DOOM (2016) Review

Doom is a good game. It plays like a game trailer and can be enjoyable as much. A dream come true from a childhood, but unfortunately, we are not kids anymore and our standards are a lot higher.


Repetitive level design

Doom has abysmal level design. It is way too long for its formula. There are just 3 types of levels. Interior and exterior of a Mars base and Hell. Game peaks in a first third of a game when you go through all the zones. The best level is right after returning from hell to Mars where game peaks. Unfortunately, at that time you will get tired of a same levels over and over again. A lot of them are even reused and you have to go through twice. One more type of level was necessary, maybe exploring Sentinel homeworld and their war in some time warp. Anything to give more life to the story and levels.

Story

Oh it is quite dreadful and very overhyped. Lets establish one fact. Doom Marine is a b*tch. Ignore all the fanboys telling you otherwise. Doom Marine is forced to listen to all the exposition. He is forced to behave. He is literally forcefully put on the leash by Dr. Samuel and is being controlled by him like a drone. ”Go there, do that, now I will pull you out. Now I had immobilized you, now I had put teleportation and tracking device on you and stunned you. Haha, you can’t do anything about it.” This is place of a Doom Marine in the story. To be just a b*tch. If you try to fire at Dr.Samuel when you have one chance to do so, he scolds you and forcefully takes you gun away from you.

Gameplay

1. It is very repetitive. You have to like main gameplay loop, because you will be going to do that for hours. Go to the room which suspiciously looks like an arena. Get locked in that room. Kill all teleporting demons, proceed to the next room. Repeat. Combat is predictable and repetitive.
   
   
2. Upgrade system is quite terrible too. Suit upgrades are boring and unimpactful. Sometimes even useless. “Grab on ledges quicker” – could not even notice a differnce, “Shift weapons quicker” – could not see the difference, “Your suits starts beeping near secret” – It i so mild and infrequent that you will most likely miss that beeping.
   
   
3. Difficulty is completely busted. I was going for hardest difficulty possible. Game only felt hard at the start. Imp could one shot you and you felt forced to constantly glory kill enemies. It was not an enjoyable experience. However, quickly gameplay became way too easy to the point of nothing challenging you. That is about when you get heavy ordinance to deal with bullet sponges. At that point, I rarely used BFG later on as it was not needed. Nor power ups were needed and I would often just ignore them.
   
   
4. Game lack polish. In some rooms monsters are already waiting at the door. Other rooms are badly designed and you can get into high places where no monsters can reach you and you can easily kill them all.
   
   
5. Levels are poorly done. They are boring. You go to one obvious arena to the next. Combat is good, but it does not feel natural. World does not feel natural. This is especially noticeable in Hell levels when it is just one obvious arena to the next. You go in, get locked, kill everyone and repeat.
   
   
6. Then there is an issue of level design in general. First half of the game levels are good. You can go in, explore whole map from finish to start looking for secrets if you so desire. However, at a later half map design goes to sh*t with points of no return mostly inspired by platforming heavy levels. You can’t explore and go back so you get paranoid that you might miss something and can’t play game properly. Game in general loses steam from a first half.
   
   
7. Platforming is unnecessary. It is enjoyable and forgiving, but sometimes there is way too much of it. Platforming should not be part of a main game and should be relegated to secret hunting.
   
   
8. Game pace is also absolutely horrible. Secrets tied to power level forces player to halt their progress in search of secrets. It is not fun and exciting. Doom series in general have a wrong reputation of being high octane shooter. It could theoretically be that, but it won’t for you. In original Doom, you can’t progress, because you are in a maze and you have to play resource management game with your ammunition. In this Doom you will be spending majority of your time looking if you did not missed something.
   
   
9. Gunfights are just B+. It starts nice with Imps running around and you having to snipe them. Weapons have a nice response and punch. However, later more heavy enemies come into play and it is tedious to fight them. They have a lot of health and more common weapon become useless against them. Try shotgunning a Summoner or Mancubus. Pointless. The feel like water pistols. Every gun in fact feels bad as most mobs require at least 9 missiles to kill. Gunplay devolves rapidly, especially at a later half of a game and I actually felt relieved and more happy with a gameplay when repeating levels very early on without being forced to fight countless ridiculous health sponges every room. THE ONLY late game enemy which is done right is Pinky. You can easily kill them if you counter them correctly. Then they come in an upgraded form – invisible. Yet, you still can just as easily kill them. Besides that, gunplay is sub-standard from what you would expect from such a game.
   
   
10. Gameplay as a whole is very primitive. You do not have unique options how you want to fight. There is only one style. Hit&Run with a lot of glory kills. At a higher levels it also can feel unfair as Doom Marine is very fragile despite that being completely not the case in the lore.

There is a lot wrong with Doom. However, what it does, it does very well and thus I cannot give it a negative review. It was an enjoyable game to play, it is not broken and in the end it left me wanting for more and it had more. Arcade, multiplayer, mission select for secret hunting. This game is very well made and even if it has flaws, it is still an amazing game to play.

[h1]Like playing a video game trailer[/h1] Doom is a good game. It plays like a game trailer and can be enjoyable as much. A dream come true from a childhood, but unfortunately, we are not kids anymore and our standards are a lot higher. [h1]Game has quite a few issues[/h1] [b]Repetitive level design[/b] Doom has abysmal level design. It is way too long for its formula. There are just 3 types of levels. Interior and exterior of a Mars base and Hell. Game peaks in a first third of a game when you go through all the zones. The best level is right after returning from hell to Mars where game peaks. Unfortunately, at that time you will get tired of a same levels over and over again. A lot of them are even reused and you have to go through twice. One more type of level was necessary, maybe exploring Sentinel homeworld and their war in some time warp. Anything to give more life to the story and levels. [b]Story[/b] Oh it is quite dreadful and very overhyped. Lets establish one fact. Doom Marine is a b*tch. Ignore all the fanboys telling you otherwise. Doom Marine is forced to listen to all the exposition. He is forced to behave. He is literally forcefully put on the leash by Dr. Samuel and is being controlled by him like a drone. ”Go there, do that, now I will pull you out. Now I had immobilized you, now I had put teleportation and tracking device on you and stunned you. Haha, you can’t do anything about it.” This is place of a Doom Marine in the story. To be just a b*tch. If you try to fire at Dr.Samuel when you have one chance to do so, he scolds you and forcefully takes you gun away from you. [b]Gameplay[/b] [olist] [*]It is very repetitive. You have to like main gameplay loop, because you will be going to do that for hours. Go to the room which suspiciously looks like an arena. Get locked in that room. Kill all teleporting demons, proceed to the next room. Repeat. Combat is predictable and repetitive. [*]Upgrade system is quite terrible too. Suit upgrades are boring and unimpactful. Sometimes even useless. “Grab on ledges quicker” – could not even notice a differnce, “Shift weapons quicker” – could not see the difference, “Your suits starts beeping near secret” – It i so mild and infrequent that you will most likely miss that beeping. [*]Difficulty is completely busted. I was going for hardest difficulty possible. Game only felt hard at the start. Imp could one shot you and you felt forced to constantly glory kill enemies. It was not an enjoyable experience. However, quickly gameplay became way too easy to the point of nothing challenging you. That is about when you get heavy ordinance to deal with bullet sponges. At that point, I rarely used BFG later on as it was not needed. Nor power ups were needed and I would often just ignore them. [*]Game lack polish. In some rooms monsters are already waiting at the door. Other rooms are badly designed and you can get into high places where no monsters can reach you and you can easily kill them all. [*]Levels are poorly done. They are boring. You go to one obvious arena to the next. Combat is good, but it does not feel natural. World does not feel natural. This is especially noticeable in Hell levels when it is just one obvious arena to the next. You go in, get locked, kill everyone and repeat. [*]Then there is an issue of level design in general. First half of the game levels are good. You can go in, explore whole map from finish to start looking for secrets if you so desire. However, at a later half map design goes to sh*t with points of no return mostly inspired by platforming heavy levels. You can’t explore and go back so you get paranoid that you might miss something and can’t play game properly. Game in general loses steam from a first half. [*]Platforming is unnecessary. It is enjoyable and forgiving, but sometimes there is way too much of it. Platforming should not be part of a main game and should be relegated to secret hunting. [*]Game pace is also absolutely horrible. Secrets tied to power level forces player to halt their progress in search of secrets. It is not fun and exciting. Doom series in general have a wrong reputation of being high octane shooter. It could theoretically be that, but it won’t for you. In original Doom, you can’t progress, because you are in a maze and you have to play resource management game with your ammunition. In this Doom you will be spending majority of your time looking if you did not missed something. [*]Gunfights are just B+. It starts nice with Imps running around and you having to snipe them. Weapons have a nice response and punch. However, later more heavy enemies come into play and it is tedious to fight them. They have a lot of health and more common weapon become useless against them. Try shotgunning a Summoner or Mancubus. Pointless. The feel like water pistols. Every gun in fact feels bad as most mobs require at least 9 missiles to kill. Gunplay devolves rapidly, especially at a later half of a game and I actually felt relieved and more happy with a gameplay when repeating levels very early on without being forced to fight countless ridiculous health sponges every room. THE ONLY late game enemy which is done right is Pinky. You can easily kill them if you counter them correctly. Then they come in an upgraded form – invisible. Yet, you still can just as easily kill them. Besides that, gunplay is sub-standard from what you would expect from such a game. [*]Gameplay as a whole is very primitive. You do not have unique options how you want to fight. There is only one style. Hit&Run with a lot of glory kills. At a higher levels it also can feel unfair as Doom Marine is very fragile despite that being completely not the case in the lore. [/olist] [h1]Is it worth going pilgrimage to Hell?[/h1] There is a lot wrong with Doom. However, what it does, it does very well and thus I cannot give it a negative review. It was an enjoyable game to play, it is not broken and in the end it left me wanting for more and it had more. Arcade, multiplayer, mission select for secret hunting. This game is very well made and even if it has flaws, it is still an amazing game to play.