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I'll just get right to the ass kicking.
12 years after Doom 3 we finally return to hell to rip and tear in this new Doom "reboot" that is annoyingly the same name as the first game which is a modern trope that I'm sick and tired of so I will be calling it Doom 4 because it kinda is based on the lore written in the game.
I have put 37 hours into Doom 4 and I'm currently playing through the game again on Nightmare mode after playing through on Ultraviolence my first try, I had no idea Nightmare was unlocked from the beginning and I wish I chose it first cause while Ultraviolence proved a good challenge Nightmare is just oh so good!!
I've made 1 map in Snapmap and am currently working on a 2nd one and I can say that Snapmap has potential, but it's still flawed.
I haven't played Multiplayer as I played plenty in the alphas and betas and have no interest in it.
Level Design:
So finally after all these years of mediocre and boring first person shooters that are either extremely linear and full of cutscenes and scripted events or lazy open worlds full of tedious side quests, Doom 4 finally delivers the FPS level design I've wanted since the original Doom and Duke3D.
The levels are classic style maze like levels complete with locked doors that require good old keycards to unlock and plenty of secrets to find. The demon encounters are more or less similar to Painkiller and Serious Sam in which doors lock behind you and you have to kill em all before you can progress, though there are still demons scattered throughout each level.
Doom 4 even recreated a classic Doom level and made it an encounter arena!
Weapons:
All the classic weapons return along with some new tools of destruction and all the weapons except the Super Shotgun, Chainsaw and BFG have mods, also there is no reloading!
The Heavy Assault Rifle surprisingly became one of my best weapons and it's mini rockets mod made it even more useful, I didn't think the gun would be any good after seeing it in the trailers but boy was I wrong.
The Gauss Cannon is very useful for one shotting smaller demons and weakening larger ones, equipping it with a certain mod gives it enough punch to bring down some of the larger demons in one shot.
The trusty chainsaw returns and is a much more strategic tool this time around, the chainsaw uses fuel to one shot demons in a very gory animation and drop a huge bundle of ammo, the amount of fuel depends on the size of the demon, zombies, demon soldiers and Imps only take one fuel counter but the Hell Knight takes up 3 for example.
And of course.....
we can't forget the almighty Big F**king Gun which basically acts as your panic button which can clear the battlefield in one shot if you're overwhelmed giving you a chance to recover before the next wave comes along.
Though the BFG only has 3 shots, so use it wisely.
Combat:
The combat in Doom 4 is such a delight, it's fast paced, vertical and extremely brutal, a one man army vs a demonic horde and each encounter just keeps on getting more and more fun and fresh due to new demons and weapons entering the fray.
The Glory kills aren't like the media made them out to be, in fact I really liked them, they don't slow the combat down all that much and once you get the fast glory kill rune they don't really slow it down at all, I guess I appreciated them more cause I went though on the hard difficulties and glory kills giving health was very welcome, you're going to need it cause yeah, Regen health is out the door.
Story:
"Story in a video game is like story in a porn movie, it's expected to be there but it's not important."
- John Carmack.
Story and narrative is not a concern in Doom and I'm so happy it went that way, there is some lore here and there through the codex in case people wanna explore it further.
But even though the story wasn't a concern in Doom 4, that ended up making one of the best written stories for a franchise like this and in a way made Doom 1, 2, 64 and EVERY SINGLE Doom WAD ever made Canon!
The plot of Doom 4 is as by the books as Doom games go, UAC opens a portal to hell and things go horribly wrong and it's up to you to rip and tear the demons a new one.
But the way the lore is written into this game is so simple, yet so good, the Doomguy is not a random marine who worked for UAC, but is actually an ancient warrior who has fought the forces of hell through multiple dimensions for centuries.
As for the Doomguy himself, he's everything I wanted him to be, the masculine power fantasy silent protagonist who's only personality is extremely ****ed off.
Verdict:
The Good:
- Great old school Level Design.
- Masculine Power Fantasy Protagonist.
- Weapons are satisfying.
- Demons are awesome to fight.
-Glory Kills work great.
- Boss Fights
- SnapMap has potential.
- Story does what it's supposed to.
- Plenty of secrets.
- Classic Doom levels.
- Weapon mods work.
The Bad:
- Multiplayer.
- SnapMap is limited.
- Rune Challenges are tedious.
The Ugly:
Checkpoints.
All and all, Doom 4 is so far my Game of the Year and I can't wait to see what kind of updates are going to be applied to SnapMap and I'm very hopeful for single player DLC otherwise Doom 4 will be the first game in the franchise to not have single player expansions.
I highly recommend Doom 4, go out and play it right now if modern FPSs just aren't doing it for you anymore.
All that's left is to see if Shadow Warrior 2 can top this.
