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DOOM - User Reviews

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Okay, you guys asked for it. Well, one guy did. Or something.

Use this thread to post your review of the game.

Rules:

1: Only actual review posts allowed. This thread will not turn into some shitty argument about semantics on whether this one mechanic is fun or not.

2: To that end, One post per user. You can post once in this thread, to post your review.

3: Spoiler Tags! Use them if you need to. A good review should not need spoilers however.

4: If you want to numerically rate your review at the end, use a score out of 10, to keep things consistent.

5: Uh... don't be a goddamn idiot, I guess. If you want to make a dumb joke review, go ahead by all means, but really dumb shit will be removed.

Overall, I rate this Review Thread 4/10.

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My first was Doom II and I instantly fell in love.
Doom 16 was an instant flashback. Pretty realistic environment
with hovering, green armors next to ammopacks is a great oldschool style
in my opinion. Form follows function. And Doom does that great.

Since my PC doesnt meet the min specs, I play it on PS4.
I played it with controller and Xim4 M/Kb. Both smooth and flawless.

Overall I rate it 9/10 because of some bugs. Got stuck a couple of times
at walls, ragdoll (and its sounds) is horrible some times.

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not gonna make a big post but

What they got right :
- demons
- guns
- combat
- soundtrack
- level design
- automap
- secrets
- story telling (or the lack of)


what they got wrong :
- mp loadouts
- no FFA mode in MP (seriously what the fuck?)
- snapmap seems hugely disappointing


the fact that ID developed the campaign, and two third party studios developed the snapmap and the mp shows. The campaign is excellent, but the other parts feel less polished. The campaign is so damn good that it doesn't matter, and the MP is still fun, but so far I haven't enjoyed snapmap much and it doesn't feel like a replacement for modding.

the campaign holds the game up - it's the best fps campaign since Wolf TNO but it blows that game out of the water in all aspects but story telling and its the best FPS campaign prior to wolf tno for many years that i've played. i'd give it 9/10 overall as a game, the lack of polish in the other modes keep it from being 10/10 material.

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The is a single player review, I have no interest in MP.

I'll take the opportunity now to tell Jaxxoff to just skip my post because I'm not interested in his idiotic opinions. But I'm sure he just won't be able to help himself and say something juvenile anyways.

The Good

Engine Highly Optimized
Beautiful Graphics
Excellent Creature Design
Excellent Weapon Design
Good Enemy AI
Great Game/Graphics Options
No input lag with v-sync enabled

The Bad

Level Design: while leading the player through the maps intuitively, they lack the ability to consistently backtrack. Way too linear, pretty much drags the player by the nose through the levels. Lowers replay value.
Predictable spawning and scripted encounters.
Weapon sounds lack that visceral quality.
The soundtrack is boring and lifeless, doesn't change with combat situations enough to heighten urgency.
Weapon and Armor power up system, this is useless fluff in my opinion. There was nothing wrong with the old power up system with temporary boosts when needed.
The Story, DOOM doesn't need a story, just visceral action. It needs that pure bliss of over the top blood spewing killing and feeling like your the biggest bad-ass that ever joined the space marines and you're going to make hell pay. It's missing here.

The Ugly

No Ironsights, why is there a turn off crosshair option when the weapons lack iron sights? Sure the old Doom's didn't have them but these days it's a necessary feature especially if you give the option to turn off the crosshair.

Glory Kills, sure you can turn the highlighting off, but then you miss vital ammo and health pickups. I don't need/want CoD take down moves in DOOM, it detracts from the shooting experience especially when it's forced upon the player.

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I'll be honest, I was mostly worn out on FPS games for the last few years, I had this certain itch that no game has been able to scratch.

But, oh boy, this gem right here has sparked my interest in the FPS genre yet again.

After finishing the campaign for the new DOOM yesterday, I must say that truly from the bottom of my heart, this is one of the best first person shooters of the last decade.

This game doesn't sit around with cutscenes and boring tutorials, 15 seconds into the game, and you already have a gun and have to defend yourself.

The weapons feel meaty and powerful to shoot, you can also improve them by getting mods, but it's completely optional, a purist can probably finish the game without any mods.

Glory kills are also really fun to use, they're contextual, and they happen so fast that they seamlessly flow right into the gameplay.

This game includes what made DOOM great in the first place, and improves on it greatly, while adding interesting, but optional mechanics.

This new DOOM, if compared to something else, really seems similar to how Mad Max: Fury Road has turned out.

Both of them are great reboots to successful franchises of the golden days, both of them include what made the said franchises good in the first place, and both of them succeeded in bringing back the said franchises to the mainstream media.

I'm thankful to ID that this didn't turn out like another DNF.

There's also the MP and SnapMap.

MP is nothing special, it's cliche, and I wouldn't call it an arena shooter.

...But, it has a crap ton of customization.

Sometimes I feel like I am playing Team Fortress 2, I honestly didn't expect this from a DOOM game.

But sadly, ID outsourced the MP to Certain Affinity, the guys who made COD Ghosts MP and they co-developed some of the Halo games, and it shows.

Now, about SnapMap:

Like the name suggests, you Snap pre-made Maps together.

SnapMap is actually really flexible, believe it or not.

But not as a map editor, mainly it's scripts are amazing.

Someone made Harvest Moon.

In DOOM, out of all places.

If people made Harvest Moon in SnapMap, then I'm pretty sure anything is possible.

I tried it out myself, and yes, the scripts are really, REALLY flexible, I just can't state this enough.

Optimization-wise, I only had major FPS drops once or twice through my whole playthrough, and the game has only crashed once. For a launch title, the optimization is pretty good.

Verdict:

DOOM is a strong 9/10.

There were some things cut since E3, like some of the glory kill animations, and weapon animations, and etc.....

But it's just nit-picking I guess, it doesn't hurt the overall package.

It would be a complete 10/10, but then there's the average cookie cutter MP.

I mean, it's not bad, but the longevity isn't there.

But still, in this day and age, DOOM manages to differentiate itself from the other FPS games on the market quite clearly.

This game justifies the 60$ price tag by its massive amount of content, you won't regret the purchase.

DOOM is a must buy for every FPS fan.

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Guest MIND

Alright, this is my review for Doom 4 since I don't want to call it DOOM or DOOM 2016. I'll use whatever name I want. I've put 10 hours into the game so far.

I'll start off by saying that I waited for this game for about a year and a half, wondering how good it was going to be. I'm new to Doom. I've only played a bit of Doom 3, a few hours on the Classic Doom's and that's about it.

I'm going to get a lot of flack for this but besides the modding aspect, I don't see how the first 2 Dooms were THAT good. For the time they might have been but this game plays much better. The Original Doom had it's fare share of problems that are largely overlooked due to nostalgia. Sometimes the over 40 crowd will find the SMALLEST shit to complain about. It's 2016, not 1993. Things have changed. Change with it and adapt or get left behind.

I figured that this game would have big shoes to fill and I was a bit worried. You know when you just start a game and you get that "feeling" that your in love. Well, it was here with this game.

That said, this game was absolutely amazing and I breathed a sigh of relief when I tried each game mode.

Positives:

- The Soundtrack. Oh. My God. Short of Trent Reznor making it himself like he did for Quake 1, the Industrial/Dark Ambient/slightly metallish NIN sounding soundtrack for this game fits it so well. Big thanks to Mick Gordon and I hope an OST is released. It WOULD have been awesome if Trent made the soundtrack though.

- Movement. The movement is really well paced like in the original Dooms. You can get a Rune that lets you run REALLY fast so you can't complain that the game "isn't fast enough".

- Gore. This game is violent as FUCK. More so than brutal doom. I found myself wincing at some points. This game gets points for how violent and gruesome it is.

- Environments. The maps for single player are absolutley huge and wonderfully detailed. Filled with secrets, Praetor tokens, and everything in between, I'm definetley going to go back and collect all of them when I'm finished the campaign fully.

- Multiplayer. Regardless of what the mass sea of idiots will tell you, the multiplayer is fun and engaging. I had a BLAST deathmatching with friends, using all the weapons, and the maps are SO fucking nice to look at. So much detail put into them. There are multiple modes to choose from which should make this game stay alive for a long time to come. Great Arena FPS feeling to it. It plays like Unreal Tournament 4.

- Weapons. Every weapon is present and accounted for and feels excellent and LOOKS even better.

- Move or Die.

On nightmare mode, you better move and move quick or else you'll find yourself ripped to shreds. It really is a challenge.

- Graphics

I have a GTX 780 and the graphics were beautiful. Smooth as silk. Pouring with detail. Although my graphics card isn't the best I could play it on Ultra without it crashing with minimal screen tearing.

Negatives:

- The announcer on multiplayer is really annoying. He sounds like a pussy.

- Not enough modding/mapping tools. The ONLY thing this game needs to make it a perfect 10/10 are modding tools that are more elaborate and let you add in outdoor arenas, graphics, and textures, sounds, etc, like the original Dooms. SnapMap isn't that bad but a tool kit is much needed. Hopefully we will see this sometime down the road.

This game get's a WELL DESERVED and SOLID 9 out of 10 from me.

Outstanding.

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Wow, what a game
-Awesomw story and lore
-Great art style
-Beautiful graphics
-Great gameplay and enemy behavior (although it did get easier later on after a shit ton of upgrades on HMP)
-Fun challenges and other things there for 100% funness
-Beautyful soundtrack
-More pros and stuff but you get the idea

But here are the things I didn't like
-SnapMap is meh
-Bosses are in an open room with no variation at all, no enemies either which is disappointing (especially the 2nd boss, it would totally would work as a common strong enemy)
-I need more levels besides the classic ones (they aren't built for this games gameplay so they don't play as good, I want NEED more :P

8.9/10, I haven't touched multiplayer yet so I can't fully judge the game, and snapmap can be updated so I may change the score for the updates as well (can't wait for single player DLC :P, if it happens of course)

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To start off, this Is what I wanted a next gen DOOM game to be; Fast paced, over the top, a bit of creepiness thrown In some parts, and overall not taking Itself seriously (while also being serious). And this Is what I got out of the game.

So basically, I was starting to get low expectations after the Multiplayer Beta's reception and overall not looking all that great, but to say the least, I was hyped when they finally showed more of the Single-Player, It looked like DOOM, so I was hooked again (and suddenly returned here out of the blue because of this, and still will be here after that). I'll try not to make the review that long.

Story: 8/10 The story? Hah, there's barely any story, which Is perfect to me. but there's enough In the data logs to keep me Interested. There's Doomguy's marking being shown, a evil voice tells you to "Rip and tear until It Is done", he wakes up, he breaks out of the chains holding down his arms, smashes a enemy's skull In, gets his first weapon, the game begins right then and there. Just like Classic DOOM. Though, there's a few glaring flaws and annoyances, like Samuel's love for Argent Energy, and It overall being the main point of the story, just "ARGENT ENERGY THIS, ARGENT ENERGY THAT", but I can understand why they're doing this, It's to make the UAC feel like complete nutjobs and greedy people. And of course the characters aren't suppose to be likeable because, well, we're In Doomguy's shoes, and like Doomguy, we really don't give a fuck. VEGA's cool though. I wouldn't call the story a masterpiece like Wolfenstein's, and the ending Is a bit... Disappointing, you'll see If you ever get the chance to play It, It's curtainly In the style of Wolf:TNO's ending.

Gameplay: 9/10 Curtainly has a DOOM feel to It for sure, no reloading, no health regeneration, It has everything we loved about the old games. But there's some Interesting things thrown In It, such as double jumping, grabbing ledges, and the best of all; Glory kills, they actually have a purpose and If you don't want to die, you'll NEED to do them. They're completely optional though If you want a challenge. The arenas are decent, but they get old QUICK, they're totally overdone near the end of the game as well.

Multiplayer: 6/10 Not the best thing ever, but the thing that tops It Is the Demon Runes, you turn Into pretty much The Revenant, Mancubus, Baron of Hell, and eventually The Prowler (which Is a hell of a lot more OP btw), but I feel If Id Software could've been Involved, maybe, just maybe It would've been on the more classic side. Then again, there's Quake Live to be had.

SnapMap: 7/10 You snap some maps, basically. It has a strong purpose and will keep the game alive for quite a few years to come, hopefully. I haven't really tried building maps, but I did play some other users maps and It has a lot of creativity to It. It doesn't "WOW!" me for sure, but DOOM's been a moddable game for YEARS to come, and will continue to be.

Overall, DOOM 2016 Is a great return to the FPS genre, when things were simple and straight to the point, If you were one of those kids who wanted story, you had to look In the damned manual for story because there wasn't any In game expect for those little Intermissions, and It feels like that In DOOM '16.

I rate the game a 9/10. I would've rated It higher If It weren't for the MP being slightly lackluster.

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There's a lot of positive talk surrounding this game, so I convinced myself, against my better judgment, to give it a go. I am deeply regretting my purchase.

People are saying this is like a modern Doom. And in some ways, that's true. It is fast-paced, has lots of action, and you use a shotgun a lot. But combat-wise and level-design-wise, it doesn't remind me much of Doom at all.

In Doom, every encounter was a carefully designed little trap that you had to solve. For example, the third level of Doom 2 there's the shotgun zombies at the start behind the moving metal shutter. It's a simple moment to get through, but along with countless other moments like that, it adds up to being put down inside of that cube-puzzle from Hellraiser. It's dream-like and nonsensical level-design, but that is what makes it so compelling and menacing.

This new Doom is nothing like that. Rather than facing a series of carefully crafted traps/puzzles, you go from combat arena to combat arena where you must defeat wave after wave of enemies that enter the space through teleportation. There is no morphing level geometry, no falling of walls or other structures to reveal new terrors. None of it's very clever or requires much problem-solving. You just blast and blast enemies in the arena while dodging their projectices until it's over. Yes, that is an aspect of the original Doom too, but only one of many. This game takes one feature of the original Doom, and stretches it out into a whole game. The result is something dull, methodical, and boring.

I've heard a lot of people describe the original Doom as a "mindless shooter" recently, and have used that interpretation to validate the new Doom as a return to form. I couldn't disagree more. The first Doom was anything but mindless. Every level was a unique space, filled with unique traps and puzzles to negotiate. A ton of thought went into the character of each map, and that thought and care were a big part of what made the game so good.

The arenas in new Doom, by contrast, are for all intents and purposes the same scenario repeated again and again, with minor variations and new demons added over time. Unless you have a high threshold for repetition, this gets boring fast. The fact that the game practically begs you glory kill everything too doesn't help things at all.

I suppose if all Doom ever was to you was a game about shooting demons with shotguns, then this game will impress you. If what you remember about Doom was the blend of surreal level design, traps, puzzles, and action, then the new Doom is probably going to disappoint. Its UAC facilities are generic and its imagining of hell, pedestrian.

I had high hopes for this game starting out. But what id gave us was the dumbest interpretation of Doom possible. A game that is nothing more than shooting demons in the face over and over again. Doom was so much more than just that.

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Well I just finished it today, put about 14 hours into the campaign and a few hours into the PvP multiplayer/SnapMap. My computer is rather behind the curve so I was playing it all on low settings (very frustrating for me), but I chose to not let the lesser graphics bother me, and so I won't really comment on the visuals/looks.
There's a TL:DR at the bottom.
Below I have vague statements on the elements of the game, followed by an additional segment of jibber-jabber with my personal thoughts on it. I also have some brief commentary on Multiplayer/SnapMap at the bottom.
Anyway, here's my review for the campaign.

-Combat/Encounters = Great
The constant movement, action-packed arenas with a touch of platforming made for some chaotic and exciting fights, it felt great NEEDING to move around so much in a shooter. There were numerous ways to fight the enemies, although most of the time I preferred circling the arena firing rockets at distant enemies, and shotgunning my pursuers. The AI was good enough that if you get lazy and hang around trying to pick them off, you'll get whacked from behind by a Pinkie or Hellknight, and end up running around like a headless chicken to stay alive. However the portals/jump pads felt out of place, item placement and powerups were just lazily thrown in there, (and the Berserk one in particular is ridiculously overpowered).
-
Monster Design = Great.
I can't really complain about any of the monsters (except the Cyberdemon, 'looks like something out of Warcraft). The Hellknights and BoHs were fierce and very fun to fight against, the Cacodemons' steady but relentless assaults were captured from the original quite well, the Revenants and Mancubus were great (they were more like their Doom 3 counterparts), and the Pinkies and Imps were solid recreations.
-
Weapon Design = Good.
Most of the weapons didn't "feel" like the original ones, but they don't really miss the cut for this game though. The loadout felt more like Quake 2/Quake 4, which I'm okay with. The weapon-modding felt somewhat out of place in a Doom game, but it didn't intrude on the gameplay too much and gave you a nice little upgrade system to toy around with in the meantime. The Assault Rifle kinda' fell off near the end of the game as I just used the Chaingun instead, and a fully-modded Combat Shotgun felt more reliable than the Super Shotgun by the end. And the damn Chainsaw... Very badly designed. 'Utilized it less than the Pistol, and usually just to one-shot a Baron or Mancubus that were giving me trouble.
-
Levels/Maps = Solid.
Obviously we weren't going to see dazzling combinations of blue/green/red textures, so with that being said, the tech bases we got were adequately crafted with some decent exploration options. The outdoor zones on Mars were good though most of them looked the same, and in the end a lot of it was the same style as Doom 3 except brighter, and more exploratory.
It was still too linear though. The nav points were a disappointing design choice, and were not necessary at all. Most levels didn't really interweave (except Foundry), and a lot of the exploration routes just take you to some supply secrets, before you head back to your directed routine. And the arenas... Well, almost every fight takes place in a generic arena, and you usually always see it coming. Very few puzzles, almost no traps or ambushes, no corridor shootouts, and no dark/scary areas. They could have been much more innovative here.
-
Atmosphere = Average.
Atmosphere is something I find very important in a Doom game, and here it was a mixed bag. The martian landscape was a welcome sight, the industrial feel to several levels was nice, but there was little transition from episode to episode. If there was one thing Doom 3 got right, it was certainly the atmosphere, and unfortunately very little of that was carried over to this game. Ambient sound effects were rather absent, there was almost no change in tone, and the way you gained ammunition/health from monsters felt un-immersive (glowing thingies that pop out, cool...).
The soundtrack was all Quake 2-style industrial metal and distorted guitar rifts. It was fine for a while, but I grew tired of it rather quickly when it played on almost every damn fight, and it made me realize just how stale the overall music was (something other people here disagree with). Doom's atmosphere should have transitions between horror and action, not just the ladder. Where are the creepy horror segments with suspenseful and ambient music, or the more steadily paced levels with the catchy themes (The Imps Song, Dark Halls, The Demons From Adrian's Pen, They're Going To Get You, Sinister, anybody?).
-
Story/Lore = Below Average.
To be fair, I don't think anyone expected much in this field, which is why I won't call it "Bad". But it won't get a free pass from me.
As with atmosphere, Doom 3 captured this element better, and put much more work into the subplots.
The setup and the Doomguy's origin was solid, the descriptions on some of the facilities/weapons were interesting enough, the background on the TWO characters (three if you count VEGA) was as elaborate as you could hope, but that's about it for the pros. A lot of the monster descriptions didn't really make sense, the UAC's nazi-style management of their employees that you learn from the Tier Advocate logs was just silly and stupid.
The Argent this, Argent that, really got on my nerves and just felt like a half-assed plot device to explain EVERYTHING, from all the weapons/UAC's technology, to the demonic energy and monsters themselves.
And they should've stayed the hell away (pun intended) from all the demonic lore. I mean come on, Baalgar? The Dark Lord? Doom Slayer? Night Sentinels? DOOM Marine?! Get the **** out of here with that! Leave it up to ambiguous fan theories and speculation and don't try to explain it directly, especially if you're going to throw out random cheap fantasy-esque names to do so.
It probably would've worked out better having no plot at all (kinda like the original?), and just letting the player make up their own story/lore.



As for Multiplayer/SnapMap: 'Haven't put enough time into them for my opinion to mean much. However, from my brief experience in the multiplayer modes, the gameplay is nothing special and in the majority of matches it's just a mess. Most people just spend their time wandering around searching for other players/the objective, then just bounding up-and-down firing at the enemy until someone dies, then coming back and repeating the process, regardless of the game mode. There is no coordination, almost no strategy, and it just feels like a clunkier uglier version of Unreal Tournament 4's multiplayer.

Most shooter games don't even have built-in level editors, so I can't really use SnapMap's lackluster optimization as a negative against the game, since it's just an icing on the cake. So anyway, if we compare it to Doom Builder: It sucks.
As of right now you cannot texture/rewire the walls, make landscapes, create your own geometry, or set up any dynamic scripts, and therefore cannot make interesting levels (at least none that I've seen). Basically, you just have a small collection of pre-designed rooms you can connect together, an assortment of props/special effects, and that's it really. If you have a wild imagination of level designing, it's going to hit a wall real fast here.

TL:DR
I don't really like rating games, so I'll just say overall that it was a fun experience, and worth a playthrough (I'm a HUUUUGE Doom fan though). With all the negatives I'm throwing in there it may sound like I hated it, but they're mostly just little nitpicks and personal gripes, because overall I thought the game was GOOD, just not great. The gameplay was very well done and the core concept is on the right track, but it could still use some tuning, specifically the story/lore, atmosphere, and multiplayer. Hopefully with some community intervention Id Software will grant us the modding tools we need and let us go crazy with it, and eventually, we should be able to perfect it.

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The Good:

-Fast, gory action.

-Good variety of weapons.

-Long campaign.

-Snapmap

The Bad:

-Too much focus on arena combat.

-Suit upgrades are mostly useless.

-Multiplayer is mediocre.

-Snapmap is not optimized for making SP content (NO LONGER APPLIES FALLOWING SNAPMAP UPDATE!!!).

Review: So I am the biggest Doom fan in the world. I had been waiting for this game forever. And now that I am finally done with it...it's pretty good I guess?

So here's the deal. This doesn't really play that much like a Doom game. Sure there are certain elements of Doom here like finding keycards to unlock new areas, the lack of reloading etc. But the combat is very different. Instead of creative enemy encounters the game goes the Painkiller route of just locking you in an arena over and over while spawning waves after waves of enemies. Not only does this mean that most levels play the same, it also means that the game gets boring too quickly. I had already lost interest by the time I was about 70% through the campaign (which in it's defense, is actually rather long). The game also features some new stuff like weapon and armor upgrades which is nice, though I found the armor upgrades to be borderline useless.

The multiplayer is ok though nothing special. It uses CoD style weapon loadouts instead of pickups which is odd considering this is a Doom game. Snapmap is an interesting level making tool which ships with the game but the fact that the 2 weapon limit from the multiplayer can't be removed seriously limits what kind of SP content players can make, making snapmap better suited for creating multiplayer modes which is a shame.

All in all, could have been worse, could have been better.

EDIT: After having given the campaign another shoot on a higher difficulty as well as messing around with snapmap some more I feel the game is better than I originally thought. Enough that I am going to raise the score by 1 point.

EDIT 2: Actually after playing the game some even more replay value is not as high as I thought it would be so I am lowering the score a little big again. Originally I gave it an 8, then raised it to 9. I guess an 8.5 would be about right then.

EDIT 3: Thanks to the update to snapmap making snapmaps is far more enjoyable than before, as proper SP maps are now actually possible! I am raising the score by 1 point because of it.

Final score: 9.5/10

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Pros:

- Almost everything, but it still has some glaring cons.

Cons:

- Instant death traps. 99% of the time in the classic Dooms, if you fell into a pit, there was some way to escape it. Even most crushers were survivable if you had a high amount of health. I don't know how Doomguy is expected to save himself from falling off of a bridge, but they should have figured something better out.

- Ultra-Nightmare is pointless. Mostly because being insta-killed invalidates the challenge of beating the game in one life, but also because there's only one achievement, and it's just for finishing the first level.

- Toxic waste only appears in Hell. Literal "What were they thinking?!" design choice. Why is there a level taking place inside a molten steel mill in a game where I'll eventually be visiting Hell anyway?

- Lack of world building in general. VEGA tells me that tens of thousands of people were killed in a relatively small area, but there's very few signs of genocide.

- Too much upgrade hunting, though much like in Wolfenstein TNO, this becomes a nonissue in NG+. But it hurts first impressions, so you get shitters who'll think this is just more modern gaming trash.

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Pros:
-Great art style, beautiful graphics
-Addictive gameplay
-Fantastic level design, lots of secrets
-Weapon, armor and rune upgrading
-Badass music

Cons:
-ARENAS, ARENAS AND ARENAS
-Shitty optimization
-Lots of glitches & bugs
-Can crash at any time
-Snapmap sucks
-Too easy on UV
-Too short (8 hours on UV)
-No reward for beating Ultra-Nightmare
-Shitty main villain
-Doesn't really feel like a Doom game, more like a Painkiller game

My score: 6.5/10
Nice game.

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You know, when I heard about about DOOM'16 I was rather skeptical. Having played DOOM 3, I knew for sure that I had little reason to be excited in the first place. However I still gave it a shot, because I was hoping it would be an actual FPS game. And guess what? It is an actual FPS game, it even is a better one than most of what is currently on the market. Granted, the current situation for FPS isn't the greatest overall, but DOOM'16 reigns supreme in terms of kinetics and gunplay, and it looks nice. So let's get to the list.

Looks good.
Lotta secrets.
Plays well.
Nice OST.
Guns "feel" somewhat powerful, though the BFG didn't quite hit the mark in my book.

So, what sucks about DOOM'16?

Glory kills are a waste of time, and they are not entirely optional. Yes, you *can* kill stuff just from afar, but that costs additional ammo, and there is less stuff to pick up after. Glory kills become repetive, and even intrusive at times. That system should never have been implemented in the first place. Glory kills do not belong to a game which is about demons and guns.

All that fancy acrobatics stuff. You know, grabbing a ledge here and there is fine, jumping is fine in a modern FPS, you know what's not fine? Double jumping! Double jumping makes no bloody sense. Coupled with the level design and the way secrets are being hidden, this game almost feels like a "Mirror's Edge" spinoff with guns'n'demons at times.

Gone are the days of 20 or more demons pouring out of a suddenly opened door. Gone are the days of mowing down hordes of DOOM trash in a matter of seconds on a regular basis. Not saying the fights are not fun and interesting, but I daresay those fights are not what many people have hoped for, myself included. EDIT: In regards to Almond's comment, I'll elaborate this a little further: The way I perceived it during my playthroughs is, that the player slays the majority of demons during enclosed arena combats, which get more congested in later levels, for that matter. My gripe here is, that in the final levels of the game, these become somewhat grindy. Most of the time there are plenty of monsters in these arenas that you need to dispatch, but the raw numbers are just not in line with DOOM2 levels like "nirvana", for example, because they are more or less drip-fed encounters. Once these fights reach a certain congestion, they more or less stay that way for the remainder of the game, which makes them feel rather repetitve. Granted, you get larger encounters in terms of numbers later on, but they do not really feel as satisfying to overcome as they should, at least not for me.

My biggest quarrel with DOOM'16? Scrape off the paint, peel off the labels, look at the bare bones. This game lacks identity, at least for me. You can slap on any other theme you can possibly imagine for a FPS, and it'll work just as fine. Try the same with DOOM II, it'll look different for sure, but it'll still be DOOM II. Again, DOOM'16 is not a bad game, but I think it is not the back-to-the-roots-experience we deserved, after having to endure DOOM3, it isn't what id had said it would be, it isn't really DOOM to me.

TL;DR: Final verdict: 6/10. Not too shabby, but not DOOM-ish enough.

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It's one of those games where I have to think hard to find things I don't like about it. Sure, the arenas get a little more frequent in the last few levels, the ending was a little underwhelming, the shotgun has a little too much spread, the sound mixing leaves something to be desired, and it has some technical issues that I hope get patched. But goddamn it, what a ride.

Multiplayer is kind of blah, SnapMap is a bit of a white elephant. Depending what kind of updates these modes are getting, Doom 2016 might not have a lot of longevity. But the campaign is so unforgettable and replayable that I almost don't care. It's a wonderful, beautiful game.

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Xbox One 'review'...

In a nutshell, I haven't enjoyed a game this much, for pure damned good fun, since Resident Evil 4. That speaks louder than any gushing review to me.

The campaign hits a similar note to the first time I saw The Balrog in Jackson's LOTR flicks, because what I'm seeing on the screen is way better than I'd imagined it might be. The first time I turned round and clocked two Barons piling towards me took me straight back to the first Colossus that rumbled into view in SoTC on the PS2. It hits the classic Doom vibe perfectly, there's few better gaming experiences than running around Hell in a state of high panic / alert, surrounded by a room full of horrors all spewing death but armed with the ability to off the lot of them in as loud and red a fashion as possible.

I've only made it through Kadinger's Sanctum so far, but I know I'll never tire of pumping a few slugs into a demon before glory-killing them in one of a number of ways. The gameplay is magnificent in that regard. As a bit of an atmosphere freak (that'll be the Tomb Raider and Silent Hill gaming education) I lingered long in the Sanctum, but all levels are expertly realised, I love the good use programmers / designers are making of the current tech in that regard.

All the game elements, upgrading gear, rune quests, maps etc work as you'd expect, and don't interrupt the flow at all. Sometimes the breather is essential. I sometimes select the wrong weapon from the wheel but that's more to do with clumsy use of the analog stick (and no doubt a drawback of controllers, but having tried keyboard gaming and failed miserably back in the day I'm stuck with that), it doesn't detract too much though as the weapon I do select won't be afraid to do its bit for the cause. So far it's been a magnificent adrenaline ride.

Having missed the beta, I had no idea what to expect of MP, and sadly it's a bit of an anticipation-buster. The only other online MP I play is CoD on hardcore, so the hits required to off your enemy in Doom is an eye-opener. Eight times out of ten I'm obliterated having started the gunfight. It's okay, certainly it seems to have some room for improvement with practice, but is pretty uninspiring and perhaps not really worth the effort. I'm not gonna dismiss it because I'm a bad player though, will plug away for a while longer but am highly unlikely to bother with the season pass if the DLC is predominantly map packs.

SnapMap I won't review as I haven't yet tried to do much with it, though I do like to dive into the odd solo map to warm up before diving into a campaign or MP session. It seems cool, it's certainly better being there at all than not, and I'm sure I'll enjoy using it to knock up my own small level or two in time.

It gets a straight 10.

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Finished the game this morning and all in all, its one of the best games i have played during the last years. Maybe because it is a real game and not one of this cut scene spamming wanna-be movie titles. It has a great flow, i like the fast forward direction, the gunplay etc. To be honest, i only have two bigger points on the negative side.

Fist, the hell guard. That abomination looks so far away from any demon i would expect in a Doom game. If i would meet this thing in a Metroid Prime title (wich i really like), then it would be fine and fit perfectly. But compared to the fleshy, organic Demons this stony whatsoever dont work for me.

Second, the last mission. The design from the missions before is just fantastic. Some of the areas are just mindblowing. Everything is so detailed and atmospheric. But the last mission with the glowing lavapits, the 3 door sections etc. could also be from Indiana Jones or Uncharted. Damn, it´s the last mission, right before the mastermind. I expected a area that tells me right from the first view that now the shit gets serious. But what they delivered was just ... i dont have the right word. Green lighted areas, blue portal, red portals, yellow lights and jumppads, its maybe the most colorful area in the whole game. With the great designs from the former missions in mind, that was a big disappointment. It really looks like they ran out of ideas here. Just a big WHY???

I dont give points because i dont like this. What i can say is that i cant wait to play it again and maybe the two flaws will work better then. For me it feels like a game that really could call itself Doom.

No words about MP because i dont play it.

No further words about snapmap. Just tried it once and it crashed as i tried to create a custom wave. I am not finished with it and i guess the could be great stuff too. I just dont have enough experince with it to say something about it.

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"Doesn't Suck." -GM

11/10 would play again.

---

Mock-review aside, I'm impressed. It scratches a particular itch that hasn't been touched since the original Painkiller -- that arcade-y "movement as defense" subgenre as JPL described it. Fitting considering that all of id's marketing material for the new game read like a paraphrase of Coelacanth: Lessons from Doom. :P

So yeah, it pulled off the fast action thing and all that jazz, yadda yadda, you know how this bit goes. More interesting perhaps are the other things it did "right" that I didn't expect:

  • Level Design. Though it's still arena-ish at the core and the later levels do become quite linear, there are several missions early on that offer some kickass nonlinear play-it-your-way progression, which is something that's been (almost?) entirely missing from the action FPS scene for ages. Foundry in particular is a great example of this -- easily the best thing to come out of a modern FPS in a while, IMO.
  • Story. It's ultra-basic, but I expected something totally completely forgettable (a la Doom 3) and was instead treated to an interesting and lovably-hateable character in Samuel Hayden. That plus the little details like the UAC being a literal cult made the setting interesting enough to enjoy -- it's better at least than the "HURR DURR KILL MONSTARS" bit that Painkiller (and even OG Doom) prescribed. :P
  • Weapons n' upgrades n' shit. Gauss is badass. Expanding the chaingun into a 9-barrel turret is badass. Upgrading things was fun, rewarding, and made all the little secrets n' challenges n' stuff worth doing (not that they weren't fun on their own, heh -- I've a soft spot for that particular gimmick).
  • The Glory Kill system totally doesn't suck (-GM), nor does it interrupt the game flow. Whoop!
I'd be remiss if I left this "review" without bitching at a few things, so I may as well plunk down a few things that irked me about the other modes:
  • I'm rather fond of the MP as-is, EXCEPT there really needs to be an FFA Deathmatch option. 'Nuff Said.
  • Snapmap misses the mark for me, though I kinda expected it due to the main reason (little, if any, control over architecture and layout stuffs). There were some surprising other things, though, like missing weapons/bosses, the two-weapon limit, and the inability to adjust light levels of rooms (aside from some colored glow pointlighting and weird post-processing effects). I might still see what I can do with it, but it's more suited for gimmicky gameplay and goofy scripting than anything serious. It's a Toy, basically... maybe one on the same level of LEGO, but not particularly appealing to those who are metaphorically more at home in a machine shop.
That's really about it, and the campaign itself is pretty much flawless. Gimme a few more playthroughs and I'm sure I'll have a gripe or two, but I'll be damned if it wasn't the coolest damn shooter I've played in a decade, no exaggeration.

Aight, I'm done gushing. Probably.

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I've finished the game and I would rate the single player experience as 9/10. I had lots of fun on it. Some later action setpieces are really tense with lots of high-tier enemies, which was really rewarding when you got out alive. Still, I think this is quite inferior when compared with Doom 1 & 2, some reasons:

-> Most encounters are set-pieces/wave based. You had these kind of encounters in the classic games, but you also had lots of strategic positioned enemies, ambushes and roaming monsters style of encounters. This made the game feel too repetitive for some.

-> Levels are mostly really linear and easy to progress. I think it's like 80% linear stuff and 20% non-linear. While the classic games has more linear stuff, lots of levels were also non-linear, such as E1M4, E1M7, E1M9, and from Doom 2, M5, M8, M9, M10. Some linear levels were really good, like the one you climb the tower, but others had no reason to be that restrictive: You can see they have just put some doors, gates and blocks to make navigations a lot easier for the player.

-> Also, still in level design, they could've used more the key mechanics and added more level interation like the classic with lots of switches and interactable linedefs.

-> As for enemies, I can't tell really any difference when fighting Mancubus, Revenants, Imps. They wanted to make enemies more dynamics with moveset, but forgot to keep their uniqueness aside from health pool and size: Mancubus shots needs to be harder to dodge (with double shots), Revenants shots should've be homing missiles (which are a pain to dodge in classic games) and Imps should be the only ones to shot single easy to dodge projectile. I would also add the "supposed" hitscanner enemy, which is the Possesed Soldier which is way too bullet sponge and there's no difference between him and the Imp. (in classic Doom you HAVE to take cover to deal with hitscanner, which makes them top priority enemies to deal first)

-> I felt some enemies were too bullet sponge, especially the stronger ones. A regular mancubus takes like 7 or 8 rockets to die, while in the classic games its 4. This wasn't too much problem due to variety of movements from each monster, but still.

-> Sound design was really bad: Enemies should have more recognizable sounds and grunts (which is really important to know who you're dealing with in an encounter) and sometimes they feel too loud or weird.

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Hey, so it's been a while, eh?

I think I'm about 80-90% of the way through the game, so I'll only judge it by what I've seen so far. But what I've seen is every damn thing I was hoping for from Doom 3 that I never got, and then some.

Background: I've been playing Doom since shareware days, and have spent more time playing PWADs than I care to admit. I even did some music stuff for some Doom things back in the day. I don't keep up with modern games very much, but still put in lots of time on older games and the occasional new release... like this one.

The first thing I'll admit: Yeah, its combat is a bit different from that of Doom/Doom II. But after 23 years since the shareware first came into being, how could it not be? So many new game styles, programming tricks and gameplay elements have come into being since those days that it'd be impossible to make something feel *exactly* like the old, and why would you want that from an entirely new game? What I feel is that the game took some of the best elements of the original games and added a lot of modern touches on to it. At the same time, however, it does rely on an arena structure more than expected, which means it feels quite a bit like Serious Sam or Painkiller. I don't consider that a bad thing, though, and it definitely plays more like Doom than either one of those. I'm just glad we're past the point of monster closets and flashlighting that one random Imp to death.

In any case: The combat is wonderfully varied, complex and meaty. While arena setups are common, there's also a pretty wide variety of setups that often entail some different tactics. The weapons are excellently balanced between a variety of different tactical roles, even if certain later weapons tend to become mainstays after a while. And the monsters! It'd be impossible for this game to play like the original games, because their monsters worked more on slow inexorability than combat tactics. But in Doom 4, while you're almost as mobile as the original Marine, the monsters are more mobile than they've ever been, with far better tactical prowess. It's hard to just circle-strafe everything to death anymore, and it makes for some really amazing fights here and there. There are enough interstitial skirmishes to keep it from feeling entirely arena-based, but that tends to be the mainstay of the game's combat. I also enjoy the hell out of the mechanics of the Chainsaw and Glory Kills, which add super-visceral satisfaction while playing up an innovative mechanic that's the exact opposite of the "hide somewhere and regenerate health" thing that's been in games for a while now. The risk/reward balance of the Chainsaw is particularly awesome, if you ask me.

I love the enemy and weapon design. The weapons, again, are nice and varied, and the upgrade trees just make them even more fun. And they FEEL very visceral and meaty, in a way that Doom 3 just couldn't accomplish. The monsters keep nicely to the original roster while introducing some new elements, and give the existing monsters lots of new touches. And again, the speed and mobility of the monsters makes the game entirely new and different.

Spoiler

I actually really like the recasting of the bulldemon/Pinky as a high-level melee beast.

There are just enough callbacks to the original games (
Spoiler

like the first time you cock the shotgun

) to invoke a giggle every once in a while.

Level design relies on that arena setup quite a bit, which ends up making the game more linear than the originals. But the environments are awesomely designed and executed, and flow very well. The detail and atmosphere are great, although the game borrows heavily from Doom 3 on that front.

I love the sound design, from the changes in music cues to the beefy-sounding weapons to the little musical tics of the Glory Kills.

The graphics and the detail are just gorgeous, and although they sometimes tax my 650Ti I can still play the game very smoothly most of the time.

I particularly enjoy the fact that the game has an okay plot, and that the game lampshades it fully as something you can more or less ignore. I love how the Doom Marine
Spoiler

completely ignores Hayden's pleas to not destroy the Argent filters

, as he's really only concerned with ripping and tearing. I mean, that's what we're here for too, right? But it has more flesh and nuance to it that any of the previous Doom plots without enslaving you to it quite as fully as Doom 3 did.

Part of what I love about this game is how ardently it resists modern FPS tropes, including many that were used by Doom 3. Fall damage? Not really. Regenerating health? Nope. Duck-and-cover combat mechanics? Get outta here. This game is all about no-holds-barred aggression, but even in that it introduces and demands more sophisticated tactics than the original Doom did.

I'd say the game's weakest point is its linearity and reliance on arena fights, but that really hasn't hurt it in my mind. It doesn't feel exactly like the original Doom games, but it feels like a progression of them, and that's just what I was hoping for. 9/10 for me so far.

And by the way:
Spoiler

Doom 4's Cyberdemon more than makes up for how disappointing Doom 3's was.

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Just posted this entry to my blog, but figure I'd also paste it here for those that are curious.

--------

A palpable shock must have blanketed my face during my first hour with id Software's new Doom. "Wait, this doesn't suck?" is what I was most likely thinking, mouth agape at the spectacle of gore before me. But it wasn't the blood that had me nonplussed—no, it was how good the game felt to play. A bizarre realization unraveled before me in Lovecraftian fashion, a maddening truth sprouting from this newly formed coil—"I'm playing a Doom game in 2016 that doesn't suck!" Better yet, not only did it "not suck" for the entire campaign, but it was actually a hell of a lot of fun.

The catch, of course, is that it contains some of the most baffling design decisions I've seen all year.



For those that don't know, I grew up with the classic 1993 Doom as a kid. I played it and its sequel on my parents' IBM work laptop, and in my spare time nowadays I occasionally make maps for it. Having such a close attachment to a 20+ year old program means that I'm extremely critical of anything that sprouts from the brand's name, skeptical of whether it actually has any relevance nowadays. The crux of my concern for the new Doom was that the series hadn't been relevant for a long time. Sure, Doom 3 was a fun game in its own right, but it took the franchise in a questionable direction, structuring the game largely around its untenable "horror" roots. For myself and many like me, there just didn't seem to be a good way to revive Doom, especially considering how many leaps and strides the FPS genre had taken beyond it. The series felt almost Shakespearian in its relevance, heartily revered for its accomplishments but likely to be laughed at by the common-folk if it was placed on the silver screen today (which ironically happened in '05).

Somehow—somehow!—I was wrong. Doom not only successfully exists as a modern game, but it actively puts other FPS campaigns to shame. The best (and most integral) part about the game is that it is fast. While it's easy to overlook such a simple adjective when you're reading a review, Doom's speed absolutely dominates the gameplay from the moment you take control. No longer must you wait behind cover and gradually lick your wounds; the key to surviving is to blow the face off of any enemy that gets within sniffing distance. Initially the glory kills seem like a gratuitous and pace-breaking inclusion, but they're a brief and satisfying way to pick up health during the first half of the game, perfectly fitting in with the "dumb metal" theme of the game (speaking of, the soundtrack is pretty kick ass too). Before long, you'll get a good handle on zipping around imp fireballs and snapping their jaw clean off their skull—and it'll feel great too.

Complementing the breakneck speed of the game are the bone-shattering weapons. Doom disregards modern FPS conventions by tossing out maximum weapon capacity and reloading, urging the player to constantly switch up their armaments in the midst of battle. Toss in some weapon mods that vastly change how you'll use each of the guns and you have a veritable amusement park of death right at your fingertips. To accompany the variety of firearms are a parade of some of Hell's finest, most requiring a different approach from one another. Hell Knight getting too close? Machine gun rockets or plasma stasis will give you some room. A mancubus blocking the path? Blow that sucker up with some rockets or get up close and personal with the super shotgun. Too many low tier enemies warping in? Rev up the chaingun or line 'em up with a gauss siege shot. The bread and butter of Doom is playing around with its weapon and enemy combinations to see what works, what doesn't, and which are your favorites.



The levels are the cherry on top of the creamy gameplay sunday, wonderfully accentuating the brisk pace of combat. Since staying mobile means staying alive, each of the arenas you'll duke it out in give you plenty of clambering avenues, ensuring that it'll be difficult for your enemies to overwhelm you. Outside of combat you can scour the environment to find some tricky secrets or hidden weapons... until the game starts gating you from backtracking for some reason. And here is where Doom really starts to miss its mark.

The levels work in perfect tandem with the game's battles, but past the Argent Facility (level 4) the design shifts towards unidirectional linear progression, tossing interconnectivity by the wayside. This pushes the game to focus only on combat, even when you're eager to explore its hallways for stray goodies. And for some reason the designers become insistent on stopping you from backtracking to find secrets, even when there is no reason for them to do so. One moment you'll be wandering around and the next a door will slam behind you, lock, and trigger a checkpoint. By the time you get to the end of the campaign, Doom doesn't feel like the full game it promised it would be at its start.

There are copious other issues that unfortunately mar the title too. The starting weapons are blatantly outclassed by the late game armaments, especially once you unlock the final upgrades on the weapon mods. Doom presents its ludicrous story with a straight face (which I commend it for) but feels insistent on forcing the player to sit there and listen to dialogue, even after it's established that the Doom Slayer doesn't care one iota for Hell's sympathizers. The multiplayer is serviceable but lacks an identity (if anything, it made me miss playing Halo), and Snapmap is plagued by the worst of Zdoom-isms: text-laden gameplay that tries it's best to emulate something other than Doom.



In spite of these failings, I continue to want to play Doom. Akin to Hyper Light Drifter, the flaws on display do not outshine the title's greatness; Doom contains one of the most satisfying gameplay systems of 2016. The snappy response of battle, the ease at which you can traverse the environment, tackling the challenge, weapon & rune tasks in combat, and the excitement that comes from facing the higher difficulties meld together to form a non-stop adrenaline rush that sticks to your mind long after the credits have rolled. Doom joins Wolfenstein: The New Order in not only successfully revitalized a series from perpetually obscurity, but also making its contemporaries look tame and meek in comparison. Do I wish it was a tad better? Yeah. Did I nevertheless enjoy my time with it? Hell yeah.

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Pros:

- Game mechanics works very well, really awesome. New level for FPS genre, for sure. Right things works right... 10/10

- ...at 60FPS. All serious game expirience starts from 60FPS. Thank you!

- Great visuals - very good technology mixed with excellent art design. 9/10

- Mick Gordon's soundtrack. 9/10

- Automap! It was in classic games, I really like how it's realized here, in new Doom. At least it works!


Cons:

- Absolutely nothing for PC in multiplayer, where's private matches, server browser, modificators?

- SnapMap editor is weak(was broken).

- Hard to find a match in multiplayer(still).

- Too much arenas.

- No Deathmatches!


Overall: it's going to be classic, endless game, if support will be right. As for now - 9/10.

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I'll cut to the chase. DOOM4 is by far the best modern first person shooter today. It is so good in the gameplay department that in my eyes all other aspiring action-focused shooters will have to live up to it first. Pretty much everything from the movement, feel, weapons, environments and gameplay systems all work in an almost perfect harmony and in many ways it's a dream come true for me. Movement-based combat, exploration, clear vision, climbing and double jumping, melee system that actually improves the experience rather than detract from it... I could go on. On top of that it is one of the best first-person shooters ever made and while not without flaws such as lack of encounter variety, it's still a remarkable achievement.

With that said, DOOM4 is what people REMEMBER DOOM to be rather than what it actually was. As a result, the complete focus on action and badassery hurts the overall image by failing to understand that DOOM is not just about ripping and tearing. It's also about an oppressive atmosphere, horror and the sense of facing off against an almost unstoppable enemy. Where is the Phobos Lab, Unholy Cathedral, Halls of the Damned and Monster Condo? There is literally one level that has some of that missing atmosphere (Argent Facility reprise) and even that is nowhere near as dark as anything in DOOM3 which still manages to destroy the new game in terms of vibe.

Ideally DOOM5 should retain the aggressive gameplay of 4 but add a lot more of the atmosphere from 3 and we're gonna have the proper modern DOOM game to the full extent. That and Hell on Earth. I think it's time to leave that damn Mars base and let the demons obliterate our cities.

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Alright, just finished the campaign on "Ultra-Violence" and I'm a bit disappointed by the game as a whole. I was reading dobu's review of the game, and I think he hit the nail on the head with this tidbit:

The levels are the cherry on top of the creamy gameplay sunday, wonderfully accentuating the brisk pace of combat. Since staying mobile means staying alive, each of the arenas you'll duke it out in give you plenty of clambering avenues, ensuring that it'll be difficult for your enemies to overwhelm you. Outside of combat you can scour the environment to find some tricky secrets or hidden weapons... until the game starts gating you from backtracking for some reason. And here is where Doom really starts to miss its mark.

The levels work in perfect tandem with the game's battles, but past the Argent Facility (level 4) the design shifts towards unidirectional linear progression, tossing interconnectivity by the wayside. This pushes the game to focus only on combat, even when you're eager to explore its hallways for stray goodies. And for some reason the designers become insistent on stopping you from backtracking to find secrets, even when there is no reason for them to do so. One moment you'll be wandering around and the next a door will slam behind you, lock, and trigger a checkpoint. By the time you get to the end of the campaign, Doom doesn't feel like the full game it promised it would be at its start.


The first few hours of the game were truly magnificent and downright spectacular; this iteration of the Doom franchise gave the game its needed "umf" factor through upgraded visuals, gameplay mechanics and generally updated game as a whole.

For the first few hours.

For some weird reason, after the first few levels, the map editors decided to throw away all the mapping prowess they displayed earlier. Interconnected areas and open fields were replaced by linear arena progression; I was genuinely awed by the Doom feeling initially. When I picked up a key, I had to actually backtrack and remember where the keyed door was. When I progressed through the level for secrets and the such, I would end up in new areas.

Then it became a drag: arena, hallway, arena, hallway, arena, hallway, arena, wash, rinse, and repeat. As gorgeous the setpieces of the hell environment were, I was actually grieving the terrible "level" design that plagued the second half. A door closes behind you, you slaughter everything, and the door opens again.

There was this one hell level in the second half that required two skullkeys (blue and yellow). I thought that I finally had a choice in the level progression - wrong. You are pigeonholed into grabbing the yellow skull (in which the arena where you get the key teleports you back to where you use it - what's the point of having a key?), where you enter a different teleporter that just unlocked after grabbing the yellow key to grab the blue key.

Maybe it was just me, but the game was ridiculously easy, even on Ultra-Violence, hence the quotations at the beginning. By the midway point, I would purposely skip powerups in the arenas, but still enter and leave arena fully stocked on ammunition and generally full health/armor. The rune where monsters have a chance to drop BFG ammo also turned down the difficulty: when common mobs can drop handfuls of BFG charges in an arena, it's not even an "arena fight" anymore. The boss fights were also really easy, as infinite micro missiles and practically infinite plasma ammo were always at your side.

I'm a bit pained to say it, but the 2016 Doom was really only the "Doom" that I knew and loved for the first few hours. It then became something else reminiscent of a faster, more action-y, model of Dead Space. Perhaps Doom 2026 can fare better.

As for the positives, the gameplay was pretty damn fun when it worked out (which unfortunately, most didn't for me). The sound design, music, atmosphere and environmental aspects were amazing, and spot on.

--

Perhaps my standards were too high, or I was expecting too much. I personally don't think so, as again, the initial levels were extraordinary. I'm just wondering where that part of the team disappeared to for the rest of the game.

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Krimson Madness said:

For people like you it's never good enough and you always have to complain.
DOOM 2016 is like DOOM needs to be! Best DOOM game ever and the greatest game of all time!


Um, thanks?

Good to know you can make discussion instead of generalizations and understand that maybe not everyone likes DOOM, I really appreciate it.

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Plot:

Spoiler

Moderately inspired by Doom 3's plot with a corrupt UAC but with an obviously cheesy and self aware layer on top of it, it manages to give a professional feel to it without trying to take itself too seriously. I like how Samuel Hayden is presented as very foolish but, at the same time, has good intentions so he comes off as relatively sympathetic, or as sympathetic as you can be within a facility that's literally trying to militarize demons. I really liked the Doom Slayer's body language to convey personality without saying a word. It's obviously not going to win any awards in the depth department and most of it is presented in walls of text but it's enough for this type of game. 8.5/10

Audio: A surprising amount of love was placed into the audio department from what I've noticed, especially music. From the suitably low brow atmospheric tone to the thumping metal during a fight, the music is very masterfully crafted and, as a Youtuber pointed out, the fact that the music isn't always blazing helps a lot with the highs and lows. The voice acting was also quite good for what it was and all the many nods to Classic Doom with a little bit of Doom's Gate playing for the collectibles and some doors making the old door closing sound were nostalgic sparks. 9/10

Graphics: The most impressive of all of the categories, ID continues their tradition of pushing graphical technology and setting an industry standard. From the beautifully crafted PBR to the very smooth animations of the enemies and environment to all of the many graphical effects, it's every bit the revolution that the Classic Doom was, especially since it runs on the Ps4 at 1080p 60fps. The fact that my computer can also run it (Albeit on low settings so it's hardly optimal) is also a testimony as to how optimized and fast the mega-texturing system actually is. I have absolutely nothing to complain about here. 10/10

Gameplay: Single-Player is quite simply hardcore awesome, zipping around and killing enemies is very satisfying. Every death I've experienced I felt was my own fault rather than the game's fault, it never fault as though it was being unfair. The fact that almost all of the enemies use projectiles and that health comes out of enemies when you kill them really helps to keep you going while still providing a good amount of challenge on Ultra-Violence.

The multiplayer, however, is where the game falls short. While still fun, the COD styled load-outs and weapon limits drag down the experience. I won't go too much into detail here since everybody else has already talked about it to death. Snapmap, while initially limited in the geo department, has grown quite a lot and is now one of my favorite parts of the game, especially seeing what others have come up with. 8/10

Overall: Simply put, this is Doom in form. Any gripes I may have with the game (There's a lot of I want to nitpick like the lackluster conditions of the Classic levels and the aforementioned COD mechanics in multiplayer) but none of those tiny gripes interfere with the main game in the slightest. It's a Hell of a lot of fun and, thanks to the updates in Snapmap, should carry a lot of replay value long after the campaign ceases to be entertaining. 9/10

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Ok. I finally bought this game on DVD. At home I realized, that it really _is_ ONE DVD and not a BluRay. But...isn't D2k16 too big for one DVD?? Ehhhhhh...

To make a long story short: it took me 19 (NINETEEN) hours to install this game.
WTF. Why do they sell it on DVD? The DVD is not at all required. They should sell small steam coupons / vouchers, but not DVDs.
When I buy a game on DVD; I assume, that I can install and play it quite quickly. Of course, yeah, I know, I have to activate/register online, but having to download the whole content is simply ridiculous.

The game plays and looks nice, but that did DOOM 1993 as well.
But the original DOOM was much more impressive.

So...Nothing gained.

These little suckers do really know, how to make money.

In my opinion; the last really good DOOM-related release after Final DOOM
was without any doubt "No Rest for the Living".

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