 [Larger view] | Doom 3
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Average user rating:  | |
 I suppose it would be great if I could play it! | |
| This is an update to my previous review entitled, "I suppose it would be great if I could play it". After loading the Doom 3 patch, the game seems to be running better and no longer locks up after 45 minutes of play. At least for the time being. Honestly, I never play it longer than 30 minutes at a time anymore because I really can't get into the game. This is mainley because the game is too dark!
The graphics in this game are extraordinary. Crisp clean, textures, fluid movements, spectacular lighting and shadows. Graphics wise this is the best game I have played on the PC to date. I looked hard and did not notice any dullness and graininess in the graphics ANYWHERE. The only place where some improvement is needed is in the rendering of characters faces. If you look closely enough you will be able to see jagged edges on their faces. But you probally won't even notice unless you are looking VERY closely. Keep in mind I am playing this on high detail at 1024X768 so that may be a factor; I imagine a lower resolution and/or detail level will affect the graphic quality. Alternatively, if you play at ultra high detail and a even higher resolution, then the graphical quality will more than likely improve. The sound in this game is creepy as its supposed to be. Nothing groundbreaking in this department, but it does what its supposed to do; keep you jumping after you hear every little sound. You can actually hear enemies sneaking up on you by hearing muffled zombie moans, or giant spiders' eight legs lightly tapping on the ground behind you. This keeps things very suspensful. Storyline: Like others have mentioned, the storyline is weak. Basically, you are one of the final survivors after the base was attacked by demons. *YAWN*. Gameplay: While the graphics are near perfect and the sound is adequate, the main thing that hurt this game is that ITS TOO DARK! This game can be real hard on the eyes because you are straining them all the time trying to see in this game. While granted much of the power was knocked out after the attack, there is still no excuse for me to have to switch between my flashlight and gun just so I can see enemies creeping up on me in a pitch black room or hallway. Like another reviewer stated, you don't really get a chance to see the monsters because its so dark. Often times you find yourself shooting in the dark at enemies that you hope are still there. It is very cumbersome having to switch back and forth between the flashlight and gun to stay alive. If a monster sneaks up on you quickly, then many times you will find yourself hitting it with your flashlight instead of shooting it, because you forgot to switch back to your gun! There is no excuse for this. Even today there are helments that have lights on them. You mean to tell me that in the 22nd century that they no longer exist? Also the enemies can be very cheap. I particurarily hate the imps because they can teleport closer to you and pounce on your before you even have a chance to fire your weapon. Additionally, it takes forever to kill them, even two well placed shots from the shotgun will not kill it, it usually takes three or four shotgun blasts to kill it. It is also very annoying that enemies can randomly appear out of nowhere when you reach a "trigger point". Reach a certain point on the map and you will find that a room you previously cleared is now full of monsters appearing behind you, in front of you and anywhere else you can imagine. Expect to die a lot in this game becuase of this. My advice is to SAVE OFTEN to avoid replaying the same thing over and over and over again. This game is above average but nothing compared to all the hype is was getting. It is worth completing, but I really see no replay value because all the levels are exactly the same and boring. Hopefully the later levels will offer more variety, but for now all it is is basically running the the dark shooting at enemies. If the game weren't so dark, than maybe I could find myself getting into it more. But after getting killed by an unseen monster for the third time, it really gets old. I won't go into online play because I haven't played it, and don't know if I will. Its no fun to play a game with other people online because there are always people that cheat ruining the game for everyone else who chooses to play fair. Keep in mind you need a pretty powerful system to play this game. The game requires a 1.5Mhz pentium or Athlon 1500+ processor with AT LEAST a 64 video card and 384MB of RAM. These are bare minimum requirements and I honestly don't think you'd be able to run this game smoothly with the minimum specs. Upgrade your videon card to 128MB and boost your RAM to at least 512. Below are my system specs, and I am able to play the game very smoothly on high detail at 1024X768 resolution. I may be able to even run it on ultra high resolution, but haven't tried because like I said, I don't play the game very long at one time. My system ===================== AMD Athlon64 3000+ MSI K8N Neo Platinum ATI RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB 1GB Corsiar PC3200 200GB Maxtor 7200RPM Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Samsung DVD+-RW Samsung CD-RW As far as recommending this game, I can't really say. To me its just another FPS, but if you absolutely love and must have every FPS that comes out, then by all means get this game. If you don't have any other game to play at the moment and are bored, then this game may be recommended as well. If you are looking for a ground breaking title that will make history as one of the greatest FPSs of all time, then Doom 3 is not it. The original Doom was an instant classic when it first came out, its too bad Doom 3 falls of matching the greatness of the original. | |
 A lot like the original Half-Life, only better gfx and slow: | |
| Having a DSL connection of 1.5/1.0M, I wasw shocked to see how slowly online play was (avoid games with more than 4 players on even this high connection.) - especially when compared with Unreal Tournament 2004 (which can EASILY handle 8 players.)
But the main solo play game is a lot like Half-Life; even some of the sound effects are the same! It's the same old follow-the-path structure and apart from a few unsuspected scares (don't have a weak heart when playing this one), has no replay value except for multiplayer - which I'd recommend, MINIMUM, a 1.5/1.0 DSL connection. Doom3 hogs internet bandwidth even more than UT2k4, et al. Id could take a lesson from Atari about how to better use bandwidth. UT2k4 is exceptional by comparison and is surprisingly playable on 256k down/up speeds. Overall, it's a good game, but don't pay more than $18 for the original and $15 for the Ressurection add-on pak (so wait a few months). Anything more is exploitation of an uncreative product that should be faster with online play. (All the players and texture/bump maps are on each PC, what exactly are they sending over the internet that's dragging things down?!) Looks very nice and is playable even on my lowly hardware (see below), but it adds nothing to the genre (it even goes backwards; the flashlight has an infinite power source, good grief). My system: Abit NF7 mobo (nforce2 chipset, dual DDL). Athlon XP 2100+ @ 2700+ C{U 1GB RAM (2x512 modules) Nvidia geforce 5900fx video (128MB RAM) from BFG SB Audigy Again, for solo play it'll run great at 1024x768, ultra quality. But for multiplayer, get the best down/upload bandwidth you can get. (cable users note, download speed may be ~3MB on a good day but upload speed, also crucial for game play.) | |
| Doom 3 - annoyed in the dark | |
| In a word : disappointing ! Ive been reading about ID's new revolutionary graphics engine and fully expected to see something that would blow me away. And maybe it would, if I could only see it! I have a top of the line 3.2 GHz gaming PC with a near-top-of-the-line NVidia graphics card so I cant blame the hardware. The game is just too dark to play. I would have expected them to show off the power of all this great software but instead, everything is hidden in dark winding passageways that dont as much give you a feeling of claustraphobia as annoyance. You are given a lame flashlight that you have to switch with your weapon (you cant use both at the same time) whenever some shadowy beast appears. The result is that you end up having to shoot away into the blackness and guess where your target is (or was). You get the odd glimpse at some really great artwork and textures. I feel sorry for the programmers and artists who worked on this only to have their work blotted out in the darkness. I really dont see much improvement over Return to Castle Wolfenstein, because, maybe I mentioned this before, I just cant see it!
The weapons are ok, but come on, what use is a rocket launcher in a 20 feet passageway. If at all possible ID : get a patch out there to increase the illumination, or atleast have a useful flashlight. I suspect there is a great game hidden in the darkness. Until then people, spend your money on Half Life 2 instead. Now THAT games is worth playing - the visual effects and gameplay are stunning. |
