If you are a survival horror fan you have Silent Hill and Resident Evil...if you just like to be scared, you have Doom 3
Doom 3 takes place on Mars about 150 years in the future. We have begun creating colonies on the planet, and moving more and more people up there to help stabilize the environment. However, when you arrive, things to hell and aliens break in to try and kill you. Basically, its like the minions of hell have invaded, and they are taking dead crewmen with them as their zombie henchmen. The power system is evidently damaged, so the lights flicker, and the enemies tend to be pretty intelligent, based on what kind of enemy they are. Scared yet? You will be.
As far as story goes, Doom 3 isnt as strong as other survival horror games, like Fatal Frame or Silent Hill. In fact, you will miss pretty much all of the story if you dont read the PDA's you pick up off of other scientists dead bodies (we'll get there, dont worry). However, the basic premise is that scientists and marines were constantly going missing, and it seems that some of the staff may have known what was going on. It's pretty much standard fair, but still, the story isnt the main focus of this game. Basically, if you understand that you are on mars, and you shoot enemies with your guns, you are all set storywise.
Now, I dont know about you, but when I heard that the game was 25 hours long, I was a bit skeptical. I mean, I have played Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and Siren, and those lasted less than 10 hours a piece (except for Resident Evil 4, but that lasted less than 20, and it wasnt scary). So when I was told that I would be scared for pretty much all of that 25 hours, I laughed at them. I'm not laughing now. This game will make you scared to walk through doors, or in dark hallways. It does a magnificent job of keeping you scared of what may be coming next. The sound work is particularly good, considering that you are going to have to rely on your ears as much as your eyes to find enemies. So how does this game keep you scared for 25 hours? It's strange, but it doesnt do anything except what it did from the start. Disturbing enemies, disturbing environments, and balls to the wall shooting. Guess what, it stays fresh for the entire 25 hours.
There are other parts of the gameplay besides just shooting enemies. You will need to pick up PDA's off other scientists. These PDA's reveal codes to storage lockers (these things will keep you alive throughout the game by providing ammo, health and armor), as well as security clearance for new areas. If you only collect the few necessary PDA's to progress the main mission, you are going to get beaten up. That being said, it is important to explore areas after you have cleared them of enemies. Ammo, health, and armor packs are usually hidden around the room, though sometimes they are in plain sight. Make it a habbit to take a peak around the room before moving on, or you are going to be screwed later on.
Now, I have said several times that if you dont look around for health, armor and ammo, you are going to be screwed. This game can be fiendishly difficult at times, and it does a great job of waiting right up until you are certain you are going to die before providing you with armor and health. Ammo comes from a ton of different places, and is more common the other two items, as there are many zombies who wield weapons. That being said, the AI actually works pretty well. Zombies with guns wont just charge at you. They will take cover and fire from a distance. At the same time, the large hulking bull-like enemies will charge at you relentlessly until they are defeated. Each enemy works differently, and requires a different weapon to be defeated usually (at least, one weapon that works best). The game will keep you on your toes the entire time, trust me.
So there you have it. I feel no need to talk about the graphics, because you can check out screenshots, and you wont be able to compare them to today's graphics anyway. Suffice it to say, they are good enough to keep you scared. The game is long, frightening, and challenging. Basically, it's damn close to perfection. If you like survival horror, and own either an Xbox or an Xbox 360, you owe it to yourself to get Doom 3.