Doom

Doom pioneered the first-person shooter genre, now after over 10 years since the last installment id Software intends to recapture the classic formula for a modern audience to enjoy. Doom is dishes away complicated stories and deep level mechanics found in other Bethesda games in favor of fast-pace combat. It’s a straight forward shooter that won’t win over those who’ve lost interest in the genre or had none to begin with. Doom is a fast and fun game tailored specially for fans of the series and first-person shooters.

Doom’s story is simple; you’re a Space Marine tasked with closing the portal to Hell. As you progress you learn more about the motives surrounding the portal and its importance to humanity’s survival. Cutscenes are far between and context is mostly limited to the collectables scattered around the game’s environments and hallucinations from events prior from the beginning of the game. I wasn’t disappointed with the story, it was serviceable and provided reasoning for each objective that followed. It also helped that the voice-acting on par.  

Doom successfully captures the quality of the original games. Gone is the slow pacing and infamous flashlight from Doom 3. Players will dash across the environment massacring the denizens of Hell using a multitude of weapons while picking up armor boosts, health packs, and temporary powerups. All of these weapons are from past Doom games such as the double-barrel shotgun, plasma rifle, rocket launcher, and many more make a return here. The chainsaw and BFG gun are here as well with a different twist. Unlike the other weapons the BFG and chainsaw are powerful weapons intended for a last resort. The BFG wipes out anything within the blast radius. The chainsaw can kill any target instantly, but requires fuel to use. Depending on how powerful the enemy is determines how much fuel is used.

Your arsenal of weapons and Marine are fully upgradeable. Field Drones littered throughout the enemy grant players access to a single upgrade path, weapons each have two upgrade paths with the exception being the BFG and chainsaw which have none. You can upgrade your weapons using points earned through combat and chips collected from dead Elite Guards. When fully upgraded a challenge is unlock, completing it unlocks a special feature for that weapon. 

Shooting in Doom is different from modern shooters. You don’t have to reload your gun, only the Super Shotgun, or hold-down the sights for precise aiming. Instead the game plays mostly from a hip-fire perspective, with guns fully loaded with every piece of ammo you have on hand. This is to compliment Doom’s high-speed combat system and it works well. Since you’re fending off a series of different demon types stopping isn’t an option, especially on Nightmare and Ultra-Nightmare difficulty where when you die you start from the beginning. 

Armor works in the same fashion. Upgrade runes are obtained completing challenges triggered from interacting with special runes hidden on each map. If successful you gain access to a rune that can be further upgraded by completing the challenge linked to it. Argent Cells work differently; increasing health, armor, or ammo capacity depending on which you choose to invest into.

You’ll encounter various demons throughout your adventure, each with their own weaknesses and attack patterns. For example the Hell Knight is powerful but lacks range attacks, so it has to charge forward and get in close before attack. Understanding each enemy’s attack pattern is essential, especially towards the end of the game when waves of similar are constantly dispersed. 

Doom doesn’t attempt to stray from its classic formula. You’ll kill waves of demons and go to the next area for more of the same. The developers successfully combat this repetition by placing the player into diverse locations. As the enemies become more plentiful knowledge of the environment becomes paramount, such as knowing where a health pack is located or jump pad for quick escapes. 

Objectives are repetitive: journey to a new location, destroy a demon well, or grab a special item. Eventually I began to ignore what my primary goal was and simply follow the path in front of me. 

Environments are beautiful and linear. Expect to collect a lot of color coded keys as you travel from one corridor to the next in search of your next battle. Given Doom’s focus on the classic formula the linear environments are fitting. Instead the developers put more effort instead ensuring that battle arenas were well-crafted. Certain areas may include teleports others littered with exploding barrels. There are hidden paths to collectable Doom dolls that unlock galleries to view specific enemies and weapons if you choose to collect them all.

Gameplay is quick and frantic. The inclusion of Glory Kill allows for vicious finishing moves if the enemy is weaken. When executed not only are you rewarded with a bloody finishing move but health as well. The lack of a minimap does hamper the experience, especially when only demon remains. This can cause frustrating hide-and-seek situations where you frantically look for the last enemy before they can ambush you. Coupled with an intense musical score that encourages you to rampage through the demonic filled hallways and you’ll yearn for the next fight.

After you complete the 6-8 hour campaign multiplayer and a forge mode called SnapMap. After exploring SnapMap for several hours I was amazed at the incredible creations submitted by the community. Everything from cooperative missions to competitive arenas are available for either solo or online play. The tutorial is helpful at showing all the basic features available through the map editor, but given my lack of creativity was unable to go further than a basic horde mode.

Multiplayer has 6 modes to choose from. These include Team Deathmatch, a variation of killed confirmed called Soul Harvest, Domination, a variation of domination where the control point moves constantly on a path called Warpath, Freeze Tag, and Clan Arena. These aren’t truly inventive but play well, especially with 9 fantastic maps to choose from. 

Experience is earned by completing matches and challenges. Players can gain an advantage using Hack Modules. These are temporary boosts that can increase ammo, locate demonic runes, highlight enemy locations and much more. Cosmetic customizations range from armor types, colors, patterns, and lightening. These same cosmetic options bleed into loadout weapons. 

Just like the campaign combat here is quick. Precise aiming and mobility is key to surviving, especially if you plan to collect a demonic possession or find a power weapon. Demonic runes transform the player into 1 of 4 demons that can utterly destroy an opposing player. However the setback is that your health doesn’t regenerate, appears on everyone’s screen, and if killed another player can claim the power for themselves. 

Doom is a game for first-person shooter fans, especially those who enjoyed classic games from id Software. It’s clear that the developers prioritized gameplay above everything else and it shows. The game runs fantastically and I never experienced a frame-rate drop throughout the campaign or multiplayer. The objectives are tawdry and the story basic but what makes Doom so much fun is that it focuses on its strengths. Doom is a shooter fans dreams.

Adam Siddiqui, NoobFeed
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