Remember to tell your grandkids to put a rocket launcher in your coffin. If you go to Hell when you die, you’ll need it for some final cleaning-up...
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VGR: D00M3
From id Software/Splash Damage (multi)/Activision
Played on PC
Also available on Xbox, Mac, Linux, Xbox 360 and PS3
Type FPS
Following the most inspirational first-person shooter ever created, Doom finally made a comeback back in 2004!
DOOM 3 was the last game to be developed by most of the entire original id Software team. With Tim Willits directing and designing it, Adrian Carmack and Kevin Cloud on the art of the game, with the very talented programmer and id co-founder John Carmack on programing, at the head of this brand new engine to power the game.
The game didn't start without any problems. In 2000, Carmack had this idea for a complete remake of DOOM using modern technology. It got so bad it resulted in some internal controversies at id regarding the idea to remake Doom. The other founders of id Kevin Cloud and Adrian Carmack were actually always kind of against this idea. They were more open to create and develop new concepts instead. But thanks to the great positive reception of Return to Castle Wolfenstein and how much the technology behind video games had improved the last few years, it was now as good a time as any to move forward with this project.
Work on what would become Doom 3 began immediately after Quake III. A first look at what would become the game was first shown during E3 20002.
The game was developed right alongside the creating of id's then-new game engine at the time, the award-winning id Tech 4, aka the "Doom 3 engine". Since then the id Tech 4 engine was licensed countless times to several developers and used in a lot of games this past generation. It's a great favorite, thanks to its advanced settings and unique features even lacking in some current game engines. It was the first id engine actually using this new nomenclature (retroactively renaming the older engines after it). It was mostly designed by John Carmack himself, based around ideas first explored in the previous Doom and Quake engines. It began its life as a simple enhancement of the id Tech 3 for new generations, as an OpenGL-based engine, before it Carmack & co went on completely rebuilding it from the ground up overall. With Doom 3's main competitor being the highly expected Half-Life 2 from Valve, they were both in direct competition as far as technology go. id wanted better more modern impressive new graphical features, which would still impress to this day. Its key features being unified lighting and shadowing. And the support of most complex animations back then. In terms of comparison, Half-Life 2 might have been the more impressive and complex title (and Doom 3 would sadly lack the more advanced missing features in terms of physics, which received a few complaints at the time) but what it didn't have in dynamic weights and physics it more than made up for it in its more realistic rendering (in comparison the G-Man and the rest of the HL2 characters seemed made in plastic). Allowing scripting in real-time for better more dynamic interactions, casting shadows in real-time as well on non-static objects, the use of high-resolution screen inserted via terminals, all sorts of mapping and highlighting features. The most impressive feature being the use of light in real-time instead of relying on pre-calculated lighting like in the past. This entire "real-time" approach is what really helped sell Doom 3. Permitting such realistic lighting and shadows. The engine would later be used again in the likes Quake 4, Prey, Enemy Territory and Brink.
As for Doom 3 itself, the game acts as a reboot of sorts for the franchise. A revamp of the original concept, remaking the original storyline of the first Doom game with plenty of new additions aside from the obvious visual upgrade.
The game ditched most of the simple over-the-top action aspect for a more modern "scifi/horror" movie tone. Making the story of the invasion of Mars from Hell a more story-heavy tale, completely reimaigining the original story. A much slower approach instead of the classic "run and gun" feel of the original games. Putting more emphasis on fear and the atmosphere (kind of similar to what Midway did with Doom 64 in that regards).
Since they wanted more story in the game, sort of what they originally aimed with the "Doom Bible" in the first game, the crew decided to hire a professional science-fiction writer for the occasion. In the form of writer Matthew J. Costello to assist on the game. Now thanks to the decade that passed since then, they could finally get the proper atmosphere they always wanted but couldn't do back in the original game. Taking some cues from Valve Software's original Half-Life (some discrete references like the story structure to other more direct visual ones like the use of a monorail), as well as some influence from George Romero's Living Dead series and James Cameron's Aliens.
The story is set in the year 2145 on "Mars City". This huge military-industrial complex, a scientific research facility built by the Union Aerospace Corporation - the largest corporation on Earth. They just built their first facility on Mars. At first they were developing there advance weapons and technology, but after some local foundings they unearthed remnants of this ancient Martian civilization. Which helped them developed actual teleportation!
Despite the emphasis on story, there's only about four real main characters in the story of Doom 3. Dr. Malcolm Betruger is the head scientist of these Delta Labs, he is the one that was being the discovery of this ancient artifact in Site 3. He has been conducting these secret experiments. Since he's been playing with these teleportation experiments, there's been a lot of reports of strange sightings, paranoia, and cases of insanity. People are on the edge, there's been a lot of incidents around and there are some signs that something was not quite right at the UAC anymore.
There's also this Sergeant Thomas Kelly (aka Sarge) who gives you the objectives for most of the first half game. Like most of the staff, he starts to show some signs of trouble later on...
Finally two representatives from Earth are sent to investigate the UAC, Elliott Swann and Jack Campbell. They're here to discover the true reason behind the rising number of recent accidents.
You play as this anonymous space marine transfer, aka "the Doom guy". Freshly arrived, this marine jut arrived as all Hell breaks loose! As the new Doom guy was just talking with various scientists and civilians and finding out about the recent issues, a gateway to Hell was opened up in the deeper labs!
And now all these demons are invading the premises! The Doom guy must prevent the arrival of the forces of Hell, or soon they might be able to invade Earth from there!
You soon find out this was no incident. Most people are transformed into zombies. The idea is to attain the teleporter in the Delta Labs and shut down the teleporter before it's too late. Sarge wants you to try sending a signal to call some help from Earth. And there's also this remaining squad you never get to reach, Bravo Team.
It seems that Betrueger found these ancient tablets in the archaeological dig under the facility. Sarge is slowly taken over. The Doom guy finds the Soul Cube. And finally the ultimate showdown reaches climax once you find the fearsome legendary.. Cyberdemon!
Meanwhile Betruger is able to be reborn, reincarnated as this huge creepy dragon-demon...
While Doom 3's gameplay follows your basic run of the mill first person shooter formula, it was in this case a just return to form for the franchise that spawn an entire genre.
Doom 3 took a couple of notes from Half-Life and its sequel to bring the original granddaddy of the genre to a more modern audience. Like putting more focus on its story and the encounters of these NPCs through the Martian base, exposing most of the plot to an essentially mute protagonist. Unlike Valve's series though, the game also makes use of a lot of indirect means to deliver its story. Where Half-Life remained all the way through Gordon Freeman's point of view, Doom also uses several cut scenes (using in-game assets) and these documents you can find scattered all around the research facility.
In fact the game seems to take a lot of cues from survival horror games, including its emphasis on horror and atmospheric settings.
Enemies take more bullets than in past Doom games, ammo is scarce (at first). The more the horror goes on, the more blood and horrific visions you see.
Compared to previous id titles, it is more story driven. The levels follow one another seamlessly, only really separate by these various loading screens. The narrative explaining their succession, from one mission on some errands in this desolated UAC facility to another, much in the same vein of the old static text screens used in the original Doom.
The weapons offer a pretty fun and wide variety, ranging from your conventional firearms you always get in FPS to some more original scifi-based weapons. Most modeled after the original Doom weapons. From the shotgun to the rocket launcher, going through a machine gun, a chaingun, the plasma gun, to the final ultimate "Big Fucking Gun", namely the BFG 9000 ! Aka the most badass video game weapon of all-time making its first debut in full 3D!
The classic chainsaw is also back, explained in the story via a complete accident (or a "divine intervention" if you prefer), because of a mix up, they were actually expecting a jackhammers order but got instead the chainsaw. It's funny since the place has no trees (on Mars), but it's a comical way to explain the presence of this weapon in the UAC setting.
Sentry bot drones can also be found in a couple of situations, and they will explore and help you light the way in a couple of areas.
Speaking off, let's not also forget to mention my favorite over-the-top weapon of the entire game.. the flashlight! Most of the game actually revolves around the use of the flashlight. The UAC is drenched in pitch black darkness following the accident. You're equipped with a mere puny flashlight instead of, say, infrared or nocturnal hi-tech visions. But not so puny actually, you can conserve your ammo by using this little light to inflict some epic damages as a melee weapon! In fact it can even kill zombies in two hit alone, and seems to be powered by an inifinte battery!
There are all kinds of enemies in the game, a rich diversity of ugly creatures all uglier than the last. They're basically divided into two main categories, they're either zombies or demons.
The zombies are former humans, now possessed by hellish spirits. They will use whatever weapons they have in their hands or just keep coming at you.
The demons are the satanic Hellspawn sent after you. They will go at you with their claws, fireballs, or even strangely Strogg-like devices. All sorts of distorted creatures. These demons will to burn to ashs after their death (probably inspired by the then-popular Blade film series at the time), which is a nice smart way to not clutter the ground with the numerous things you will defeat through the various levels, it helps keep their number on screen relatively small and therefore avoid any lags. Most of thee come straight from the original games, such as the all-new and improved Imps, the heavily redesigned Pinkies, or mostly unchanged Cacodemon, Arch-viles or Lost souls (with their really bland new design of floating heads in the original Doom 3). Hell Knights are one of the most notably different redesigns from its predecessors.There's also several new faces like the Cherubs, Maggots, Vagaries and Wraiths all more disgusting than the last. And also various boss creatures like a pretty original Guardian or the creepy Spider Queen.
While the levels are large and open enough, they're fairly linear at the end of the day. But they always feel like real places and huge environments.
Like the Half-Life games, they played with a lot of scripted events to play up the horror. When it's not simply drowning the player in full darkness, by choice. It makes the environment feel all the more threatening. The use of the darkness and the flashlight is really original and not without reminding me of some traditional survival horror series. Making the player either choose seeing ahead or have a weapon in hand. You can always easily switch back and forth between one and the other in case a monster arise in front of you. It makes use of the great engine behind the game, it really shines through all the various impressive sources of lights here and there. There's never enough to actually perfectly see, but just so you're not completely lost in pitch darkness. As decried as it was at the time, it was such a unique approach to darkness in gaming (something in my eyes even movies always have a problem properly featuring to be honest).
Most of Doom 3's backstory can be found in these PDAs found around. Containing transmissions and various broadcast from the local workers before the accident. These PDAs contain personal emails and videos, these voice and text messages are a way to deliver more of the story if you want to get completely lost into Doom 3, they can actually be completely avoided for the most part. Scattered around like in the aforementioned survival horror games or these other first person scifi horror games at the time like the System Shock series.
Strangely missing in the game are the maps, unlike the original Doom. Which is strange since despite their more linear nature these much bigger levels still require are lot of backtracking and exploration. I wonder why they couldn't keep these available in the PDA, since it would have been a nice way to keep track what doors are blocked or can't be accessed just yet and whatnot. It would have been nice. It's even made stranger once you realize they've clearly designed these maps and they can be found for the most part over UAC terminal screens and the computer displays.
$ince the inspirations behind the original Doom game was "Aliens" and "Evil Dead 2" (from what they have gone on record), they tried matching the tone, story and atmosphere of Doom 3 as close to these films. And thanks to modern technology advancements they were able to make this dream a reality.
The game looks absolutely stunning. And quite captivating. It really feels like losing yourself in this abandoned and invaded scientific research facility. Being the last hope for mankind, thanks to this pretty generic but effect mute marine.
The game has a great timeless art direction (that only shined through the mixed work on the HD re-release of the game).
For the genre, the game is actually fairly long. The game is about third or so levels-long. Most of the "world" settings are spread over a few segments, 3-5 stages from the arrival on the upper Mars City floors to an administration lounge, the Alpha Labs, the Delta Labs, a passage through Hell, the Dig Site and the Caverns where you'll find traces of the original inhabitants of Mars. All designed to look and feel like more realistic environments compared to the older classics.
After all the waiting, finally the original kind of the genre made a great comeback, in style!
The big focus on the story and horror was a big surprise at the time. id went for a sort of survival horror vibe, in-between the action-heavy Resident Evil and the more oppressive nature of Silent Hill. Taking the best ideas from the original Doom, the revival of Wolfenstein and the presentation of the original Half-Life.
The complete pitch darkness was as much part of the game as it was a big controversial point of Doom 3. Depending on your own faculty to adapt and get into game, it was both very frustrating and perfectly suited for the game. But you have to also wonder how soldiers in the future of 2145 could not get their hands on some duct tape to fix a flashlight on their guns, you know kind of like most weapons can have lights mounted on them in our present day-era! There's not even some kind of alternate infrared vision or weaker mounted headlight!?
But it was part of the game's premise. All three most important features that greatly contributed to Doom 3 where its darkness, its sense of isolation and the immersive sound department. Such great work on all fronts.work. The sound was probably the aspect that took the most notes from Silent Hill. All these rusty, creaky and creepy sounds.. Then they often suddenly stop whenever you meet a new creature. The way it sounds whenever you get outside the labs and are forced to run with a limited air supply.
Doom 3 also ditches the use of traditional secret areas for these more convenient cabinets. There are all these cabinet doors all over the UAC which contain extra additional ammo, to reward exploration and players willing to immerse themselves in the lore of the game (via the PDAs). Making sure you never run off of ammo in the later more difficult segments (particularly once you get back from Hell and start back without any of your guns). The game also included a fun form of alternate reality game via the use of this fake company, Martian Buddy, they built an entire mythos around (see also the fake website http://www.martianbuddy.com - which is sadly no longer active now..).
And a fun "cameo" of the original Doom art in the form of a random hilarious arcade cabinet Super Turbo Turkey Puncher 3.
Finally to warrant some replay value, like the original the game featured a few difficulty levels. Such as Recruit, Marine, Veteran, and the increasingly difficult life-draining Nightmare mode.
Doom 3 came packaged with a forgettable but decent multiplayer mode, developed aside by Splash Damage. Up to four players, and covering only four mere simple modes as well. Thanks to the modding community the fans took upon themselves to improve upon the game by themselves and they were able to crank it up to 8 to 16 players! The expansion would later actually take note from all these fans demands and modifications and slightly improve the multiplayer. All the modes were basically deathmatches. They were fun but pretty basic, and didn't offer much. Which was made to mirror the style of the original Doom... for the worst. It's generally counted as the only real downside of the entire game in the eyes of most. The later Xbox port would offer the addition of a 2-player co-op mode for the single player campaign!
There was a huge mod community at the time for Doom 3. Thanks to id's open nature of their games, people were able to toy with the game (and since then, with the engine). Developing packs of new features, maps and even entire modifications of the basic game. From simple retro skin packs to entire new levels, as well as an impressive Classic Doom mod for Doom 3 (a lot of attempts were made to bring Doom 2 to Doom 3 as well, but the game taking place on Earth required a lot too much effort to be ever finished in its various attempts). Also let's not forget the infamous "duct tape" mod for Doom 3 which ended up so much better than what id would offer with the BFG edition (below), it actually sticks a flashlight to only the machinegun and shotgun, as to better preserve the original atmosphere of the game. Having the flashlight on only these two basic weapons meant the pistol was not equipped with it as to not spoil the early parts of the story.
The former drummer of Nine Inch Nails, Chris Vrenna, composed and performed the game's main theme song, which greatly recaptures the tone of the tracks from the old Doom 1 and 2. For most of the rest of the game, Doom 3 actually only features a more orchestral and more atmospheric score instead. (The game was originally set to feature an entire soundtrack by composer Trent Reznor of the band Nine Inch Nails, a huge fan of the Doom series.) Chris Vrenna and Clint Walsh actually composed the rest of the pieces for the game. The music and atmosphere was inspired a bit by the cult classic Jacob's Ladder. Specially the later more hellish music. The ambient sounds contribute a lot to the atmosphere, from the simple hissing sounds to the footsteps on the numerous surfaces, and all the machinery noises around really do much for the tone of the game.
Doom 3 was really to a huge success at the time. By itself and following its initial release date the game easily reached over 3.5 million copies sold worldwide, it was id Software's most successful title to date. Thanks to really impressive graphics, features and engine. Some critics were divided on a few strange points, some calling it way too close to the simpler gameplay of the original Doom while others heavily criticized id for completely ditching the frantic gameplay of the original game. Come on, guys, couldn't you at least try to make up your minds on this?
Overall, Doom 3 was a huge success, for a reason.
It's a timeless classic, and the worthwhile successor of Doom 1 and 2. Highly Recommended for any gamer and fan of the genre out there.
The game has a really misleading strange title in my eyes. While it really is the fourth Doom game (come on, don't forget Doom 64!), the game is really a remake of the original Doom and its story is a complete reboot. And while it sports the same title, it's far from the original frantic fast-paced Doom, the pacing mostly taking cues from Midway's own Doom 64 more so than the original games.
id Software tried something new and risky with Doom 3. And sort of the opposite you see most franchises do these day (like Resident Evil). They tried turning a mindless mainstream shooter into a somewhat smarter slower-paced title.
Such a unique impressive oppressive atmosphere! The game has a really great tone, which contributes to much of the game's great experience. Without it, it might as well have been a plain simple FPS game like old 1990s titles. The UAC felt like a real environment. The AI was decent, or at least modeled after the patterns of the monsters in the original Doom games. Although harder to provoke, inner-fighting amongst the various monsters ranks is still possible (but really hard to pull off without cheating on the console to spawn demons). The multi was really lacking though, which was bad for id, specially coming off their great work on Quake III Arena.
The game seems to use a lot of horror clichés like dropping monsters on every corner for easy jump scares, the use of pitch black darkness and the limited use of flashlight. Since it aims to be that more realistic, it also seems to run on a much slower pace than the previous Doom and Quake games. Some also complained about the game forcing you to read and listen through email messages for hidden codes access, but these are usually just for additional ammunitions (the expansion would be sure to leave codes easily on sight in the first few lines and paragraphs). The physics seemed really limited compared to the much more impressive Half-Life 2 running on Source at the time, which would be improved significantly in the Resurrection of Evil expansion.
But besides those points, there's a lot of great appeal to the simplicity of Doom 3. It aims to be a visual overhaul of the original Doom. As a remake, it did not need a more complex or silly RPG-esque features like several FPS games were using back then. All the new changes contributed to the tension and horror from sounds to the scripted sequences. The flashlight provided a great balance regarding what you needed to see and what you would want to see but couldn't. Sure it lacked a couple of modern features which were actually only just designed first at same time for Half-Life 2 (for example, Doom 3 was to have a Gravity Gun as well which was scrapped, but still found its way into the expansion).
The engine itself had a life of its own following the release of Doom 3. It would be used again to power some great titles like Quake 4 or Human Head Studios' Prey. It wasn't as widely licensed as previous id Software because of widespread use of Epic Games' Unreal Engine which was a lot simpler to handle for what game developers look for in games nowadays.
Like the previous titles, Doom 3 was ported on several systems. In 2005 the game was ported to Mac and Linux. An highly awaited Xbox version was also released in April 2006, ported by Vicarious Visions. This Xbox port offered the addition of a 2-player co-op mode for the single player campaign! It was pretty impressive to see Doom 3 run almost flawlessly on the Xbox. Sure they had to modify a couple of segments, cutting down levels into smaller parts or editing the bigger areas. But for the most part it remained as fast-paced, gorgeous and fun as the original game on PC. A couple of framerate issues at some points, since it pushed the Xbox to its limits, and less detailed textures, but otherwise it's all good. The game was released in two editions, a standard release and this steelbook case edition. Containing all these bonus features you wish it was a norm for most videogames (like movies), from concept artworks to behind the scenes videos, as well as coming packaged with Ultimate Doom and Doom II.
Doom 3 was followed by a first expansion "Resurrection of Evil", developed by Nerve Software and released in October 2005 (more on that one below). There also were a few adaptations including a series of novelizations written by Doom 3 writer Matthew J. Costello. Doom 3 itself would serve as the basis for the live-action Doom film directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak, starring Karl Urban and The Rock released in October 2005. It was a loose adaptation of the franchise closely using similar aesthetic for the monsters, yet completely ignoring what makes Doom DOOM. Meaning they covered everything, Imps, UAC and BFG, but didn't keep the invasion of Hell!! But that one will be reviewed another time..
Finally Doom 3 was released as part of the BFG Edition, which was a complete collection featuring an improved "HD version" of Doom in 2012. It contained the original Doom, Doom 2 and Doom 3, and their respective add-ons and a new campaign for each. The older games were actually their Xbox Live Arcade versions, slightly edited and now supporting Achievements. Doom was actually its Ultimate Doom iteration with the add-on fourth episode "Thy Flesh Consumed", and Doom II was expanded by its new episode "No Rest for the Living". Doom 1 and 2 are always fun, although these versions were heavily censored here and there, not Hell itself but rather the references to the nazis in the Wolfenstein levels (more on that in my previous reviews). Doom 3 being the main feature of this BFG edition, the game was completely remastered, with higher resolution and better defined models. The camera is slightly pulled off, the texts smaller, but the overall experience plays the same. With the strangely unskillaple cutscenes for some reason! The main controversial change made to the game was the inability to change back to an actual flashlight item and now instead have a shoulder-mounted one. The switch back and forth to the flashlight added to the tension and the element of strategy. Hate it or not, the flashlight was a defining part of the game, and it's simply not the same using this new light, no more sense of tension in the long corridors. And for some reason the new flashlight doesn't cast any shadows on the environments nor the enemies!! Why's that!?! Not only did this new light destroy the tension of the original but they also manage to completely ruin such an originally-good looking game! When it's all said and done, this BFG Edition is probably not the best way to play Doom 3. Despite the addition of a new episode "Lost Mission" (more on this one below), the inclusion of Doom 1 and 2, and the very forgettable addition of 3D support, it doesn't warrant to get this BFG Edition. But Bethesda made it the only available way to get the game on Steam now... The only good thing to come from this new edition is seeing it run so smoothly.
A sequel to the series was finally announced not long ago. Long rumored to be an adaptation of Doom II this time, Doom 4 was originally announced to run on Rage's id Tech 5. But after several delays and Bethesda having id revamp their first builds of the game from scratch, this new episode is now supposed to run on the upcoming new id Teh 6 technology instead! Currently the game is expected to either be released by the end of the year or early next year in 2016.
It's a timeless classic, and the worthwhile successor of Doom 1 and 2. Highly Recommended for any gamer and fan of the genre out there.
The game has a really misleading strange title in my eyes. While it really is the fourth Doom game (come on, don't forget Doom 64!), the game is really a remake of the original Doom and its story is a complete reboot. And while it sports the same title, it's far from the original frantic fast-paced Doom, the pacing mostly taking cues from Midway's own Doom 64 more so than the original games.
id Software tried something new and risky with Doom 3. And sort of the opposite you see most franchises do these day (like Resident Evil). They tried turning a mindless mainstream shooter into a somewhat smarter slower-paced title.
Such a unique impressive oppressive atmosphere! The game has a really great tone, which contributes to much of the game's great experience. Without it, it might as well have been a plain simple FPS game like old 1990s titles. The UAC felt like a real environment. The AI was decent, or at least modeled after the patterns of the monsters in the original Doom games. Although harder to provoke, inner-fighting amongst the various monsters ranks is still possible (but really hard to pull off without cheating on the console to spawn demons). The multi was really lacking though, which was bad for id, specially coming off their great work on Quake III Arena.
The game seems to use a lot of horror clichés like dropping monsters on every corner for easy jump scares, the use of pitch black darkness and the limited use of flashlight. Since it aims to be that more realistic, it also seems to run on a much slower pace than the previous Doom and Quake games. Some also complained about the game forcing you to read and listen through email messages for hidden codes access, but these are usually just for additional ammunitions (the expansion would be sure to leave codes easily on sight in the first few lines and paragraphs). The physics seemed really limited compared to the much more impressive Half-Life 2 running on Source at the time, which would be improved significantly in the Resurrection of Evil expansion.
But besides those points, there's a lot of great appeal to the simplicity of Doom 3. It aims to be a visual overhaul of the original Doom. As a remake, it did not need a more complex or silly RPG-esque features like several FPS games were using back then. All the new changes contributed to the tension and horror from sounds to the scripted sequences. The flashlight provided a great balance regarding what you needed to see and what you would want to see but couldn't. Sure it lacked a couple of modern features which were actually only just designed first at same time for Half-Life 2 (for example, Doom 3 was to have a Gravity Gun as well which was scrapped, but still found its way into the expansion).
The engine itself had a life of its own following the release of Doom 3. It would be used again to power some great titles like Quake 4 or Human Head Studios' Prey. It wasn't as widely licensed as previous id Software because of widespread use of Epic Games' Unreal Engine which was a lot simpler to handle for what game developers look for in games nowadays.
Like the previous titles, Doom 3 was ported on several systems. In 2005 the game was ported to Mac and Linux. An highly awaited Xbox version was also released in April 2006, ported by Vicarious Visions. This Xbox port offered the addition of a 2-player co-op mode for the single player campaign! It was pretty impressive to see Doom 3 run almost flawlessly on the Xbox. Sure they had to modify a couple of segments, cutting down levels into smaller parts or editing the bigger areas. But for the most part it remained as fast-paced, gorgeous and fun as the original game on PC. A couple of framerate issues at some points, since it pushed the Xbox to its limits, and less detailed textures, but otherwise it's all good. The game was released in two editions, a standard release and this steelbook case edition. Containing all these bonus features you wish it was a norm for most videogames (like movies), from concept artworks to behind the scenes videos, as well as coming packaged with Ultimate Doom and Doom II. Doom 3 was followed by a first expansion "Resurrection of Evil", developed by Nerve Software and released in October 2005 (more on that one below). There also were a few adaptations including a series of novelizations written by Doom 3 writer Matthew J. Costello. Doom 3 itself would serve as the basis for the live-action Doom film directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak, starring Karl Urban and The Rock released in October 2005. It was a loose adaptation of the franchise closely using similar aesthetic for the monsters, yet completely ignoring what makes Doom DOOM. Meaning they covered everything, Imps, UAC and BFG, but didn't keep the invasion of Hell!! But that one will be reviewed another time..
Finally Doom 3 was released as part of the BFG Edition, which was a complete collection featuring an improved "HD version" of Doom in 2012. It contained the original Doom, Doom 2 and Doom 3, and their respective add-ons and a new campaign for each. The older games were actually their Xbox Live Arcade versions, slightly edited and now supporting Achievements. Doom was actually its Ultimate Doom iteration with the add-on fourth episode "Thy Flesh Consumed", and Doom II was expanded by its new episode "No Rest for the Living". Doom 1 and 2 are always fun, although these versions were heavily censored here and there, not Hell itself but rather the references to the nazis in the Wolfenstein levels (more on that in my previous reviews). Doom 3 being the main feature of this BFG edition, the game was completely remastered, with higher resolution and better defined models. The camera is slightly pulled off, the texts smaller, but the overall experience plays the same. With the strangely unskillaple cutscenes for some reason! The main controversial change made to the game was the inability to change back to an actual flashlight item and now instead have a shoulder-mounted one. The switch back and forth to the flashlight added to the tension and the element of strategy. Hate it or not, the flashlight was a defining part of the game, and it's simply not the same using this new light, no more sense of tension in the long corridors. And for some reason the new flashlight doesn't cast any shadows on the environments nor the enemies!! Why's that!?! Not only did this new light destroy the tension of the original but they also manage to completely ruin such an originally-good looking game! When it's all said and done, this BFG Edition is probably not the best way to play Doom 3. Despite the addition of a new episode "Lost Mission" (more on this one below), the inclusion of Doom 1 and 2, and the very forgettable addition of 3D support, it doesn't warrant to get this BFG Edition. But Bethesda made it the only available way to get the game on Steam now... The only good thing to come from this new edition is seeing it run so smoothly.A sequel to the series was finally announced not long ago. Long rumored to be an adaptation of Doom II this time, Doom 4 was originally announced to run on Rage's id Tech 5. But after several delays and Bethesda having id revamp their first builds of the game from scratch, this new episode is now supposed to run on the upcoming new id Teh 6 technology instead! Currently the game is expected to either be released by the end of the year or early next year in 2016.
I give it:
VGR: Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil aka simply Resurrection of Evil or RoE
By Nerve Software/id Software/Activision
Type Expansion pack/Sequel
Type Expansion pack/Sequel
Year 2005
Co-developed by Nerve Software, a developer that was founded by ex-id Software employees. They also worked on few other expansions over the years including id's past Return to Castle Wolfenstein.
Resurrection of Evil was a 2005 expansion pack for Doom 3, offering 12 new levels, set after the original storyline. Far off enough and featuring the same protagonist as to leave enough room in case a proper sequel would follow by id. It adds a couple of new weapons and some work was put into it to bring some more ideas from Half-Life 2 such as playing with more advanced physics and a similar new gadget-gun. And an improved enhanced nultiplayer experience taking some critics into account.
Aside from the dozen new levels, there's also several new enemies and boss creatures, and the addition of a new weapon. The classic Doom II double-barreled shotgun, aka the "super shotgun", makes a return following its absent in the original Doom 3.
The story in Doom 3 might have been simple, but it was well presented enough. Crafted to better put the player in the shoes of this nameless space marine, finding these PDA logs exposing the plot, etc. Resurrection of Evil's story offers less mystery this time. It feels pretty standard but it does its work.
The plot takes place in 2147, two years after the events of Doom 3. The UAC corporation wants to take back their devastated facility. What happened there two years ago during this unexplained incident? They heard a signal beacon still transmitting from the ruins of Mars, coming from one of their Martian satellites. A team is quickly sent to investigate the installations. One Marine finds this strange device, some kind of artifact. A new main character is introduced, Doctor McNeil who was the one to have alerted counselor Swann in the original game. To stop the invasion for good the new Doom guy (designed specifically after the classic Doom guy, with a meaner look) has to defeat these three Hell Hunters and finally find and destroy Betruger for good, now transformed in this demon, the "Maledict"!
RoE introduces several new enemies, new weapons and new settings! It sort of begins where Doom 3 left off and then goes into all-new areas of the UAC.
There's two major changes from Doom 3's gameplay in the form of new main features added to the game. The "Grabber" was originally a scrapped weapon developed for Doom 3, basically Doom's version of the Half-Life 2 Gravity gun. Physics in the game engine were grandly expanded upon, all objects have now their own proper physics. As its name implies, this grabber allows you to grab boxes and items around. You can even also grab the fireballs from your enemies and throw those back.
The other new addition is in the form of "Hellstone", the new artifact that sort of replaces the Soul Cube from Doom 3. It gets new abilities whenever you face one of these Hell Knight-like boss demons. As you hunt them down one by one you get new features like "Hell Time" which is basically a bullet time ability like in Max Payne, to slow things around. Then comes a berserker ability to add up to your attack power, and the final one is basically a timed invulnerability. Each time you get one of these there's a few puzzles to solve to get to learn how to use each ability.
The chainsaw is sadly absent this time, making the way to be replaced by the Grabber. Taking another cue from Half-Life while losing a classic weapon. The super shotgun is such a fun addition though, it forces you to reload every shot but it's such a powerful weapon and really worth it!
There's several new monsters. The Forgotten One is a flaming skull just like the original Lost Souls from the classic Doom games, replacing their Doom 3 iteration. Vulgars are these new bigger meaner creepier Imps. And let's not forget these giant unique-looking Bruisers (kind of similar to the Stroggs in Quake), this giant brute with a creepy computer screen as a mouth (which sort of reminds me of "RoboCain" back in RoboCop 2).
The game begins really complex. There's some tactical element to it as you're forced to fight you way through all kinds monsters right form the start of the game. Despite it being a new episode, it's recommended to be familiar with Doom 3 first. All monsters do pop up from the start in increasingly more and more dangerous waves, and you're forced to start from the beginning with no weapons, etc. But it gets really easier in the later second half of the game as you will accumulate all these guns and power-ups through the game. Once you've reached the Phobos Labs, it tries getting more difficult forcing you to always use the artifact, in these rooms more and more crowded with demons. But it really never gets as tense as the original game.
The three Hunter battles are really fun and unique, I kinda wish they'd have been even more of these guys. The huge maze-like levels are a lot of fun and a nice throwback to the pace of the original games. Nerve Software really took into account a lot of the critics, RoE doesn't rely as much on monsters hidden inside closets. They learned from their mistakes to offer a better confined experience. The game is less dark, there's a lot of areas in plain sunlight, you don't feel the need to use the flashlight as much anymore.
They greatly expanded upon the multiplayer mode, now offering a multi up to 8 players. There's various multiplayer modes, including Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Last Man Standing and Tournament. On the Xbox the game even supported multiplayer over the system link and or Xbox Live (which was still kinda shaky at the time).
Resurrection of Evil was a 2005 expansion pack for Doom 3, offering 12 new levels, set after the original storyline. Far off enough and featuring the same protagonist as to leave enough room in case a proper sequel would follow by id. It adds a couple of new weapons and some work was put into it to bring some more ideas from Half-Life 2 such as playing with more advanced physics and a similar new gadget-gun. And an improved enhanced nultiplayer experience taking some critics into account.
Aside from the dozen new levels, there's also several new enemies and boss creatures, and the addition of a new weapon. The classic Doom II double-barreled shotgun, aka the "super shotgun", makes a return following its absent in the original Doom 3.
The story in Doom 3 might have been simple, but it was well presented enough. Crafted to better put the player in the shoes of this nameless space marine, finding these PDA logs exposing the plot, etc. Resurrection of Evil's story offers less mystery this time. It feels pretty standard but it does its work.
The plot takes place in 2147, two years after the events of Doom 3. The UAC corporation wants to take back their devastated facility. What happened there two years ago during this unexplained incident? They heard a signal beacon still transmitting from the ruins of Mars, coming from one of their Martian satellites. A team is quickly sent to investigate the installations. One Marine finds this strange device, some kind of artifact. A new main character is introduced, Doctor McNeil who was the one to have alerted counselor Swann in the original game. To stop the invasion for good the new Doom guy (designed specifically after the classic Doom guy, with a meaner look) has to defeat these three Hell Hunters and finally find and destroy Betruger for good, now transformed in this demon, the "Maledict"!
RoE introduces several new enemies, new weapons and new settings! It sort of begins where Doom 3 left off and then goes into all-new areas of the UAC.
There's two major changes from Doom 3's gameplay in the form of new main features added to the game. The "Grabber" was originally a scrapped weapon developed for Doom 3, basically Doom's version of the Half-Life 2 Gravity gun. Physics in the game engine were grandly expanded upon, all objects have now their own proper physics. As its name implies, this grabber allows you to grab boxes and items around. You can even also grab the fireballs from your enemies and throw those back.
The other new addition is in the form of "Hellstone", the new artifact that sort of replaces the Soul Cube from Doom 3. It gets new abilities whenever you face one of these Hell Knight-like boss demons. As you hunt them down one by one you get new features like "Hell Time" which is basically a bullet time ability like in Max Payne, to slow things around. Then comes a berserker ability to add up to your attack power, and the final one is basically a timed invulnerability. Each time you get one of these there's a few puzzles to solve to get to learn how to use each ability.
The chainsaw is sadly absent this time, making the way to be replaced by the Grabber. Taking another cue from Half-Life while losing a classic weapon. The super shotgun is such a fun addition though, it forces you to reload every shot but it's such a powerful weapon and really worth it!
There's several new monsters. The Forgotten One is a flaming skull just like the original Lost Souls from the classic Doom games, replacing their Doom 3 iteration. Vulgars are these new bigger meaner creepier Imps. And let's not forget these giant unique-looking Bruisers (kind of similar to the Stroggs in Quake), this giant brute with a creepy computer screen as a mouth (which sort of reminds me of "RoboCain" back in RoboCop 2).
The game begins really complex. There's some tactical element to it as you're forced to fight you way through all kinds monsters right form the start of the game. Despite it being a new episode, it's recommended to be familiar with Doom 3 first. All monsters do pop up from the start in increasingly more and more dangerous waves, and you're forced to start from the beginning with no weapons, etc. But it gets really easier in the later second half of the game as you will accumulate all these guns and power-ups through the game. Once you've reached the Phobos Labs, it tries getting more difficult forcing you to always use the artifact, in these rooms more and more crowded with demons. But it really never gets as tense as the original game.
The three Hunter battles are really fun and unique, I kinda wish they'd have been even more of these guys. The huge maze-like levels are a lot of fun and a nice throwback to the pace of the original games. Nerve Software really took into account a lot of the critics, RoE doesn't rely as much on monsters hidden inside closets. They learned from their mistakes to offer a better confined experience. The game is less dark, there's a lot of areas in plain sunlight, you don't feel the need to use the flashlight as much anymore.
They greatly expanded upon the multiplayer mode, now offering a multi up to 8 players. There's various multiplayer modes, including Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Last Man Standing and Tournament. On the Xbox the game even supported multiplayer over the system link and or Xbox Live (which was still kinda shaky at the time).
Overall: While it's clearly not as good as the original Doom 3, Resurrection of Evil is still pretty fun all things considered.
It might not be as creepy or tense as Doom 3, but at least they tried going into a different direction and bringing things back to a more frantic rapid gunplay like the original Doom series. The gameplay feels a lot more nervous. A lot less work was put on building up the atmosphere for a more old school action game.
If enjoyed Doom 3, chances are you Must Try this one as well.
To be honest, I've probably replayed RoE a lot more times that the actual Doom 3 over the years! And not because I find its any better than the original Doom 3, but just because I personally slightly prefer it over Doom 3 myself.
Speaking of the above questionable BFG Edition, an entire original segment in the sewers where the Doom guy was forced to put an hazmat suit on was also completely edited, removing the frustrating hazmat suit that limited your field of vision. Why did they do that? It was such a memorable creepy sequence and now it's just business as usual...
The standalone Xbox port Resurrection had a lot more work put into it. I can't speak much of it since I personally never got to try it. On the Xbox ot didn't not require the original Doom 3 to play, and in fact also contained a port of the original Doom, Doom II: Hell on Earth, and the Master Levels for Doom II as well. Those still retained the ability to be played in single and co-op as well. The multiplayer was kept pretty much intact, despite being reduced to only 4 players. But it specially received several more maps and modes. The most notable difference on this version of Resurrection of Evil being the fact the flashlight was now always attached to the basic pistol, not a separate item, and not available on every weapon as to retain some of the credibility and challenge (hear that, BFG Edition?).
It might not be as creepy or tense as Doom 3, but at least they tried going into a different direction and bringing things back to a more frantic rapid gunplay like the original Doom series. The gameplay feels a lot more nervous. A lot less work was put on building up the atmosphere for a more old school action game.
If enjoyed Doom 3, chances are you Must Try this one as well.
To be honest, I've probably replayed RoE a lot more times that the actual Doom 3 over the years! And not because I find its any better than the original Doom 3, but just because I personally slightly prefer it over Doom 3 myself.
Speaking of the above questionable BFG Edition, an entire original segment in the sewers where the Doom guy was forced to put an hazmat suit on was also completely edited, removing the frustrating hazmat suit that limited your field of vision. Why did they do that? It was such a memorable creepy sequence and now it's just business as usual...
The standalone Xbox port Resurrection had a lot more work put into it. I can't speak much of it since I personally never got to try it. On the Xbox ot didn't not require the original Doom 3 to play, and in fact also contained a port of the original Doom, Doom II: Hell on Earth, and the Master Levels for Doom II as well. Those still retained the ability to be played in single and co-op as well. The multiplayer was kept pretty much intact, despite being reduced to only 4 players. But it specially received several more maps and modes. The most notable difference on this version of Resurrection of Evil being the fact the flashlight was now always attached to the basic pistol, not a separate item, and not available on every weapon as to retain some of the credibility and challenge (hear that, BFG Edition?).
I give this one a: 2 / 3 Score!
VGR: Doom 3: The Lost Mission part of the Doom 3: BFG Edition
By id Software/Bethesda Softworks
Type Port/Expansion
Type Port/Expansion
Year 2012
Included in the Doom 3: BFG Edition re-release in 2012 for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Doom 3: The Lost Mission is a sort of "best of" deleted content from the original game.
Included in this new port of the game, as such it looks and plays very much like the HD ports of Doom 3 and its expansion. This new "add-on" doubles as new bonus feature and additional new single player campaign. Designed with the idea to make use of the ability to have an armor-mounted flashlight from the go and containing a lot more darker areas.
Since this newly designed campaign was only meant as a bonus along the original Doom 1, 2, 3 and RoE it is really short. Even by expansion packs-standards. It's only about 8 new levels-long, which consist in a few segments cut from the original Doom 3 campaign. Designed after the 8-level mission structure of the original Doom (and I kinda wish they'd have included a 9th secret level while they were at it...).
It features a new "story" and PDA log entries and whatnot. As for the rest, all the weapons and enemies come from both Doom 3 and Resurrection of Evil.
They basically did the bare minimum for the story, you will almost forgot what the point of this new story is while playing these levels. Doom 3 had this whole bringing the teleporters back online or trying to reach a specific part of the labs, and RoE had you bring this artifact back to Hell. But this cut content doesn't explain why you start in the middle of these labs and not near the spaceport or inside the marine base administration.
The story takes place concurrently with the original Doom 3, while the Doom 3 marine was going back and forth through the Delta Labs. You get to play as one of the members of the infamous Bravo Team you never got to meet in the main game, the last surviving one. After being ambushed by the demons the last member of Bravo Team tries to escape further into the research facility before being contacted by one of the scientists alive. You get to explore this new area in Enpro Sector and revisit a lot of familiar grounds. The objective is to shut down the original experimental teleportation device they developed in the Exis Labs used to open the gateway to Hell in the first place! But before being able to turn it up you must redirect the power and whatnot, they make up a few excuses to have you go on a few errands in the nearly destroyed UAC premises. Then you are forced through one last travel to Hell to destroy the original teleportation array for good...
Every monster and weapon from Doom 3 and Resurrection of Evil makes an appearance in The Lost Mission at one point or another, not counting on the bosses. The game's only missing the chainsaw, still replaced by Grabber, and the Soul Cube and the Artifact. There's only two bosses through this entire short campaign, in the last two Hell levels. In the Hell Outpost you face the final boss of the history of Doom 3, a modified "Guardian of Hell" without its original lighting mechanic to weaken it down in the original Doom 3.
Also note that on the Nightmare difficulty setting the game will give you back the Soul Cube to make up for draining your health constantly.
The real downside of The Lost Mission is its very forgettable nature. It doesn't introduce any new weapon or monster, I kinda wish they had gone through this extra mile to make it more memorable at the end of the day. And believe me, the remastered visuals do not make up for it in my eyes.
For some reasons, the game also uses a lot of invisible walls, probably to avoid to see the player use the Grabber to cheat around the linear construction of the levels. And you can't even bring as many objects as in the original RoE. It really shows that this new campaign was built several years later, specially newly built for Doom BDF Edition and not one of the original games.
The game also recycles a lot of assets and segments from Doom 3 directly. Recolored structures that feel really cheap. And it also feels a lot more linear than ever.
On the plus side, I really liked the Hell Levels in The Lost Mission. Compared to the rest of the game those areas felt really huge and open, with hordes of enemies. Compared to the more straightforward linear previous levels, it feels like a true return to form to the original Doom 1 and 2. I kinda wish the entire game followed the same level design and structure instead...
Included in this new port of the game, as such it looks and plays very much like the HD ports of Doom 3 and its expansion. This new "add-on" doubles as new bonus feature and additional new single player campaign. Designed with the idea to make use of the ability to have an armor-mounted flashlight from the go and containing a lot more darker areas.
Since this newly designed campaign was only meant as a bonus along the original Doom 1, 2, 3 and RoE it is really short. Even by expansion packs-standards. It's only about 8 new levels-long, which consist in a few segments cut from the original Doom 3 campaign. Designed after the 8-level mission structure of the original Doom (and I kinda wish they'd have included a 9th secret level while they were at it...).
It features a new "story" and PDA log entries and whatnot. As for the rest, all the weapons and enemies come from both Doom 3 and Resurrection of Evil.
They basically did the bare minimum for the story, you will almost forgot what the point of this new story is while playing these levels. Doom 3 had this whole bringing the teleporters back online or trying to reach a specific part of the labs, and RoE had you bring this artifact back to Hell. But this cut content doesn't explain why you start in the middle of these labs and not near the spaceport or inside the marine base administration.
The story takes place concurrently with the original Doom 3, while the Doom 3 marine was going back and forth through the Delta Labs. You get to play as one of the members of the infamous Bravo Team you never got to meet in the main game, the last surviving one. After being ambushed by the demons the last member of Bravo Team tries to escape further into the research facility before being contacted by one of the scientists alive. You get to explore this new area in Enpro Sector and revisit a lot of familiar grounds. The objective is to shut down the original experimental teleportation device they developed in the Exis Labs used to open the gateway to Hell in the first place! But before being able to turn it up you must redirect the power and whatnot, they make up a few excuses to have you go on a few errands in the nearly destroyed UAC premises. Then you are forced through one last travel to Hell to destroy the original teleportation array for good...
Every monster and weapon from Doom 3 and Resurrection of Evil makes an appearance in The Lost Mission at one point or another, not counting on the bosses. The game's only missing the chainsaw, still replaced by Grabber, and the Soul Cube and the Artifact. There's only two bosses through this entire short campaign, in the last two Hell levels. In the Hell Outpost you face the final boss of the history of Doom 3, a modified "Guardian of Hell" without its original lighting mechanic to weaken it down in the original Doom 3.
Also note that on the Nightmare difficulty setting the game will give you back the Soul Cube to make up for draining your health constantly.
The real downside of The Lost Mission is its very forgettable nature. It doesn't introduce any new weapon or monster, I kinda wish they had gone through this extra mile to make it more memorable at the end of the day. And believe me, the remastered visuals do not make up for it in my eyes.
For some reasons, the game also uses a lot of invisible walls, probably to avoid to see the player use the Grabber to cheat around the linear construction of the levels. And you can't even bring as many objects as in the original RoE. It really shows that this new campaign was built several years later, specially newly built for Doom BDF Edition and not one of the original games.
The game also recycles a lot of assets and segments from Doom 3 directly. Recolored structures that feel really cheap. And it also feels a lot more linear than ever.
On the plus side, I really liked the Hell Levels in The Lost Mission. Compared to the rest of the game those areas felt really huge and open, with hordes of enemies. Compared to the more straightforward linear previous levels, it feels like a true return to form to the original Doom 1 and 2. I kinda wish the entire game followed the same level design and structure instead...
Overall: Despite running on the same stunning graphics, this Lost Mission campaing gets pretty forgettable and repetitive. Since it came packaged along the remastered main games it was a nice bonus addition, but it doesn't add anything new at the end of the day. Aside from hardcore Doom fans, I would recommend to just Skip It.
I know the original Doom 3 was already pretty straightforward, but it had a much better sense of pacing and exploration. Lost Mission is just too linear for its own good. It relies too much on teleporter spawns, and not enough on custom scripted sequence that helped sell the game and make the UAC almost come to life. The geometry feels a lot boxier, more generic, simply going from one room after another. And for some reason the same boxed corridor keeps popping up in-between each new area.
The previously cut content was nice, but to make up for it they had to recycle so much from the standard Doom 3 campaign. Recycled corridors and rooms. A few recolors certainly don't hid this fact.
I expected a much more refined gameplay after all these years and specially now that the team was familiar with the engine and its assets. But it just feels like such a strange mixed bag. I keep repeating myself, but it's just very forgettable. The game has a sort of classic feel in its approach thanks to using only a short few levels in a similar way to the classic Doom structure. But there's just too much re-used elements and an uninspired final boss fight. It really lacks some original level design...
Speaking of the BFG Edition, I kinda wish the feature to use the flashlight at any given time was only possible in this add-on, since it was really built from the ground up with this gameplay element in mind. A lot of segments are in complete pitch dark, where you can barely see with no distinct visible source of light in sight unlike those same situations in Doom 3.
I know the original Doom 3 was already pretty straightforward, but it had a much better sense of pacing and exploration. Lost Mission is just too linear for its own good. It relies too much on teleporter spawns, and not enough on custom scripted sequence that helped sell the game and make the UAC almost come to life. The geometry feels a lot boxier, more generic, simply going from one room after another. And for some reason the same boxed corridor keeps popping up in-between each new area.
The previously cut content was nice, but to make up for it they had to recycle so much from the standard Doom 3 campaign. Recycled corridors and rooms. A few recolors certainly don't hid this fact.
I expected a much more refined gameplay after all these years and specially now that the team was familiar with the engine and its assets. But it just feels like such a strange mixed bag. I keep repeating myself, but it's just very forgettable. The game has a sort of classic feel in its approach thanks to using only a short few levels in a similar way to the classic Doom structure. But there's just too much re-used elements and an uninspired final boss fight. It really lacks some original level design...
Speaking of the BFG Edition, I kinda wish the feature to use the flashlight at any given time was only possible in this add-on, since it was really built from the ground up with this gameplay element in mind. A lot of segments are in complete pitch dark, where you can barely see with no distinct visible source of light in sight unlike those same situations in Doom 3.
I give this one a: 1.5 / 3 Score!
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