An FPS fan's ultimate dream came true, next gen graphics with action to match it's reputation as the father of all FPSs.
Many anticipation has raised since ID annouced that it's working on a new Doom game, and since then people became more and more excited about it, especially after seeing how their Quake III: Arena looked and played like, not to mention the screen shots that showed just how amazing the graphic will look like in Doom III. But now after the long wait, it's finally here, and I can say with confidence that you won't be disappointed at what you will find here, this is the best looking game on PC and It's the most terrifying adventure you have yet to see in a first person shooter or even in any other PC game.
So what's it all about? Well the story of Doom III is taking place in the future where Man has colonised the planet Mars and has made a city called Mars City(wow) within it where there are many people, research facilities, and labs all with military for protection and restraunts for relaxing. You take the role of a new marine soldier( who-as in all Doom and Quake games-has no name!), he is newly recruited to the special military forces on Mars to protect the people and mainly scientists and researchers on it. When you arrive it won't take you too long to realise that something is not right for every one acts as if some thing is definitely wrong and even your fellow soldiers are all acting strange and giving you advice to be careful and watch your back and be careful, it all sets you up to the creepy adventure you're about to experience, soon after wards you'll be called by your superior to meet him and after you reach him he will send you on your first mission (during which you'll get yourself acquianted with the easy controls), from that point onwards things will start happening like lights going out and in, the ground will shake and the communications will become almost cut off, and you'll also start hearing screems and noises of shooting without realising what's really going on. After reaching a freaked out scientist to get some answers he gets attacked by a mysterious force that lookes like a ghost or an evil spirit or something, at that point he will turn into a zombie and start attacking you, so you shoot him without having any clue to what is happening or even what just happened in front of you. Of course half of the fun is unlocking the mystery and trying to investigate, so I won't spoil any more because believe me when I say that you'll love the way the story is told and the action is paced. Suffice to say that it involves ancient artifacts, secret research, and gates to another dimention.
Lets' get to the gameplay then shall we? This is a first person shooter of course, but as mentioned at the beginning of this review this is unlike any other FPS game you've played before, the engine is so fluid and easy to handle, the guns are really varied and are really satisfying to use, you'll start off with your bare hands and a pistol at the beginning of the game but later on you'll get a shotgun which is the bread and butter of this game, you'll also be using grenades, a gattling gun, and even a grenade launcher and other nice surprises. And you'll need every one of them because you'll be faced with many beasts of different types, agility, abilities and sizes. It's not just shooting in here though, It's actually got some nice safe locking puzzles and-find the appropriate card key for the right door-type of puzzles, and all of them are simple and won't take you from the action bits of the game, it's actually there just to give you a breather from all the shooting every now and then, don't worry it's all well balanced and feels so appropriately fun. A nice feature is the concept of the the PDA or the Personal Data Assistant which is like an ID card and Laptop at the same time, every person has one and collecting them from dead corpses will give you diffterent kinds of information whether by listening to voice mails or reading text messages, these information might include a combination to a locked safe or a door, the PDA itself can be used as a security clearance to open certain doors.
The graphics in this game challenge the power of todays PCs which means that it's looks amazing and beautiful, there is no other game that give you this king of graphics and the animation is so fluid and smooth you'll actually get a chill when you see a hideous creature coming right at you. The back grounds are also creepy and will give you the appropriate type of chills and thrills like the abandoned labs, the creepy research facilities and the oxygen-less surface of Mars all added with dark corridors strange machinery with the lights flickering among other things. And it's all well done in combination with great Audio, which is the most important factor in horror games and movies, the sounds really are creepy and will give you the feeling that you are surrounded by dangers lurking at every corner just waiting to jump on you at any second. I can't really stress how good this game is, it's like it's been tested and perfected with great attention to detail and all the neat touches that a game carrying the name of Doom III should live up to.
Some people might argue that Doom III should have been more hard and the action should have been more fast paced, but the truth remains that it all feels so appropriate and having played the game I can't say that I found these things annoying or that they ruin the game in any manner, the game felt great from start to finish and the fact remains that although it's not perfect, it still remains as one of the best games I ever Played on PC and even on consoles.