"An add on that only continues the story"

Doom 3 Resurrection of Evil is the expansion pack to the widely popular Doom 3. While Doom 3 itself did not revolutionize the FPS genre, it was a blast to play. The expansion, Resurrection of Evil, or ROE, gives us some more content to have fun with. Most notably the single player and new weapons. However, while Doom 3 had more ups than downs, ROE has more downs than ups.

Graphics
Since this is an expansion, the graphics are the same as its parent game, Doom 3. The Doom 3 engine does have its flaws, but it is nice. Since there isn't really anything different from the parent game, I won't go into details about the engine. The new area's you get to see in this game look just as good as in Doom 3, especially the new area's of Hell. Unfortunately, there is one flaw that is worth mentioning. Occasionally during this game, I encountered a few graphical glitches, usually after a graphically intense scene. Once I saved, quit, and restarted the game everything was fine, but that isn't acceptable seeing as how this did not happen at all during Doom 3.

Sound
The sounds and music in this game are just as good as in its parent game. This is one of the very few games, along with Doom 3, that make good use of 5.1 surround sound. There isn't any creepy ghosts whispering in your ear this game, which can be viewed as either good or bad.

Controls
No difference between this game and its parent. WSAD all the way. You have a different artifact in this game, however, you still use Q to activate it.

Game play
The game play of ROE is a major mixed bag. First, you have 2 new weapons to use in this game. Second, you have at least 4 new enemies to deal with. Third, you have a new, and much different, artifact to use. Finally, you have new multi-player modes to play on-line. At first glance, this looks like a great little add-on to an already great game. However, all of the above mentioned features are misleading.

The new weapons you get are the Grabber and the Double-barrel shotgun. The new shotgun is probably the best weapon in the game. You can kill most enemies in one shot. The downside is that you have a long reload time if you don't kill your enemy. The grabber is basically Doom's version of the Half Life gravity gun. You can use it to move and throw heavy objects. What is very sweet about this gun is that you can catch an imp's fireball and throw it back at him. However, as you progress farther in the game, multiple enemies will be attacking you, and standing your ground waiting for them to shoot at you won't be a very good strategy. Add that to the fact that you don't need to move a single large object to progress in the game makes this almost a useless gun. In all fairness, you do need this gun to get by one of the bosses.

The four new enemies you get are the Brute, Vulgar, Forgotten One, and haz-mat zombie. The haz-mat zombie, is just a zombie wearing a haz-mat suit, not exactly original, but it does count as a new creature. The Forgotten One is the same as the lost soul but looks more like the original lost souls from Doom 1 and 2. If you think the Vulgar is a re-creation of the Vulgar from Quake, you will be disappointed. It's basically a modified Imp that shoots blue fire instead of normal fire, and is faster. Last but not least, the Brute is a Mancubus that shoots faster, but causes less damage. As far as new monsters go, this game gets an F.

The artifact you get at the beginning of the game is much different from the Soul Cube of Doom 3. At first it doesn't seem to serve a real purpose, until you fight your first boss. Then you get what is called Hell Time, which is basically bullet time. This becomes very useful as the game progresses. After each boss you get a new power for 3 in total: Hell Time, Berserk, and Invulnerability. The artifact must be charged with the souls of dead bodies, of which there are plenty of them around. When you use the artifact, all 3 effects are activated, once you get them. You might think a lot of the Invulnerability power, unfortunately, I always took damage when I activated the artifact, so I'm not sure what the deal is with it. However, the other 2 powers, berserk and slow time are great combo's by themselves.

Multi-player is nothing to go on about either. It offers a new mode, appropriately named Capture the flag. Its good to play Capture the Flag in a universe besides UT2004, but its just not as much fun as the other multi-player games I currently have. While Nerve, the developers of ROE, did revolutionize multi-player game play with RTCW's multi-player, they seemed to have spent all their energy on this games single player.

One final note I wish to make on game play for ROE is that the fighting stile is much different from that of its parent. Doom 3 was more of a “freak you out” game which sent enemies at you one by one in most areas. ROE is more action packed. It will send waves of enemies at you. This is why it is essential you learn to use the artifact's slow time feature early in the game. Some will say that this change is good, others bad, in any case, ROE battles feel more like what Doom 1 and 2 use to be.

Story
The story is pretty basic, and nowhere near as complex as Doom 3 was. It has been 2 years since the events in Doom 3, and another expedition has been planned. Now why anyone would go back there after what happened in the first game is beyond me, but that is the setting. You are again, a marine who is assigned to this expedition. You come across an artifact, you pick it up, and well…once again, all Hell breaks loose. The rest of the game is learning about what the artifact is and how it got to earth, and you trying to destroy it. This game will also explain what happened to Betrugar, the crazy scientist that survived at the end of Doom 3.

In conclusion, if you are a hardcore Doom 3 fan, you will want to pick this up. If you did not enjoy Doom 3, but you liked Doom 1 and 2, then give this expansion a try, as it plays more like those games with the hordes of monsters thrown at you. However, it's hard for me to say this is a great expansion. I encountered lots of slow-downs and graphics issues, and there's no real excuse for that when Doom 3 plays fine and smooth on my PC. As far as new stuff is concerned, when all is said and done, there is the double-barrel shotgun, and a few new enemy sprites. The one good thing the expansion does is continue the story, which was enough for me, but might not be for other players.

If you want to continue your Doom 3 adventures, there isn't really a reason not to pick up this game other than a few bugs, which should be corrected shortly. Otherwise, you are better off just sitting tight and waiting for Quake 4, FEAR, or whatever other blockbuster catches your eye.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 06/16/05