Doom 3 Review

Doom 3 is the greatest shooter/horror game up to date in my opinion. It is very fun, and uses the popular technique into scaring people silly with ambushes, scary noises and popular distractions. I like implying strategy, and you need to do so. There are many different possibilities, such as the standard one, (go on and shoot anything that moves) and the hero one (run through a hallway and shoot anything that followed) are just a few examples of strategies.

Gameplay is extraordinary indeed. You are a grunt-level marine sent to an investigation base on mars. A crazy guy named Dr. Betruger is conducting hellish experiments on this base. In the end, well, I don't want to spoil, but he turns out to be the "Devil's Puppet." The perfect mix of shooting and horror (well, for me, too much horror. I mean, you actually visit Hell. I liked all the weapons and the secret lockers. The only thing I didn't like was that you couldn't backtrack, but if you could, there would be no enemies or activities left anyway. You get 7 weapons to hold, and can quick select them with the directional pad. There are a lot of places for you and enemies to hide and run, and the areas are so big, you can strafe and shoot. Most enemies will use long range attacks (if any) or else revert to smacking or scratching you wildly. You have to analyse the current situation and combine it with your status. For example, if you're low on health and fighting and Imp, you'll need to hide from its fireballs, while in between fireballs, strafing and shooting. Weapons are great, and some I don't want to spoil. There is the pistol, good against zombies, and to save other weapons' ammo, and it also works great with headshots. The trusty, yet devastating shotgun, which you'll use most of the game, has great close range power, yet won't touch distant targets. The chainsaw, which you won't get until later, which rips enemies apart in seconds, and others I don't want to spoil. The only bad thing was the storyline, which was basically going through a mars base to Hell and shooting everything that moves, and in the end, everyone dies except you anyway, so there isn't a storyline here, basically. If there were, you probably wouldn't be paying much attention to it anyway. A lot of times you have to go somewhere, but then whatever is so important breaks and you have to go another way. Pretty good except storyline.

Audio was great, the scary background effects such as destroyed technology and oh, man how I hate it, how you can hear zombies moan before they come out of the shadows and attack. Screaming creatures are also great. Gun effects are just as good as any war game without trying to sound too loud. I especially loved the chainsaw effects. There is better music, but it'll be hard to find better sound effects.

Graphics were awesome, including the amazing lighting effects. Although it was annoying to pull the flashlight out every room while trying to fend off enemies, it also makes it your number one priority to combine your current status with strategies so that you'll survive and prevail. You would see shadows of oncoming enemies, and would often, I mean at least once within every five rooms, get ambushed. Enemies often hide, and shadows help. The people look real, especially after they've taken gradual damage. After humans were killed, their skeletons would be revealed, and they were highly detailed in a nasty, yet intriguing way.

Replay value is moderate, as the game is fun to do over and at least you'll know where you'll be ambushed. But, you can't backtrack, but backtracking would probably slow down the gameplay and make it worse anyway.

So on the positive side:
+ Great sound effects.
+ Good weapons and design.
+ Awesome lighting effects and graphics.
+ Quick and convenient saving .
+ What more could you ask for in a horror game?

But on the negative side:
- Possibly TOO scary.
- Can't use flashlight and gun at the same time.
- Bad storyline.

Overall, I give Doom 3 a 9 / 10.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to post comments.

This review was added on 22nd August 2005 by Joey Cusimano.