Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil

Written by Troy Matsumiya  on August 30, 2005

First Impressions: Just when you thought it was safe to go back into pitch black hallways full of dead bodies and grumpy demons...

Tweet

Comments

If you can't get enough of Doom 3's wildly successful combination of old school twitch shooting, creepy atmospherics and the most kick-ass game engine on the market, then you're in luck because id Software and Nerve Software are bringing their Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil PC expansion pack to the Xbox. Best of all, you won't need the original to play it (similar to Ubisoft's Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six standalone console expansion packs).

RoE picks up the story short shortly after the end of Doom 3. The greedy and unscrupulous United Aerospace Corporation has tried to cover up the horrifying events at the Mars base, but a strange signal originating from the ancient archeological dig Site 1 is detected. Elizabeth McNeil Ц who we discovered through e-mails in Doom 3 was Betruger's assistant and was unceremoniously kicked off the planet for having grave concerns about the facility's questionable research Ц is dispatched along with a team of Marines to investigate. Not surprisingly, you will play as one of those Marines. Once on the planet, your team breaks into a sealed chamber at the dig site and stumbles upon a mysterious ancient artifact. Being the curious guy you are, you pick it up to have a closer look. Unfortunately, touching it causes a portal between Hell and Earth to open, releasing a very peeved Betruger and his bloodthirsty demon buddies. Oops.

Needless to say, things will get a little hairy from this point onwards. Luckily, McNeil will help you along the way by providing you with vital information and objectives, similar to the Sarge in Doom 3. Not that you will need her help; gameplay will remain virtually the same as before, which means running around in the dark blasting the crap out of anything that moves.

Yes, the flashlight returns (apparently, military cutbacks in the future means the Marines can't afford night vision goggles) and unfortunately, you will still be too uncoordinated to hold it with a gun at the same time. As much as some gamers hate the flashlight, you can't deny that it adds a lot to the creepiness factor Ц and it's also a hell of a lot more effective than the dim flashlight in Halo 2 (you know, that annoying piece of crap that kept turning off every two seconds?). Also returning are the booby traps and Уmonster closetsФ where demons would suddenly burst out from the walls, and don't forget about the nasties that always materialize behind you. The stunning graphics will be the same, as will the hair-raising audio effects.

So what's different about RoE? Rather than revisit areas we've already seen before, the developers will take us into new areas of the base and formerly unknown archeological dig sites. The maps will be more open and varied, so hopefully we won't have to relive the monotony of one narrow hallway after another. This was also done to give you more elbow room to move around since there will be a bigger emphasis on action and less on story, so don't expect to find as many datapads and e-mails to read. As well, the developers have included some puzzle elements to add a bit more variety, like obstacle courses through a crumbling structure.

To help you complete these puzzles and defeat enemies, you will have to use the artifact's strange powers. Unlike the SoulCube, which was a weapon created to fight evil, the artifact is pure evil and was entombed to prevent it from ever being used (as if you didn't feel bad enough already for activating the damned thing). Fortunately, you can use its powers to fight against demons. Similar to the SoulCube, you have to charge it up; only instead of taking the souls of demons, you must collect the souls of dead humans. It will also suck up the powers of three powerful demon hunters Betruger has dispatched to retrieve the artifact, but only after you defeat them. The first power you will gain is Hell Time, Doom's version of bullet time where everything around you slows down but you still move at the same speed. The others are Berzerker, which lets you kill with one punch, and Invulnerability, all of which make the SoulCube look wimpy in comparison.

The artifact isn't the only cool new weapon you will get; the big news for Doom fans is the long anticipated return of the classic double-barreled shotgun. Boo-yah! This time around, not only can you fire both barrels simultaneously in a devastating blast, but also fire both rounds in quick succession if you so choose. The only downside is it will take forever to reload, so it will likely only be used for those intimate one-on-one moments.

The other new weapon is the Grabber, which shoots an energy beam that lets you grab and move objects. It is very similar to the Gravity Gun in Half-Life 2, so much so that critics are scoffing that id copied the idea. However, this is not true; the concept of the Grabber was born well before Half-Life 2 was released Ц in fact, it is based on an actual development tool id uses to manipulate and place physics objects in maps. The developers had so much fun using the tool they thought gamers might enjoy it as well. And unlike Half-Life 2's version, the Grabber can not only move objects but also grab enemy projectiles like fireballs and fling them back at the shooter. You will also be able to grab small enemies like the spider-like Trites, the uber-creepy Cherubs and those damn annoying Lost Souls and chuck them around like baseballs. And don't forget that explosive barrels will become much more useful when you grab them like giant hand grenades.

With the new weapons come new enemies to use them on, including the Bruiser, a hulking huge demon with two rapid-fire cannons for arms; the Forgotten, which id describes as an Уold school version of the Lost SoulФ; and the appropriately named Vulgar, which is similar to an Imp but will be much faster, uglier and capable of throwing deadly plasma balls.

Since RoE is an expansion pack, the new single player campaign will be fairly short at less than 10 hours. Multiplayer, on the other hand, has been significantly improved; RoE will support up to eight players over Xbox Live and System Link, double that of the original. The all new maps will be based on the single player locations and will naturally support deathmatch, team deathmatch, as well as the new capture the flag mode. You will be pleased to know that the double-barreled shotgun will be available to blow your friends' faces off, but the Grabber will not. The best news, though, is that the net code has been cleaned up so the lag issues from Doom 3 should hopefully be resolved.

Purportedly, the nice extras from the Doom 3 Special Edition will be included in RoE, namely the full versions of Ultimate Doom, Doom II, and the Doom Master Levels. If true, this would make for a very nice package indeed.