This is a review of the Doom 3 expansion released early this week and that I posted a few days ago on Q23. I organized it slightly better and also added a summary at the end with aven a “vote”. Just to mimic the official news sites. So no mmorpgs and lots of artsy sceenies.
Press the “read more” link to check it out –>
The expansion is rather good but also short, there are reports of players finishing it in about five hours.
The gameplay is way more straightforward and arcade-ish. You don’t lose time, right as you start you are thrown in the action. The whole presentation of the game is more “childish” and less serious. Everything is put together to be just scary in a silly way, so, instead of having an attempt to a somewhat serious story and gameplay, here you have just baddies showing out the graphical engine and striking poses for you. It’s like a big hollywood movie, everything is there to be spectacular but it also feels like big toy filled with cliches and pretensions of “coolness”.
There are a few points of interest. Some reviews still complain about the “monster-in-the-closet” but the situation is WAY improved. There’s still ZERO consistency in the level design, you pass through a room and it’s empty, arrive to the opposite side, trigger something and, magically, on your way back everything spawns/dumps in. But in general the flow is improved and the situation is less predictable and annoying as in the classic game.
The level design is rather good and it’s probably the main quality of the expansion. Some textures are really wonderful and there’s a ton of atmosphere, probably more than in the original game. You start in some sort of excavation site and the lack of light and the structure of the level is way more believable (see the screenshot with the light cables on the ground). It’s somewhat also rewarding “exploring” the environment with the torch since you are really able to discover wonderful pieces of art and colors springing to life. Aside the scares about triggering something (and the game does a good work to offer scares not directly connected to danger, like the level rumbling and shaking, stones and dust falling etc..) I found interesting to just go around as an “explorer” and observe the environment. The game does really a good work to put you in an excavation site around some sort of hellish temple with mechanical plugs. Stone and metal, a wonderful mix. It’s visceral.
The places are more interesting and less repetitive and predictable. The action more direct. Still it’s rather confusing. The darkness, the complexity of the rooms and the increased number of baddies don’t help. The ground is filled with disconnected stones and pebbles (that you can move) that make the movement rather annoying even if somewhat realistic considering the situation.
The two new weapons are interesting. The double barreled shotgun is great. Feels like the classic doom and is again something visceral. Great sound, wonderful animation and effect. It’s rewarding just to have it in your hands, it’s massive and you really feel like it’s really there, concretely. It’s solid.
The grabber thing, instead, is annoying and not so-well executed. Basically you can only grab the pebbles, the barrels, the fireballs and flying skulls. When you aim at something that you can grab the crossair will give you feedback. So you left click to grab and release the button to launch. The grabber mantains the catch only for a couple of seconds so you cannot grab something and carry it around. The annoying part is that it’s extremely situational since you cannot plan ahead what to grab and have it ready. The weapon is then rather big on screen and during the grab effect it distorts the image. Also, when you grab a flying skull, a flaming barrel or a fireball, you’ll also get completely smoked. If you add: the big model of the weapon, the distortion effect, the pitch black of the scene, the insane amount of the smoke and the limited time you have for aiming… Well, it’s just like if you are BLIND. You simply throw stuff randomly because it’s impossible to see what’s beyond this wall of smoke and stuff. The flying skulls aren’t satisfactory, as you launch them they disintegrate, so it’s not possible to throw them effectively or see them bounce. And there’s also a really bland impression of “impact”. You throw stuff at the mosters but they do not react properly and it’s hard even to have a right feedback about whether your action was effective or not. I mean: you simply cannot even understand if you aimed right and hurt the monster or if the thing you threw just bounced on something else without touching your target.
The use of this grabber in short: confused and messy.
Other problems are deep-rooted in the engine. The physics engine, that now has a stronger role in the game, is still highly imprecise and unrealistic. So it clashes with the “realistic” pretension of the graphic. The presence of pebbles everywhere to simulate again a difficulty of movement becomes also just annoying because you get stuck constantly while trying to dodge a fireball and you never know if it’s a pebble, a wall or whatever.
So it’s good and bad together. The bad parts of the classic Doom 3 are improved, the pich black more excused and lessened by the pleasure of exploration and the beauty of the levels. The action is more “hot” but often rather confused and messy for the reasons I’ve explained. I haven’t checked the multiplayer but it’s about the same. There are levels simply impossible to play because they are JUST BLACK. Then other levels with a great atmosphere and a better planned light-flow.
It’s also a lost occasion to improve a crucial point of the design in the whole genre: the interaction with the environment. What these games strongly need is to give a personality to their monsters. So that they are able to move and fight *differently* from the player.
A good hint of the potential is from the new monster they added, the Vulgars. They are extremely cool because of how they look and, in particular, because you see them crawling on the walls and ceilings. Unfortunately this is only scripted. Once the Vulgar finishes the script and enters the action it just becomes a differently skinned imp throwing green fireballs. This is the lost occasion.
These games need differencies for the monsters. They must get new abilities to differentiate their possibilities from the possibilities of the player, in particular about the perception of the space. They shouldn’t be just another entity walking around a level. If a player cannot reach an higher platform, a monster could do that, maybe with high jumps, maybe by walking on the ceiling. This differentiation may become the MAIN innovation in the genre. You have to consider tactics that go beyond the scope of the current shooters because the labyrinth-like aspect of the levels will assume different conformations. Enemies coming from the top, enemies running around the ceiling, entering ducts where the player cannot go. Use the elements of the scene for their tactics, taking advantage of their DIFFERENT possibilities compared to a “normal player”.
So the normal player couldn’t enter those ducts, or do high leaps, or crawl on a ceiling. While the monster do that. The player, to play must confrontate and relate to a different logic. The 2D space of the labyrinth/level assumes new shapes, new solutions, new paths.
That’s the source of NEW gameplay and innovation. Monsters equal to a difference of from the player. “Alien” not just because of the aspect but also because of the behaviour and possibilities of interaction with the environment. Unfortunately this expansion just “suggests” all this, without really delivering since these possibilities are limited to hand-crafted cutscenes integrated with the flow.
But I surely do hope that these possibilities will become concrete soon.
PROs:
– Good level design
– Beautiful textures and colors (when well-lit)
– Great overall atmosphere
– Feeling of “exploration”
– More action-packed
– The 2barreled shotgun
– Less bad habits (monsters-in-closets, too dark sections..)
– Less predictable and repetitive
CONs:
– Too short and small-feeling
– No pretense of “seriousness” (no attempt at a real story)
– The “gravity gun” bad usability
– Problematic movement due to pebbles
– Too much confused action for a mix of elements
– Imprecise physics engine
– Still a bit too dark
– The engine is 3-4% slower than the original game (on the standard timedemo)
– Unbalanced difficulty levels
– Nothing really new (no innovation, lots of untapped potential)
VALUE (from 1 to 5): 3.5
(it’s a blend between 3 and 4. It’s 3 if you consider the overall product, its longevity, its price and the untapped potential. Instead it’s 4 if you consider it as another plug for the whole puzzle that is Doom 3. If you are a fan of the game and would like to see it “complete” in all its parts)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ***** Monster Name***** | PSTL | SG | DBSG | MG | CHG | GRD | PLR | RL | BFG | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zombie (Generic)******* | 8*** | 1* | 1*** | 12 | 5** | 1** | 7** | 1* | 1** | Zombie (Fat)*********** | 8*** | 1* | 1*** | 12 | 5** | 1** | 7** | 1* | 1** | Zombie (Flaming)******* | 11** | 1* | 1*** | 17 | 8** | 1** | 10* | 1* | 1** | Zombie (Bio Suit)****** | 8*** | 1* | 1*** | 12 | 5** | 1** | 7** | 1* | 1** | Zombie (Z-Sec)********* | 7*** | 2* | 1*** | 12 | 5** | 1** | 7** | 1* | 1** | Zombie (Commando)****** | 12** | 2* | 1*** | 25 | 12* | 1** | 15* | 1* | 1** | Zombie (Chainsaw)****** | 17** | 3* | 1*** | 28 | 13* | 1** | 16* | 1* | 1** | Trite****************** | 2*** | 1* | 1*** | 3* | 1** | 1** | 1** | 1* | 1** | Tick******************* | 2*** | 1* | 1*** | 3* | 1** | 1** | 1** | 1* | 1** | Lost Soul************** | 2*** | 1* | 1*** | 3* | 1** | 1** | 1** | 1* | 1** | Imp******************** | 9*** | 1* | 1*** | 15 | 7** | 1** | 9** | 1* | 1** | Vulgar***************** | 12** | 1* | 1*** | 18 | 9** | 1** | 12* | 1* | 1** | Wraith***************** | 9*** | 1* | 1*** | 15 | 7** | 1** | 9** | 1* | 1** | Maggot***************** | 6*** | 1* | 1*** | 9* | 4** | 1** | 5** | 1* | 1** | Cherub***************** | 4*** | 1* | 1*** | 6* | 3** | 1** | 4** | 1* | 1** | Pinky****************** | 16** | 3* | 1*** | 25 | 11* | 2** | 15* | 1* | 1** | Cacodemon************** | 15** | 3* | 1*** | 23 | 10* | 2** | 13* | 2* | 1** | Renevant*************** | 20** | 4* | 1*** | 31 | 14* | 2** | 17* | 2* | 1** | Archvile*************** | 31** | 6* | 2*** | 48 | 22* | 3** | 27* | 4* | 1** | Mancubus*************** | 72** | 14 | 4*** | 112| 50* | 5** | 63* | 5* | 1** | Hell Knight************ | 65** | 12 | 4*** | 100| 45* | 4** | 57* | 5* | 1** | Bruiser**************** | 72** | 14 | 4*** | 112| 50* | 5** | 63* | 5* | 1** | The Hell Hunters******* | ?*** | ?* | ?*** | ?* | ?** | ?** | ?** | ?* | ?** | Maledict*************** | ?*** | ?* | ?*** | ?* | ?** | ?** | ?** | ?* | ?** | The Guardian*********** | 57** | 14 | 5*** | 89 | 40* | 5** | 50* | 7* | 1** | Sabaoth**************** | 125* | 25 | 11** | 194| 88* | 10* | 110 | 10 | 2** | Cyberdemon************* | 286* | 57 | 21** | 445| 200 | 25* | 250 | 25 | 3** | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Legend: PSTL: Pistol | SG: Shotgun | DBSG: Double Shotgun | MG: Machinegun | CHG: Chaingun | GRD: Grenades | PLR: Plasma Rifle | RL: Rocket Launcher | BFG: BFG |