nice and convincingly. The enemies have recoil when you shoot them, but only certain ways. The limbs will jerk around, but shooting them in the arm or shoulder repeatedly won't spin them around. Shooting limbs don't make them stop working either. It could have been implemented in the game since the engine can handle it, but I guess that's not what they wanted to do with Doom 3.
Gripes
My particular gripes are: there is no co-op support (multiplayer is limited to 4, though we have the power to create games with more people for multiplayer, but the X-Box get's co-op!), a couple of guns, shotgun and pistol especially, sound weak (from a game with great sounds everywhere else), and my flashlight doesn't cast a shadow. The flashlight-shadow thing really bugs me. Coming from a game that is toting how lights and shadows play a major role in the game but not having my flashlight cast it's own shadow on stuff? Everything else casts it's own proper shadow. Big letdown. Chronicles of Riddick on X-Box has independant light-sourcing and most everything casts an appropriate shadow. I was anticipating something similar from Doom 3. The guns could have had a little more bark, though. Maybe they wanted to focus more on the environment sounds?
So what about other common pickiness? Yes, the game is indeed dark and you can either hold a weapon or your flashlight at any given time. Why is it so dark? Why can't we hold a gun AND a flashlight at the same time? Why don't they have more lights in the future? Why don't the marines have nightvision? Why aren't sentry bots everywhere cleaning things up? Why do zombies hide in closets? Thinking about it too hard makes the game seem silly and defeats the purpose: if it's nice and bright and feels secure, it's just not as scary. I think I appreciate the switch between the flashlight and weapon. Without using the flashlight you would have no idea where to go. But using it leaves you vulnerable for that time that it takes to switch to a weapon and fire. Use it to scope a room out before you proceed cautiously. Otherwise running blindly into a room will leave you dumbfounded as to where you should shoot or run to when you're getting attacked, if you don't know where corners, halls, or doors are. I think it adds to the intensity of the situation. Live and die by the flashlight.
Hardware
Hardware? This game will definitely want a revamp or upgrade of a computer to run the way it was intended to. I'm running an ASUS K8V SE Deluxe AMD 64 3200+, with 1 GB PC4000 memory, and a Leadtek GeForce 6800GT, and it runs like a dream. Pricey? Yes. Can you play it with less? Absolutely, though don't expect to run it at higher resolutions with all the graphics turned up and still keep a decent framerate (or even be able to set it higher than what it lets you). Though the good thing about upgrading to play Doom 3 is that the hardware will be able to handle most everything that comes out for the next several years to come, especially if they're designed on the Doom 3 engine.
Bottom Line
Buy it, play it, enjoy it. But be choosy about when and how you play it since it will make a big difference on how you enjoy it. Watching a scary movie at noon, with all the drapes open to let the sun shine in does not give the same effect as watching that movie after midnight with all the lights turned off, when everyone is asleep. Doom 3 is meant to be played with nothing on except your computer, monitor, and speakers. Don't play on the easy or normal mode either. Play on HARD so you can appreciate it more. Normal or easy lets you run amok and take hits without much worry of dying since you can strike back for quick kills. But in hell (and especially nightmare) you'll want to get first strike since your health and armor mean a lot more and the enemies are stronger. If you die often, then save often! Because just like a scary movie, it looses it's effect the more you're accustomed to it. By playing through easy, normal, and then hell, the game just doesn't give that freaky impact like it should. The single-player game doesn't seem to lend too much replay-value (with the exception of nightmare mode.. oh you'll see =) so you would do yourself a favor to play it once on hell-mode to live the danger, and maybe once more on nightmare just to test how good you really are.
Doom 3 is not the typical FPS that people have been used to playing (even compared to previous versions of Doom). You will not have legions of enemies thrown at you nor will you be running wildly with guns blazing and body parts flying (oh but there will be body parts though). What you will experience is a game that creates a mood which puts the player on edge and gives you the feeling that something lurks behind every dark corner and hallway. Doom 3 achieves this with it's powerful graphics engine and spectacular sound effects.
Graphics
The environments are highly detailed, textured, and they pay attention to light sources and lighting effects. It's quite stunning watching the gameplay just to see how good the game looks. It looks darn good. With the powerful engine, the creators find ways to show a disturbing environment in true hellish fashion. Lights flicker on and off, gasping for power. Lamps and strobes will cast a light that casts shadows properly. Corpses are intermittant, oftentimes found near blood-stained floors (or walls, ceiling, depending on which direction the corpse was dragged or splattered). The enemies are quite life-like and in-your-face (if you let them get that close). All the halls and floors are highly detailed. If you haven't seen the movie Event Horizon it might be a good time to watch that movie and enjoy it for what it's worth. Doom 3 reminds me of that with it's depiction of chaos and destruction, especially toward the later parts of the game where it has lots of blood, creepy, and twisted.
Sound
The sound actually plays more of a role in this horror game than the graphics and it's meant to be played with 5.1 surround speakers too. All the ambient sounds in the background from the hisses and clanks of machinery, to the groaning walkways, anguished cries of help echoing in the distance, unearthly sound of footsteps, and low growls around or behind you, puts the player in a slight state of paranoia. You think there is something coming after you and you're not quite sure from where. Whether it's the questionable footsteps, or whispered voices, or something inexplicable entirely, you get tuned into the game and react just as much from the sounds as to what you actually see happening. As an added effect, the game has data-disks that can be found, which sometimes contain important information though most of the time they do not. But what they all do contain are voice recordings of the owner (obviously dead), emails to and from workers in the facility, or both. The voice recordings are done fantastically and add a good something to the game's environment. Sometimes they are casual banter, gripes about the job, or concerns about the mental states of others on the base. The player will often pick one up and listen as it talks about strange occurances in the facility, or about bad things happening with no real explanation, or accidental deaths. As the game progresses we get to learn more about what is really happening behind the scenes as we find data-disks from more important people. But the entire time we get a sense dread and helplessness the makes the player feel mostly alone in a very dark, dangerous place. We're talking some fun stuff here.
Gameplay
The gameplay is where Doom 3 gets a little weak. If you strip away the sound and the graphics you'll end up with a very simple and very bland game. Run, point, shoot, turn, etc. The AI isn't very bright at all, though they are persistent. I found a few cases where they wouldn't cross through a doorway and I was able to blast them without them returning fire. One doesn't get to lay prone, crawl, or lean around corners, but for this type of game it isn't necessary at all. There isn't much room for strafing and dodging and rockets for most of the game, but those who aren't crying about it are backpedaling or ducking around corners properly. The game starts to feel a little repetitive once the player gets a hang of the "surprises." Even with the mood of the game, you'll find that Doom 3 will throw "cheap scares" at you, and eventually some of them get predictable. Predictable, like a suspicious feeling when you see a new weapon, powerup, dark corners, or just the feeling "it seems about that time again". There are many who get irritated that certain events will trigger enemy spawning (picking up a certain item, moving past a certain point in a room, activating a console, etc) near or behind you, especially after you cleared that area. Some people feel that it's cheap for that type of spawning, even though it was common for Doom 2 and we accepted it back then. But Doom 3 wasn't really meant to be some new revolutionary gameplay. It was meant to be Doom 2, but to scare the pants off of you with an awesome graphics engine to google your eyes.
I haven't tried the multiplayer since GameSpy is still setting up the beta for Doom 3 multiplayer support. From what the game has to offer, I think that it will make a stronger multiplayer game than single-player game once they make larger multi-player games, and possibly co-op modes.
Update 10/20/04:
Well the servers have been up on Gamespy and many of them are 8-player (or larger) deathmatch games, which is cool. Unfortunately there aren't enough players to get a good game, yet. The server-lag is really bad, which I am sure is contributing to the lack of players. I also think that the hosting servers and players' computers can't handle the graphics strain and are all lagging. The small amount of multiplayer that I did play was pretty fast-paced and deadly. I got the same rush blasting people with the shotgun, just like waaaayyy back in the day when Quake2 multiplayer was the game to play. I hate to admit it, but it seems that good Doom3 multiplayer games aren't going to be available on Gamespy or public servers until people's computers tech up a little bit to handle the graphics. By the time the trend moves up, I'm pretty sure that new multiplayer FPS games will eclipse Doom3 while the current popular ones will remain at the top. I'm positive that Doom3 will have a sizeable niche, it'll just take some time (hopefully not long!).
Story
You get sucked in pretty quick, then it kinda hangs for awhile as you crunch through levels moving deeper into the base, then the gameplay ramps up with awesomeness towards the end of the game, especially when you get to visit hell. But the story kinda falls short with a some things left unexplained at the end. A bit of a bummer, but that last part of the game really kept things interesting (even though the game adds new little tidbits as you go along to bring in a bit of freshness to the claustrophobic mood). Bosses aren't thrown at you after another, or by stages, but are tastefully placed. The pace is pretty good, as they feed you some new little elements as you go along, just when you think nothing new is going to happen (like the sentries that will fight with you for a bit).
Physics
The game doesn't do much for active environments, but the little that it does have shows a powerful physics engine that will probably be put to good use in some other game. You can kick some boxes around, knock lamps and laptops off of desks, push around carts and whatnot. Glass doesn't shatter and lights don't burst if you shoot them though. Can't blow up the toilets with grenades either (I'm waiting for the game that lets me do that AND more). But blasting an enemy splatters blood on the walls and floors quite nice and convincingly. The enemies have recoil when you shoot them, but only certain ways. The limbs will jerk around, but shooting them in the arm or shoulder repeatedly won't spin them around. Shooting limbs don't make them stop working either. It could have been implemented in the game since the engine can handle it, but I guess that's not what they wanted to do with Doom 3.
Gripes
My particular gripes are: there is no co-op support (multiplayer is limited to 4, though we have the power to create games with more people for multiplayer, but the X-Box get's co-op!), a couple of guns, shotgun and pistol especially, sound weak (from a game with great sounds everywhere else), and my flashlight doesn't cast a shadow. The flashlight-shadow thing really bugs me. Coming from a game that is toting how lights and shadows play a major role in the game but not having my flashlight cast it's own shadow on stuff? Everything else casts it's own proper shadow. Big letdown. Chronicles of Riddick on X-Box has independant light-sourcing and most everything casts an appropriate shadow. I was anticipating something similar from Doom 3. The guns could have had a little more bark, though. Maybe they wanted to focus more on the environment sounds?
So what about other common pickiness? Yes, the game is indeed dark and you can either hold a weapon or your flashlight at any given time. Why is it so dark? Why can't we hold a gun AND a flashlight at the same time? Why don't they have more lights in the future? Why don't the marines have nightvision? Why aren't sentry bots everywhere cleaning things up? Why do zombies hide in closets? Thinking about it too hard makes the game seem silly and defeats the purpose: if it's nice and bright and feels secure, it's just not as scary. I think I appreciate the switch between the flashlight and weapon. Without using the flashlight you would have no idea where to go. But using it leaves you vulnerable for that time that it takes to switch to a weapon and fire. Use it to scope a room out before you proceed cautiously. Otherwise running blindly into a room will leave you dumbfounded as to where you should shoot or run to when you're getting attacked, if you don't know where corners, halls, or doors are. I think it adds to the intensity of the situation. Live and die by the flashlight.
Hardware
Hardware? This game will definitely want a revamp or upgrade of a computer to run the way it was intended to. I'm running an ASUS K8V SE Deluxe AMD 64 3200+, with 1 GB PC4000 memory, and a Leadtek GeForce 6800GT, and it runs like a dream. Pricey? Yes. Can you play it with less? Absolutely, though don't expect to run it at higher resolutions with all the graphics turned up and still keep a decent framerate (or even be able to set it higher than what it lets you). Though the good thing about upgrading to play Doom 3 is that the hardware will be able to handle most everything that comes out for the next several years to come, especially if they're designed on the Doom 3 engine.
Bottom Line
Buy it, play it, enjoy it. But be choosy about when and how you play it since it will make a big difference on how you enjoy it. Watching a scary movie at noon, with all the drapes open to let the sun shine in does not give the same effect as watching that movie after midnight with all the lights turned off, when everyone is asleep. Doom 3 is meant to be played with nothing on except your computer, monitor, and speakers. Don't play on the easy or normal mode either. Play on HARD so you can appreciate it more. Normal or easy lets you run amok and take hits without much worry of dying since you can strike back for quick kills. But in hell (and especially nightmare) you'll want to get first strike since your health and armor mean a lot more and the enemies are stronger. If you die often, then save often! Because just like a scary movie, it looses it's effect the more you're accustomed to it. By playing through easy, normal, and then hell, the game just doesn't give that freaky impact like it should. The single-player game doesn't seem to lend too much replay-value (with the exception of nightmare mode.. oh you'll see =) so you would do yourself a favor to play it once on hell-mode to live the danger, and maybe once more on nightmare just to test how good you really are.
