DOOM 3 Reviews

A scary atmospheric game that pits a marine against the forces of hell. The attention to detail and the sound effects are excellent. Log in to the PDAs for a story rich background. If you liked Dead Space, you will enjoy playing this earlier game.

One minute, everything is quiet, the next, you have 2 demons spawning right behind you, three in front of you, one spawning ON you, all in a small room while you are scattering to listen to audio logs to open a locker with just enough ammo and health to survive...GREAT GAME!

Vastly different from other games in the series but a fun experience in its own right. Definitely includes some frustrating late-game sections, but BFG edition is quite a bit more forgiving with ammo drops and the flashlight system (for better or worse). RoE is a neat but very shallow expansion.

I have a real soft spot for this game as I was first introduced to the original Doom games through the collectors edition of Doom 3 on the OG xbox. I still own my copy on the original xbox and I even play it every once in awhile. It was a treat to finally play through the BFG edition, even though some of the changes they made I wasn't a big fan of, it's still Doom 3 at it's heart, and I love it for that.

Doom does not miss, even with this being quite different than previous offerings. Loved this game in high school, still love just about everything Doom today.

doom 3 BFG edition is basically Doom 3 with widescreen support. It really helps with the gameplay. One of the best horror shooters ever.

I had this game back when it came out and it always left a little bit of a sour taste in my mouth. The graphics quality was poorer, as was the resolution, and not being able to use a flashlight with a weapon was just stupid. I'm happy that the BFG edition wraps everything up in a nice package, and improves on everything. It's now much less a slog. The weapons are pretty middling, but based on the speed at which this game is supposed to be played, that's part of the "charm" I suppose. Cutscenes are okay, and the voice acting is passable, but the ambient sound is something I'd forgotten was so great. I really like the vibe, and it makes the atmosphere so much better throughout the game. The new versions of monsters are a big evolution from the first two games, which I didn't appreciate at the time. I do wish that there was some stun physics in the game, but I think this predates those mechanics. It would have helped the enemies feel more realistic and lesss of a 2D monster in a 3D skin, most of the time. Level design holds up, and it's almost never a criss-cross across the map to get an access card or to open something. likewise the audio and text PDA and Video Discs are well done and genuinely add to the storytelling, which is admirable. On that note, the achievements in Steam are accessible and can be done with many of the excellent guides available. They chose reasonable and not onerous goals, and also included some for the packaged DOOM and DOOM II for going through those again. For anyone who has not played the first three games in a long time, but maybe has experienced DOOM 2016 and Eternal, this is a solid one. I would also add that the Machinegames DOOM + DOOM II is a little bit better done and is more polished for the old games, so perhaps play that for the ideal experience.

The guns just don't feel good, on top of goofy feedback. Levels are good, its hard to play a doom game with bad gun play tho

As a big fan of the Doom series since the shareware era, I was more than excited for Doom 3. Not only was one of my favourite series getting a long overdue sequel, but that sequel looked strikingly good. As it turned out that strikingly good look also meant my PC at the time couldn't handle rendering this in framerates higher than those of a slideshow. I remember that I still managed to play the first sequence or two, before just giving up in disappointment and frustration. I would return, I promised myself. At some point after beefing up my hardware a bit, I would play this again. Well, here I am fulfilling that promise. It only took 20 years. Let's see how well that went. For a Doom game, it certainly starts slow. It has this somewhat corny storyline going, about some Mars facility and some evil scientist who wants to unleash the powers of Hell upon humanity for reasons that make little sense. So we have to go through this whole sequence where the protagonist, a marine newly assigned to this facility, goes from place A to B, chatting folks up and enjoying the scenery. All that until all Hell literally breaks loose. Pretty much a copy of what Half-Life did with its opening, only less fitting. What's more, this game doesn't even offer subtitles. Why do we need a long-winded excuse to just shoot everything that moves? Isn't this supposed to be Doom? Additionally, the game ostensibly introduces survival horror elements. But this largely translates to the occasional jumpscare which after a point loses its novelty. Yes there are enemies behind every door or constantly materialising right behind you. So? They still die just as easily as all the rest of them. So what is this? Is it Doom or some schlocky house of horrors in a two-bit carnival? Then, we have the occasional platforming segments. Very unforgiving, difficult to judge and largely unfair. So I ask again, is this Doom, or some ridiculously stupid goth take on Super Mario? It all sounds somewhat disappointing, no? Well, not exactly. You see, the game's core loop is for the most part engaging. Yes, the enemies may be a bit spongy, yes combat is generally slower, yes the shotgun is somewhat lucklustre, but the action is still fun. From the moment that enemies appear, after the drawn-out prologue, the game improves significantly. Going down the levels of the base game and the included expansion, it keeps on improving. The world has some very interesting designs, the game can often be moody and atmospheric, while the hell levels in particular are weird and enjoyable. The levels also contain a number of passwords to be discovered in order to unlock lockers and safes containing extras. Those are generally well placed and fun to look for. There are a number of interesting interpretations of classic enemies present, while this game boasts what's arguably the scariest imps in the series. Seriously those guys are no joke. The graphics of the game, though obviously not as striking as they were 20 years back, have aged relatively well and remain perfectly serviceable. That said, there are some technical issues that this remastered edition ought to have fixed like various bugs with resolution changes and some instability. Largely because of all the changes to the classic Doom formula that it attempts, with limited success overall, this games lacks the frenetic pace and singular focus of the others in the series. However, there are signs of brilliance hidden somewhere in all those often perplexing alterations and the experience is overall compelling. The action remains fun, the atmosphere is decent and the feeling familiar. Going back to the question that was repeatedly asked throughout the review. Yes, whatever its numerous flaws, this is still Doom. It's certainly the weird sheep of the family, the odd one out, but one all Doom fans should at least try to engage with anyway.

DOOM 3 in alot of ways is the black sheep of the franchise. It's a much more slower, darker and dread inducing game, I still get scared playing this with some moments nearly making me jump out of my seat genuinely. The lighting in the original still stands the test of time and definitely shows you don't need RT or Path Tracing to achieve these results, even the reflections are dead accurate to the scenery without any of these silly modern techniques required. The game is dated and it might be a hard game to like after playing the amazing 2016 reboot but don't let that stop you from enjoying the aspects this game gets right. It still feels like DOOM in alot of ways especially as you venture into the second half of the game + the amazing expansion which wraps up the DOOM 3 story nicely. I love DOOM 3, it is up there with all the other titles and is something not to be skipped over.