Your honest opinion required...

[Dubh]

Some of you may know me......member for some time now...previously a lurker back from the days of MacWorld. I live in Ireland and am currently on vacation in Boston.As a result I haven't got to play Doom yet. Yesterday I had the damn thing in my hands in Sam GOodies.

I have been a little blown sideways with some of the reactions to the game online. I must admit, with all the newbies joined it is hard to distinguish trolling from real posts.

Basically without rambling on for too long...can some members here please tell me their honest opinion of Doom. Will I be happy with it etc... No spoilers if thats okay...I don't want massive paragraphs...Just your quick opinion would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[Arioch]

Good. Very good. So good I cream my pants nightly.

[[FnG]Lazz]

I cant tell you whether you will like it or not. I can only tell you that Im a little dissapointed.

Good -
Usage of sound effects
General graphics
Has made me jump more times than any game Ive played

Bad -
Can get repetative
Textures look crappy when close up
Gun sounds are bad. E.g for the machine gun, a friend of mine said it sounded like a "sewing machine".

[Arioch]

Heh, sounds like Doom back in the day eh?

[doowrag327]

It's a very good game, very creepy at some parts and atmospheric just like they said it would be.

It loses points on alot of the reviews because at its core, its nothing more than moving from room to room blasting things.

But that's what Doom 1 and 2 were, so I dont know what IGN and the others were expecting D3 to be.

If you liked the first 2, you'll love this one like I do. It's an excellent game.

[etimmerAZ]

I like it. It got a lot better after I added the flashlight mods that give the guns lights.

[S1lent]

The game is definitely a 9.99/10 game. There are a few flaws, but thats mostly a case of opinion. I would definitely recommend it to any Doom fan because they're probably the only ones who would really appreciate it.

As for the sound thing, if you, like him, think that the sounds are bad, you can download a small mod to change the sounds back to the "good" alpha sounds. So that really isn't a problem

Doom 3 has a bright future in the mod world and I think it would definitely be a good buy.

[[FnG]Lazz]

S1lent said:

you can download a small mod to change the sounds back to the "good" alpha sounds. So that really isn't a problem

EDIT: Nevermind, found it

[Wobbo]

If you like modern SP games (i.e. half-life and later) you almost cetainly will like doom3, if you loved the originals, youll probaly be dissapointed a lot.

Doom3 would have made a good survival horror game, but as it stands its only a decent FPS. It has many of the flaws of the survival horror genre (scripted sequnces, linear puzzles levels and gameplay) without a lot of its positive aspects (plot splits and twists)* all in a first-person view package.

Its absolutley nothing like the original doom games in terms of gameplay, which isnt *entirely* bad, but isnt good either.

*(it does have good voice acting though)

[Wobbo]

doowrag327 said:

It loses points on alot of the reviews because at its core, its nothing more than moving from room to room blasting things.

But that's what Doom 1 and 2 were, so I dont know what IGN and the others were expecting D3 to be.

If you liked the first 2, you'll love this one like I do. It's an excellent game.

on an extremely superficial level, yeah the games are similar. But in that case you could say Half-Life was the same as doom1&2 as well... and yet that game got critical acclaim and praise from everybody.

Actuallly, about 9/10 reviews were extremely positive, and the few that "bashed" it gave something like 80-85%

"You will never experience a dull moment',or even a less than mesmerizing one. Doom 3 is a masterpiece of the art form"
-PC gamer Review

^^^dont believe the hype

[Deathmatcher]

I love the game and I´ve been playing the originals for almost a decade now. You will find a totally new game but at the same time, you will find LOTS of the original stuff back in - more than I´d hoped for. I missed some original monster sounds - the sounds are totally new - but graphically speaking the old monsters are very well reckongnizable. I like the gun sounds, btw.

When I´m standing in one of the creepy, dim lit hallways and looking at the deserted martian landscape with sand storms howling on top of me, I get this odd feeling of sad yearning to stay in that hallway for ever - the same feeling I had when looking at the gray, foggy mountains of Doom.

[Shaviro]

Graphics: 99%
Sound: 97%
Story: 98%
Gameplay/Conclusion: 98%

[dsm]

I've just played the game for the first time and all I can say is: Wow!

I gotta admit that I'm a little disappointed with a few things, but all in all, this game is fucking sweet. As good as Doom 1? Not really, but it's awesome enough for me to say: It's a worthy Doom title.

Bad:

- Doesn't really feel doomy in terms of the gameplay feel. The shotgun in particular disappoints me. It feels too much like a toned down db shotgun (with a very loose shot pattern that is too inefficient at even fairly short ranges) and not enough like the highly effective sb shotgun from the classic games. It pissed me off because it would take me at least two shots at an approaching imp (too often three or even four!), despite the fact that the imp seems to have the same hp as in the classic games.

- Apparently, Id listened too much to the retarded complaints of AndrewB regarding the imps being "too fast and furious". Imps don't lunge at you very often (it's scripted when they do). When I first got introduced to the imp I was like: "Holy shit! It's the fucking imp! He'll be right in my face in two ticks! Put him down! Put him down!"
And all he did was stand there and launch fireballs. Bah!

- Zombies tend to sound more funny than scary (though there are a few well-picked sounds they emit that rock in the scare department and shooting them is really satisfying - sound wise as visually).

- Former humans gib too easily, bringing back my biggest beef with Quake 2. I really, really, really wish zombies and possessed soldiers wouldn't gib so easily when I use the shotgun against them.

Good:

- Really cinematic feel that draws you in.

- Superb combat behavior on the part of the possessed soldiers - really makes you feel like you're in a firefight with trained soldiers.

- GREAT weapon sounds. The reloading sounds in particular are really sweet and coupled with excellent animations, they feel truly like real weapons. I don't understand why people complain about "weak machinegun sounds" - are they expecting a fucking autocannon? It sounds appropriate for a small, low-calibre submachinegun and it really has a satisfying rattling sound when it fires. The shotgun sounds are perfect.

- kickass story so far, I don't care if the plot is old, but the details to the story are really sweet.

- The addition of the flashlight rocks - really makes you nervous in a good way.

- The game is actually scary. I was never scared in classic Doom (except when I went up against Mr. Cybie), but here I'm happy to report that I'm scared. Not scared in a bad way like when I watch a horror movie (I get a paranoid sort of dread that a horribly, repugnant image is gonna show up suddenly when I watch a horror movie), but in a really cool way that serves to draw me in and actually watch my step.

- It takes a long time to complete each map. Only completed around 3 so far.

"In-betweens"

- I find the graphics a bit overrated, but they're certainly not "disappointing". It really feels like you're there, but I don't really think the graphics are "better than the screenshots or the videos". Maybe I've just reached the point where graphics no longer matter quite as much to me anymore. There were, however, a few incidents where the graphics actually impressed me - usually during cutscenes.

- Though not even 1/4th as bad as Doom 3 bashers and even some reviewers make it out to be, the darkness did end up being a bit overused in the first map in the decomissioned base part, but after that the lighting is perfectly balanced.

- Nice balance between the fists and the flashligt; Fists are damn weak (as they should be!) but have a rather good attack rating, whereas the flashlight packs a wallop (on zombies at least), but has a slower attack. Unfortunately, the flashlight seems to render the fists redundant (unless berserk only boosts the fists, which I somehow doubt based on pre-release previews - though perhaps they decided to balance it so that only fists are boosted to that extent)

[Shaviro]

dsm said:

- Apparently, Id listened too much to the retarded complaints of AndrewB regarding the imps being "too fast and furious". Imps don't lunge at you very often (it's scripted when they do). When I first got introduced to the imp I was like: "Holy shit! It's the fucking imp! He'll be right in my face in two ticks! Put him down! Put him down!"
And all he did was stand there and launch fireballs. Bah!

No they aren't scripted. There are two imps, the normal imp and the imp_crawler. The former just throws fireballs at you and the latter does what it did in the alpha. You'll meet lots of those in the game.

[doowrag327]

Really? I sorta remember fighting an imp that lunged at me, then stood up and started throwing fireballs.

I could be wrong though, I've killed so many of the things its hard to keep track.

[Relica Religia]

I APPROVE, of Doom 3.

[dsm]

dsm said:

Bad:

- Doesn't really feel doomy in terms of the gameplay feel.

I take that comment back! The game feels all the more Doom-like once you get used to the new sounds and get further into the game. The shotgun still kinda disappoints though.

The chaingun = Totally friggin' unholy, pure awesomeness!

[Deathmatcher]

dsm said:

- Zombies tend to sound more funny than scary (though there are a few well-picked sounds they emit that rock in the scare department and shooting them is really satisfying - sound wise as visually).

- Former humans gib too easily, bringing back my biggest beef with Quake 2. I really, really, really wish zombies and possessed soldiers wouldn't gib so easily when I use the shotgun against them.

What do you mean by zombies, what by former humans?

[Sephiroth]

a great game and worth it. yes there are a few bad points, like a bit dark. however that was the atmosphere they wanted. after all one inspiration was alien, a dark movie. also remindes me of event horizon

people commend on the pistol alot, personaly i think it is fine. the one from doom1 wasnt that powerful either

[Black Hand]

Graphics: 100 (best graphics to date)
Sound: 84 (really good monsters, really shoddy guns)
Story: 57 (story was shit plain shit)
Game play: 65 (Game play redundant and tiring)
Replay: 30 (The games fine if you only play it once.)

And now minus points for ID software bragging about a physics engine they barley ever used and minus more points for ID software attempting to cater to the horror/surviver genre by molesting their own prize game title.

Conclusion: 78%

All and all its great for doom fans, whom we all are, but other games in the near future will easily surpass it in terms of sound, story, game play and replay. The graphics and cinematic experience of the game are also impressive.

Dubh, you should probably buy it, put simply, its worth the money you pay for it.

On an unrelated note what part of Ireland are you from?

[Vile1011]

Doom3 plays like a slower-paced classic doom, as if the doomguy decided to settle down and raise a family instead of staying up til 4 every night partying. Graphics aside, the game keeps the same degree of minimalism that made classic doom so great: Just you, your guns, and some demons (Don't let the PDA fool you, there are practically NO puzzles in this game). To some people this translates into pure fun, other people complain that the gameplay is boring and "nothing new". On that point, sometimes it's best not to push the envelope further, but instead learn to appreciate and enjoy what you already have. Doom 3 is that: The gameplay is simple and to the point, just like it should be.

I wouldn't compare this game to Half Life at all. I played it, and once I finished I had no desire to start up the game again. Nothing about the game captivated me at all. Doom 3 however has made me late to work on numerous occassions.

[Murdoch]

I second pretty much all the good points everyone has made. I also emphasis the point dsm made about the weapon sounds. The textures could be called crappy up close at lower detail levels, but at higher levels they're as crisp as you please.

Even though it's a very different game on the surface, when you get down to it, Doom 3 does feel like a Doom game a lot of the time.

A quick tip - rebind the flashlight to the middle mouse button. Having to hammer the F button is clumsy, but with it on the middle mouse toggling between it and weapons takes only a split second, and makes a massive difference to the flow of the game.

[S1lent]

For those of you who were wondering where to get those sounds, you can get them (and many other mods) at doomiiifiles.com

[Dark-tenshi]

The game was very good. it has some flawed.but that was because it`s design decision.I wish it would be a little bit fast paced. I really enjoy some levels in late game, which there are lots of demon to kill.

The atmosphere was excellent.good job id. The remake of doom monsters was great.

if you are FPS fan who enjoyed run and gun (and cool scifi /hellish setting), you will certainly enjoy this game.

[Deathmatcher]

JoelMurdoch said:

A quick tip - rebind the flashlight to the middle mouse button.

You know what I bound to the middle mouse button? - Quicksave! :D That is awesome flow!

[Shaviro]

Black Hand said:

And now minus points for ID software bragging about a physics engine they barley ever used

When did they brag about the physics engine? O_o
I think they use it perfectly. I'm certainly glad they don't rape it like Valve does with HL2.

[dsm]

Black Hand said:
Story: 57 (story was shit plain shit)

How the Hell can you sprout such bullshit and still look yourself in the mirror without puking?
So far I think the story is awesome. They really fleshed out the storyline for the old game in a very intricate way and the way they gradually reveal stuff really pulled me in so far. Did you really expect anything else than the basic Doom 1 plot, but with more details? If you did, you're a fool.

What would a "good" plot be in your book? "Hell and the demons were all created in a big bio-engineering project by the UAC to probably establish their power, and it was all a big scheme by them to achieve some obnoxious goal" or some shit like that?

All I expected was the old Doom story rewritten somewhat faithfully, but explaining elements in greater detail. So far, I got more than I bargained for.

And now minus points for ID software bragging about a physics engine they barley ever used and minus more points for ID software attempting to cater to the horror/surviver genre by molesting their own prize game title.

They didn't overuse the physics engine. They used it exactly where it matters: for monster death animations (which rock when you're actually in a fairly decently lit room) and only for items that need them. I'm tired of games where every object falls over just because you touch it. Physics should be used where it adds to gameplay and applying physics to every fucking chair in the game does not add to gameplay. "OMG!!! I can knock down every single soda can in the game!!! Amusement galore!!!"

[999cop]

dsm said:

How the Hell can you sprout such bullshit and still look yourself in the mirror without puking?
So far I think the story is awesome. They really fleshed out the storyline for the old game in a very intricate way and the way they gradually reveal stuff really pulled me in so far. Did you really expect anything else than the basic Doom 1 plot, but with more details? If you did, you're a fool.

What would a "good" plot be in your book? "Hell and the demons were all created in a big bio-engineering project by the UAC to probably establish their power, and it was all a big scheme by them to achieve some obnoxious goal" or some shit like that?

All I expected was the old Doom story rewritten somewhat faithfully, but explaining elements in greater detail. So far, I got more than I bargained for.

Cut to the chase that in your comment I find it rather unnecessarily aggressive; just because his opinion is different than yours, doesn't mean that he is a fool for stating an opinion of his point of view.
[CUT OUT THE SPOILERS]

[Shaviro]

999cop said:

Cut to the chase that in your comment I find it rather unnecessarily aggressive; just because his opinion is different than yours, doesn't mean that he is a fool for stating an opinion of his point of view.

Stating an opinion: "I think the story is shit" or "The story is shit, IMO."
Stating a "fact": "The story is shit"

[Deathmatcher]

dsm said:

Physics should be used where it adds to gameplay and applying physics to every fucking chair in the game does not add to gameplay. "OMG!!! I can knock down every single soda can in the game!!! Amusement galore!!!"

Bad example. They did apply physics on every chair and every soda can in the game. I got what you wanted to say, though :)