I've had my friends copy of Doom 3 for quite some time now. It has been sitting on my shelf but I have finally had the nerve to actually install the game and I have been playing for the last month or so and actually finishing the game. Doom 3 stacks well against other games but the overall experience doesn't seem cohesive enough to make it seem like a satisfying experience. You get your PDA emails, your weapons, and your typical scary moments. The art direction of the game has you in various environments but 90% of them claustrophobic. That is not to say that it is a bad thing since the maps and texturing are very detailed and you do get those really nice blurry flame effects when you walk pass the nice looking pipes that seem to run accross the whole base...again...for some purpose. Make no mistake, Doom 3 is a very beautiful game to look at even when most of it is behind a flashlight BUT you are still wondering why certain things in the environment are there to begin with. Why does the floor have to have be a neat collapsing system powered by hydrolic cables? Why can't it just be an elevator? Sometimes some parts of the environment seem neat but unnecessary. Some parts of the game also like stick to the horror cliche like the carefully-watching-the-creature-feeding-on-your-fellow-soldier scene. Although it isn't original, it sure does it real well. Doom 3 is a graphic tour-de-force if you have the right hardware. If you have 512MB or less, I say 'good luck' and prepare to thrash your hard drive to bits. Doom 3's human characters are highly detailed models and are animated extremely well but they seem to give the impression that they will definitely be possesed by demons later in the game. Don't get me wrong, the characters are realistic but up to the point where you feel that something is a bit odd about them. They seem a bit off. Then again, this is probably done deliberately. Doom 3's engine is very powerful stuff. In some ways, the engine can handle very intricate and complex environments. I'm even willing to bet that the game's level design and art direction does not really demonstrate the engine's true power. In some cases I even think Doom 3's engine can stand up to Half Life 2's Source Engine. Then again, it really all boils down to purposeful design. Doom 3's physics are somewhat realistic but other than flailing bodies on stairs, there isn't much to appreciate. At least you don't have Deus Ex 2 physics where you can pick up bodies and throw them across rooms. Doom 3's weapons are standard fare but the sounds and effects they make are well done and hardcore Doom aficionados will appreciate some of the weapons that were brought back from the old school days. Some will wonder why the main character does not have a weapon with a mounted light. Flashlights are used separately here for some odd reason. Nevertheless, the weapons are fun to try out. If you're a Doom fan, get this game. if you're into FPS, try it out but don't expect too much. radcastro.com
I think this game is indeed the best game I've ever played. I like it because it scares me, though I've played it before. The gameplay is really rapid, you should always load your weapons, otherwise you would be torn apa... Read Full Review
This game is not for the faint of heart, the paranoid or the weak stomached. Playing this game alone in the dark with headphones at full blast is one of the most enjoyable if un-nerving experiances you can have with a ga... Read Full Review
