You're going to hear a lot about Doom 3 from a lot of people. What you can expect is, it's going to get very dark. Now, whether you prefer a flashlight or not is up to you, or the version of the game you're playing. Among the other Doom titles, this has always been seen as a black sheep, and for good reason. Where Doom began with fast paced action, heavy weaponry and tbe goriest blood, Doom 3 hiked up the franchise in a few ways, but it certainly wasn't the fast pacing.
Doom 3 was obviously a showcase of ID's power. This was a peak in graphics technology. Not only was it fully 3D, but the detail was now brought to limits we never thought possible. Now, the problem with this at the time of its initial release was that conventional PC's in normal homes did not have the power to run this bombastically huge game. Not only did it take hours upon hours to load into the computer but loading up the game for the first time was the equivalent of suddenly pushing your computer into a 10K run.
The graphics have aged quite well, especially for a game that wanted to remain very creepy and full of sudden attacks in shadowy spots. The pacing was brought way way down, and while the light was very limited, the flashlight was originally only selected as a separate weapon. You literally could not use another weapon with the flashlight, but we will be playing the BFG edition on the PS3. It is shoulder mounted and can be used with any weapon. A lot of people took issue with this, saying that it wasn't as hard and the mechanic was a good challenge in strategy and hand-eye coordination. I don't care, I like to see with flashlight, so flashlight good.
Doom 3 starts outs like Half-life did, with the day-in-the-life approach, like you're going to work. Only this time, you're reporting to a new station on Mars. After you go through some talking sessions and report to your new station, you start to see that things are wrong. Pretty soon, someone who talks very suspiciously opens a portal to Hell and demons begin to invade the entire ship. Sadly, this invasion involves lost souls. They're rather weak in this version, but they are equally as annoying. Imps in this version go well with the horror element. They gave them a very detailed monstrous form. The Mancubus is given a new, very body-horror inspired design.
People will argue whether they like the new slow mechanics, where there aren't so many monster closets and there's more sneak attacks and small things coming to claw you or shoot you with fireballs. Pinkies are probably the ones that got the most sinister appearance among the others. Navigating your way through the space station, having to go outside airlocks and into the dead of Mars space, while occasionally taking on one or a small pack of demons.
Your guns are up and down. The shotgun in Doom 3 is notoriously disappointing among its peers. The shotgun is a proud heritage to the franchise that originated the FPS awesome shotgun heritage. The missile launcher and the chaingun, they're both good and up to par with Doom's standards. The plasmagun is not among my favorites but it's not bad, especially when you first get it and have a whole new pocket for lot's of ammunition. Ammo is kind of scarce, especially at the beginning of the game. You need to be able to melee some of the demons or even just count on the pistol, which is a hard ask, I understand. The BFG is back and this time you need to power it up. If you power it up too much, it will explode and kill everything, including you.
The imps have a nice visceral character design this time around, and seems much more like a horror movie monster. This is probably why this is the design the Doom horror movie leaned into this look for their imp. The pinky also has a much more organic look, even having a much more sickly, gangly look with a whiter color to it. Everything in this title has been shaped more into something that would come out of Clive Barker. The gore gushes much like the original, only this time it's much more realistic and running with a hot new engine that allows some very interesting shredding of demon meat.
Might we also take a moment to appreciate the design of the Hellknight. This is the time that the game separated them from their Baron of Hell roots. It made them into more like a gorilla and has them leap at you and punch you. In Doom 3, they are pretty deadly, and usually require a good rocket at a distance and a chaingun up close. The fact that Doom 4 used the same character design for their game is a statement of good taste.
Dr. Betruger has come out as the one who summoned the demons onto the base and used its human souls to fuel the demon's take over. Basically, now you need to kill all of the demons on the base and you need to go to hell to make sure they stay dead. You come across what is known as the Soulcube, and you use it to kill monsters and get their souls. Once it is fueled, it is the most powerful weapon and the only weapon that can kill the Cyberdemon. Oh, yes, the Cyberdemon has made a return and he's... not great. Honestly, I consider this one of the lesser Cyberdemon designs and the Soulcube makes the final battlle way too easy.
Going through the science labs throughout the game and opening the safes with all of the medical and ammunition stuff you could need is a lot of fun, for a while. This game isn't overly long, but with the pacing, it does seem to deag in some areas. Some people will say that this is a great game, just not a great Doom game. The levels in Hell are much more Doom focused, and there's more demons to fight with more ammo, but that's basically at the end of the game. This is good when you consider it an offshoot rather than a full on Doom game. Many consider Doom 64 more of an installment to the franchise than this one. Now that computers and consoles can handle the game better, it's far more manageable and good for a small bit of FPS survival horror.
This is especially true when you're entering the season of the virtua SPOOOOOOOOOOKIES and Ghosties and Boo!!! It's always fun to bring Doom into the fray, and now the Halloween season continues. Now, spread the season and the thrills! Just be careful who you startle from the shadows, some people carry chainsaws. Virtua VROOOOM!!!!
