Doom!

So I’ve been playing Doom 3 off and on most of this week. If you like the Doom series, this is a welcome refresher. The graphics are pretty tight (although I don’t actually have a machine set up that’s fast enough to really crank it up beyond the lowest possible settings… I do have most of the effects like bump mapping and stuff turned on though). Gameplay is pretty much what you’d expect from a Doom game, but I kinda like the combo of the dark environment and having to use a flashlight (which looks pretty damn good). Of course, they like to pounce on you sometimes in really dark areas, which kinda sucks. Can’t really see without the flashlight, and you have to drop that to use a weapon (guess they haven’t seen how the SWAT guys have little flashlights attached to their shotguns). I guess sometimes you can see the enemy by noticing their glowing eyes, but I’m not sure they all glow. I kinda like the PDA system too (you pick up other people’s PDA and sync up to read their email, hear audio logs, and sometimes get codes for storage lockers).

I wish they’d done a more advanced damage model ala Soldier of Fortune. I shoot a zombie in the arm, he flinches in that direction and usually gets a red spot there, but it would be cool if I could blow off limbs and have them keep coming as appropriate. You do get to catch a glimpse of a brain now and then as you blow apart a zombie’s head.

Anyway, if you like the old Doom, and enjoy simply running around shooting the crap out of things, you might give it a look. Story’s nothing all that amazing. Really, I wish I could fight more zombies. Seems like someone could pretty easily come up with a mod for the Night of the Living Dead series or something.