So I’ve been playing the new Doom game (which I wish they’d just call Doom 4, seriously, what the hell is up with companies rebranding new games with the same name… all it does is confuse people… I’m just gonna call it Doom 4 here). I saw all the trailers, and was pumped. So much so that I preordered it, then played it at 1 in the morning when it was finally available on Steam on launch day.
It’s a lot of fun to play. It’s very fast-paced, bloody, gorey (I can’t seem to find “gorey” in the dictionary, so we’ll go with that spelling), explosive, and awesome. I’ll paint the scene for you (here, listen to this music while I do) Picture being in a big open area with swarms of demons running at you trying to kill you, and you’re running and blasting ‘em away, stopping only briefly to grab a few by the face and rip their jaws out or pull one of their teeth off so you can slit their throats with it. It’s big, it’s mean, and it’s damned awesome!
… But it’s not Doom. Actually, I’d say this is more like Bioshock.
In Doom, your mission was to get through the level. Find the keycards, find the secrets, and get out. It was really all about navigating the labyrinth as fast as you could. The enemies were just sorta there to get in your way, and as you activated things and picked up different items, more would appear. But, ultimately, they were optional. It was simply in your best interest to kill ‘em off, but not required. There’s a speedrun category for Doom called UV pacifist (Ultra-violence pacifist… Ultra-violence is a difficulty setting… you can read more about it here). The object is to get through the level as fast as possible without killing anything.
In Doom 4, while the action is the same as the original Doom, there are so many places where you’re not allowed to progress unless everything is dead. The formula is basically this: enter room, kill everything, door opens, continue to next room. After you clear a room, you are then tasked with exploring around, picking up little codex notes and tidbits about the story you don’t give a shit about, and sometimes you’ll get lucky enough to find a new weapon or another piece you can use to upgrade your gear. So what’s wrong with that? Well… it slows the game down. If those monsters were already out and about, ripping things up and destroying things, then turning their attention to me when I appeared, it would be Doom. If I could progress through the game without killing anything (not that I would, but I want the option), then it would be Doom.
So yeah… it’s not Doom. OK, I’m a purist, and maybe I’m being a bit of a hipster here. Fine, but I do want to point this out: this game is totally worth getting! Holy shit, this game, Doom-title nitpick or not, is amazing.
I’ll take a critical look at this game here, and explain all the choices they made to make this game great.
Great Musical Composition
It’s industrial djent nu metal music with a side of electronic, and it kicks ass. That track I posted earlier here, seriously, give it a listen. Mick Gordon is a king among composers!
A Protagonist with Character
I love the protagonist. He doesn’t say a word, and yet he’s memorable and awesome. Unlike most silent protagonists, he actually has a personality. So many games make the protagonist silent and expressionless so you can “project whatever personality you want into the character.” I call that lazy or cowardly writing. I want my character to have his own personality already. It was nice to play as a meathead marine who gets impatient with anything technical and gets furious and bloodthirsty with anyone who has the audacity to put his life in danger. Remember earlier when I said that thing about ripping a tooth out and slitting throats? Yeah. That’s this guy.
At one point in the game, you are tasked with carefully realigning some energy waves or something using some tech thing, being very careful, because otherwise it would cause irreversible dam- yeah screw that, he just kicks the thing and breaks it, causing it to blow up. There, problem solved! Ain’t nobody got time fo dat!
Awesome Combat
I said it before, and I’ll say it again – I love the combat. I don’t care how repetitive the formula is, the combat in this game is always fun, and challenging. Shoot the bad guys up, and be sure to kill ‘em via melee kills (they call ‘em “glory kills”, I call ‘em coup de gras’s) because they’ll drop health when you do… And if your ammo’s getting low, break out the chainsaw, because as soon as you chainsaw someone’s head off, ammo comes spilling out of their neck like blood in a japanese cartoon. I also love how increasingly difficult the waves of monsters get… Sure, when it starts you get a few imps and soldiers shooting at you, but after a few waves it suddenly becomes giant Mancubus’s (Mancubi?) and Barons of Hell chasing your ass down trying to squash you. Hope you saved up those BFG cells!
Platforming
I love the platforming. This game has jumping puzzles in it, commonly referred to as “Parkour” in today’s day and age. You make running jumps at things, and you’ll vault up and over ledges. When a giant arena has monsters swarming and you need to get away, sometimes it’s helpful to just jump up and over a ledge leaving them behind.
The Exploration
You get well-rewarded for exploring all the nooks and crannies of the game. It’s not required, but you get better stuff if you do, just like in the original. And thankfully, unlike the original, you’re not just walking along walls spamming the use button, hoping something opens up. This adds a lot of replayability to the game, because you’ll want to go back through and explore these levels thoroughly for each and every power-up.
Other Notes
I haven’t really played much of the multiplayer, but I did try a snap map (user-created map), and I think that’s where the game will truly shine. All of what I complained about above is fixable by playing these user-created maps instead.
So, that’s my official take on Doom 4. Don’t be foolish enough to believe that “This is what Doom truly is! This is true to the essence of what Doom is!” Actually, it isn’t… but it’s still a damn good game. I give it an 8/10. Play it.