Doom Review

Thanks to Xbox, and our good friends at Vault Communications for this one! DOOMGUY thanks you too!

Doomguy is BACK!

Mars isn't going to be the same, not any more... full of demons, roaring hordes of the damned as the UAC facility spirals out of control, but it's not the reason Mars isn't going to be the same - nope, Mars is pretty much screwed and Doomguy is out and about, killing demons, ripping arms off imps, clubbing them to death with a spray of imp blood.

He's never felt so happy too, as much as a silent violent badass protagonist can emote happiness. He's more likely to punch something than smile.

I'm OK with that though, because DOOMGUY is BACK!

Memories, Memories, Memories!

I remember DOOM back in the day, a friend introduced me to it and it created a lasting impression. It was a game-changer for me, a game-changer for the game industry and I spent countless hours in battles against the hordes of Hell armed with my super shotgun, green body armour, and a relentless thirst for vengeance.

We've got new hardware, new ideas, but we've always had a soft spot for DOOM. When I heard id were remaking it, honestly I was somewhat skeptical - could they do justice to the old game, shine it up for a new audience and make it mega fun?

The multiplayer beta didn't convince me, or many of my friends.

The full game on the other hand is fantastic. It's a blood-soaked, adrenaline fuelled, breakneck ride through demon infested facilities on Mars. It's DOOM for a new generation, and it's the DOOM I know and love. Quite simply put, DOOM is back with a BANG!

Solo demon hunting

Let's talk about the campaign for a moment, I'm not going to throw down any spoilers so don't worry about that. The campaign is great, it's told in a way that keeps you directly involved in the story, and moves along at a brisk pace. You've got all that great stuff in there from modern games, collectibles, audio and mission logs, secrets and more. It's a pretty big and varied campaign too, and whilst you're shooting or tearing demons to bits, you're doing it in some amazing environments.

DOOM is now a lot more movement based too, the key is to keep moving, because if you stop still you're likely to die. You can run, jump, mantle and leap with the best of them, and Doomguy just keeps on getting better and better as you play. You'll gain upgrade points from various secrets, demon killing, other means and these can be put into your Doomguy's suit to fundamentally alter the way the game plays.

There's loads of good weapons, meaty ones, with real impact and connection to the world. The combat shotgun blasts demons into satisfying chunks, the plasma rifle spits balls of glowing death that eviscerate demons, and so on. Not a single gun in this game feels weak in single player, they all feel just about right and that's a testament to id's version of DOOM this time around, and their skill as developers of fun shooters.

Along with this fast pace, come weapon upgrades, which alter the weapons too, and my favourite thing of DOOM now. Glory Kills. Do enough damage and you'll put a demon into a state where they flash slightly, blue and orange usually. At this point they're vulnerable and can be slain with a mighty finisher called a Glory Kill. It's a hand to hand, context sensitive attack, and it's as brutal as only Doomguy can be.

Aim at an arm, he's likely to tear the offending limb off and bludgeon the creature to death with it for example - it's gloriously fast, over the top, and doesn't break the flow of the gameplay at all. It also rewards you with a health drop, and this can mean the difference between life and death.

If you die, you're treated to a fun demise, so there's that.

There's a pretty great map system in place too, with a detailed 3d view of the environment which updates as you explore, and always lets you know where you are. It can hint at secrets too, but not how to get them, you'll have to work that one out yourself.

Some of these secrets unlock Classic DOOM maps. E1M1 for example. These can be played outside of the campaign and enjoyed again and again, though honestly, the campaign is where most of the fun's at!

So with fast paced combat, interesting level design, cool story, and more, DOOM succeeds on that level perfectly and there's not much more I can say to emphasise just how bloody great it is. With the emphasis on bloody.

Sure got a pretty face there demon!

DOOM is not only bloody good fun as a shooter, it's bloody good looking too. Lots of nice new graphics touches, fun tricks and lighting effects combine to make it a really snazzy looking game. Lots of detail on everything, and lots of solid animations as well.

Tunes n stuff!

DOOM's soundtrack has got teeth, claws, and vibrancy. It keeps you going as you pump lead into the demon hordes, tear them to bits with your berserk power-up enhanced hands, and rampage through the hordes of hell like some armoured angelic avenger. It's ginding beat is the perfect accompaniment to the roars, screams, and wails of the demon hordes too.

In short, DOOM's sound design kicks ass!

Ripping Randoms a New One

Friends, Demons, Randoms lend me your ears, arms, legs, heads or whatever else I can tear from you as I'm ripping around the various maps. DOOM's Multiplayer is interesting, I'm not going to bore you with all the gory details, there's a swathe of modes, CTF and so on, upgrades, the usual hoo-hah you get from a modern shooter, and then there's classic stuff without all the gumph and just pure deathmatch goodness, back in the old days.

It's fun, but I'm not a massive adversarial type player, so I honestly can only say I've skimmed the surface of it.

SnapMap on the other hand!

SnapMap Baby, SnapMap

Ever since I can remember I've made maps for DOOM, for Quake, and for any game that came with a map editor, or a third party tool that let me do so. Now DOOM comes with SnapMap, an incredibly versatile tool which allows you to make new maps from a variety of cool snap-together pieces. It has tutorials which teach you the ropes, and loads of content that can keep you coming back for more and more.

It's not as flexible as say Halo V's Forge, but it's more flexible in other ways. See in SnapMap there's a lot of tools to manipulate logic, and if you know what you're doing you can create new game modes, new ideas, gameplay that even id hadn't seen coming - an example SnapMap from a talented person in the community has an NPC demon you can talk to...

Yeah, you can talk to the monster.

Even I've had a play with SnapMap, and I'm refining my creation on the Xbox One. It's called #the escape 2 (and it's going to change as of this writing, with lives, and a fail state).

SnapMap could take a review to itself, it's incredible, one of the best built-in map-making tools since ever and has a lot of already cool content to download. Tower Defence modes, survival maps, and a few other gems.

Of course the community has already put out several basic cheat maps which will help for achievements and so on, it was bound to happen.

This doesn't diminish just how amazing SnapMap really is. You can play many of the creations solo, or enjoy Jolly Cooperation with friends!

Post Mortem Mayhem

I can't really think of anything bad about DOOM. It's a fantastic game, it's full of content, it's got a huge swathe of demon-slaying action and it's gorgeous to look it. It runs at a high speed, hasn't crashed since I've been playing it, and the story is genuinely interesting - especially later on.

It's a superb return to what made DOOM classic, and modernised for a new generation. I'd like to say I'd have loved co-op on the single player, but no, not this time - DOOM works best when you're on your own, you're Doomguy carving his way with chainsaw and shotgun through the assembled hordes of hell.

You've got co-op options in SnapMap, so at least that's covered.

It's time to send those demons packing, you know you want to. DOOMGUY demands it in his silent protagonist way.

"BOOM was that your face Mr. Hellknight? I think it was, here let me giftwrap that with a BFG for you!"