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I bought it day one but my girlfriend isn't a huge fan of loud gun noises or industrial music so I've been moving through it a few levels at a time and, while it's got its few flaws (the primary one I think anyone who's played the game will agree on is the 3D map is somewhat confusing and makes it harder to figure out where things are than they should be sometimes), this game is a pure adrenaline rush not to mention a major shot of nostalgia. The gist:
• 1080p, 60fps. Plays and looks like the DOOM you imagined in your head while playing DOOM
• To that end, there's no reloading, no aim down sights (except for one of the Gausse Cannon's upgrades)
• Most importantly, no regenerating health. You perform "glory kills" (MK9-like melee fatalities you can only do after an enemy has taken enough damage) that cause enemies to drop health, and there are the usual health/armor packs strewn across the arenas. Once you acquire the chainsaw, it also functions as a limited use, one-stop shop for ammo and health drops from an enemy of any size (presuming you have enough fuel to cut through the enemy you're trying to attack). This feeds into a pretty intoxicating loop of long range and close range combat that reconciles the classic elements of DOOM with modern gameplay design without a hitch.
• The soundtrack is incredible. I've never heard of the artist but it's clearly hearkening back to Trent Reznor's mid-90s period (and work with id on their masterworks) while nodding to the debt today's dubstep scene owes the rough edges of that industrial era.
• In attempting to tell a story, it pivots entirely from DOOM 3 and appears to pick up several years after DOOM 2. What little story there is essentially boils down to how DOOM 1 and 2 were a pair of the most influential games of all time and it's fucking rad that they came out. This is a game with a security system that repeatedly announces "demonic invasion is at unsafe levels" and you will chuckle to yourself every time.
• The enemies compliment each other in some very smart ways and once things really get rolling it's clear that, much like DOOM, you'll want to play certain levels again and again on higher and higher difficulties just to master what's being asked of you.
• In fact, much like the OG DOOMs/Wolfenstein 3D, the medium difficulty is primarily a training ground, implying the true game that lies beyond. With all the hell swirling around, it's an enjoyable meta commentary on the game they've made.
I'm only halfway through the game and just collected a certain fucking gun (it is genius the reverence paid to this gun in universe, by the way) but I'm confident it's only going to keep getting better. I just wish I had more time in large chunks to devote to it. Like I said, I have my gripes. The map kind of sucks and the emphasis on collectibles will have you pulling it up just as often as you would in The Witcher or Shadow of Mordor which is a bummer. I haven't spent much time in Hell yet but compared to Mars it's one of the least engrossing environments to look at perhaps this generation of consoles will ever see (I'm playing on PS4 but I don't see this game being one that is leaps and bounds prettier on a PC).
But the GAME ITSELF is SO DAMN GOOD that anyone with even the most remote fondness for DOOM and what DOOM meant for the future of video games really needs to give this game a shot. This is inarguably the best a game that took 8 years to make could have possibly turned out. Easy Game of the Year contender so far.
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"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz
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