deboard's Full Review: Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil for Windows
I was more than excited when ID announced Doom 3. I spent my youth playing Doom 1 and Doom 2, appreciating the innovation of both of those games. So, as you would expect, I went out and bought Doom 3 the day it was released.
Installation
The game takes quite a bit of space, but nothing that huge hard drives can't handle. The install itself went smoothly and had no problems.
Gameplay
At the beginning, the game has a very Half-Life feel to it. You arrive at the base as a marine, and immediately have some work to do. This was obviously inspired by Valve's seminal game (even though Freeman was not a marine). I truthfully expected this, but also expected ID to build upon the half-life legacy. Unfortunately, they did not. The rest of the game is pretty much summarized as such: Open a door; shoot stuff; turn around and shoot the stuff that magically appeared behind you; go to the next door. There are a few puzzles along the way, but they are rather simple.
That's sad, and possibly a little simplistic, but it really sums up the way I felt about the game. The really annoying thing was that you could not clear out a room and expect it to stay clear. Monsters would appear out of nowhere behind you, and that is one of my pet peeves concerning games.
At first I thought the PDAs were very innovative and cool, but they quickly became basically keys.
Graphics
Someone will make a great game with this engine in the coming years, I guarantee it. This engine is absolutely beautiful, if any of the hype surrounding the game delivered, this definitely did. The people and monsters in the game are almost cinematic, and if they had been imagined by someone that could write a good story, they might have been interesting. The lighting is fantastic, and the animations are even better.
Conclusion
Whatever it says about me, I finished this game because of the wonderful graphics and animations, all the time thinking about how much the plot sucked and was not engrossing. I'll say it again, this engine is capable of making the game of the decade, much like half-life was the game of the last decade. But what it will take is much more imagination than what was put into Doom 3. I hate to say it, but maybe ID should become a 3D engine company. They seem to excel at it.
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