Doom 3

To say Doom 3 looks absolutely mind blowing would be doing the game a grave disservice. Yes, it's that good. Very soon now, Doom 3 will be headed to the Xbox with all of the visual glory of its PC counterpart mostly intact. At least that's what John Romero's promising, and as the man who, along with partner John Carmack, revolutionized gaming with the original Doom in 1993, I'm inclined to believe him.

The gameplay footage seen thus far is astonishing. An establishing shot draws the eye to an industrial research facility of some sort. Inhabiting a huge mesa on the dusty red planet of Mars, it spans a tremendous area of land. Once drawn inside, we're treated to some of the most stunning visuals yet seen in this generation. Every surface is layered in textures and incredibly realistic looking, while the real time lighting and shadow effects lend shocking authenticity to the proceedings. As the lab complex is taken over by monsters, the amazing physics of the game take center stage. Doors ripped off by huge and horrendous imps bend and fold convincingly, and the random destructible environments react accordingly when taking damage. The fiends inhabiting the base are incredible, pushing the boundaries of photo-realism, and it's all in-game. Shotguns, assault rifles, and a myriad of other heavy weaponry tear into some of the most disturbing creatures ever imagined, and I personally witnessed some incredible close-quarters battles that were virtually inconceivable as being actual gameplay. Yet it was. Doom 3 will push the standards of interactive entertainment as we know it.

You'll play as a space marine who must guard the aforementioned facility (Union Aerospace Corporation's research lab). Of course, things go horribly wrong, as a hole is ripped in the very fabric of space, allowing denizens of Hell to pour forth and seriously ruin your day. Everything in Doom 3 is designed to create a terrifying atmosphere, and it shows. The physics engine is amazing, allowing for phenomenal animations for all the creatures, and some great death sequences as well. The lighting and shadow system are, bar none, the best seen in the current generation of console games. Light sources cast real-time shadows on every surface, and the sheer depth of the visuals is guaranteed to delight even the most jaded gamers. All of the creatures (which include Zombies, Imps, and crawling "skull-spiders", as well as far more powerful demons and other assorted monsters) behave very realistically, thanks to D3's skeletal animation system, and there's no doubt you'll be jumping out of your chair when confronted by a surprise attack.

You'll get your hands on a shotgun, as well as a chaingun and pistol, not to mention hand grenades and a flashlight for searching out the dark corners in the various rooms. Make no mistake: Doom 3 will pull up all your childhood fears of the dark, and then add a few new ones. Swinging lights cast shadows across environmental objects, and fat, creepy, gut blasted zombies will lurch from the blackness to scare the living **** out of you. Better bring some extra pants. The Xbox version of Doom 3 will support 5.1 surround sound, and every gurgling zombie and shrieking Imp will fill your ears with horrific aural terror.

Doom 3 will follow the now standard console FPS control scheme. The left thumbstick controls movement, with view mapped to the right. You'll crouch by pushing down on the left stick, and change weapons with the D-pad. You'll fire with the right trigger, and use the white button to turn on your flashlight. The right trigger is also used to open doors and hit switches, but this will obviously be context sensitive.

The game will support two players for co-op through the main adventure, and up to four for deathmatch and other multiplayer modes over Xbox Live. Doom 3 will ship with five multiplayer maps, and the developers promise some fun (and nostalgic) classic Doom style gameplay. Overall, the Xbox version of D3 is looking like it will be something special when it releases sometime after its PC counterpart in 2004.