Doom 3

"Even today, Doom 2 is better"

"Doom" is a game that when mentioned brings a smile to all gamers of my generation. Or at least it did, until I played the latest installment to the series. It's very strange because in theory, this game should have been good with its in depth story and decent character design, but it just unfortunately fails to deliver. Once upon a time I used to rush home from school to play Doom. Everything about it was so revolutionary... from the graphics to the very scary atmosphere, but in Doom 3 the only place I was rushing was back to the store to return the thing.

STORY: 5/10
Although it is very familiar territory to its predecessors, the story itself is actually quite good, and should have been thrilling with the obvious advances in technology such as the ability to use voice acting and CG movies. Unfortunately, between cliched American military types and over-maniacal villains to a lead character with no personality, its hard to appreciate the mystique and depth of the plot.

Doom 3 is set on Mars, where scientific corporation UAC is running various scientific experiments with no monetary or ethical restrictions whatsoever. This has meant a lot of freedom for the scientist Dr Betruger, the experiments of which have allowed demons to invade our dimension from Hell. You play a nameless/personality lacking marine who is thrown in among the mess and it appears you're the only one who can stop the invasion. The story is explored from the usual cinematic perspective as well as from many points of view as we collect PDAs of the deceased.

GRAPHICS: 6/10
The graphics themselves are stunning with very good lighting effects. However there are two major problems in my opinion. The first being that the appalling frame rate results in possibly the worst lag in a console game I have ever seen. The reason I bought this on console is because every PC game I'm ever interested in is not going to flow nicely on PC, so I must say I was very disappointed in this regard.

The other major flaw is besides the beautiful graphics, they've done pretty much nothing with them in terms of the environments and the monsters. Don't get me wrong; the environments are quite spectacular, especially in Hell, but the design is just excruciatingly boring. I felt like I was running around in circles for hours. And the graphics on the monsters make them look like they're in a different graphical era altogether. They're just terrible and, quite frankly, less scary than how they looked in Doom 2.

CONTROLS: 9/10
The in game controls are quite pleasing. The only thing is, as with a lot of FPS games, I always find it so slow turning around. Otherwise, the controls are quite good. Very comfortable and intuitive.

GAMEPLAY: 3/10
Of course, the gameplay is what makes a game, and ultimately what makes this game terrible. Apparently the developers' ideas of good gameplay haven't evolved with the ideas of the actual gamers themselves, and we are left ultimately with the same typical strafe and shoot in boring, meaningless levels, battling with enemies that have less intelligence than a dead cat. It literally isa prettier version than its predecessors with little to no improvement whatsoever. Playing Doom 2 is preferable to me, because at least there's a sense of history to it.

I could lie for effect and say that the only thing scary about this game is the fact that they've ruined the glory that is the Doom series, but in all honesty this is a scary game. For a short while. You see, its just cheap scares like you might expect from a B-grade Hollywood gore/horror film with monsters jumping out at you from nowhere. When this happens so often, you begin to expect it, and when you expect it, it's not scary now is it?

It seems the developers have decided to take a "survival-horror" approach to this game, as ammunition is scarce. Hitting enemies with your gun, torch or with bare fists does more damage than pounding a pistol bullet into them. Even though you're a highly trained marine, you can't hold a torch and a weapon at the same time, thus leaving you running around blindly in almost complete darkness for the majority of the game (sure, it's one thing to be moody, but when you literally can't see where you're going, what is the point of playing a game?). And I almost believe the level designers have deliberately attempted to build the most pointless and dull levels in the history of the world, because I really can't believe anyone with their level concept designs would get a job with one of the biggest software developers in the world.

SOUND: 1/10
When you're trying to make a horror game, sound is of utmost importance. I can't stress this enough. Doom 3 is an example of a horror game that has failed in this department. Moody ambience rarely goes beyond an incredibly low and (after a while) very frustrating drone. The voice acting is, as you might expect, pompous and over the top at the best of times. The screams of the monsters are okay, but the combat noises such as the firing of the guns is flat and just all round pathetic.

VALUE
With gameplay like this, how can I rate value?

Overall, this game serves as a stain on the fond memories of an otherwise brilliant and revolutionary game franchise. An utter, utter disappointment that I don't see how they got so wrong.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 01/22/07