All hard work would have been boring without playing just as hard. I am glad I bought a new desktop computer and since money was no longer an issue, I invested in a good PC that could let me play even up-to-date games. 🙂
(for the past many years, I had been using faulty computers and didn’t have the money to buy a new one. Friends often joked that I was always ‘one Pentium behind times’.)
And speaking of behind times, I finally got around playing Doom 3, albeit 4 years late. The game is a reboot of the original and critically acclaimed Doom – retelling everything from the start, now with more advanced graphics and latest game engine, id Tech 4.
I also played and finished Resurrection of Evil, the Expansion Pack and sequel to Doom 3. Even though the game had been long out, I’ll still chalk my review here.
Doom 3
Story Line: 9/10
With almost identical graphics quality and gameplay – and the fact that it’s from the same originator, ID Software, I cannot help but compare it to Quake 4 on a few levels though Quake 4 was released near the end of 2007.
And to begin with, I find Doom 3’s storyline and setting more preferable. Games like Half-Life and Resident Evil deal with experiments going wrong and therefore ugly abominations start roaming about. Even the Doom film story revolves to something of that nature. Being different yet staying true to the original Doom style, the player deals face-to-face with the forces of Evil. I’ve watched the Doom movie first last year before I played this game, and I learned that the film is actually a radical departure from the game (as always).
As the silent Marine (who never speaks a word throughout the game), you are not dealing with a virus outbreak or aliens from another planet, but rather demons from Hell. Throughout the game, you will be picking up PDAs and speaking to a few survivors to get a better understanding on the situation, which makes the game all the more interesting and in-depth.
Set in Year 2145 on Mars, you take control of a nameless Marine (you can put your name on him though, and it appears on your Personal Data in your PDA) as you enter Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC) research facility. Humans have been on Mars for quite some time and they have developed a myriad of technology, teleportation, and genetic experiments with absolutely no regards to conscience or ethnics.
Seems like a normal day on Day One as a Marine guard, but slowly you’ll notice that people around you are somewhat paranoid or scared out of their wits. Talk to the people around you while you can because very soon into the game, you will have very few to talk to. Long story short, hell will break loose after something goes awfully wrong – the result of experimenting too much and getting too curious, I guess.
I won’t spoil the rest of the plot here but the game is pretty much about surviving against the odds when demons now start warping into the facility. People you once know are now mindless zombies. Your direct commanding officer is now possessed. You meet creatures from the Hell dimension. And the few survivors you run into, they usually don’t live long. Is there really no one else alive?
Graphics: 7/10
Definitely raised the bar when Doom 3 was released. I’ve been exposed to games with more convincing graphics by now though. There was a chill factor when I first encountered the creatures of Hell like the Imp and later the Revenant and of course, the much talked about Hell Knight.
And since the settings in Doom 3 is dark and eerie that one has to rely on the use of Flashlight very often, the terror was convincing… initially. I got over it a few stages later because the creatures grew predictable I rarely jumped out of my seat.
Sound: 6.5/10
The arsenal of weapons available to the player is awesome but the sound effects leave much to be desired. If I were still into modding a bit, I would definitely have the sound effects for the weapons replaced with something that would spice things up.
Game Play: 8/10
First Person Shooter. Like Quake 4, there’s no need to have a USE key since the setting is in a modern facility powered by touch screen computers and monitors, moving the mouse cursor can allow interaction and get things accomplished in overcoming barriers throughout the missions. And boy, I like FPS!
Re-playability: 5/10
After completing all of the missions, I wasn’t into playing the whole thing again as the fun was already less than half. The enemies in the game grew predictable. The chill wore off a couple of missions later. There was no significant secret or incentives to aim for throughout the game. So I put down that the re-playability value is low, unless I engage in Multi-player.
Overall: 7/10
Still lived up to expectation nonetheless. I had been dying to play this game from the time I first heard of it. At that time, my old computer wasn’t up to handling advanced games and it was the same year I was working full-time and studying on weekends, playing games was at the bottom of my mind.
Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil
Released in October 2005 as a sequel to Doom 3, players now experience the first person view of yet another silent protagonist, a lone Marine who initially went down a ruin site on Mars and possess the Hellstone.
My review scores remain as the one I did for Doom 3 since it’s a continued storyline from Doom 3, especially from where the Marine in the first game left off. Resurrection of Evil now deals with Malcolm Betruger, the antagonist from the first game. He is still alive and at large in this Expansion Pack, though if you finish all of the missions you will finally see and end to him.
Betruger had been possessed (or rather embraced the power of Evil) and has now become the Maledict, a large winged creature with a horned skull as the head.
The missions are shorted in this Expansion Pack. However you will meet new enemies like Vulgar and the 3 Hell Hunters that have their own strengths: the ability to slow time, berzerk and invulnerability.
The player isn’t going to get the short end of the stick though: you will get your hands on new weapons like the Hellstone (which the player will begin with), the double barreled shotgun and the object-grabber (I think that’s what it’s called).
So there you have it! Again, I know I’m late and chances are many computer game addicts have already played the game as soon as it was out. I hope this is a reminder that ID Software continues to throw out good games for more than a decade!
P.S. There’s one thing I still don’t get it though: why are some of the enemies equipped with technology like rockets and part machinery? Don’t think someone fixed those stuff on them!