Doom

It may sound a tad hyperbolic but the new Doom is so good, so incredibly good that I without question would say it is the best first person shooter I perhaps have ever played in my life.

Truth be told it wasn't that long ago I had decided to give up almost all hope for the genre after the last shooter I truly enjoyed; Bulletstorm, failed completely to find a sizable audience. Not since that game have I been absolutely in love with an fps such as this.

Color, creativity, fun cool looking environments, weapons, enemies; everything about Doom compels me to like and enjoy it on multiple levels. I'm on my third playthrough as of this review and still finding little hidden things and new ways to use the various firearms while naturally improving at my ability to stay alive as each level of difficulty adds significantly more challenge, as it should.

The best thing about the new Doom is how much it builds from where shooters were in the 90s. If a kid played this game today they would learn how they use to be, how it use to be all about speed and having a big arsenal of fun guns available at all times. No two gun limit, no regenerating health, no reloading, no cover, heck this game doesn't even have a sniper rifle and that is awesome. This is what I've wanted for what feels like almost two decades now. And while I personally loved Doom 3, this Doom feels exactly like what I assume everyone actually wanted and expected when Id brought this franchise back out of retirement last time.

You certainly won't be struggling your way through poorly lit corridors or waiting for surprise enemy closets in this game. No you will always know when the enemies are coming and your reaction is always the same; lets do this! The mere act of getting to play it some more is exciting. Every time the action slows and you get some quiet time to soak in your surroundings, maybe get a bit of exposition about the surprisingly interesting (but easily ignored) story going on largely in the background the tension is building. The anticipation for the next wave of hell beasts to spawn in is what makes you want to progress because you can not wait to test out yet another combination of weapons.

It's ironically a little depressing to think about that, that we've largely gotten so use to modern games being filled with half baked forced stories, tedious grinding, meaningless collection and just piles of ultimately wasteful gameplay. Doom reminds you that most games should at least be about fun above all else and at the end of the day that is what Id focused on the hardest here and it paid off immensely. Simply firing a gun is satisfying and you get to do that with rocket launchers, two kinds of shotguns, ridiculous energy weapons and best of all; alternate firing modes that give all but one of them a new cool way to dish out the murder.

Said murder is plentiful and gloriously over the top with gore. Pay close attention to the corpses you leave behind because sometimes they themselves will be a little different each time, a favorite of mine being if you blow up the large fat Mancabus sometimes his head will just be bobbing about on his spinal column for a few seconds like some super metal version of a car aerial accessory, and as morbidly twisted as that is I think its hilarious. Just like Mortal Kombat, Doom revels in its violence and never is this more amusing than when you pick up the berserker power up and literally go around grabbing imps and ripping them in half with your bare hands like they were made of paper.

Thankfully Doom didn't just recreate its original self with modern visuals, the glory kills are the biggest addition to the flow of the gameplay; melee finishes you perform if you so choose on stunned enemies which rewards you with a visually entertaining way to end them as well as earn a bit of health back in return for doing so which is especially handy for when a health pick up simply isn't near by. When the later area fights get particularly hectic you will certainly be glad you paid attention to which enemies are open to melee.

Not to be content with merely adding one new wrinkle to demon slaying the chainsaw also returns and acts as more of a very limited use special attack with a substantial reward of always providing full ammunition for all your weapons when successful and just like with the ranged weapons, glory and berserk kills, the chainsaw also has dynamic unique kills for each enemy.

Presentation of the enemies is a massive part of what makes Doom work so well, all of them are visually distinct, they all navigate the environments with incredible grace and speed, often shocking you with their intelligence and should you not be always moving get ready to find yourself on fire, exploded or ripped apart. The enemies never let up and so neither should you so being very mobile is crucial.

As for the story, its well realized despite its simplicity, the villains are a little shallow but what is there adds some decent context to your sprinting through hordes and of particularly fun note is how the Doom marine himself is both regarded and acts within the game; often doing such things as disobeying an npcs wishes or merely breaking a device that is actively trying to provide more story almost as a comedic mockery of where modern game story telling is.

The marine never says a word but his animation conveys such a wonderfully self aware and silly personality that I've missed from games in general. He's a dopey murder loving meat head and he reflects the nature of his game perfectly.

I cannot also go on without mentioning the incredible music which adds another level of flavor and satisfaction to the entire experience that can never be over-stated, shifting and adapting to your action and making all the cool stuff you're doing feel that much cooler.

If I had one gripe with Doom is that even though the campaign was quite a bit longer than expected I still craved so very much more of it and I really hope we get some kind of expansion or solo dlc before the inevitable sequel.

You can however add some extra game time once you've maxed out the campaign or while you are in the process of by checking out the multiplayer. Its completely competent, it plays well enough and reminds me of the likes of Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament yet I can't see myself playing it for an extended period, especially with my lacking ability to take on human opponents these days. I didn't find the multiplayer specific weapons to be all that fun and none of the maps were especially interesting but if you just wanna jump around and shoot other people its fine.

Long review short; you really really need to play this game even if its just once. I feel like anyone who likes shooters can thoroughly enjoy Doom.