Gameplay
Uh, it's DooM. There's a lot of shooting and a lot of dark spots where you need to use your flashlight.
The old fashioned save whenever you want system is also in effect. I've been spoiled by console style checkpoint saving and had to play some annoyingly long sections over until I got used to habitual quick saving again.
The monster balance is interesting. Whenever possible, the developer seems to want to use the new "Betruger Imp" they added to the game. The few times I saw the tentacle trooper or dog demons, I felt nostalgic. There was at least one other new monster which resembled a giant mancubus with actual legs. It was big and annoying and not much fun to fight.
On the weapon side, there is a new artifact which replaces the soul cube. I tried to use it as little as possible. It slows down time, letting you score some free hits. But it always felt cheap. And it's not like I needed it. Even on normal difficulty, there was well more ammo than I could ever use. I think I ended the game with over 200 shotgun rounds. And I love shotguns, especially the new double barrel. Taking down revenants in one hit is always good.
But the final new weapon pretty much superseded all others. The game features a gravity gun which lets you hurl barrels, yoink useful items, and throw fireballs back at whoever shot them. Since returned fireballs one-shot most of the enemies in the game and you can grab and hurl smaller enemies, killing them instantly, there's often not much need for firearms.
Still, the shaky cam that screwed up my aim when I got hit meant that if I let one or two monsters get too close, I was in a world of hurt. In my Quake 4 review, I said that the shaky cam was wrong for that game. It works in DooM because DooM is also supposed to be terrifying. I can understand why Raven may have wanted Quake 4 to have a horror element as well, but it just didn't work for me there like it does here.
Theatrics
Uh, it's DooM. There's some decent voice acting, and the story basically makes sense. Beyond that, it's about fighting bad stuff. I haven't played DooM 3 since 2004, but the expansion actually seems to have far fewer voice logs, which was somewhat disappointing.
Aesthetics
Uh, it's DooM. Some humans look waxy, hell looks gross, and some stone textures look blurry and low res. Also, unlike Quake 4, they didn't screw up the flashlight, allowing me to see my own shadow, which adds a nice "you are there" feeling and occasional cheap scare. :)
Final Score
3 of 5
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