Doom 3 !!!

Look what we have here… A non-relationship based post !!! And this post was actually A LOT longer than this. A LOT longer. Yeah I'm feeling a little chatty.

I’m an avid gamer. I especially like first person shooters. I remember those times when I was a kid. We used to make weapons out of old furniture or plumbing and stomp about in the woods pretending to be Rambo. That was fun.

A good shooter game reproduces that fun. You get to become someone else for a while and kick ass with a large automatic weapon that in real life you would never be able to lift, never mind fire. And thanks to modern technology, the environments you get immersed in can be frightfully real. Even better if you play multiplayer with/against other people.

They were some really good ones down through the years. Doom, Doom 2, Heretic, the 3 Quakes (or was it four ?), the Unreal series (I especially love Unreal Tournament I & II), the Delta Force series (sweet multiplayer memories this one), Rainbow Six and it’s sequels, Ghost Recon and sequels, Half-Life & its mods (Counterstrike anyone ?), Medal of Honor (who can forget that beach assault ala Saving Private Ryan…) and so many many more.

Yes I play a lot of games. My PC at home was put together especially for gaming. Built it myself too..*grins

Anyways, the genre got a huge boost this week. Doom III finally came out.

Now, if you are aware of PC gaming history, you’d remember how much controversy the original Doom & Doom 2 generated. What with the wanton gore & violence. Also, Doom was the most downloaded software of all in that period. Needless to say, the “bad” publicity turned the two games into cult classics played by millions, including mois.

Anyways, back to Doom III. Now, why all the hype. Well, it’s the long, long awaited sequel to two aforementioned classics. But for me the thing that I most wanted to see was the graphics engine.

Most first person shooters don’t scare me, no matter how good they look. Before this, the only ones that did were Clive Barker’s Undying (yeah, THAT was frightening) and another one called Nosferatu. Doom III uses new technology that includes among other things, dynamic lighting (the lights are “live” which mean their effects are not pre-determined, meaning that the lights can move and look exactly like REAL lights. Also means, shadows are dynamic too).

This helped create an environment so eerie that I jumped out of my seat a few times while playing. And the in-game ambient noise, often made eerie downright terrifying. It didn’t help my nerves when the whole level I was in was dark and the small amount of lights would flicker or go out altogether. I also really like the fact that the game didn’t have music. Adds to the eerie factor, especially when you suddenly hear a loud CLANG !! behind you and something with claws pounces at you in the dark.

Another major difference is the plot. Doom III has an actual storyline that really is quite interesting. I used to play Doom/Doom 2 for non-stop run & gun action. Now I play Doom III to advance the story. And the pacing is a lot less frenetic. It's actually quite slow and deliberate overall. Unlike the older Dooms, this one isn’t packed with enemies to kill. But don’t worry, the enemies are smarter now and they’ll come at you from places you don’t expect.

Overall, the feel is close to Resident Evil. It even has zombies. Got to hand it to ID Software, they really knew what they were doing when they did this game.

Final verdict, this game is superb. Great sound, great graphics (looks good even on LOW detail. Makes me want to blow money on an ATI Radeon 9800.) and surprisingly tight story. It rocks. If you enjoy a good scare, play this game. In the dark. You'll be scared alright...

Thus ends the review.

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Okay, I can't leave without saying something about what I've written about in previous posts. I finally got it. I know what to do. I know how to deal with F**. I had an epiphany of sorts while I was playing Doom III and hiding behind a crate, taking fire from a rocket-launching demon (a Revenant I think...). And thanks for all the comments and advice. It helped.