Go back to the nightmare of a living Hell! This time, carry your heart along for the ride.
The game is set two years after the first game. Research of Mars has been re-started and is being headed by the surviving member of the original game's science team, Dr. McNeil, who's bent on finding proof of ancient civilizations on Mars. After digging for quite a while, an artifact is found. You, a nameless space marine (OK, nameless spare marine, the second) happens to touch the strange-shaped object, and with it, all Hell breaks loose again. Everyone around you is dead, except for you. Now it's your job to seal up the new heck-portal and return the heart-shaped artifact to its owner, Satan!
The game plays out just like the original, including graphical features, sound and music. There are a few new monsters (like an improved imp) and the levels take place in more rustic environments than your average industrial complex like the game before it. There are a few new catches to the gameplay that involve the artifact. It can absorb dead people's souls and charge up: once that's done, your can use special powers that are awarded through the game's boss battles. These involve bullet time effects, speed and even invulnerability.
Another feature the game has is the inclusing of two new weapons: the fan favorite double-barreled shotgun, a gun that kills anything close by instantaneously and the Grabber, a kind of rip-off from Half-Life 2's Gravity Gun. With it, you can grab enemies' fireballs in mid air and toss them back to its owner. It's quite devastating, but against multiple enemies, it can become hazardous.
Speaking of a Xbox translation of the game, the port has been really well done and almost nothing has been lost. The game plays beautifully and some might think why id Software didn't do the same thing with Quake IV, since both games have almost the same system requirements. Oh well, we can only hope.
Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil is a solid stand-alone game that is best played in sequence with the original. Its length is shorter but the experience is just as good.
Thanks for reading!