Doom 3 (PC)

Excellent graphics and the pretty good design i.e. structure of the buildings. Odd arrangement of exploding barrels in the rooms and more bizarre symbols and objects; could have been even creepier!

Well recommend Doom 3 for the PC.

A good game that takes up a lot of space

I decided to get Doom after upgrading my graphics card and I was expecting some amazing graphics with gameplay to match. What I got was above average graphics but nothing special, and gameplay that was very lacking.

The game looks pretty good, but it didn't deserve all the hype it got over its graphics. They look nice and everything, but they aren't brilliant. the graphics were on of the main things that attracted me to doom 3, because I do like my realism, but they aren't as good as other titles such as FEAR. I do like the dynamic shadows. But the graphics dont justify the huge hardware requirements

Another thing that FEAR has is fun factor. Doom3 is repetative, boring and dark. For some reason you cant use the flashlight with a gun, so you have to shoot at enemies in the dark. No point in having good graphics if you cant see them.

Enemies take too much damage before they die; even zombies, the lowest class of enemy, take 3-4 headshots. In my book thats just wrong. They're pretty thick too. I like to be challenged by clever AI not just attacked head on by one zombie at a time...oh no wait, at some points there are TWO AT A TIME!!! wow! what happened to the hordes of evil daemons? The endless sifting through emails and audio recording to get passcodes is tedious. I thought I was buying a computer game, not a tale of two cities.

To cap it all off the sounds are poor. The shotgun sounds like a pea shooter, and all of the weapons leave me very underwhelmed.

All in all Doom 3 is fun for about 3 seconds, but it's too annoying to be fun for any longer.

Doom 3 is a great game with a full on crazy effect and the game is filled with evil monsters that attack you at every corner. The first stages are excellent and get you worked up but as the game progresses the levels get more and more desperate and easier to anticiapte. E.G 'I bet there's a monster behind this corner' says the gamer. 'o look, there it is...'__ so yuou get my point. The last level is really cool but still freaky with the fire shooting demon thing the size of a skyscraper but during the middle, the games just barely above average. This game, despite the plot and morale to it has the BEST graphics I have ever seen on the computer but of course that varies on every machine. But this is an over all, good game but still needs to work on the captivity of the gamer.

I am a self confessed Doom nut, so I had been looking forward to this for ages. Ever since I first played the original all those years ago, I've owned nearly every version of Doom 3 (PC, Jaguar, Saturn, Snes, Mac, 3DO, PSX, 32X etc) and am still hooked on it. When I heard the specs Doom 3 would require, I purposely upgraded my PC so I'd be able to play it and boy, was I not disappointed.

The story goes a little like this: UAC have set up a research base on Mars and have a large team of Marines, Technicians, Scientists etc living there. On the base, numerous experiments are conducted regarding teleportation. As a side story, the base is also conducting an archaeological dig and finds some strange artefacts. After testing these artefacts, the scientists manage to open a gateway to another dimension (that we would regard as Hell) and all manner of evil beasts and demons spill into the base killing all and sundry. The power goes down and you are stranded.

Guided by the Marine commander, you must find your way through the stricken base and carry out certain objectives and ultimately destroy the demons and the gateway before the fleet arrives and takes the demonic creatures back to Earth. Sounds a little clich d, but there it is.

Rather than have you run through maze like levels of the first couple of Doom titles, Doom 3 almost unashamedly rips off Half-Life and has you going from one area of the base to another in a non-linear way. The various sections of the base are separated by elevators and these act as hubs to different sectors. In a way, Doom 3 has evolved from its roots, but only in a psuedo mission based way, as ultimately all you are doing is collecting keys to open up new areas previously locked.

However, Doom 3 must be played as it was meant - as an out and out shooter, with very little thinking involved. And if you do play it as it was designed - boy, are you in for a fun time.

Cosmetically, Doom 3 is astounding. You'll need a PC that has the power of a black hole to get the whole effect, but its worth it. The different areas of the base are so well designed, it often looks real. The architecture is incredible - even my non-games playing mates were transfixed while I was playing. The way in which you stumble across barely alive characters is also a nice touch and there were more that a few times when I literally jumped out of my seat.

That you have to depend on your flashlight to see anything (in some sections) can be seen either as an irritant or as a clever trick on the part of the developers as a way to create a claustrophobic and tense atmosphere, because you cant hold a gun at the same time. It's actually very nerve-wracking looking into an air duct with you torch, only for something to come tearing towards you as you panic for your shotgun!

Once you finally get to the Hell based sections, prepare to be blown away by the graphics - nothing you've yet seen can prepare you for the jaw dropping nature of the architecture and set pieces.

Enemy wise, Doom 3 doesn't disappoint. The old favourites are all back, with a nightmarish new look, and there are a few new ones for good measure (check out the baby/moth things!). The weapons have all been given an overhaul too and the reload animations are very good (the machine gun in particular is quite good).

Its not all praise though - even though it looks great, sounds great and - for the most part - plays great, it can get a bit monotonous and repetitive towards the middle section and the story seems to stagnate somewhat. Also, the scares (which DID literally make me jump) become cheap after a while and the whole game is probably a tad too easy. Also, there isn't much replay value after you've completed it because you know where all the scares and items actually are.

These are minor gripes with a game that is a milestone in PC gaming. No other game has consumed my life while it lasted - I once even reached for a torch (that I didn't actually have) while walking up the stairs in the pitch black!

Doom 3 is a fantastic game and should be played with the sound up and the lights off. Preferably with someone holding your hand!

OK, so Doom 3, surrounded by media hype, been delayed and delayed and delayed for god knows how many years, and now we have it, so it better be good right?

The storyline: scientists mess about with teleportation, they open a gate to hell, monsters invade Earth, nearly everyone is killed except you, you're the only person with intelligence enough to use a gun, fight about 1243987243987 monsters, close the gate to hell, go home, nice plot eh?

Now we have that bit out of the way, lets look at the gameplay:

Starts off your on your way to work in some scientific place, walk around, etc., etc., then you get clues as to things going wrong, building the suspense even more, then you meet some monsters and kill them, then around the next corner you meet some more and kill them too, and the next corner? Yep more monsters. The suspense and atmosphere in the game is killed after about 20 minutes play, because around every corner there is another monster, you don't even jump anymore because you know it's gonna be there, not really much in the way of puzzles, and you can't get lost in levels really, it's just straight forward, shoot everything and move on to another room, to another level, and soon to the end of the game.

The AI is terrible, monsters charge blindly at you, if someone was pointing an RPG at you would you dive for cover? No you'd probly whip out your BFG 10,000,000 and zap them with it, but seriously the AI is awful, the "monster positioned behind the door to leap at you when you open it" trick wears thin, happens too much in the game, so every door you approach at an angle to avoid the predictable.

Multiplayer: don't even bother! All that is on offer is 4 player matches, extremely laggy, and runs like Doom 2 on a 286! It's not even fun, everyone camps in the shadows with a BFG and it just gets lame.

Conclusion: need I write any more? OK, so the graphics are nice, need a P4 3Ghz+ to get everything nice and smooth, and a Geforce FX5900 ultra or radeon 9800pro to appreciate the graphics, the gameplay gets boring after 20 minutes, the multiplayer is useless, a total waste of money in my opinion.

If you feel you must try this game, don't buy it, download it off suprnova (yes this is legal as long as you buy the original or delete within 24hrs) and save yourself a lot of money (the money you save will buy HL2 for Xmas :D ).

So, I say thanks to ID Software for wasting my time, they announced this game more than 8 years ago, they had long enough to make a decent game but they have really disappointed.

Doom 3 - While I think the graphics are nice, I found it quite dull after the first hour of playing it. I kept expecting it to improve, but it never came. I wouldn't waste my money on it.

After the excellent game that was Far Cry, I sat back and waited until Doom 3 was released.

Initally I liked Doom 3, the first level was a good introduction. but after the first level the game went downhill.

I'm running the game on a decent PC (Athlon XP2800, Geforce FX5600, 512MB DDR) and have to set it to "medium" with no anti-aliasing otherwise the frame-rate drops to the point where you can't control what happens when you get attacked by a monster.

The game itself seems like a step back 2 or 3 years in time, when every code shop was knocking out 1st person corridor shooters (Soldier of Fortune, etc.)

the biggest problem is no "hook" to keep me playing, I'm only playing doom 3 because I'm bored and there's nothing on TV, I want to finish the game as I don't like leaving games unfinished, but as soon as it's done its going to the exchange shop and will never grace my desktop again!

The lack of decent story is inexcusable if you look at some recent PC games (NOLF2, Far cry again!) Doom 3 consists of running down a corridor, blasting ugly monsters, finding health and ammo, running down another corridor and so on....

It really gets boring after a while, at least the original Doom was innovative for its time and very fun to play (although Duke Nukem 3D was arguably better, more interactive and fun).

The lack of interaction is quite incredible, after all the games of the last few years that allowed you to move items about, pull switches, blow out lightbulbs, blow the wall away (red faction) Doom 3 totally lack a consistency of interaction - basically you can't do much unless the game designer wanted you to.

It's frustrating when you can't blow out a window with a rocket launcher(!!!), and when you shoot a computer terminal the bullets vanish after a few seconds. What happened to all the progress made in other games?

There are a couple of decent bits, for example in one level you have to lift leaking radiation barrels into a drain. There are parts of levels where you have to jump across platforms, or drop ramps.

It's very easy to get lost, as there is no map, and sudden attacks can mess up your sense of direction.

Speaking of attacks, the enemies are dumb and tend to use "swarming" to attack the player. As everything has such simple scripting, you can tell where attacks are coming from when you replay sections, and this with the quicksave makes it easy to work quickly through the game.

OK, the graphics are an obvious improvement over the original Doom 3, but not radically better than games from 2 years back, like the amazing graphics in Far Cry (which ran beautifully smoothly on my PC).

Also, it's very very black and you spend half of your time using a torch to see where you're going (if you turn up the gamma setting it looks yucky)

Overall, I was disappointed with the lack of innovation, low interactivity and absence of a decent story.

Maybe ID spent too much time making Quake III no-story-type games and forgot how to make decent single player games?

I must say, i was very enthusiastic about Doom 3. And as much as I loved the original Doom, there are certain factors that were slightly disappointing.

First of all, those of you expecting innovation and open-ended gameplay, look elsewhere. Doom 3 is very straighforward, much like its older brothers. The formula is simple: shoot everything that moves using a variety of big guns.

The enemies in the game, though numerous in variety, aren't very smart, especially for a horde of demons bent on destroying mankind. They'll hunt you down relentlessly, and will often come right up to your face. And I'm not just talking about demons, but also the zombies who are smart enough to shoot guns but dumb enough not to take cover. :(

The game is also very dark, which is the idea, but after a while it gets claustrophobic and you'll find yourself leaving your computer to get some fresh air outside. To add insult to injury, you'll also find yourself shooting into the darkness, since you can't hold a flashlight and a gun simultaneously.

Despite those downers, the game does have its fair share of 'good' points. First of all, the ambience and the level of tension is remarkable. From flickering lights to falling vents and pipes, you'll jump at the just about any sound you hear. The cheap AI will jump out from every corner and dark hallway, and will scare the pants off you everytime.

Secondly, the lack of any form of music is a plus, and as you're fighting the bigger enemies, you'll get the chance to hear the thumping of your heart.

Finally, nearly all of the original enemies and weapons are present, with a few new ones as well. And boy do they look good! You'll see the familiar pinky demons and imps and the unfamiliar and disturbing creatures like the Cherub (half baby half insect).

Overall, Doom 3 is worth getting for the graphics alone. It'll run on lower spec comps quite smoothly, though the multiplayer is plagued by slow down.

If you're still unconvinced, wait and try the demo that's coming out soon. But if you like horror films/games, and enjoy being spooked I suggest you go out and get it! You won't be disappointed.

I found Doom 3 fun for the first couple of hours, but am now at the point were it seems like the same old crap, yes the graphics are amazing and the sound is creepy, but once you get past that there are no real improvments to gameplay, you wander around in the dark a lot inside different buildings. At least with Farcry you had an assortment of environments, buildings, jungle, water, boats, etc.

The gameplay is the same as the first, you run through outpost after outpost killing monsters. You really notice the graphics with the cut scenes which are beautiful.

The other concern is you need a supergood computer to run this game, so if you don't, it's going cost you to upgrade your system to play. You need a high-end $2000.00 system or better. I was there when the original Doom was released on shareware and it was cutting-edge back then; Doom 3 just doesn't seem any better with a few exceptions.

Don't get me wrong, the game is good, it just doesn't live up to the hype like most games nowadays.