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Follow us on FacebookDoom III at Firingsquad: Excellent review, Worth a read!
@ 2004/08/06very down to earth review, I agree with most of it! (haven't tried multiplayer yet though)
Doom III is 4 hours of intensity that tests the structural integrity of your mouse against your grip. That's followed by another four hours of wondering if that's all there is to the game. The last 8 hours are irritation that, unfortunately, that is all there is to the game. Fortunately the last half of the game isn't as bad as it might be - you get the feeling you're reaching a conclusion and the boss fights start happening. The bosses are such a welcome relief from the dreary surprise! attack! Gameplay, I'm not sure if they're actually as fun as they seemed or if I was simply glad to know that I don't have to walk into a room and be attacked by the blatant decoy just to have an imp or revenant teleport in behind me.
Doom III is 4 hours of intensity that tests the structural integrity of your mouse against your grip. That's followed by another four hours of wondering if that's all there is to the game. The last 8 hours are irritation that, unfortunately, that is all there is to the game. Fortunately the last half of the game isn't as bad as it might be - you get the feeling you're reaching a conclusion and the boss fights start happening. The bosses are such a welcome relief from the dreary surprise! attack! Gameplay, I'm not sure if they're actually as fun as they seemed or if I was simply glad to know that I don't have to walk into a room and be attacked by the blatant decoy just to have an imp or revenant teleport in behind me.
The most painful thought is just how close id got to making a classic. By adding more straight original Doom-style fights against the monsters, with no lame attempts at a surprise, would have improved the experience tremendously. A half dozen scenes with the player fighting alongside fellow marines would be the definition of coolness. One or two eerily quiet sequences without any combat, any spooky noises - say 3-5 minutes at a time - could have built up tension to an unbearable level.
As it stands though, it's almost as if the designers chose "copy, paste surprise teleport imp" and randomly distributed it through the levels 100 times, then repeated the same for a closet zombie, a cacodemon floating up from the ground or down from the sky, or a ceiling-crawling demon. "surprise" my ***."