Developer: id Software
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Rrp: £14.99 (Steam, Humblebundle and Bethesda Store)
Released: 13th May 2016
Available on: Steam, Humblebundle and Bethesda Store
Played Using: Mouse and Keyboard
Approximate game length: 10 Hours
Click-click, turn the corner. BOOM! One less possessed with a head. An imp crawls over the railing in front hissing a screaming in rage. Run forward, pull out the chainsaw, now its a different kind of screaming. The carcass drops, more possessed, feel the weight of the grenade, back pedal slightly and throw. BOOM! No more possessed, just red paste.
I think it’s safe to call the Doom series video game royalty at this point. The original Doom kickstarted an entire genre and was so recognised that for a quite a while of time any game that was a first person shooter around that time (and for quite a significant amount of time after) was dubbed a ‘Doom Clone’. There aren’t many games that have such a claim, the closest in recent memory being the term ‘souls-like’ or ‘soulsbourne’.
If somehow you’ve not heard of Doom… well I don’t know what to say, that has to be a very heavy and big rock you’ve been living under for over the last twenty years. Congratulations on finally getting out. Anyway, Doom is a first person shooter in which you play as The Doomguy or The Doomslayer, whichever floats your boat really. This review is of the most recent entry of the franchise (at the time of writing as I am aware there is another one in development).
This being a Doom game there is one thing we can all expect, demon killing, lots and lots of demon killing and it has to be said that on that front this game doesn’t disappoint. In fact it launches you right into the fray from the very first moments of the game. There’s none of travelling through hallways being given exposition by a character, nope. The first thing that happens is that get a gun and kill a few demons. Within a few moments of that comes the iconic armor of the Doomguy and it only gets more and more badass from there.
The Doomguy is the antithesis of most silent protagonists. Unlike the likes of Gordon Freeman the Doomguy isn’t just going to take orders from others.
He shows disdain and barely contained rage through smashing and throwing any devices that they try to speak to him through. There’s even a point where as you’re being told to be careful with a piece of equipment and the long procedure for deactivating it that the Doomguy just kicks it repeatedly until its broken. Way to take the direct approach Doomguy!
Can’t talk about Doom without speaking about the combat. Well.. it’s fast and brutal, this intense action in no small way by the glory kill system. Glory kills are the new mechanic that has been introduced into the Doom franchise but its one that suits it so well that I can’t imagine not having it now. When a demon takes enough damage they will begin to flash in blue and yellow signifying that the demon is stunned which is when a glory kill becomes viable. Once you perform a glory kill the demon gets… torn asunder and will drop health and ammo. There are quite a few glory kill animations each dependent on the demon and your positioning. This mechanic encourages the player to play aggressively which is in keeping with the Doomguy is portrayed and keeps the game running at a steady pace.
Every weapon has a real feeling of weight to it. Everything from the sound of the weapon going off, to the little details of the gun and the way the Doomguy
holds it tells you that Doomguy is here to kill any demon that gets in his way, and even a few that don’t. And just in case the weapons didn’t feel meaty enough the majority of them can be modified so that they can suit your play style and situation.
Each enemy you kill, weapon you pick up and item you find comes with a codex entry. Of course, this is Doom, who the hell reads those? But, if you are the strange sort of person who reads the books in Skyrim, then you may find these entries quite interesting… like I did.
Like with many games there are some RPG elements included in Doom however unlike most games that include these elements making use of most of the RPG style systems requires you to do some exploration. Within the various levels are several collectibles all of which (bar the Doomguy figures) directly add toward increasing some element of your character. However it’s not just the Doomguy that can get upgraded, so can your weapons. Most weapons have two modifications that can be applied to change the way you make use of it. However you can improve the mods by spending points to unlock specific improvements. Once you have all those there’s still one last thing you can do, you can attempt the weapon mastery challenge. If you succeed in the challenge the weapon will be give a powerful improvement to itself in certain situations.
The music is by Mick Gordon who felt he couldn’t improve on the original Doom’s soundtrack but he could update it. He was wrong, he massively improved on it as it dynamically reacts to the action on screen and will grow more intense as the action heats up. As classic as the original Doom’s music is it just doesn’t hold a candle to what Mick Gordon has achieved and that’s without going into what happens when you run the music through a spectrogram.
Speaking of easter eggs this game is chock full of them, with every level having a hidden ‘classic map’ area. The great thing is if you find and access these areas you can play through the complete level through the main menu.
I found a lot of these secrets by paying very careful attention to the map and I never thought I’d say this about any FPS, especially Doom, but the map system has to be the most comprehensive, easy to understand and above all easy to use I’ve ever had the pleasure to witness.
If you completed the game but feel like you didn’t find all the secrets or want to finish the challenges you can choose to replay any mission you’ve completed. The difference being that you get to keep all the upgrades and weaponry you had available to you at the end of the game.
My thoughts? This game is amazing, worth every penny of what I paid. Fast, frantic and engaging this game a horrific gorefest and I’m so glad I got to be a part of it.
If this appeals to you perhaps try;
Wolfenstein: The New Order
Painkiller
Prey
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