"More of the same, but less capturing story"

Resurrection of Evil is the pretty much the expected follow-up on the Doom 3 cliff hanger. As a new marine we again end up as the only man standing between earth and hell.

The game begins with the discovery of a hidden artifact. After its removed from its safe place, all hell breaks loose. Literally. You who finished Doom 3 knows who the villain is, and he's after the artifact. Guided by a female scientist your goal is to destroy the artifact, travelling through dark research complexes, shooting zombies and demons once again.

As someone who enjoy the experience and storytelling rather than the action, I felt Resurrection of Evil somewhat lacking. What I liked the most from Doom 3 was the ironic movie sequences, the e-mails, eastereggs, lots and lots of spooky events and areas, and a continuing storyline throughout the entire game. Resurrection of evil is more of a straight shooter. Sure, there are some special events, but they are rather few. There are very few new video-cds, and I do not think there are more than maybe five voicemessages in the entire expansion.
I don't want to spoil the unique areas in Resurrection of Evil, but there are some noteworthy ones.

Actionwise, the expansion is thick of it. There are a few challenging areas. The Artifact often helped me to get through (more about it later).
I have to say that I enjoyed the bossfights. One in particular that involves a lot of electricity...
The new monsters doesn't bring anything new. They are simply meaner versions of what where already in Doom 3, but at least its good with some variety.

Its difficult to forgive Nerve Software for removing the Chainsaw. Its replaced with a Grabber and a Double-Barreled shotgun. First of all, the shotgun doesn't disappoint. Its just as powerful as it was in Doom 2, and I found myself overusing it. Almost everything that end up in front of you is annihilated with a single shot. Its even nice to kill heavy opponents with, as long as you can get up close.

The Grabber is ok. It works as intended, and you often have to use it for bossfights, often by throwing back their own shots at them. Its difficult to not comparing it with Half-Life 2, and I need to say that the Grabber has a flaw. There is simply not enough loose rubble to have any real use of it. Maybe this was intended to make sure its not used non-stop, but it was kind of annoying to not be able to lift up crates and boulders that seemed mobile, just to find that they are "nailed to the floor".

This time around, the Artifact is some kind of weird heart. In the first levels, it slow down time. Throughout the game (after each boss) its improved, and if you activate it towards the end, you become an invincible killing machine. It have three charges, but you can fill them up by taking up the artifact near a dead body (it feeds on souls). As always with really powerful stuff, I ended up not using it much :) I saved the charges to when I really needed it.

I would recommend Resurrection of Evil to those who liked Doom 3, and who would like to "finish" the game (a new attempt to finally defeat the villain). For those who did not enjoy Doom 3 as much as I did, I don't think the expansion would do any good. Its not as good as Doom 3.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/08/05