Doom III

Delta Labs 1 was kinda boring and the maintenance bits looked ever so slightly similar to the garages in Com Transfer. It picked up once I got to 2a though, I like the clean design of the labs, reminds me of Shock2's command deck. One thing that annoyed me was when Ian gives you that video before you teleport it's just an audio log with his details on it, he talks about some pictures of a demon found when teams went into the portal another time, they couldn've showed that instead of his boring details constantly, it's only a small thing but it just seems like laziness to me..

Only 3 more levels till Hell

Once I got to Delta 2b I actually started to get into it more with all the creatures held in the statis chamber and the overwhelming tension of getting closer and closer to the portal. Hell was amazing, it looked so awesome and was really well put together, some of it was pretty fucked up as well but in a good way. Frame rates dropped a bit during my trek but nothing to make it unplayable and those Hell knights are actually pretty scary I freak out when I see one..

Just beat Sarge and I'm entering site 3, only 4 more levels to go

--SPOILERS AHEAD--

It's been awhile since I was able to play games without problems and now that the PC is fixed I was able to play D3. I beat the game last night (is it me or is the Cyberdemon a piece of piss to beat?) and although the ending was a bit pap it was actually an ending which is something the other ID games didn't really have (Quake 1- ooooh.. shub-niggarah gets gibbed / Quake II - ooooh.. a hand..) so well done to them for that.

Anyway, the game started off in familiar territory it was all very 21st century Half-Life (which isn't a bad thing) and I did find myself sucked into the atmosphere quite early on. Once all Hell broke loose (literally) I found myself having to run around a lot of maintenance corridors bashing zombies with a torch or pistol (sounds very Half-Life again, doesn't it?) and then bashing off imps with my trusty shotgun.. which brings me to my first criticism;

Oh imps, imps, imps ID sure do love their imps I swear there were about 6 of them in one office on many occasions, they're bloody annoying like that plus they like to pop out when you least expect it, which in a way is good, but then you think that it's not so great after the 60th time. I suppose the transition of making the old gameplay of the Doom games work for Doom 3 was done right (and let's face it, this is EXACTLY the game ID wanted to make) and the engine's ability to handle multiple creatures on screen at one time is pretty damn good. So yes, perhaps less imps would of been better, especially since fantastic demons such as the good ol' mancubus were larely ignored with the exception of the Recycling sector 2 and Hell, which in my book is criminal!

The level design consisted of a lot of barren dull looking corridors that just about managed to look a little different each time (and in some cases completely different) then you have the outside bits which are really good and should of been used more to make more of a variation on the design.. oh yes of course, variation- something Doom 3 is lacking. I should be fair though, Once I'd reached Hell my interest sparked up again, I'd never seen such a fantastic level put together, all from the bump mapped blood stained bricks to the floating torsos, very messed up but oh so ID.

The CPU complex was probably my favourite 'corridor' section, really nice to look at and (shock horror) actually managed to look totally different to the other sections of the base! From Hell onwards the game had me hooked and Site 1/2/3 were no exceptions, the design of the caverns was excellent, lots of climbing up and down and running across platforms suspended over lava and once again, it looked fresh and new, finally some more varation. By the time I reached the boss battle, it was all over after about 10 minutes which was a bit of a shame (the Guardian was probably the toughest boss in the game..) but not something that would spoil the game.

So let's about demons, who here likes demons? No? How about cheese? Well that's tough because we're talking about demons now. I've mentioned imps and the mancubus (which was absolutely fantastic and very true to the original in both look and sound) the Hellknights were awesome, I actually found myself running away like a little girl whenever I was faced with one of them, they just have a presence whereby everything feels a great deal of fear towards them, plus they're fucking huge! The redesigns on the archviles, cacodemons, pinkies and lost souls were nice and the new demons were a welcome edition to the bestiary (and is it me or did the ticks only appear in last delta complex complex map?). Weapons were nice and beefy, all the old favourites plus some extras, the chaingun was very satisfying to use as was the BFG, but the star of the show has to be the soulcube, the thing saved my life on so many occasions and it makes you feel all warm inside when you've just beaten a whole Hellknight/Archvile with one shot when you had about 8% health left.. I salute you for that ID, it is a masterful creation)

I've already talked enough crap, so let's wrap this up; Final words? The PDAs were nicely done (although they lacked the atmosphere and depth of Shock 2) and told a pretty cool story. I was especially impressed with the idea that the martians could be distant cousins of our own race, it makes you think about wether that could actually be true in real life or not.. ok a bit daft maybe but who knows?

Pros: Excellent demons, Hell, nice backstory, brilliant graphics on any setting.

Cons: Repetitive, a lot of levels lack variation, too much reliance of certain enemies over others, not enough outdoor sections.

Final score: 8.3/10 Not as great as previous games, but still a worthy creation and Hell will surely go down as one of the greatest moments in gaming history. Congratulations on a job well done ID!

I made a few screens, was gonna do a lot more but I didn't see the point really:

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My favourite, Hell is so gorgeous to look at:

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Oh yeah did anyone notice this:

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Quake II unit 1 sky on the right and a section from the site 3 screen in lab section 2

I'm gonna pickup ROE next

Quote from mike-0

yea, im really lookin forward to getting to hell. I havent played the game at all this week, maybe this weekend.btw, when i play d3dm i crash to the map loading screen (yes im serious) every couple minutes. It stays on the screen for about one minute (without the load bar moving) and then it goes back to the game. What the hell is that?

Hell's the best part of the game by a long way

No idea mate, try turning down your graphical settings when playing DM, many people find this to help play online with a smooth framerate.

Quote from Nz-Nexus

heh it looks like you got doom3 late.. mate..Btw i hate the Monorail level, i hate it. I hate it soo much!

I've actually had to for months (copy that is, for testing purposes, still need to pickup the proper version) but due to the PC problems I had I couldn't get it to run! Oh and the Monorail was awesome!