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Platform
Xbox
Genre
Shooter
Publisher
Activision
Developer
id / Vicarious
Visions
ESRB
M (Mature)
Released
April 3, 2005
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- Amazing graphics are some of the
best ever on any current generation console game
- Can literally scare the hell out of you: perfectly captures
the heightened sense of danger just waiting around every corner
- Great online maps with plenty of shadows to stalk and sneak up
on opponents
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- Story still really isn’t very
plausible: Hell on Mars?
- Too much vertigo-inducing movement and graphic stuttering
issues during online play
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Review: Doom 3 (PC)
Review: TimeSplitters - Future Perfect (GC)
Review: Counter-Strike (XB)
Review: Halo 2 (XB)
Review: Unreal Championship (XB)
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Doom 3
Score: 8.8 / 10
As the game that practically invented and
definitely revolutionized the first-person shooter game, Doom is one of
the most influential games in the history of gaming. After a second Doom
title, legendary game developer id concentrated its efforts on the Quake
franchise. Fans of the FPS granddaddy Doom franchise have had to wait
nearly a decade for the next game to appear, and it came back with a
vengeance with the incredible Doom 3 last year for the PC. While it
wasn’t a big leap in gameplay and innovation, it certainly was an
absolutely amazing-looking game worthy of the Doom moniker.
When the game was announced for the Xbox, many thought that the gameplay
would be the same as its PC counterpart and few expected the Xbox
version to
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laughed at the notion that any console game could match the raw power of
a top-shelf PC video card won’t be laughing after playing Doom 3 on the
Xbox.
When discussing Doom 3 for the Xbox, the talk begins with the graphics.
Without reservation, I can safely say this is the most impressive
graphical performance on a current-generation console, even considering
the Splinter Cell series and Chronicles of Riddick Xbox title. Truly
unbelievably detailed environments and creatures, awe-inspiring lighting
and particle effects, and downright scarily-rendered hellish creatures
are an overwhelmingly beautiful sight. Developer Vicarious Visions has
done such a great job, it’s nearly impossible to discern the PC Doom 3
visuals taking advantage of a high-end PC graphics card and processor
from the Xbox version. Doom 3’s graphical abilities are something I
didn’t expect to experience until the next console cycle comes, starting
with the Xbox 360 (or whatever they end up calling it) later this year
and the PS3. This easily is one of the best looking games that will
appear on the current crop of console hardware.
Accentuating the stunning graphics of Doom 3 is the excellent sound and
music that the game uses. Sound effects of the weaponry are very good,
and one extremely realistic touch is the way that sound changes
depending on your placement to a sound source. For instance, when you go
to a TV monitor where someone is communicating with you, if you are
facing the monitor, you can hear the sound as if you were really
standing there. But if you turn from the monitor, the sound becomes less
audible, just like it would if you were actually right there, moving
away from the monitor. The growls and shrieks of the hellspawn (most of
which are updates of classic Doom monsters) you’ll face can definitely
send a shiver right down your spine and back up again. Music is used
nicely, especially the climatic, tense tunes that play during
frightening and tense battles against hellacious adversaries. It all
comes together to create a truly creepy and scary gaming atmosphere that
will have the hairs on the back of your neck continually raised.
But while drop-dead looks and sweeping sound are high points, the game
isn’t without its blemishes. The game’s story hasn’t changed from the
original Doom. And that can be considered a disappointment, because the
perception on my part is that the story was treated as an afterthought
to the graphics and gameplay. Who really buys into a portal to hell is
opened in an archeological dig on Mars? Sounds kind of far-fetched,
doesn’t it? Unbelievably, the somewhat questionable storyline of Doom
will become the basis of a Doom major motion picture, hitting theaters
nationwide in August. But if someone could hammer out a movie script
based on Mario Brothers (that movie, in large part due to the awful
script, was an absolute atrocity, and may be the worst video
game-to-movie ever) hell, why not Doom?
Doom 3 fares better with its gameplay, but even that treads the familiar
ground of its predecessors and particularly online can practically
induce vertigo and motion sickness with a much-too-fast gameplay speed.
The gameplay follows the same modus operandi of the original Doom: run
like hell through level after level, fight off the demons, find weapons,
ammo and health, and get to the next “switch” to advance to the next
level, where more of the same ensues. The high difficulty of the
original shows up here, too. I can honestly say the only way I got
through the entire game to write this review was using the god mode
cheat. Without it, I still wouldn’t have completed this insanely
challenging, sweaty-palm inducing game.
This all happens at an accelerated pace that is just too fast to handle
at times. Doom 3’s game speed will remind many of another Xbox title,
Unreal Championship, which hit the pedal to the metal at an insane rate.
Doom 3 would have served itself better to model its game speed after
Halo 2, which has perfectly-paced FPS gameplay that every FPS game from
here on out would be served best to imitate.
I’m not kidding when I say that anybody that has any issue with vertigo
may want to think twice about playing Doom 3, because of the incredible
rate of speed you’ll be flying around the levels, especially when you
are playing online, when the blazing gameplay is really noticeable. The
gameplay speed also has a distinct effect on the ability of the game to
handle without glitches. You’ll notice that graphics may stutter and
animation may suffer slowdown, which can cause the gameplay to suffer.
Still, if you aren’t susceptible to vertigo, like extremely fast
gameplay , and can deal with a bit of glitching, Doom 3’s online play
has enough high points to create a game that’s a viable alternative to
Halo 2 for FPS Xbox Live gamers. The whole online package isn’t without
flaws, especially the problems you may encounter actually trying to find
a match to play without having to connect to the match menu over and
over, hoping that the game you just attempted to join is still
available. What Doom 3 does best online is provide a stealth element to
standard run-and-shoot FPS gameplay. There are plenty of shadows
throughout each online level, giving gamers a chance to hide in the
dark, wait for adversarial prey, and attack from a pitch-black death
shroud. But your online competitors can use the dark and shadowy
crevices and corners to their advantage too.
The weaponry available online is the full Doom 3 arsenal, including
chainsaws and rocket launcher. The best advice fro online supremacy I
can offer is always find and use the rocket launcher. It’s by far the
best weapon to rack up round-winning kill counts. But don’t get too
comfortable with your rocket launcher facing off against another player
and his gun, because many Doom 3 online players are so adept at using
guns, such as the machine gun and chaingun, that they can take down you
and your much more powerful rocket launcher.
Doom 3 stumbles a bit in its online play, but it still offers a great
alternative to Halo 2 for FPS online gaming, although it won’t exactly
make anybody forget about Halo 2’s much better online package. It’s not
a groundbreaking game, but it is one stunning beauty to look at, pushing
the envelope of console visual and sound presentation to a previously
uncharted region. Don’t expect an instant classic, but Doom 3 still
gives a hell of a performance.
- Lee Cieniawa
lcieniawa@armchairempire.com
(May 10, 2005) |
