Ripping off of Half-Life 2 with the Gravity Gun.
Gameplay
RoE plays just like the Doom 3, but with some nice new additions. Naturally the game is still played from a first person view and the controls are very simliar. One fine new addition is a pistol with a light attached to it. You can quickly switch to the pistol by pressing the White button. This comes in handy quite often as you can imagine. The light does not need to be recharged and it illuminates a good field of view in front of you. The Ionized Plasma Levitator, or The Grabber, is a new UAC device that is very much like the Gravity Gun in Half-Life 2. The device emits a controlable plasma beam that can lift and project small to medium sized objects. This is also a good weapon to catch a projectile coming at you, like enemy fire, and send it right back at'em. The last new weapon, but certainly the crowd favorite, is the double barreled shotgun. Sorely missing from Doom 3, the double barrel makes its return to the joy of gamers and to the fear of demons alike. Expect the double barrel to pack the punch you''ve come to expect. You'll also have control of The Artifact, the little bugger that started this whole mess. The Artifact is a really cool human-heart looking thing that levitates in between your hands. You'll use this The Artifact as a way to slow down time; very useful for getting a leg up on foes as well as navigating the dangerous traps that lie ahead.
The darn thing about Doom 3 and this expansion is that very, very little has changed since, well, Doom 2. I enjoy a straight forward shooter as much as the next guy, but honestly first person gaming has changed. RoE is still extremely linear and very old fashioned. Indeed destroying Hell's minions with big guns will always be fun, but the genre has really advanced from gameplay that's so linear and plain. Like previous Doom games, you'll find yourself going from point to point with the same tricks and style we've all become well accusomted too. Enemies will still teleport in at key areas, you'll use the same tried and true tactics to beat them as you always have. The Imps in RoE are a little quicker, but you'll pull the same 'dodge fireball, shoot' type of tactic. This is at least twice as effective now with the double barreled shotgun, too. The problem with a lot of linear, very 'standard' shooters like RoE is that you'll often find 2-3 weapons that seem to do everything you could possibly need, and you'll never stray away from those. For me, in Doom 2 and Quake 2 for example, you give me the double barrel shotgun and some ammo, and I'll be alright for anything close range at all. Throw in some distant enemies or some quick flying or teleporting kinds, and I'll take an automatic, like the chaingun in this title. Even bigger and stronger enemies, and I'll take the rocket launcher. In other words, most weapons will go unused in this adventure. It's an unfortunate thing that other weapons just aren't more useful in this game, but that's the way the design will lead you to play--with just a couple, three, very effective weapons. Even the Grabber isn't terribly effective, as you'll often spend more effort and time, taking more damage, just trying to use the sucker in combat. It's not necessarily designed bad, it just doesn't fit very well in the game; you're far better off just taking an enemy down with a trusty slug instead of trying to pick up a barrel or crate or something and toss it at him. Same goes for deflecting their fireballs, cool idea, but logic and design dictates that it just isn't useful in this game.
RoE has other symptoms of being a very linear shooter. It's short, and pretty darn easy for seasoned shooters. Played on Veteran (Hard) and exploring the world in considerable detail, this title took only about 10-11 hours to go through. It wasn't a very rewarding experience, and there's absolutely no reason for me to want to play through it again when I've got a stack of other games I need to get to. One cool thing about RoE I haven't mentioned yet is that some classic Doom titles are included. I've actually had a few friends over and we've been playing through Ultimate Doom, Doom 2, and the Master Levels of Doom 2 on four player split-screen co-op. I've spent more time gaming on those old classics with four player co-op than in the actual RoE game. I was very pleased that these old games were added, and even more pleased when they had 4 player split screen co-op added. It was even cooler still that you can play all three of these titles from the get go, without having to beat the game first or anything like that. Just load it up and play. It's a hoot, just like old times when I used to play co-op DOOM over my 14.4 modem with a neighbor. Now these old games won't mean much if you're tired of them or didn't like them in the first place, but I was very happy to see them added into this title.
So, overall, RoE is exactly what you would expect from a Doom title. If you love it, you're in luck, if you're tired of it, be advised.
Graphics
The same visual quality of Doom 3 is present in RoE. The conversion to the XBOX is impressively good. There's actually a lot more light in RoE than in Doom 3, which is a welcomed change. Animations of the enemies and world are fine, with very little to no problems noted. You'll hear this a lot, but the visual effects of holding The Artifact is truly something cool. The way it ripples throughout your hands and squirms about as it levitates between your hands is very cool indeed. Simply put, RoE's graphics are good, with no real technical problems, and the same quality you saw with Doom 3 on the XBOX earlier this year.
Audio
The ambient sounds in RoE really help this game along. This is one you'll want to play in the dark with the sound turned up, again, just like Doom 3. Sounds of machinery and computers, of dark whispers and creatures rooting around, only help to draw you into the game. Even the soundtrack is kinda spooky and adds significantly to the game's feel. Weapon effects are pretty good, but not outstanding. Voice-overs are decent, but we're so used to poor voiceovers in games anymore that RoE's probably won't disturb you.
Depth
As I alluded to earlier, RoE itself has little to offer in terms of depth. RoE is very linear, very straight-forward, with no unlockables and no reason for playing through it again, unless you want to try your hand at the Nightmare skill level. Truthfully, I might do that someday as I always tried to go through the Nightmare skill level in older iD games; it's hard as hell of course, and would be much more do-able with a co-op mode. Still, it's a challenge I may go back and do sometime. Anyhow, RoE is pretty short, something you can beat within 10 hours if you're a pretty good FPS gamer. Sadly, co-op multiplayer was taken out of RoE. I don't totally understand the reasoning behind this, but it's unfortunate as I was looking forward to playing through the game split-screen with a friend. What is offered for Live or System Link fans are Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Last Man Standing, and Tournament modes. Keep in mind that RoE only support four players. That said Team Deathmatch allows you to pair up, Last Man Standing gives each player a certain number of lives (stay alive the longest to win), and Tournament pits two players against each other while the other two watch and, in tournament fashion, the winner moves on. These are very vanilla multiplayer options.
I have found that the biggest level of depth in RoE is in it's inclusion of Ultimate Doom, Doom 2, and Master Levels for Doom 2. I mentioned it earlier, but these extras, playable immediately, are a blast. 4 player co-op on these oldies is a riot with some friends over. Crank up the skill level to Nightmare and the challenge and craziness of the battle goes through the roof. In a way, the addition of these older games, was, for me, a saving grace for the replay value of this title. Being that these Doom games are included on the same disc with RoE, I will consider this in the final Depth score.
Fun Factor
There's no doubt that killing Hell's forces is fun. It might be getting a little tired, but the addition of the extra weapons and The Artifact make things a little fresher for us. It feels a little rehashed, but RoE is still an enjoyable game. There are some frustrations with the spawning in of creatures, but these are the same frustrations that gamers dealth with in the original Dooms. So if you can deal with them, great, if not, well, consider this in making your purchasing decision. RoE is the kind of game you can sit and play through and not worry about having to follow the story or details very closely. You won't come across any puzzle or challenge that is too difficult, something that you can't get through with some effort. The experience will be more immersive if you play with the lights out and audio distractions silenced, but RoE is easy to get into and play just for 5-10 minutes or an hour. So I found RoE to be a fun time, but it's short-lived and you'll quickly be moving onto other things.