Looking at: Doom 3

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Dark at the End of the Tunnel

Witness the wonders of science, until it tries to kill you.

I've mentioned how much I love the Doom games. To me they're the epitome of perfect shooters and, albeit with some modification, still a lot of fun today. But the Doom games didn't stop at two. Back before it was popular, and way before publishers fucked up naming conventions ID software decided to reboot Doom and give the original Xbox one hell of a send-off. This was, in a lot of ways, what the original Doom games were meant to be, even if we didn't realize it at the time.


Welcome to Mars City

The classic Imp, in it's natural environment.

Like the original games, Doom 3 takes place in and around Mars City, a research station located on, where else, Mars. Unlike the originals, and much to some people's dismay, Doom 3 actually has a plot to give your actions context.

You are a new marine arriving on Mars to replace part of the existing guard detail. After a short introduction you're given your PDA, a flashlight, and a mission to find a missing scientist. You find the good doctor as he's trying to send out a message, only to accidentally avoid the opening of a portal to hell. For some reason you're not immediately zombified so you, being of sound ass-kicking mind, decide to kill some demon spawn and get off station.

As you progress the story never really changes, it mostly just a barely connected string of events to lead you through Mars. You'll need to re-link radio relays, check in with the few survivors, and find security badges and audio logs, all while killing a shitload of demons. The story never goes anywhere, and there's no real twist. You know the bad guy is evil literally the first second you see him, and none of the characters ever change.

That's fine though, because if you're playing a Doom game for the plot you're doing it wrong. We're here for the sweet satisfaction of blowing apart hellspawn and, sure enough, that's here in spades.

Bloody Brilliant

Your flashlight is great for illuminating your impending demise.

Being a 2005 shooter and not a 1998 shooter, Doom 3 was rather evolved from it's predecessors. Most notably was the full 3d aiming, something the previous games sorely lacked. Not that it matters much, since most of the time you'll be spitting out lead like it was going out of business, but it is an overall smoother experience the the originals. Also, there's jumping and crouching, which are also a series first.

All of this just facilitates the shooting, which is great. Each of the guns has a distinctive and weighty feel to them that gels well with the overall experience. Particularly the shotgun, which sounds as nasty as a shotgun should, and solidifies why ID are the kings of great gaming shotguns. Not to say the other weapons don't feel great, like the vicious chainsaw, the rapid-fire machine gun, the ominous minigun, or the hilariously overpowered BFG. Best of all you can carry all of these at the same time and switch out at your leisure, something most modern FPS games have annoyingly done away with.

Of course, what good are guns if there's nothing to shoot them at. The entire roster of classic doom enemies are here, from the lowly zombie and zombified soldier, to the terrifying Cacodemon or the rocket slinging Revenant, or the towering Hell Baron. All of them rendered in horrifyingly glorious 3D and with full lighting.

All of this is thanks to the Id Tech 4 engine which, at the time, was revolutionary. It's still not a bad looking engine, especially when properly applied, and it does a great job of creating the atmosphere in Doom 3. Even better, on the PC version there's the Sikkmod, as shown in all of the screenshots here, that make Doom 3 look great.

Doomed from the Start

Try not to loose your head in the madness of Mars City.

I love Doom 3, and I loved it when it came out in '05. Strangely though, there are people that call it the worst Doom game of the bunch, save bizarre Doom .Wads. I think these people are wrong, and also kind of missing the point of Doom 3.

See, Doom 3 leans more towards horror then it's predecessors. Like I said, the game is shrouded in shadow, and you'll need to rely on your flashlight to get through. There's also jump-scares a-plenty and hidden ambushes throughout. All of this seems in contrast to the original Dooms, which had you whizzing around at the speed of light killing hordes of monsters with reckless abandon.

Except that, in their own way, the original Dooms were also horror titles. There's no denying the scary visage put on by the demons, and the feeling of dread that the sight of a zombie, let alone a Spider demon or Cyber Demon can conjure up. And the original Doom's had jump scares to, or the closest approximation to jump-scares that Doom could render. Go back and play Doom 1&2 and try counting how many times the game spawns enemies behind you after you flip a switch, you'll probably loose track.

Doom 3 isn't as good as the original Dooms, and that's fine because on it's own it's an incredibly enjoyable game. The shooting is tight, the graphics were top notch, and it's all very fun to play. It had an expansion pack that added co-op and brought back the double-shotgun, as well as a less then stellar remake a little while ago. There was also the movie, but we don't talk about that.

Doom 3 is a great game, fun to play and challenging in a way that's not found in many shooters now a days. It's a throwback to a bygone era, and forges it's own path while doing so. A remake and a sequel, and an all around fun time.