Highway to hell.

INTRO:

So we come to Doom-3. the very mention of this title over the past 4 years has been enough to make any gamer worth his salt want to mainline the hyperbolehyde, knock back 50 mls of metaphorazine and start ranting about the possibilities of human existence.

But what exactly was the fuss over this game? Was it because it was going to be revolutionary? well hardly. Was it because it was going to be original? Well no. Because it was going to be innovative? Well slightly, But theres another reason that people were staring at screenshots of Doom-3 with awe burning in their eyes.

It's because the developers at ID software are playing with something arcane, Doom is not just a game , its a cult and has probably the biggest following of any pc based title ever.

So for 4 long years the development process dragged out, with screenshots being slowly trickled out to tempt the masses like a steak to a pack of wolves. Id famously declared years back that the game, whos release date slipped from 2003 to 2004 would be 'done when its done', so you can imagine the excitment when on the 14th of July 2004 they finally announced 'Its done'!

STORYLINE:

Doom 3 is all about the single player experience and ID have always made this completely clear in press releases and interviews that multiplayer would be more of an afterthought. So with that in mind the developers knew that this time they had to focus on storyline a lot more than they have done in the past.

ID has never been known for developing games with engrossing storylines, but it seems they have finally learnt how important a good one is with Doom-3.
You are an ordinary Marine who is sent to the Union Aerospace Corporation(UAC) Mars base for a routine mission. The UAC is conducting secret experiments on Mars, such as teleportation technology in order to forever change human existence. But before any of this can take place, something goes very very wrong and the UAC accidently opens a vortex to hell, and so the forces of hell are unleashed. It may sound like cliche stuff, but since its a remake of the original Doom it can easily be forgiven, it actually works really well anyway.

The storyline focuses around destorying the Vortex to hell and dealing with the evil scientist that helped open it, however much of the story is read out through Personal Data Assistants(PDA's) that you pick up from dead people during the game, this adds a huge notch to the overall experience, and makes for a very engrossing storyline, albiet a little cliche.

THE OPENING SEQUENCE:-Warning! Mild spoilers in this little section!

I've nevr had to entitle one of my sections like this before, but thats because I have simply never evr played a game with an introduction like this. Put simply the opening 20 or 30 minutes are the design of a genius.

You arrive on Mars, at the UAC base and are left to wander throughout the reception area and talk to various soldiers all sitting around. Sounds echo throughout the entry point and a distant humm can be heard makeing the walls vibrate. The first hint something isnt all right occurs almost straight away, when a distressed scientist is sitting on a chair and says 'Ive gotta get out of here' in a whispering voice.

You then proceed to be scanned at the receptionby a game at a desk and cleared for entry into the main welcome area.

Heres where the great stuff begins.

the first room is perfectly lit and full of vibrance and life. Marines wander around muttering, Interactive screens talk out to you about the UAC base, the Humm is louder now and it gave me a feeling I had never felt in a game before. I was actually there in that base, reading these panels and interacting with the workers and marines there.

I was given orders to report to Marine command for a briefing, but there is no real rush, despite what the Sarge says. Exploring the area you find a cafeteria with a working arcade game 'Turbo Turkey puncher', theres a live news broadcast on the tv in the kitchen and everything feels so real.

Once you have explored the area and been to mission command you are ordered to recover a lost Scientist from across the Administration and Mars city. Theres a sequence where you follow a Sentry bot around and then enter the 'Underground dungeon' where all the workers of the UAC are making a living.

This is where the Vibes seem to be coming from, as you are secured your armour and pistol, you begin to feel that its getting closer to the point where hell is unleashed. Theres a brief exit to the Martian surface before you get to the scientists you are after, dont dwindle too long there though as your oxygen is limited. As you wander through the hellways, machinery buzzes and turns around you, workers mutter to themselves and Its here where a sense of fear begins. 'Jeez you made me jump, cant you see evryone is already on edge around here' one guy moans. While another talks to you from behind boxes about the missing scientist you are after.

When you finally reach the missing scientist this is where Hell is unleashed. and the action starts. The lights dim hellish voices are heard and blood drips from the walls, the entire base rocks for about 30 seconds before everything is left, dark, damaged, destoryed and demonised.

I wont go any further to avoid major spoilers, but lets just say for the next hour you will be scared stiff as you retrace your steps around the area that you had previously walked without fear.


GAMEPLAY:

Make no mistake, Doom 3 combat gameplay is a shooter in the most literal sense, it's mostly a case of enter room SHOOT, avoid, SHOOT exit room, pick up health and armour. Some may find that this lack of innovation is a drawback and that it gets a little repetitive, I however found that the dripping atomopshere of the game ensured I was always on the edge of my seat no matter how many dark hallways with crawling 'IMP' demons there were.

Aside from the general combat there are some innovative little features the game has such as the PDA's which you gather as the game progresses. These contain personal audio logs from the deceased owner, emails that they had recieved or sent, and sometimes video files to go with it. This adds a huge level of atomosphere and interest as you sit there in the dark , alone listening to 'Jack Charles' talk about the voices he keeps hearing. I actually found the PDA feature to be one of the strongest points of the gameplay.

There are also interactive panels all over the base, which turn into mini pcs when you scrolls over them and you can sometimes download things to your own PDA or just read them, or enter access codes to get some goodies such as ammo or health. These buzz with life and also add to the experience.

The game soon changes it pace from rooms and corridors to Puzzles, rooms and corridors, and picks up speed as weapons get biger and enemies get badder. Thing changes alotgehter again when you enter hell, but I'll leave that as a secret for now.

The atomopshere of the game is stunning to say the least. Much of the game is in darkness, with your flashlight being the only saving grace. The walls drip with blood, demonic voices and baby screaming can be heard through the walls, the humm and buzz of the base gets louder in some areas and then dies down in others.
Demons groan and exhale, marines scream as they are devoured by the Hellspawn, its all great stuff, and its scary.

Theres different ypes of scary though and heres an example of Doom-3s frights.

Imagine a film where someone is talking from a pedestal down to a crowd. Someone has wired a bomb to the pedestal and its counting down from an unknown time span, in one instance you dont know what the time span is, you just know the bombs going to go off eventually, so you find it very tense and jump when it finally goes off.

This is what Doom-3 is like.

Everytime you enter a room or corridor you know something is going to jump out, but you dont know when or where, so its always fresh and jumpy. Imps crawl out of the vents and burst out of pipes, pinky demons with the body of a mechanical dog/bull growl and then charge towards you, The flying skulls of the lost souls scream and then launch the selves at you at a great speed. Its all designed to inflame the senses and create absolute terror.

It does this extremely well, however me being a rather desensitized person found that I felt some areas could have been aboslutely petrifying rather than just terrifying, and it could've been so much more scary with the technology available. It really is just a nit pick though as the game is still the scariest, most atomopsheric game I have ever played.

There are 4 levels of difficulty in the game with Recruit being the easiest and Nightmare being the hardest.
Shooter buffs should lean towards Veteran to unlock Nightmare, whilst Newcomers should choose Marine. Recruit is really too simple and there isnt any competition.

The game spans a good 25-30 hours of play which is a good length for some of todays games, but with Easter Eggs(Secrets) Rife throughout this game there will be a fair bit of replay value in the game.

So while the gameplay might be basic in some senses it excells in others in bringing the gameplay and atompshere together.

GRAPHICS AND SOUND:

Describing Doom3's Graphics is like describing an orgasm in heaven as you discover the meaning of life, in short they are simply breathtakingly stunning.

Doom 3 is by far the best looking game out there right now, easily trouncing the recent top looker 'Far Cry' and definatly topping the visuals on the soon to be released 'Half Life-2' At least judging by screenshots.

Every room of the game is beautifully textured and bump mapped, with a shining gloss over floors and doors where the light reflects off of it.

We first saw this in Far Cry, but nowhere near as gorgeous as this. Lights swing back and forth casting the correct shadows and mirrors reflect an exact copy of what you would really see, this engine has the power to do almost anything and everything.

Outside areas are perhaps the most stunning, with far away pipes glistening in the reddy/pink martian atomosphere and the rocks looking like as real as they would in reality. Its a shame the outside areas are limited to the occasional burst out of an airlock or ride in a monorail as they really do look amazing.

Enemy and Human models are probably the most hyped graphical aspect of the game and its easy to see why. the Enemy models are the first real models to use real heavy bump mapping to create them, they actually appear very smooth, real, fleshy and lifelike. The days of pixelated blocks have gone, bump mapping is now the way forward! All of the grpahical aspects give the game its incredibly tense and scary atomopshere, especially the lightning and shadow effects.

The sound in Doom-3 is only slightly second to the graphics as it too is one of dooms biggest achievements. wheather its the general hum and whirr of machinery, or the groan of demons, to the screaming of tortured souls or footsteps behind you Doom 3 has the best audio of any game I have played. Things can go a deathly quiet in some areas before you hear a chuck of metal fall, and you know something evil is about, but where, when, how will it appear? Its all playing tricks on the mind and forcing you to surrender your senses to the game. Weapon sounds arent particuarly amazing though but they do vibrate with a statisying recoil.

So Doom 3 slaughters its opposition in the Visuals and audio section featuring a mind blowing level of detail and terrifying 6 channel surround sound.

WEAPONS AND ENEMIES:

Those who remember the original doom now nearly 11 years old will remember the classic Demons and theyre traits, along with the classic Doom weapons.

One of the biggest things about doom 3 was the thought of seeing the demons you remember as little blocky cartoony sprites, transformed into lifelike terrifying monsters of hell.

Its a great relief to see the Pinky demon back, although now he appears to have a more mechanical bull or dog feel about him, he still likes to charge at you though and can be hard to kill in close quarters.

The imp is back and features most in the game from the very beginning to the very end.

There are now a huge range of the undead opponents with zombies plagueing the early game. Be them fat or thin, headless or jawless, armed with a chaingun or stabbing arm, they are sure to make things difficult and scary for you whether you expect them or not.

Other classics that return are the Cacodemon, the Lost souls, The Hellknight, The Revenant, Arch Vile and the Mancubus. There are several new enmies however, that while dont make for huge classics like the original demons add new flavour to the game. The cherubs are demons with the body of an insect but the face of a baby.

Maggots are two headed deformed demon that charge at you and slash. Whilst perhaps the most interesting new addition comes from the Trites, which are 4 legged spider types with an upside down human face with sharp teeth for a head, no doubt inspired by John Carpenters 'The Thing'.

Doom demons earnt their classic status by being very imaginative, scary, and interesting and Doom 3 carries them on into a new era of graphical splendour.

Of course along with the classic doom enemies we also have the classic doom weapons.

All the weapons from the original return along with a few extras, but nothing extremely unusual or new.

The Pistol/Shotgun/Chaingun/Plasma Rifle/Rocket Launcher, and BFG 9000 all make a return into the game but they are now coupled with additons such as Hand Grenades/Machine Gun/ and the Soul Cube, a relic from an ancient Mars civilization, and a weapon that only appears late in the game.

The weapons are nicely modelled and fit in well with the games fell, however theyre sounds arent particuarly beefy or amazing. It's not a major fault however and there is now a mod out to make the sounds more Beefy, so problem solved.

MULTIPLAYER ONLINE:

Doom-3 is all about the single player experience and Multiplayer takes a back line.
With the game comes a standard 4 man deathmatch just like the one you used to play a decade ago when doom revolutionised lan/online gaming. However it certainly doesnt revolutionise anything here as with Multiplayer games like Battlefield Vietnam out it is rather dull and plain. However that doesnt matter as Doom-3 was never evr said to be a multiplayer game and instead focuses on an amazing single player experience.
Those of you deathmatch buffs however will enjoy the great looking expansive maps the game ships with and find some enjoyment here, especially as some of them are visually stunning.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS AND ROUGH TESTS:

You didnt think the gorgeous graphics, stunning sound and gameplay all came without a price did you? Doom 3 is the game everyone is upgrading for and you can see why.

The game will suck up a lot of Ram, push a good graphics card to the full and need a decent CPU to run well, not to mention a minimum of 6.1 surround sound speakers to play it on.

I however do not agree with gaming sites specs and settings as I get away with a much higher setting on my system.

the minimum recommended and ideal specs for the game are.

MINIMUM: 384 mb RAM 1.5 ghz cpu(1500+) a geforce mx 4000 or Radeon 9000 with2.1 speakers and 2 gigs of Hard disk space.

This is designed for budget pcs and you will be expecting to run the game at a 800x600 resolution with the settings on medium at best.


RECCOMENDED: 768 mb RAM 2.4 ghz pc(2400+) geforce ti 4600/fx 5700 ultra or Radeon 9600/9700 with 5.1 surround sound speakers and an Audigy 2 zs sound card. 3 gigs of Hard disk space is also helpful here.- This is designed to run the game at 1024x768 resolution with the settings on High.

IDEAL: 1024-1536 mb RAM, 3.4 ghz or above (3400+) Geforce 6800 Ultra/GT Radeon x800 XT/PRO with 6.1 surround sound speakers and an audigy platinum pro sound card. 3-4 gigs of hard disk space is also helpful.- This setting is designed to run the game at 1600x1200 resolution with the settings on high or Ultra high and other quality settings such as antialiasing and anisotropic filtering on high.

However I run doom 3 on an AMD 2800+ with 1024 mb RAM and a geforce fx 5900xt and I run the game on 1280x1024 res with high settings and 4 x aa and af and only get a little lag on big areas, so I believe the specs are slightly overstressed in most game reviews or benchmarks. A good set of speakers is important however to really get the atomosphere of Doom.

CONCLUSION:

In all Doom 3 is an amazingly gorgeous, action packed, scare and gore fest, that meets every inch of its hype that it has gathered over the past 3 to 4 years. It may not revolutionise gaming at all, but it does breathe new life into the world of pc gaming that was in slump. Anyone who enjoyed the original Doom or Quake games will find themselves totally Jawdropped by this game, and anyone at all interested in pc gaming, or anyone in general should find this game gets a place in their minds and hearts, whether its for the right or wrong reasons. 'Doom-3 is a masterpiece of the art form' to quote a US magazine, Picasso would have been proud of what Carmack has created here.

So splurge out for the new system and speakers, go and buy this game. Give the other half tickets to a health spa for a week, turn off the lights, shut the door, turn up the sound and say goodbye to reality.

Rating-96%-Amazing-