Doom Review

Upon its release in 1993, Doom was a critical success acquiring legendary status for the way it brought first-person shooters to the forefront on PC. Chances are if you’re a gamer you have either played or, at the bare minimum, heard of Doom. Doom catapulted the genre to success, allowing millions to annihilate the forces of the Underworld. In 2016, however, Doom has made its return. Following the mixed reaction to Doom 3 and its focus on horror, Doom’s promise to revisit the style of the original game instantly grabbed the fans’ attention. In returning to its legendary roots, Doom offers one of the most exhilarating shooter campaigns in years.

At its core, Doom perfectly encapsulates the essence of what a Doom game should be, as you explore environments defeating a range of different enemies, picking up new weapons and occasionally acquiring key cards to move past locked doors. Doom is a game all about the fight, giving you a varied selection of upgradeable weapons to overcome your foes and close the portal to hell.

“it’s a pleasantly self-aware experience, playing like Halo on steroids,”

In a world where first-person shooters are constantly trying to innovate and add new mechanics, Doom is satisfied with keeping it relatively simple. This simplicity, however, works entirely in the game’s favour allowing Id software to prioritise intense moment-to-moment gameplay over the kitchen sink approach of other modern shooters. There are no huge set-pieces, unwieldy vehicle sections or linear narrative-driven gameplay here. This is a game about a man with a gun destroying everything he can. It’s a pleasantly self-aware experience, playing like Halo on steroids, embracing its violence throughout.

Glory Kills are a new addition, allowing you to eradicate stunned enemies with violent close-quarters executions. Not only is it worryingly satisfying to pull off these manoeuvres but it is essential for your survival. Glory kills allow you to restore health in a game where health pickups are few and far between. With its stroke of nostalgia, Doom removes the usual recharging shields and health and forces you to obtain it via more violent means. Cleverly, this mechanic constantly ushers you to advance on your enemies. While most shooters expect you to retreat to cover and shoot from a distance, Doom expects you to get up close. Enemies are as brutal as you are, meaning your health will drop rapidly if you remain static. Firefights become hectic, adrenaline-fuelled dashes, having you quickly dodging oncoming fire, hastily swapping weapons on the go before moving in for the oh-so-satisfying kill. All of this is done to one of the most aggressive, rocky soundtracks in a game, perfectly suiting the action. Erratic guitars break out as you weave your way through the environment, cracking skulls, ripping off arms and blasting enemies with your rocket launcher. It’s thrilling, chaotic and just a little bit awesome.      

The original Doom was praised for introducing full 3D environments to first person shooters, taking the relatively flat environments of Wolfenstein and adding upstairs and downstairs, allowing for more realistic locations. Doom 2016 adds a whole new level of verticality to the series giving you multi-layered, open arenas to battle in rather than the more isolated corridors and rooms of previous games. While the game mostly puts you in a room and won’t let you leave until you’ve killed everything, when in the midst of battle, you will happily forgive what is otherwise quite a repetitive structure.  

Environments nicely combine the sci-fi aspects of Mars and the gruesome, occult aspects of Hell. Mutilated corpses scatter the halls and accessible security footage shows the station’s previous occupants being dragged away by huge monsters. Every part of Doom is bloody and it doesn’t let you forget it for a second.  

The story, for what it is, has the hell portal being opened on Mars by main villain, Olivia Wilde, head researcher at UAC. Initially the companies work had been focused on repurposing Hell’s energy as a renewable power source on Mars but, as a cultist, Olivia Wilde aimed to join hell’s army in taking control of the solar system. It’s a thinly veiled attempt to justify the events of the game, that is mainly conveyed through exposition-heavy conversations with holographic representations of the two other characters in the game as well as Vega, the station’s sentient AI. Honestly though, Doom is a rare thing. Its gameplay speaks for itself and while other shooters focus heavily on narrative, Doom really doesn’t benefit from the little story it has. When the rest of the game focuses around simplicity, the story’s attempt to add a bit more complexity feels redundant. It’s an unrewarding narrative that, without giving too much away, feels inconclusive, resulting in the feeling that they should have either removed it entirely or spent more time creating something more coherent and satisfying.  

Doom’s campaign is an over-the-top, ultraviolent thrill-ride that’s simplicity maintains the essence of one of the most iconic games in the genre while updating it massively for the current generation, resulting in one of the most fun and exciting shooter experiences in years.

“Doom’s multiplayer fails to differentiate itself enough to stand out”

Unfortunately, the game’s multiplayer is a standard, uninspired addition that doesn’t capture the excitement of the main game. The range of maps on offer are nicely varied ranging from hellish chasms to laboratories but the action doesn’t seem quite as intense as what you experience in the main story, removing the glory kills and focusing on usual arena shooter traits. With so many multiplayer-focused shooters available on the market, Doom’s multiplayer fails to differentiate itself enough to stand out, offering the basic modes and customisation options we’ve come to expect. When you can experience a more balanced multiplayer in games like Halo 5 or Destiny, with more modes to choose from and greater customisation, there’s no real reason to spend your time with Doom.