Doom Review

Doom was released in May 2016. It is the fourth Doom game stemming way back to the early 1990’s. The previous game released in 2004 (Doom 3). Doom is an extremely fast paced first-person shooter.

The Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC) are trying to colonise Mars.  The UAC have solved the Earth's energy crisis with a monument called the Argent Tower. The only problem is that the energy source it taps into comes straight from Hell. One of the scientists turns against them and opens the portal to Hell releasing all kinds of demons into the facility. In one of the artefacts collected by the UAC was a sarcophagus containing the marine who previously fought the demons from Hell. That is the beginning of the game. You awake from the sarcophagus, find your suite and away you go.

Doom is all action all the way. From the very first moment you put on your suit you are met with a demon around every corner. The game has moments where you read recordings or walk into rooms with holograms explaining the story, but the game is mostly action. Gory action. You have a number of guns at your disposal as you progress throughout the game as well as a chainsaw and towards the end, a BFG. (Something, something, gun).

The fighting mechanics are very enjoyable. Each gun normally has two functions. Primary and secondary. Some guns are normal like a shotgun, others are more from the sci-fi realm. Ammo is scattered about the map as well as health and armour. There are also powerups to help you fight like haste and quad damage. You also have the ability to double jump in the game and normally you can fall from high areas without dying. The game relies upon you killing off the demons before you can progress. For example, you enter a room. An announcement comes over the speakers, “the outer doors cannot be unlocked until the demon presence is eliminated”. There is also a finishing move which can be activated when the demon is almost dead. They flash repeatedly for a while and you hit the melee button to pull off the finishing move. Each demon has a different finishing move. Some levels require you walk around to find the access card before you can proceed through to the next area. I found this annoying once.

The graphics in this game are outstanding. It is so well optimised that it does not use much processor or graphics card power. It does use a lot of system RAM with the settings on ultra and nightmare. You can choose to play it using Open GL or Vulcan. I used the Vulcan API. The game engine used is the id Tech 6 engine. I also found it to be a surprisingly long game. Normally a game with so much action does not last as long as this. The music is good also and ramps it up when you are fighting lots of demons.  The end of the game is what you would expect. A massive monster boss fight to finish and they even put some work into the credits.

If you want to sit down and blow off some steam, this is the game for you. It is fast paced and all action from beginning to end.      

8.1/10