gameSlave

Doom 3 Preview

IMPRESSIONS

If you're a massive Doom 3 fan then you're not going to like what's coming. My impressions of Doom 3 are almost wholly disappointing because I think Doom3 is going to be a very average game. Why? Because everything points to it!

The game is not novel. It is a first-person shooter with seemingly no new gimmick going for it and I'm very afraid it's going to be quite boring. From what we know, the game is going to be fairly claustrophobic - albeit intentionally claustrophobic, in order to induce fear when turning corners and coming face-to-face with a large sopping-wet demon. Well, yeah, I will be scared... but I'm not convinced I'll be particularly interested. To me "scary" does not necessarily mean enthralling. For me, fear is not an accurate indicator of whether I'm having a good time. Scaring the player ought to be part of setting for the story, and not an excuse for a storyline. Fair play to id, I don't know the full story of the game, but I can't see how it would make much difference. Disagree with me if you will but the prospect of spending hours walking around corridors and shooting zombies and demons again and again and again, does not excite me. It also seems that the pace of this game has been set much lower than the original Doom, from interviews with Tim Willits and John Carmack it seems that they have slowed down the game in order to concentrate the player's fear whilst playing.


Shoulder pads of the future		Too many jalapenos

In some ways I like the way that the game is (apparently) going to be so linear. I don't mind move-shoot-and-blast type games at all and I have a feeling that the first few levels are going to be a lot of fun. However, what I also foresee as a problem will be a reliance on gamers "staying in there" simply to see the next bad guy - a device that simply doesn't work for me. Sure, a 20ft tall shiny dribbling maniac demon is certainly amazing, but it's not something I couldn't find better rendered in a good horror or sci-fi movie.

CONCLUSIONS

Sure, "Conclusions" is a strong word to use when talking about a preview, but it's a much better sub-title than "SUMMING-UP".

In conclusion I feel that Doom3 is going to sell massively well. It's going to be an interesting game and will probably get review scores in the 85% or over region - and this is not because the reviewers have sold out, but because Doom3 will be groundbreaking and special. The Doom3 engine will (I have no doubt) be the biggest selling point for the game and it will look and play amazingly well. Following the release of the game, the modding community will also give you extra value to your purchase as more varied and interesting maps will be created and released. Furthermore, other development teams who buy the rights to use the Doom3 engine (Raven and Quake4, for example) will almost certainly create better games than Doom3 that will, in my opinion, make "Doom3 the game" look like a glorified tech-demo for the "Doom3 the engine".

Doom3 will certainly not be a failure for id. Indeed, they stand to make a good deal of money from game sales and from out-sourcing the engine. However, it will interesting to see how many game development teams take up Valve's rival "Source" engine in preference to the Doom3 engine.