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| | Title:
DOOM 3
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System:
Xbox
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Genre:
Action/FPS
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Publisher:
Activision
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Developer:
id Software
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Release:
Q1 2005
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Online:
Yes
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ESRB:
Mature
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When Doom 3 came out for the PC, it was one of the best games of its time. It
was viewed by most as the best PC game available, until the famous and long
awaited Half-Life 2 came out. Although HL2 seemed to have swiftly taken Doom 3's
throne, it is not forgotten. Many PC gamers still enjoy playing and talking about
the game. However, not everyone in the world has the money to purchase--or build--a top of the line computer, which is the best way to play Doom 3. This is
where the Xbox version of Doom 3 comes in. If gamers missed out on the PC action, they
will now be able to jump into this incredible game on the Xbox console.
In Doom 3, you are a marine and you are reporting to a base on the planet of
Mars. You arrive at the Union Aerospace Corporation, which is a research
facility located on Mars. The base seems pretty creepy--especially the
underground facilities. However, nobody on Mars was able predict what was about
to happen. Deep under the surface of Mars, you find a lost worker that is frantically
trying to relay a message to the surface. He is scared out of his mind, and
soon after a gate to Hell opens in the very room. Tons of demons spill out of
the portal and begin taking over the base. The demons are spreading quickly, and
you soon learn that you are one of only a few survivors. Now it is up to you to
find out how this happened, and prevent the spread of the demons.
Gameplay
Like any other first person shooter, shortly after you arrive on Mars--and
before things really go haywire--you are equipped with a standard pistol and armor. As you get a little further into the game, you will find a
shotgun which will blow almost anything into pieces, and a machine gun which has a pretty fast rate of fire. For a good part of the game, these few weapons
will be your primary weapons. However, later in the game you will pick up a few
more such as the chain gun, rocket launcher, and even a chainsaw. You can also whack enemies with your flashlight,
but you might as well be poking them
with your fingers. Although it might be a little fun to whack a demon over the
head with a flashlight, it is much more useful for searching dark areas. You
also have the option to punch, which you should really only use if you have
no ammunition for any gun, or you are just playing around punching some co-workers
or a wall.
Although in the beginning the flashlight may seem pretty useless, it is extremely helpful later on in the game, because the entire game is filled
with darkness. In just about every other room, you won't be able to see a good
part of it. You can either find out what is in the corner the hard way, by just
walking through, or past them, or you can take your flashlight out and search
everything before moving forward. Most of the time, the demon will come out
before you will find it. So in most rooms you won't have to use the flashlight.
However, when you are using your flashlight you have to be extremely careful
because you have to switch back to your firearm quickly if something lunges at
you. The overall darkness of the game is one of the many things that make Doom
3 such an intense and frightening game.
Speaking of scary, the demons and other enemies in the game are more than scary.
Not only is it the way they look, but the way they move, pop out at you, and
attack you will have most people almost falling out of their seats. Near the
beginning of the game, you deal with zombies for a little while, which seem
pretty scary at first. Then Imps--a red demon that hurls fire balls--begin to
appear, and as you progress through the game more and more types of
demons begin to appear.
One of your new toys in Doom 3 is your PDA. Your PDA can store email messages,
audio messages, and video messages. Also, if someone happens to leave their PDA
unattended--either unintentionally, or just because they were eaten by a demon--you can pick their PDA up and gain the information that they had in their PDA.
Small things like this in Doom 3 were extremely well done, because often you have
to search through someone's PDA for the password to a crate, or to learn how to
use certain new weapons, or even just to find out some recent events
in the Mars base. For example, on one guy's PDA there is a voice recording and
the guy is complaining that his co-workers are idiots. He is wondering how they
got hired, and then says that they are so dumb that he changed all the pass codes
on the storage crates to 123 and the workers still came asking what the codes
were a few days later! It would have been much easier for the developers to have
the pass code in a simple text email, but the audio message makes the game feel
more realistic, gives you more information about the story, and makes you work
for the pass code.
The biggest let down of Doom 3's gameplay is that it is really no different from
any other first person shooter in terms of what you can and can't do in the game. You do have
certain objectives, but most of the time the objectives are to just pass through
levels and protect yourself against the demons. In the first few Doom games you
could simply run past all the demons, open the door to the exit room, and press
the button. Doom 3 is a little more complicated than this, but still not
anything different, or that requires different tactics throughout the game.
As you may have already guessed, this game is full of blood, guts, dead people,
demons, and bizarre sights. If you are the type that thinks is disgusting when
you see someone dead in a video game, blood all over the place, or just all
together hate first person shooters because you are killing people, then this
game is definitely not for you. I would not even recommend looking through the screenshots. However, when you really look at the overall game, Doom 3
is really nothing more than a creepy shooter game.
Graphics
The graphics of the game are by far the best aspect of Doom 3. Everything from
the lighting, to the detail, to the way each room is arranged is extremely well
done. The lighting is by far one of the best among all Xbox games. Although it
may seem there is a huge lack of lights in this game, the few that there are
light up the rooms just the way they need to. There are also a number of
lights coming from things such as computer screens, doors, and even the eyes of
your enemies. Lighting changes are also common throughout the game. If a few
demons are about to appear, the music will intensify, and the lights will dim,
possibly to the point where you can only see their eyes if they are looking at
you.
The details of textures are excellent, and it looks like a lot of time was put
into them. Unlike in most games where there will be a huge surface, and one
texture will repeat over and over again, in Doom 3 I have yet to see this occur.
However, things such as doors, crates, and other common objects look the same
almost every time. Doors are used a lot in Doom 3 to section off levels, and while there
are a few different looking doors, they look the same. But, the texture does change with the size of the
door. Since the small door is the one you see the most, you will see that texture
hundreds of times throughout the game and it doesn't change. Not that it is
ugly, but get gets repetitive.
Each room in Doom 3 has its own unique layout. This is one of the best parts of
Doom 3, because you will never know what the room looks like, so you won't be
able to predict anything and know all the spots to search. The number of rooms
per stage is also astonishing. If you are playing on an easy difficulty, a room usually won't take more than a minute to clear. The rooms are usually
filled with objects that you would see in a normal underground facility, such as
pipes, metal crates, computers, and metal basically everywhere.
Audio
Just like the graphics, the audio in Doom 3 helps tremendously to create the
scary atmosphere for the game. If you have ever watched scary movies, you know that
the sound alone lets you know something is coming, and you are already scared.
This is what happens all the time in Doom 3, and the background music is
relevant to what is happening in the game. Sound effects also play a huge role
in the audio. Often you will hear something walking or moving around, but
you can't see a thing which most of the time is extremely frightening. Sounds
such as doors opening, foot steps, and most weapon sounds are very realistic as
well. The sound of the game is right up there with its excellent graphics, and
will have you on the edge of your seat for most of the game.
Overall
Although Doom 3 was already starting to die out on the PC after Half-Life 2 came
out, that is no reason not to give Doom 3 a chance. Doom 3's graphics and audio are
superb, and are right up there with the top games on the Xbox console. The
gameplay is really nothing new, but it is still fun to play completely through.
Without the scary noises, extreme darkness, and evil looking demons, Doom 3
would not be nearly the same. Anyone that enjoys first person shooters will tell
you that Doom 3 is one of the best out there. Now that Doom 3 is available on
the Xbox, there isn't a reason why you shouldn't give it a spin.
| The Core Score |
Overall
9.3 |
| Fun |
|
9.3 |
| Gameplay |
|
9 |
| Graphics |
|
9.6 |
| Audio |
|
9.5 |
| Replay |
|
8.5 |
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