It sure is dark. Wow, it looks amazing. Cool menu system, and wow, they have an equally cool menu system in-game! Wow, when I shoot this guy he fizzles and burns up! Holy fuck that is cool! What now? Oh, I guess I’ll walk down here. Hmm, kinda dark. Nice freckin’ glass effects! Uh, some ammo, an armor and a new weapon. Take that you fiend! Can’t see, must switch to flashlight. Fuck it’s dark! Guess I’ll walk this way then… Yeah, more… ehm, hellspawn or whatever. Hm, new weapon. How do you like them apples you fat zombie fuck?!… Hmm, out of ammo. Back to the shotgun again I suppose. Man it’s dark.
I don’t know who built this Mars colony, but it sure is no wonder that these people invited demons in here, I mean who wouldn’t, living in a tincan? Hmm, these Imps are getting moronically boring now, I wonder if anything new is ever going to happen?
Nope. Nothing ever does.
I haven’t played Doom 3 yet, but your play-by-play description there reminded me of my classic Quake-playing days. Dark & endless.
Have’nt played it to,but played doom 1 I think…on a 486 haa
Wasnt that always the way with both Doom and Quake? Theyre like 3D Space Invaders IMO.
It’s a shame that IMO this game did not live up to the hype. Yes the graphics are great, but it is quite a boring game actually. I was not impressed and felt much the same way as you typed it out here Michael.
DIE, IMP SCUM, DIE!!! [blam, blam, blam, …frazzle, burn, crackle]
…and you! [blam, blam, blam, blam, …frazzle, burn, crackle] FOUL CREATURE!!!
{repetere, ad nauseum}
I could come up with something better, gameplay-wise, in my sleep. However, the aesthetic qualities of the engine are very nice indeed. Doom3 is a beautiful game (despite it being too dark for my tastes), especially when it comes to the dynamic lighting from various sources and its use of shadows.
Now I patiently wait for your Half-Life 2 review. :)
I never bought Doom3 since I don’t like scary movies or scary games.
I enjoyed Doom 3, but really felt it was a disappointment. I didn’t expect it to live up the hype, honestly, few games do (Half Life 2 didn’t either), but the whole game was really a let down. Like you said, it was running around in dark places shooting stuff. Sure, the first couple times something jumped out of a ceiling duct I yelped, but after that it just got old. I also wasn’t very impressed with the graphics: they wwaayy overdid the bump mapping (or whatever it is they used) on them. It made for nice shadow detail, but when direct light hit any of the models, it made them seem glossy and plastic. Suspension of disbelief, where art thou?
But, regardless, it was an enjoyable game. Frankly thats the most you can expect with the rubbish publishers are rushing to the shelves anymore.
Evan, I agree also that HL2 was a letdown.
I got Doom 3 ages ago, but I’ve only managed to play it for about 2 minutes. My 256Mb GeForce 4600 card has problems with it, and no matter how much tweaking and driver jiggery-pokery I try, I get nowhere.
From what I have played, it looks absolutely awesome. I’ve considered buying a new graphics card just to get it working.
So does everyone think that its real destiny is to be a gaming engine for other, more interesting games to be built upon?
I thought it was suppose to be the other way around.
sigh
Kevan, that’s a good question. It’s my impression that id Software did what they wanted to do (at least part of the company anyway) first and foremost. Though id obviously has a track record of creating engines that end up powering other people’s games, I don’t think that ever called any of the shots.
And it certainly is a very impressive engine, it really does what it does very very well. But compared to Source, which powers Half-Life 2, it’s hard not to get suspicious and wonder whether D3 actually would be capable of doing full daylight landscapes and what not… I haven’t been paying attention to the scene, so I don’t know what people are doing with it these days.
But for doing tincan colonies on Mars, it’s the freakin’ bomb! If only someone would do a proper Aliens game once and for all, using the D3 engine. That, or System Shock 3… Which reminds me, the ingame menu system is too fucking cool!
That was the best review I have read in a long time! That is exactly how I felt/feel about the game, but you left out the part where I want my $80/Canadian back! :p
What can I say. I am a bit disappointed about Doom III. Similar to HalfLife 2. Both games were advertised as “What a holy-fucking-shit amazing game!”. But Doom III was even worse than HL2. Both games get boring. Especially Doom 3. Y?
And let’s not even get started on how abrupt the ending of Halo2 was…talk about dissapointment! 17 hours of great gameplay for what!? Grr…Halflife 2 has impressed me more than any other game lately.
I liked Half-Life2 A LOT!! And how do somepeople have those cool avatars? :\
In-game interfaces on textures has been available since Quake 3, actually. I remember how awed I was when I saw it the first time.
Am I the only person who will admit to enjoying Doom 3? It’s not the best game ever, but it was worth the time and money IMHO.
i love the design of this site. it totally rocks.
the only game that ever scared me was the original doom. if you want to amp it up a little, i’d suggest playing doom 3 (or anything else scary) with some penderecki playing in the background. either st luke’s passion or the cd with the Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima (and a bunch of other stuff). you probably won’t end up actually scared, but it might help a little.
:-)
Doom 3 Bad. Half-Life 2 Good. Halo 2… eh.
Brendan O’brien, try clicking one of the avatars and you’ll be taken to a site where you can get hooked up with one.
Crap, looks like it is has been a crappy year for video game releases. Maybe I don’t need that x-box after all.
I too am looking forward to your review of Half-Life 2. Get on with it man!
My disappointment in Doom III came when I realized Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails was no longer going to be involved in the soundscaping of the game. Still I can’t comment on Doom III as I am an Apple man and don’t have a PC. I will check out the X-Box version however when it gets released on that platform.
Doom 3 will probably make it out to OS X. Carmack is nothing if not platform concious.
I agree, with your review. Cool graphics and boring game play. I’m usually going the whole way through a game, to the very end. But Doom 3 made me quit. Now playing NFSU2 and that will go on for a while, I bet.
I’m sure I read somewhere that Doom 3 will be coming to the Mac – you’ll need a G5 processor to run it though?
For most (every to be honest) id Software fans and online hardcore gamers I know (i.e. roughly 500 to 1000 players) Doom3 is this year’s disappointment. We’re waiting for some efficient mod to see if it has some online potential, which is doubtful by now. Everyone is back to Quake3 for the moment.
Well they never did advertise Doom 3 as a multiplayer game… Though I agree that perhaps 4 players is a bit on the light side…
Hey, have you checked out The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butchers bay? I’ve just started playing it on my Xbox, and MAN is it cool! Much cooler than Doom3 and better graphics than Halo2.
lost in the technology and not in the game…. Takes a good company to remember that one player gameplay is still a lot of fun. Too many geeks making the games. Man half life is a lot more fun then Doom 3. Sure Doom 3 is a nice looking game but Half Life is a better game, because its a GAME; a real “holy shit its 3am” game. Half Life 2 is like that also, yes looks great but really its about the game play. I think a lot of companies are losing sight on that. Bummer on Doom 3 and not even excited about the next ID release.
I’ve played the first part of Doom 3 (upto trying to get back from the first incident. It is too dark. But the graphics are some of the best I’ve seen my now on my 1-year-old ATI 9800 Pro.
The engine has a lot of great potential and I hope it get’s used elsewhere.
Best game of 2005 – GTA:San Andreas. This is a monster game with so many different things you can do and has a massive landscape, that I can forgive some of the graphical issues. I am sure the next one will be release on the PS3… it has me drooling already in anticipation!
Object
I’ve avoided this game for many reasons, but one main one is that if I can’t play it with any reasonable amount of daylight in my office then the game simply fails.
Any game dependant on a dark room to play isn’t “usable” in my ardent opinion.
i think swedes should design any upcoming mars colonies, so that everybody would be happy. all the time.
i think the reason the game was boring was because you where fighting a demonic invasion, you cant half ass a demonic invasion, thus demons are everywhere… repetative, but it does seem like it would get the job done.
I’ll admit that the game gets a bit repetative in some parts. “Oh boy, spiders again,” and whatnot. The spiders themselves aren’t too bad, despite having been done to death in other games, and there were some instances where they were used appropriately, but it’s like they decided that since spiders were the game’s new enemy that they should use them all over the goddamn place.
And the enemies teleport into whatever room you’re in too often. After a while you start to expect it. “Emtpy room? Heh, wonder how many Imps’ll teleport in this time.” It would’ve been much more effective had they used it sparingly, so that it catches you off guard. That, and the fact that it’s pretty slow gives you a moment to prepare yourself. Half the time an Imp spawns into the room I’ve already switched to the shotgun and am ready to blow it away before the teleportation is even over.
Still, though, I thought the game was fun.
I cannot believe how boring this game is. Although the graphics have a very high quality with a good graphics card and DX9, they are also so boring. Pipe, after pipe, after pipe; Junction box, after junction box; wall panel (is this a door?), no, after wall panel (is this a door?), no;…
Just a maze of tightly winding corridors. For gameplay, interest, and even graphics, I think older games are far superior in their experience…
Medal of Honour is better, Call of Duty is better, Soldier of Fortune 2 is better, IGI2 is better, Max Payne 2 is better, No One Lives Forever 2 is better.
In fact, Doom3 is a complete disappointment. A bit of eyecandy you can get in VDU benchmark software, or indeed, by watching a good movie. For gameplay, and interest, Doom3 is rubbish.
After 5 hours of playing, and getting REALLY BORED, I canned the game. Its been a long time since I havent aplyed a game through because of boredom.
It doesn’t deserve the 8/10 scores reviewers give it. I think its like the emporeres clothes, no-one dare say its a complete let-down.
How did you expect a game that takes place in a Mars base to look? The setting doesn’t leave room for a wide variety of locales, unfortunately. I don’t remember anybody complaining about the original Half-Life’s concrete hallway after concrete hallway after concrete hallway.
yeah, i played the first level and then quit soon after the lights went out and the scripted monsters started coming out. “i wonder when the monster’s going to come out and hit me in the back… will it be this step, or maybe this one?” geez. so lame.
Sean, well I think first of all, there is a lot of stuff that can be done to vary it more than it was. The only principal thing they changed, apart from the hell stuff, which they should’ve done more of, were colors on the walls!
How about an actual lab section. Sterile, white, serene. Then you blast the fuck out of it. Or twist it a bit and have the base be built on top of a Marsian city or something. I mean, there are just so many options… And even within dark metallic corridors, I think you could vary it more than they did.
As for Half-Life, let’s first and foremost keep in mind that the game is 5 – 6 years old… Even so, it actually had outdoor areas, like a damn or the wall of a cliff and what not.
I see your point, and perhaps they could’ve varied the setting a little more, but it wasn’t a show-stopper (or fun-ruiner) for me.
As for Half-Life, don’t even get me started on that damn cliff level. Jumping puzzles were my biggest gripe with that game.
Doom3! First there was the hype, then there was the clips, then there was the build up… And here it is on Xbox!!! What… Is that it???… Jumpy menu’s and in game graphics. I must have the wrong game! (Shouts to kitchen) Darling, are you playing funny buggers?!
What a load of tosh. Same, same, same, same, same! Graphics are OK and that’s it. Gameplay is practically the same as Doom2. As for Xbox live, if I didn’t have Halo2 to keep the playability going, I’d want my £40 back.
I think a game can be measured on how many you see available on the pre-owned shelves. As far as I am aware (thats just me mind) Halo2 is few and far between on the pre-owned shelves (I can’t get a second pre-owned copy at all). If you want this game (Doom3 that is) wait a week… There’ll be loads on the pre-owned shelves! Either that or save your money for a FPS that you CAN go back to more than once.
Graphics are really important! But if you don’t spend just as much time on gameplay, the game is destined to be a flop.
ID software, apparently, forgot both!