A masterpierce! Enough said!
Let me explain: Personally, I get scared really easy if I'm watching horror movies or playing horror video games. When I first read about Doom 3 and watched some clips of it, I said to myself I'm too much of a coward to play this game. And for 4 years I never felt like playing it. Until one day, the 3rd of May 2008. I said to myself: "come on, it can't be that scary. Besides, it looks awesome!!!". So I got the game, I installed it and start playing it. I have to tell you, the first steps I took, I knew this game was going to be something special and something I will never forget. And how right I was!!! I finished it 2 times in less than two weeks. And I finished for the third time a day ago. But let's not anticipate! So, you are a regular marine that no one cares about that much (I refuse to call him a nameless marine, because obviously that guy has a name). However, the game producers want you to know that you're not some super mechanized soldier. You are just a military trained human being with no super powers. Yet! So everyone on Mars treats you like a.... well... marine, saying things like: "Shouldn't you be guarding something?". But all that is about to change, because you are about to become a beast yourself, having demons for lunch (not really, because most of the times you run like a madman, trying to get a perfect shot at those horrors ). If you want to admire the graphics of the game and the places, you should do it now because afterwards, trust me, you won't have time for this at all!!!
Your first assignment is to report to Sgt. Kelly, who appears to be a cool guy. He tells you that a scientist is gone missing, so your mission is to find him and bring him there without hurting him. Typical marine mission. But hey, it's catchy, no doubt about it! Before you find him, every guy that you come upon tells you don't want to be here. Some guys are talking that someone has seen a strange creature and one guy tells you: "You're looking for the scientist, right? I'm not sure you want to find him...". Now that, my friends, really scared me. It's because you just don't know what to expect. It's a terrifying mystery, that you discover it mainly because you have to, rather than want to. So, you obviously don't listen to those guys and you find the scientist, who is very human in appearance and behavior ... at first. He tells you that he knows things that no one can possibly comprehend. After that he says: "The devil is real. I know. I built his cage". And that is the beginning of it. The hell forces are unleashed on Mars. Almost everybody on the stations and on Mars is either killed or turned into zombies. What lies before you is the mission of your life, with one objective: SURVIVE! Hordes of zombies and demons spawn trying to finish you, but you prove yourself powerful and stubborn enough to continue and stop this madness and save the human kind from its worst nightmare.
In my opinion, the first 4 levels are the most horrific of the whole game, because you are not yet used to this dark and scary experience. In time you get used killing hordes of hungry Imps, Maggots, Revenants and tons of zombies, but there is always a tricky door or corner that fools you and makes you scream in terror. The light effects are so good and so convincing, the sounds you hear are so terrifying, that you think well before going any further. At some points, I had to take a break, because the action was so intense and loud as well. There is not even a minute of complete rest. You never know when an Imp or other villain will spawn right behind you or standing somewhere concealed until you reach it. This game is dark to the extreme. I don't record seeing more than 10 squared meters of lightened area. To make it even more convincing and scary, you have a flashlight that is not attachable to any of your guns. So when you need to see in that many dark areas, you need to lower your weapon and by that, expose yourself to any threat that you may find. Many find this thing weird and stupid, because it is absurd that no weapons are attached with portable flashlights in the year 2145! Maybe it's absurd, but that's what makes the game so tense and so great, the fact that you have to look first and then shoulder your weapon. It's very catchy in my opinion. A very scary scene that I experienced is this: I was walking with my gun ready through the dark and suddenly saw two orange eyes in the dark. I really spooked out and switched to the flashlight and revealed an even more terrifying picture: a maggot homing down on me! There are lots and lots of outstanding scares, so if you feel like you are faint-hearted, don't play this game.
The weapons are effective and cool to use. The pistol, shotgun, machine gun and chain gun, grenades and the rocket launcher are something everybody is used to. But then you get to the high-tech stuff: the plasma gun and BFG9000. Every weapon is very well designed and they fire and sound so great that makes you think they are real. Another great weapon is the trusty chainsaw. Why trusty? Well, it may sound stupid, but it is an overwhelming weapon against most enemies. If you get in their range, you'll cut them like stake, with minor damage. You need to work on your technique though, in order to take as less damage as possible. However, I don't recommend it against Hell Knights, Mancubi or bosses (except Sarge). Melee enthusiasts could use the fist or the flashlight for the ultimate combat, but it is very unlikely that you'll kill something that way other than a zombie. But the best weapon in this game is the Soul Cube. It was apparently built by an ancient civilization from Mars in order to defend themselves from the forces of evil. It has a really freaky appearance, having some sort of face with eyes moving and blades coming out of it. It kills every non-boss enemy with only one hit. It is also the single weapon that has effect against the Cyberdemon, the last boss. When you kill an enemy with it, its health points are passed to you, healing your injuries. This weapon can be used against one enemy at a time. After you use it once, you need to recharge it by killing 5 demons. When you do, the Soul Cube is recharged and lets you know by saying: "Use us!". It is also very clever. If you charge at more enemies, it will attack the strongest of them.
The enemies are arguably the best part of the game and the major factor that freaks you out but keeps you playing further. They are so well designed and appear so real, it makes you scream when you see them crawling or running towards you. Their AI and power depends on the skill level you play on. I played on Marine (easiest) and Veteran (second hardest). On Marine, a single enemy is fairly easy to kill, other than Hell Knights, Mancubi, Arch-Viles and bosses. But when they attack in groups it gets complicated, even at this low skill level. On Veteran you must be very careful where you step, because the enemies are much tougher and they also are cleverer. It requires much more attention and life preservation. The hardest skill level is Nightmare, in which your health constantly drops to a steady 25 %. I haven't played this one, so I don't know about the enemies, but I bet they are a real pest. The game has a lot of foes to show and like I said, they look and behave great!
So, in the end, the whole tension you must endure, the dark corners that wait silently (or sometimes extremely loudly, making you ask yourself: should I go further?) for you, the hesitation entering another room or opening another door because you never know what horror lies after it, makes this game extremely good and worth playing. No doubt in my mind, one the best games ever created. The highly organized levels, superb designed and terrifying demons that watch your every step and wait for you to fall into their traps, well placed scares that makes you jump out of your chair, definitely make this game a masterpiece!