Quick Review: Doom 3

Website: Doom3.com

Doom 3. Long anticipated and then it finally arrives. Yes the graphics set another milestone for id Software. So what. Doom 3 is a well done retelling of the original Doom. It provides a backstory throughout the game, and all of the levels are quite cohesive, as opposed to the original Doom. Monsters are varied and most are from the original Doom lineup, such as the Imp, Cacodemon, Zombie-infantry and Hell-Knights. Weapons are varied and generally fun to weild. The BFG makes an excellent come back as well, although seems a bit underpowered compared to the original. No big deal though. Audio is top notch here, from monster sounds to weaponry and definitely the atmospheric ambience, which really lends to the creepy factor in Doom 3. In fact I would go so far as to say the audio alone makes up half of the immersiveness.

While the game is initially fun, it gets boring about midway. You'll find you're navigating the same ol' military base halls, all of which are quite dark. Once in awhile you'll venture out into small, mars outdoor areas, but not for long. It really is a breath of fresh air (figuratively speaking). You will interact with the environment such as quite sharp, computer interfaces, or other soldiers and people of the military base. Monster, human and weapon models are all finely detailed and done well, although human-lip-sync for speech audio is nothing to write home about. Occasionally the game will introduce an attention grabbing, in-game cinematic or moment - such as an Imp suddenly springing in front of you, clinging to the glass of the room you're in, then dissapearing. This is one method of scares in Doom 3, among others such as the infamous and rather gimmicky "monster closets". It sounds ridiculous but it couldn't be more true - wall panels opening up and a monster popping out. It happens dozens of times and it gets cheap real quick. Eventually you travel to Hell and then come back and yada yada save Earth from the demon infestation yada yada...

Ah I can't forget the reliance on PDA's. You can collect handheld computers, PDA-CD's and access cards throughout the game, and often you'll need a soldier's PDA to gain access elsewhere. Not only that, you may need to peruse e-mails and audio logs to unlock a storage locker or a door to progress somewhere. This got so tedious. I appreciate that it was a little something to inflict story and interesting little bits about soldier life at the Mars facilities, but I thought this avenue of progression was too forced.

Doom 3 was a fun experience but not for long. In addition the overall game length felt short. It's reliance on cheap scares and ad-naseum dark base corridor navigating - ultimately little variation in gameplay and experience, kept Doom 3 from being a keeper for me. Is it worth $20? Yes. But don't pay any more for it.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Pros: The graphical and audio quality and detail, overall immersiveness
Cons: Short game that becomes too predictable, too soon, to save itself.