.FLYINGHEAD WE GOT GAME!
.TITLE Is Doom 3 really doomed?
.AUTHOR James Booth
.SUMMARY With the possible exception of Half-Life 2, no other game title has been more eagerly anticipated over the last couple of years than Doom 3. Doom 3, the third installment in the Doom series, was expected to be the game to justify building or buying a new computer system. Find out what Senior Editor James Booth thought of Doom 3.
.DEPT
With the possible exception of Half-Life 2, no other game title has been more eagerly anticipated over the last couple of years than Doom 3. Doom 3, from id Software, and the third installment in the Doom series, was expected to be the game of 2004. It was supposed to be the game to justify building or buying a new computer system, setting new standards for graphics and gameplay.
So how is Doom 3? Well, let’s just say that in this writer’s opinion, "doomed" is what your money will be if you spend it on this title.
.H1 Overview
Doom 3 isn’t really a sequel, as some may believe, but rather an updated retelling of the events in the original Doom. Over ten years ago, Doom was the first game of it’s kind, creating an entirely new genre known as the FPS, or First Person Shooter. id Software, creators of Doom, followed up their success with Doom 2, three versions of Quake, Heretic and Hexen, and an updated retelling of Castle Wolfenstein.
In Doom 3, you play a space Marine, newly-assigned to UAC’s (Union Aerospace Corporation) Mars facility. Of course, shortly after your arrival things begin to go real bad, real fast. You suddenly find yourself running around an unfamiliar environment, mostly in the dark, trying to find your way back to Marine Command while dodging the nasties of the netherworld.
Helping you along for a time will be the Sarge, your commanding officer, who keeps in radio contact with you through the remote in your helmet. Throughout the game, you’ll receive story and mission updates through cut scenes, like the one in Figure A.
.FIGPAIR A In-game movies add to the story line and update your information.
That’s you on the right, receiving your PDA and signing in at the new-arrivals station.
.BREAK_EMAIL So, is Doom really doomed? Tap here and meet your demise.
Then there’s your PDA (Personal Data Assistant, as if you didn’t know). Through your PDA, you can receive informational emails and view instructive video CDs you’ll find throughout the complex. The PDA also carries your security clearance, which can be updated by downloading information from other PDAs you find lying around.
Rounding out your list of equipment and supplies is the standard combat armor, first aid kits, retinue of weapons and explosives, and thankfully a flashlight. You’ll quickly be glad you have this flashlight, as it’ll become an indispensable tool in your survival.
.PAGE
.H1 How it looks
On the high graphic setting, I must confess the textures in Doom 3 look pretty good, but they’re certainly not in the same league as Far Cry. It’s really a shame the developers at id went to so much wasted effort in making these nice textures, as they really can’t be seen. Doom 3 is one of the darkest, and I mean visually dark, games I have ever seen. As a matter of fact, it’s so dark as to be unplayable. If you’re wondering just how dark, take a look at Figure B, it’s indicative of the typical illumination in the game.
.FIGPAIR B This dark landing platform is a typical setting in Doom 3.
All the screen shots in this article are untouched, taken directly from gameplay on High detail level, with all other graphic settings at the default level. You’ll notice how dark the environment is. id was kind enough to include a Brightness setting in the graphic options, but you can only increase the brightness so much before light areas actually become contrast hot spots. These images were taken with the brightness on the middle setting. In Figure C, you can find one of the better-illuminated areas of the game, that is, until everything literally goes to Hell.
.FIGPAIR C This is about the best it gets.
After "the incident", there are power failures, power fluctuations, emergency power, and all different kinds of events that affect the environment of the game. Most of the time though, the power flickers on and off throughout the complex, giving you pretty much the kind of play you see in the two images shown in Figure D.
.FIGPAIR D Most of the time, the lights flicker on and off throughout the complex, as these two images show.
.H1 How it plays
To be honest, I had some pre-conceived notions when I purchased Doom 3, and only did so in a fit of boredom. I played the demo when it first came out and was less than impressed. At that time, I thought I’d take a pass on Doom 3, but after whipping Men of Valor in only a few days I was left feeling a bit peckish and needed further gaming stimulation.
I figured I’d need a bit of a system upgrade to tackle Half-Life 2, and I was pretty much tired of the whole WWII setting, so Pacific Assault was out. In the end, I decided to go ahead and give Doom 3 a shot. I can only take consolation in the fact that I’m able to write off the cost of the game as a business expense.
Yes, I actually paid for Doom 3. So don’t go thinking id gave me this game and now I’m ripping on them. But even if they had, I tell it how I see it.
Doom 3 isn’t THE worst game I’ve ever played, but it’s close. In fact, it was so bad I didn’t even finish the game. I made it about two-thirds of the way through and finally gave up, not because it was too hard, but because it was too boring.
If skulking from room to room in the dark, waiting for something to jump out at you is your idea of a fun game, then Doom 3 is definitely for you. If on the other hand, you like variety in your enemies and environments, then your money would be much better spent on the Half-Life Platinum Collection, containing all of the original retail releases of Half-Life, including Team Fortress Classic, Opposing Force, Blue Shift, and Counterstrike.
Let’s face it; we all like to be scared, even if just a little. Doom 3 definitely has the creep factor. Disembodied voices, objects moving on their own, and things popping out of the dark give this game plenty of spooks. I’ll admit, I nearly soiled myself on several occasions, but you can only ride that horse for so long, and I think id has beat this dead horse enough. I mean, why does it always have to be a gateway to Hell with mutant demons and the like? What’s wrong with humanoid aliens? Or maybe guerilla rebels? Or even rebel gorillas?
There are essentially three environments in Doom 3, the torn up UAC complex, Hell, and the planet’s surface. Virtually the entire game takes place in the UAC complex though. I would have liked to spend a little more of the game on the planet’s surface, shown in Figure E, but there are only a few occasions when the player has to exit the complex, and only then for the few minutes of air his suit can hold.
.FIGPAIR E You get to spend very little time on the surface of Mars.
The excursions into Hell are rather limited as well, but by the time I got there I was pretty much sick of the game anyway.
There are some nice in-game movies, and the story expansion by way of the emails and audio logs in the PDA is an enjoyable addition to the game. Doom 3 has cheats galore too, and isn’t ashamed of making them available. In fact, as I recall, god mode and its sibling cheats were features introduced by the original Doom.
.H1 Conclusion
If I can’t even finish a game, then it’s got to be really bad. Doom 3 has received rave reviews from many other publications, but I just don’t see it that way. I can only suggest, that in my opinion, those reviewers have a tendency to rate everything as the "greatest game ever" merely to curry favor with the developers and production studios. I have long been a believer in truthful reporting, and it’s my opinion that Doom 3 is a colossal waste not only of the consumer’s money, but also of the time, effort, and hard work the development team put into this project.
The single largest complaint I found, which was echoed in the Doom 3 community, was the darkness of the game setting, and the inability to wield the flashlight and a weapon at the same time. If id had any concern at all about their customer’s complaints these would have been addressed in a patch. But seeing as how Doom 3 has been out for several months now, I really don’t see that happening. I have no notion as to why id chose to make the game environment so dark, thankfully, the gaming community has responded with a fix. Many, many fixes in fact.
I think the most prevalent game modification, or mod, I’ve found for Doom 3 is a flashlight mod. The numerous flashlight mods, created by the devoted gaming community developers, strap a flashlight to pretty much every weapon in the game so you can at least see what you’re shooting at. Come on. Are we supposed to believe that a combat Marine isn’t going to have enough ingenuity to duct tape a flashlight to his weapons when he’s trapped in a dark, hostile environment? Another popular mod tweaks the game settings, making the play environment much more visible. Without these mods Doom 3 is virtually unplayable.
If you choose to give Doom 3 a go, you should be able to get plenty of game time out of it. Even though I could only tolerate an hour or two of play at any one time, I had probably about eight or nine hours into it before I quit. All told, I would imagine the entire game would take up about fifteen to twenty hours of play, depending on whether or not you use cheats and how fast you go through the UAC complex.
There are dozens and dozens of player created walkthroughs and strategy guides available to help you with any stumbling blocks. My favorite was the Visual Walkthrough, made with screenshots taken throughout play. I enjoyed going back through the walkthrough after completing a section to see what I missed. And unlike Men of Valor, you can save Doom 3 at any time, with autosaves thrown in for good measure.
If your idea of a great game is skulking from room to room in the dark, waiting for the same old monster to jump out at you, then Doom 3 is your Cibola. If on the other hand, you like a variety of settings and opponents, steer clear of Doom 3 and save your money for something better, maybe the game that will actually justify that system upgrade.
For it’s horrible game environment, repetitive gameplay, and uninspiring storyline, I give Doom 3 a rating of 3 out of 5. I was really tempted to give this game a 2, but for some reason just couldn’t bring myself to do it, although I don’t know why. I guess it’s because with the player-created mods, Doom 3 is playable, if not boring and repetitive.
.RATING 3
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on Doom 3 and other id products, visit http://www.idsoftware.com.
For more information on Half-Life 2, visit http://www.half-life.com.
For more information on Far Cry, visit http://www.farcry-thegame.com.
For more information on the Half-Life Platinum Collection, visit http://www.vugames.com/product.do?gamePlatformId=180.
For more information on Men of Valor, visit http://www.menofvalorgame.com/us/.
For more information on Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault, visit http://www.eagames.com/official/moh/pacassault/us/home.jsp.
For more information on the Doom 3 Visual Walkthrough, visit http://www.visualwalkthroughs.com/doom3/doom3.htm.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO James Booth is the Senior Editor for ZATZ Publishing. In addition to writing for Computing Unplugged and Connected Photographer, he’s the author of Do-It-Yourself Wedding Photography. A self-taught photographer, James also dabbles in digital graphics and has learned to be a PC and Palm specialist through personal trial and error. James can be reached at jbooth@zatz.com.
