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Doom 3
mrline:
It just seemed fun to me to write some "review" about the game now I've finished it. You guys can also share your final toughts here by writing your review too :-)
I'm not sure wether I should call it a review, it's more like random notes about the game
Oh and it might contain some small spoilers, but nothing really big.
Overall I must say it was one of the best FPS-games I've played in a long time. While the game isn't exactly revolutionary (exept for the graphics) it is executed in a great way, and is one of the most polished games I've ever seen (didn't encounter any real bugs troughout the entire game).
The brilliant thing of this game is the fact that its very basic with not *very* much variety(for instance there aren't even underwater locations, you'll mostly dwell inside the hi-tech martian base, you rarely take awalk outside and if you do, you have to rush to get back in since your ogygen-supply is limited etc etc) but still is able to be more entertaining and interesting then most other games.
This is mostly due to the atmosphere. Doom3 contains some of the most atmospheric levels ever. Playing this game without getting sucked into its atmosphere, in other word without immersing yourself, means you'll be missing about 90% of it's fun.
Play this game at night, with all lights off and the volume of your surround sound cranked up. And be ready for an awesome experience :-)
Sounds - sounds play a big part in the game. Every piece of machinery has a sound. Your environment comes alive. Between all the "regular" sounds, you'll hear a lot of weird things, including creepy whispers, moaning and other weird sounds coming from hell.
There's allmost no music in the game, but you won't miss it a second. In fact, music would only be annoying, since it would remind you thatyou're still playing a game. To "only" hear sounds from your environment is much more realistic - and scarier. It's like you're really there.
Often you can hear your enemies crawl around and hear their hissing and growling before you actually see them. The creepy laughter of Arch-viles. The roar of some hell knight close by.
Another thing is the voice acting (in cut-scene and PDA-audiologs): it's really convincing. Wether the different actors sound terrified, annoyed, bored or whatever: not once does it sound cheesy or fake. One memorable PDA file in hell contains audiologs where the person speaking is literally too scared to even talk properly as he describes the environment and the fact that demons are stalking him, toying with him. It only adds more to the scary admosphere.
The PDA is a nice addition anyway. It's like the translator in Unreal, only a lot better and more polished. You'll be able to recieve e-mails, download video's and read the logs of others (this often gives you valuable info).
A nice detaill is the contrast between the promotion video's of the UAC (describing a nobel, great company) and the logs of the workers (giving a much more grim and realistic picture).
Enemy design and behaviour is quite good too, alltough AI is lacking sometimes. But you don't expect braindead zombies and animal-like demons to be einsteins anyway so this wasn't a con for me. Besides most of the gun-wielding zombies and some of the demons still are smart enough to take cover, dodge your attacks
and try to corner you. Most critters are quite scary, especially the bulldogdemons.
Gameplay-wise the game doesn't offer that much variety. It's mostly going from to room shooting whatever attacks you.
It did get a little bit boring in some spots, but overall the game still managed to be entertaining and scary as hell. After a while you know picking up goodies can trigger some demons to attack you. It becomes predictable. But I think it was MEANT to be predictable. You know picking up some goodie you desperately need won't happen without punishment (sometimes it doesn't, in which case you'll feel relief)
When you enter a room that seems to be cleared of enemies they still can teleport in any moment (which sometimes can be quite predictable towards the end). This might take away from the replay value, but beforehand you allmost can never tell when the attack will occur, from which direction it will happen, and what creature it will be. It could be anything. Futher in the game, I often was relieved when it was "just" 2 imps or zombies attacking, and totally shocked when the worst demons (such as hellknights) suddenly appear right before your nose.
It's this way of gameplay that has you constantly being on edge, reacting to every noise that might be an attack. I often jumped when the door behind me suddenly closed again (door sounds sometimes allmost sound like certain monsters you'll face... grrrrr) and I was scared of some silhouettes or shadows that resemble demons. To make it even worse, sometimes suddenly some Pipe just explodes or a part of the ceiling collapses. I wasted lots of bullets on this kind of stuff before realising the actual attack had yet to come.
In combination with the awesome (and often very creepy) ambiance sounds this results in a very SCARY gaming-experience, esp. when you play at night like I said. There where some spots where I allmost was too afraid to move on or had to walk away and get some beer before proceeding :-) As long as you are really immersed and don't see trough the tricks of the designers (which happens occacionally), the game is the scariest thing you'll ever play.
Ok that was enough to fill an entire book with. I'll stop now :P
Rusty Nails:
I must admit that I didn't read you full post there Mrline, so I'll just post what I think of Doom3 after I finished it.
Since I completed it, I have played games FAR more better games than Doom3.
My thoughts: Overhyped.
-Rusty Nails
James:
I didn't think it was overhyped at all - people complained that it wasn't scary but it's all down to taste. Some people just aren't scared by anything but others are scared of everything.
Rusty Nails:
Well scary or not, it DID tend to be extremely boring from times to times, but I still like it.
-Rusty Nails
Sang:
Reading your review, Mrline, I can't wait to get Doom3 :P :P
You'll probably see a Doom3 review from me in 2 months or something.
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