Let's Talk about the Weapons

[Clonehunter]

Do the weapons make a Doom game? Probably not. But they still have to pack a punch. The SSG from Doom II will always be a fine example, with its big lurching blast sound, followed by the thump of a Pinky hitting the ground, followed by the resonating of the shotgun being opened, loaded, and closed again. So lets just recap the weapons we have seen so far.



This seems to be the new BFG. And it looks pretty frikkin' big. We don't see it much, as it's only seen at the end of the second gameplay demo. Because this part is obviously scripted, it's hard to tell if the weapon has a charge up feature like in Doom 3, or if it's a single click and just takes a moment like the original BFG. Note, however, that the HUD still shows the SUper Shotgun when this weapon is out, indicating that this entire sequence at the end may have nothing to do with gameplay at all, and is completely scripted. So the functioning of this weapon still remains a mystery.




This looks like the chaingun. We see it briefly during the Multiplayer demo, and we see the player dunking it out with a Mancubus and a Hellknight with the gun later in the Reveal. Since we only saw it used against what must be higher tier enemies, it's hard to tell just how strong it is, though it looks very beefy. Also, visually, it kind of reminds me of the Chasm: The Rift 'Volcano Gun,' in terms of how it seems to be oriented with the player.




The chainsaw had a good reveal. I doubt that the player will really spend too much time looking at the chainsaw when they pick it up, as that was probably meant for the event, but we did see that killing with it triggers a short cutscene. Is this just an executions thing? Will be able to just saw through things? IS this how it will always be? Or was it just a reveal thing? Time will tell. It's possible the kills may even be performed faster than what we saw.




Apparently a stand in for Doom 3's SMG, the Heavy Machinegun has a scope and serves as another automatic weapon. It also has a mini missile launcher that I suppose is for crowd control as opposed to all out assualt, as the Rocket Launcher would be. We saw this gun in all of the main Doom demos.




The new Plasma Rifle has a cutesy, but very familiar, sound and looks much like the Doom 3 weapon, except white and with more round corners. It also has the Doom 3 UAC logo on it, which seems to be all over the new Doom, and seems to be an evolution of the old Doom 3 gun. Although there's no confirmation, this Doom could have some lore associated with Doom 3 (The Hellknight is another familiar Doom 3 face), and is either an unofficial sequel, or possible a remake of not Doom, but Doom 3. We saw this weapon a good deal throughout the reveal, and appears to be one of several weapons that has a real life prop counterpart.




We saw the Rocket Launcher during the multiplayer demo very briefly, before we got a good look at it in the Hell demo. Seems to be your basic power house weapon to rip big guys apart. Humorously, the Hell demo player shoots him/herself in the face twice with this weapon, severely damaging themselves. However, although the player has either a little under half health or is a little over, they are never killed by the weapon, where as a point blank RL shot in Doom or even Doom 3 could be potentially killer. However, it's possible some damage values were tweaked, as to not kill the demo player.




The famous shotgun is now all metal, green, badass looking, and seems to be a good improvement over the Doom 3 shotgun. Notably, it has a three round burst mode, which reminds me of the Daikatana multi-shot shotgun. We only see this weapon used at medium and short ranges, and although we want to assume the worst, it's hard to tell how far its range will be. It seems to take things into chunks within two to three or shots, especially Imps and the Chaingun Commando-esque troopers. Will the player always pump it gloriously when they take it out? WHo knows. Again, probably a reveal thing, or maybe a homage to Duke Nukem 3D starting every level with cracked knuckles.





Here's an odd weapon. It appears to be a sniper rifle. We only see it during the multiplayer demo, and seems to be like Quake's Rail Gun. I didn't see a weapon like this on the SinglePlayer weapon wheel, so this may be a weapon restricted to Multiplayer or SnapMap.




The mack-daddy Super Shotgun appears again. You can fire both barrels at once, and it reloads pretty damn quickly. If it's more powerful than the other shotgun, which it seems to be, its fast reload time may make the other weapon obsolete, unless there are useful range differences.




Finally, our weapon wheel. Starting at the top with the shotgun and going clock wise, we have the Super Shotgun, Plasma Rifle, Rocket Launcher, Heavy Machinegun, the Chaingun, the Chainsaw, and a mystery weapon I do not recall seeing anywhere else. Not that it can't be the Sniper Rifle, due to how different it looks. It looks more like some kind of SMG, or possibly even a flamethrower. What could it be? Who knows. Actually, that is the Chaingun. What I had labeled as the Chaingun is actually the BFG, most likely.


But, so far, what do you think of the weapons? Great? Awful? Remains to be seen? Subject to change? Fuck it all, death of the Franchise and everyone who disagrees with me is modern day gaming retard who can't piss straight?

[Gryregaest]

Overall, I found a lot of them to seem a little over-designed. What I mean is that there seems to be a strong effort to make them very "techy" looking, which I'm not super thrilled with. I notice this most with the regular shotgun, which is admittedly better than the Doom 3 one, but still not terribly nice looking. I always liked the nice wood-stocked classic pump action from the original. There's something about fighting hell demons on Mars with an old fashioned gun like that.

On that note, I do like the double barreled one! I do feel like maybe it reloads a little fast, though. I'm not expect a realistic speed or anything, but if you can fire it too fast, it sort of takes away from the feeling of significance from firing it.

The plasma gun design is very Doom 3. Which is fine, the weapon itself seems solid, but I was hoping for more of a 'burn' effect on enemies. The plasma gun has always been a weapon that I wanted to like more than I actually did. It's still a sci-fi setting, you've gotta have your space gun. But there's always been a certain abstractness to how it kills that takes away from the feel. What I mean is that with bullets or rockets, you know exactly how those kill, it's very clear. But with the plasma gun, it's just these blue glowing balls that make things dead, and may as well be magic. There's not enough in the games to make it feel like a deadly weapon. I like the approach in Brutal Doom where it blackens everything - it gives it that feel that it's really burning enemies with plasma.

I hope the wheel is just an optional thing and that we can still use the number keys/mousewheel to switch weapons on the PC versions. It seems to slow down the action. I do also note, there's nothing resembling the BFG on the wheel, so I wouldn't take it as a definitive list of all the weapons. I'm kinda wondering if we get our hands on that laser beam thing the enemies were firing.

[Deleted_Account]

I like the weapons that were presented so far. I'm sure they will have there strengths and weaknesses as usual. I can't wait to see the BFG in action!

[scifista42]

Gryregaest said:

Overall, I found a lot of them to seem a little over-designed.

I can imagine how people would criticize them for looking regrettably bland if they weren't as impressively designed and detailed as they are. I like their looks. I'm unable to guess how their "feel" will be alike, though.

[DooM_RO]

Contrary to what people have said, I really like the Plasma Gun for some reason.

The Shotgun could use some more work though.

[LANEGRACABRA]

I like em, the shotguns especially alot, but fuckin hate scopes for some reason. Wait, there's no reason, I just fucking hate them in shooters. Sniping means you have to be still, and wasn't Doom about being on the move? If theres monsters far away, you take your fucking plasma gun and shower em with them tiny balls and rain a couple rockets along.

[Gryregaest]

scifista42 said:

I can imagine how people would criticize them for looking regrettably bland if they weren't as impressively designed and detailed as they are. I like their looks. I'm unable to guess how their "feel" will be alike, though.

Oh, I'm sure they would. All I'm saying is I'd prefer a sleeker, less complicated look to some of the weapons. They aren't artistic disasters or anything, just kind of 'meh' to me.

[MacBeth]

Concerning the weapon wheel, the mystery weapon is actually the chain gun, the one you thought was the chain gun is more than likely the Rail gun we saw in multi player, or possibly the BFG.

[Clonehunter]

Ah, you're right! My mistake. It's more likely the BFG then, as the rail gun has a scope that'd you think would carry over to the HUD icon.

[HorrorMovieRei]

Weapons look good. It's exactly what you'd expect from futuristic, sci-fi military weapons. Functionality wise, the regular shotty seems kind of weak compared to the old Doom shotgun(2-3 shots to kill an imp?), and the chainsaw executions, while fucking metal, could be a annoying if you have to go through the same few animations every time you saw an enemy. I'm also worried about the lack of fists in the weapon wheel. I wanna punch demons in the face without it being a scripted finisher! The other weapons are good though

[pro_zealot]

There are 2 weapons unnecessary :

1. machine gun.(this one for me do not look so well) - we have chaingun witch is allready cool.
2. railgun.(this is not quake i have hope its only in multiplayer)

[Jaxxoon R]

Skulltag had a railgun.

[larrypotter]

I really like all the weapons so far, especially the regular shotgun. The futuristic design of the guns is cool in my opinion and fits the game well aesthetically.

[Koko Ricky]

DooM_RO said:

Contrary to what people have said, I really like the Plasma Gun for some reason.

The Shotgun could use some more work though.

I like the look of the plasma gun, but I don't like its sound or projectiles. Brutal Doom had enemies getting singed when you shot them and their death animation reflected that. Whether you're a fan of BD or not, that is a really cool little detail. When you watch enemies get hit with plasma in neo-Doom, you don't get the impression that you're shooting out this incredibly hot form of matter.

[Clonehunter]

I'm not a huge fan of BD, but the burnt out crisps that the Plasma GUn left behind was a pretty cool touch. Although it didn't really change the way the weapon worked, it gave you the impression that it was different.

However, I do actually like the new sound for the weapon. However, more visual reinforcement would be nice.

[Deleted_Account]

Here's the BFG!

[Koko Ricky]

Clonehunter said:

I'm not a huge fan of BD, but the burnt out crisps that the Plasma GUn left behind was a pretty cool touch. Although it didn't really change the way the weapon worked, it gave you the impression that it was different.

However, I do actually like the new sound for the weapon. However, more visual reinforcement would be nice.

It just seems to me that there would be more "force" (whatever that would look like in a video game) to something shooting out hot fucking plasma. I mean, we're talking about the 4th state of matter here. Exotic and extremely hot stuff that is beyond vapor. It shouldn't look like cute little puff balls.

[Deleted_Account]

Speaking of plasma based weaponry...

I'm currently working on a story based on Doom, and I'm curious about the type of damage one might expect from being hit by ionized gas?

[Jaxxoon R]

Burns?

[Deleted_Account]

Jaxxoon R said:

Burns?

Are we talking third degree burns, are we talking about being vaporized completely?

[rampancy]

the main thing i noticed re weapon was how quiet the plasma gun seemed to be and the plasma projectiles seemed pretty slow and weak.... other than that i found them all pleasing.

also, i hope they improved the range on the shotgun and chaingun slightly over doom 3.

[rampancy]

GoatLord said:

It just seems to me that there would be more "force" (whatever that would look like in a video game) to something shooting out hot fucking plasma...

i agree. the screen (your pov) needs to "kick" back with the force of the energy you are sending forward.

on second thought, the lack of a recoil could be percieved as an advantage. it would be an advantage irl..

i hope they keep the ammo sharing between the plasma rifle and the bfg. i think this is how you balance the power of the plasma gun, by making you spend your bfg shots. this forces you to make a decision whether or not it is worth it to use your cells.

wheres the pistol? with upgrades like we have seen for the shotgun, there is no reason it couldnt be an awesome weapon by the end of the game. maybe there will be a dynamic where you can only have limited upgrades during your playthrough, that would give everyone some replayability as they figured out what they most enjoyed gameplay wise.

[doom_is_great]

Piper Maru said:

Speaking of plasma based weaponry...

I'm currently working on a story based on Doom, and I'm curious about the type of damage one might expect from being hit by ionized gas?

You know, a little google search could easily answer that question, but here's an article that might answer it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_weapon

[Deleted_Account]

doom_is_great said:

You know, a little google search could easily answer that question, but here's an article that might answer it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_weapon

Terrific, thanks for the response!

[IMX]

Piper Maru said:

Here's the BFG!

It probably weighs as much as an average person. Holy crap.

Now THAT is a big fucking gun in all the sense of the word.

[SYS]

Plasma rifle looks like something out of Mass Effect. As it's supposed to be a space age energy weapon, that's not a bad thing.

[purist]

I'm satisfied with them. Minor complaints are that the plasma rifle could do with more character and the heavy machine gun seems at first appearances to be a superfluous rapid fire weapon when the chaingun and plasma rifle already exist. It would have been cool if they added a weapon it had a new cool dynamic or effect like a flamethrower or some demonic arctifact.

[LANEGRACABRA]

Plasma should leave the corpses at least smoking due to thermal damage induced wounds.

[SavageCorona]

Jaxxoon R said:

Skulltag had a railgun.

It only came up in the multiplayer maps though. You couldn't get it in the single player without cheating.

[DooM_RO]

The guy who designed the Destiny weapons also made a few Doom weapons. No wonder the Plasma Gun felt familiar.

I visited his page yesterday but I forgot to save it and I forgot his name.