DOOM (Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Windows, Linux) Review

12 years after DOOM 3, id Software (now under ZeniMax Media) finally released the next entry in the DOOM series, simply titled DOOM. Unlike one version of it previously in development, DOOM fully commits to the original DOOM‘s ideas and aesthetics. This review will judge the game on its own merits.

DOOM‘s gameplay is unapologetically classic. It bucks popular first-person shooter trends like regenerating health, sprinting, and aiming down sights with every weapon. Doom Slayer’s (the playable character) only base abilities are running, shooting, punching, jumping, and crouching. Over time his collection of guns will grow and he will gain a few extra abilities that this review won’t spoil. This collection of guns is generally well balanced and all of them are worth using, with only a few exceptions. Using these mechanics Doom Slayer takes on the missions of the single-player campaign that generally involve rooms that can not be escaped without defeating every enemy inside of them connected by light platforming or puzzle sections.

Unfortunately, these rooms aren’t particularly special in terms of level design. None of them stand out among the others for being particularly clever level designs. They also often require Doom Slayer to use his ability to climb up ledges when his jump isn’t quite enough, which doesn’t fit with the game’s otherwise classic approach. It also brings Doom Slayer to a stop temporarily and frequently results in Doom Slayer awkwardly bumping into walls that either actually can’t be climbed or he approached at an incorrect angle. This unreliable mechanic is especially frustrating in DOOM because of its fast nature. Even the loading screens say “Standing still is death.” The player has to be almost constantly running, especially on higher difficulties, to avoid a quick death. Doom Slayer is fragile and enemies are always chasing him or aiming at him from rather lengthy distances. This compliments the otherwise simple and casual mechanics because it forces the player to always be thinking about what to do next with very little time, which would be rather difficult with more complicated mechanics.

Still, the arguably overly simple mechanics make the game feel rather shallow as there isn’t much improvement that the player can have beyond learning the best methods to take out enemies and with their reflexes. This is not helped much by the enemy design. Enemies are essentially all dealt with using only a few different techniques, with a few exceptions that feel more annoying than challenging to deal with. Attack patterns are rather basic and can generally all be avoided by running around the map. One way that DOOM helps make this running around the map more balanced is with the upgrades. While the general upgrades to Doom Slayer that boost things like his health, armor, ammo, and speed doing certain actions don’t affect this much, the way upgrading weapons is treated does. Just about every weapon has a secondary firing option that almost always forces Doom Slayer to slow down in some way. As the game progresses and becomes more difficult by spawning the same handful enemies in increasing quantities these secondary firing options become almost essential to be able to take down those hordes of enemies. This results in the player often running backwards while facing enemies that are chasing them to use these secondary firing abilities on those enemies. Doom Slayer’s tendency to get stuck on enemies while doing this and dying to their extremely high melee damage can be frustrating as it often means the player has no idea what actually killed them, making it hard to figure out how to improve next time.

Another classic element and a good piece of level design how DOOM gives the player health and ammo during battles. Aside from the Glory Kills the player can use on enemies with low health by using the punch button on them, which generally gives the player health, the player must search the area that they are battling in to find ammo and health packs. This helps to promote the running around the game expects you to do, as standing behind cover to regenerate health won’t work here as it does in many other shooters. This design also extends into the areas outside of battles, with many secrets that are worth finding and that are not limited to just ammo and health.

By the end of the game DOOM starts to lose its luster. The player will likely be sick of fighting the same handful of enemies (often in the same areas multiple times) that haven’t had a new addition in a sizable amount of time and will likely be disappointed with the other offerings besides those rooms of enemies. Puzzle and platforming sections never really pick up in difficulty or become much more fun or engaging. There are also some boss battles which, while somewhat well designed, are far too easy and generous with ammo, health, and checkpoints compared to the rooms of enemies the player will be taking on around the same time. This leaves the final parts of DOOM feeling anti-climactic as the player hasn’t couldn’t have gotten much more skilled at the games basic mechanics and the difficulty curve feels rather off.

The reviewer was able to beat the game on the Ultra-Violence or “hard” (chosen for a reason later discussed in the review) difficulty without much trouble, and was left feeling a bit disappointed at how this game that seems so hardcore from the outside doesn’t really deliver on that element in reality. While there are harder difficulties to take on, it seems that all they change is the damage balancing of the game or just limit the player in some way, rather than challenging the player mechanically.

There are also some other modes in the game besides the obvious focus of the campaign mode. First, there is the multiplayer mode. This was rather difficult to judge due to how nobody was online playing it during the time that the reviewer played the game. However, using the included bot matches the reviewer got a chance to try out the multiplayer modes and while not exactly bad, they aren’t quite engaging enough to really be worth the time spent playing them compared to other games and even the other modes present in this game, as evidenced by the lack of people choosing to play the mode. There is also another surprisingly deep mode that allows players to create, share, and take on user generated levels. This mode adds a lot of value and replayability to the game. There are also multiple ways to take on the campaign which add to the replay value as well.

The controls chosen for the console version of this game are also rather questionable. Somehow the almost completely unnecessary crouch function gets a face button while the punch button is relegated to pushing down on the right stick (by default). Crouch should’ve been mapped to pressing down on one of the sticks like it is in so many other console shooters and the frequently used punch button should have gotten its own face button instead. This mapping of the punch function can be rather frustrating because of how the game’s fast pace forces the player to constantly be shifting the right stick in many directions, which can easily result in the player accidentally pushing down on that right sick. None of the included control schemes fix this issue. This is particularly frustrating because of how the punch function tries to point Doom Slayer’s body towards the enemy when used and frequently and annoyingly ends up going in a direction that results in the punch missing and the player having no idea where they are facing. The swapping weapons function that slows down time also could have used a change to make it take less time to appear after holding down the button as the amount of time it takes can result in some frustration when in one of the many tight situations the game puts the player in and the player who is already thinking quickly can easily do all the inputs required but get no result because the menu did not appear yet.

DOOM‘s technical achievements are among its greatest. The developer, id Software’s, id Tech 6 engine makes its spectacular debut here in DOOM. The detail in the levels looks fantastic and far better than many other current generation games. The visual effects used are also far above other offerings available at that time. The game also runs at a high resolution and targets 60 FPS while looking better than many games that only run at 30 FPS. Where this all becomes a problem though, is on the console used for this review, the base Xbox One. While the game still looks good on this console, it can have a few issues with performance. Despite the adaptive resolution dropping rather low in many situations, the Xbox One version of the game can still drop to quite low frame rates which can often result in the player dying due to the lower time available to react to enemies allowed by the frame rate. The reviewer also encountered a few bugs that may or may not be exclusive to the Xbox One version. During the campaign, the reviewer was forced to kill Doom Slayer purposefully multiple times to reset the game and make it so the story would progress again or something would appear like it should. This was made even less acceptable because of how in one case it forced the reviewer to replay one incredibly long section at the already repetitive ending portion of the game. Still, overall DOOM is an impressive game technically.

The sound in DOOM is a highlight. Mick Gordon does a fantastic job with this games soundtrack and it is incredibly fitting. The game also does a good job building up the music as the action increases and calming it down when it decreases. Sound effects are about what one would expect and are executed well. The few characters present are also voice acted rather well too.

While DOOM does have quite a bit of story, it at the same time seems to make fun of games that focus too much on story. Doom Slayer never talks and mostly ignores everything that he is told during the story. Still, there is a lot of optional reading about the world of DOOM for players who are interested. Overall the story barely interrupts the gameplay, with one strange exception that was particularly frustrating because of how it was the only time that sort of thing happened.

In terms of value DOOM absolutely succeeds. The campaign alone is rather lengthy for a shooter of this type, and all of the different ways it can be experienced, along with the other modes in the game make the game absolutely worth even full price. Even players burnt out on recent shooters should find some enjoyment from this game. Players who are looking for a relaxing experience should look elsewhere, though.

Overall the reviewer would give the game a 7.5 out of 10.

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