Doom 3 : Resurrection of Evil Review

[page=Introduction and Gameplay]
Game Title : Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil
Format : PC-CD
Genre : First Person Shooter, Addon

Introduction :

Following it’s grand unveiling at E3 2002, Doom 3 quickly became and remained THE title that everyone was talking about. Forum’s, fan sites, magazines, everywhere you looked people were talking with uncontrollable excitement about ID’s (the granddaddy of first person shooters) new baby. No one could believe that the detail and lighting effects were being rendered in real time, nor could they wait for the mandatory horror that would accompany them. Doom 3 was set to finally express in digitised form, what true artistic horror was all about.

Yet despite all this, it’s release was greeted with mixed reactions. No one could doubt that as far as the art and design aspects of the game were concerned it was unbelievable, but many felt the actual gameplay to be at best, dated. Nerve software however have been given the opportunity to take the franchise in a new direction, with the release of Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil. Will the gameplay be more engrossing? Will they be able to maintain all the design aspects that many felt to be Doom’s strongest points?

Or will it just be utter shit?…

Gameplay (4/5) :

I’m not going to dwell on the story that much because it’s of little importance. Basically it takes place a good three years after Doom 3, you play a different marine who discovers some dodgy, evil looking thing and what do you know, you’ve reopened the gate to hell! Well done mate, ya dick! Now Dr Betreuger has sent three hunter demons to find and kill you, so he may reclaim the soul cube. It’s all very fun stuff.

To be honest, I loved every minute (although yes, there were many of them) of the Doom 3 experience. I felt a lot of people who had gripes with the gameplay were barking up the wrong tree, after all what were they expecting? What ID basically set out to do was create Doom as they would have back in 1993 had they been in control of the technological power they have today. However, whichever way you look at it the fans gripes were understandable (too dark all the time, cheap enemy spawning, far too long), especially when you see how much effort was clearly made with the design of game.

I am really, really happy to say that Nerve have obviously taken everyone’s point of view into account in regards to the gameplay, and built upon them substantialy. To be frank you might even go so far as to say that RoE is exactly what people were hoping Doom 3 would be.

The game is generally of a much faster pace but manages not to feel rushed, and the scares have all the impact that the scares in Doom 3 had. This is partially helped by the welcome return of the double barrel shotgun. You’ll find yourself many a time, opting for the ‘run round like a madman while blasting the living shit outta stuff’ approach. Basically the weapon can take pretty much any enemy out with one close range shot, the downside is that it takes some time to reload, and you have to do this after every shot, so things can get very intense. Another new weapon is the Grabber (basically a poor man’s Grav gun from Half Life 2). To be honest, aside from moving a few blocks out of the way I seldom used this gun, and there are many cases where using it would most likely make the game harder rather than help you along.

The new soul cube is also a handy piece of gear, allowing you different luxuries (like being immortal) depending on the hunters you’ve slain. You’ll also find many a time during the game where you can only progress if you use this toy. For example, when a shit load of fire balls are flying around and you need to dodge them swiftly, why not just slow down time? Dam I wish I had a real one of those!

With the acceptation of the ‘Pinky’ scene, Hell and the final fight against the Cyberdemon, Doom 3 didn’t really have any majorly memorable moments. By that I mean scenes like “The Silent Cartographer” Level on Halo one, or the Cradle level on Theif 3. Although I don’t want to drop any spoilers, there are far more memorable sequences on RoE, many of which you’ll find yourself repeating, seeing if you can do it any better with different weapons. In terms of gameplay, this is the factor that has really helped RoE be more than just a Doom 3 visual addon.

There are a few (but much less) of the closet ghouls that plagued the original, and the shorter game length is just long enough for it to be worth the price of admission, before it becomes a bore. The core principle behind the gameplay hasn’t changed, its basically a case of run and shoot, but the incorporation of these new weapons and sequences make it a far more enjoyable and less repetitive experience.

[page=Design and Graphics]
Design (4/5) :

We can all agree that Doom 3 was pretty flawless in terms of level design… oh wait hold on, I think my ass is talking again. The environment was really atmospheric, and I welcomed levels that didn’t just look like big boxes with fancy textures *coughHalfLife2cough*. But there were times where it felt as if design was taking precedent over gameplay for the pure sake of it, and this ultimately became a flaw as opposed to a quality. Afterall, how long did ID think people could tolerate running round dark corridors hoping to stumble into a PDA that may or may not be of any use for? Many didn’t, and even a hardcore ID Doom lover such as myself began to find my patience tried. RoE has impressed me by not only being as immersive and imaginative with it’s design as Doom, but by also harnessing it to create better gameplay.

As I mentioned in the Gameplay section, there are far more ‘memorable sequences’ in RoE, and this is basically down to the design. There are a number of areas in the game that really stood out, and featured some truly excellent design, harnessing the power of Dooms engine in a way the previous installment rarely managed. One of the most memorable moments in doom is the part where you have to follow the Imp being kept in a huge flask to light your way. Without trying to give away any spoilers, there is a section in RoE where you basically do the same but you’re following a spider bot, only the general atmosphere and timing of attacks from beasts makes the experience far more nerve shattering and immersive. Maybe it’s just the length of RoE that helps. Doom 3 was pretty long winded, and it feels as if RoE has taken all of Dooms good points, and basically squeezed them into a shorter space of time. Either way the design won’t dissapoint fans of Doom 3, and may even be enough to convert some none believers.

Graphics (3.5/5) :

It’s Doom, so obviously it’s gorgeous. Although on paper Doom’s engine isn’t as powerful as Valve’s source engine, I dare anyone to disagree that Doom’s is the future. Yes Source does look amazing, but its basically just technology we’ve been playing around with for years pushed to its limits. Doom however has taken the first step in truly recreating the way things we see in real life works with its dynamic lighting at shadows. I’d willingly wager my house (well, my girlfriends house) that in the coming years, THIS is the direction you’re going to see ingame graphics going in. So yeah even though I’ve said that, why’e I gone and given it practically half marks?? AM I AN IDIOT?!?!… well yes, but that’s besides the point.

Doom 3 has awesome graphics, but RoE hasn’t really enhanced or added much to them at all. In all fairness it shouldn’t really be expected to, it is only an addon afterall, but as Nerve have done a nice job in enhancing the design and gameplay aspects, it would’ve been nice to see atleast some development on Dooms visuals (like a half decent water shader!).

What I was glad to see though was far more light, open areas. Doom got a lot of flack for it’s repeating dark corridors (what good's an Athlon 3500+ and a pair of SLI Geforce 6800 Ultras when all you can see is black??) but there are far more light areas in RoE aswell as more open spaced levels.

[page=Sound, Conclusion and Screenshots]
Sound (3.5/5) :

Pretty much the same old story as it is with graphics, more of what Doom already gave us. Although Doom’s use of sound was very good (especially for those of us with surround sound) the actual sounds themselves were a little weak. When I fire a shotgun, I don’t want to hear some lame *ting*, I wanna hear *KABOOOOOOM!!!!!*, and although the double barrel shotgun is a noisey little tool, the sounds in general still feel as if they could’ve been better. They are creepy, and definitely help build the atmosphere, but it feels as if both ID and Nerve got to a certain point with the sound where they thought “ooh, that’ll do” and just left it at that rather than try to push it further. By no means are they sub par, just not to the standard’s set by other aspects of the game.

Overall (15/20) = 75%

Sorry for not covering multiplayer, but I haven’t played it on Doom 3 let alone on RoE, so I don't think it's really my place to comment. If the rest of the game is anything to go by though I can safely say it’s an improvement.

Although the final score might suggest that the game is only passable, I would greatly recommend everyone who loves Doom 3 gives it a shot, and even those who bought Doom but werent that impressed, invest in RoE and give it another go. The game is shorter and faster, but still manages to retain the scare-factor and general tension set by its big brother.

Still beautiful, only now there is far more filler behind it’s beauty that many will have felt was missing before. As I said before I love Doom 3, and for me RoE is the icing on the cake.