Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil review

Er, you might want to go to the infirmary with that rash, Bob...

It’s back to Mars again, just when we thought we were safe and had started getting used to the fact that there are not monsters around every corner anymore. This time, you play as another unknown Marine, sent to the Red Planet in order to explore an archaeological dig.

You’d think that the military had learned that those things are recipes for disaster and that Mars and archaeology are two words that don’t belong in the same sentence, but no. Our Space Marine accidentally opens the Gate to Hell once again (someone should lock that thing, or put a blinking neon warning sign over it –ed.)

Hence, this new chapter of the DOOM 3 story gets labelled Resurrection of Evil, and allows Dr. Betruger to once again send his evil minions swarming across the Martian dig and beyond. Oh, and he’s been fused with a dragon through genetic engineering this time. Welcome to the Twilight Zone. The very, very dark one, that is.

New areas to explore

No, I'm not your lunch, you filthy demon!

The first half of the game takes place amidst the ancient ruins of the UAC dig, where the treasure that have played a part in earlier clashes with the Netherworld are being dug up (do they never learn?) It goes without saying that this is where the portal is opened, and the expansion pack starts its detour from the original concept.

DOOM 3 took place mostly inside the cramped confines of the Martian base, but the dig environments have more room to manoeuvre. This also gives the graphics engine more opportunities to show off its bells and whistles, and we must take our proverbial hats off for id for the sheer visual quality found here.

Some of the environments are so beautiful, creepy and exciting, that they simply leave you standing around, just looking at them. There is no doubt that the graphics of this game are nothing less than riveting.

I’m riding shotgun

You can still marvel at the complexity of the graphics engine.

In Trading Places, Eddie Murphy told us: "You know you can't just run and shoot people in the knee-caps with a double-barrelled shotgun 'cause you're pissed at them." Well, in this game, you sure can, and you should, if you want to survive. The old favourite was notoriously absent in DOOM 3, but fear no more – it’s back.

To hardcore DOOM fans, this weapon probably merits the entire price of admittance, although new players might not realise why. But anyone who has ever played DOOM II will know the satisfaction of using the double shotgun in a crowd, and this time around, it still cleans up Hell scum very effectively indeed.

That's gotta hurt...

In addition to the double shotgun, you also get the Gravity Gu… sorry, the Grabber. Yes, it sounds very similar to Gordon Freeman’s favorite toy (after Alyx, perhaps… –ed.) in Half-Life 2, and it does work much the same way in RoE. There’s a little twist to it, though, because you can also use it to catch more immaterial things like imp fireballs, and throw them back into their ugly faces.

I actually found the Gravity Gun to be a bit of a gimmick in Half-Life 2, designed to show off the impressive physics of the game’s engine, and this does even less for me in RoE, because the DOOM 3 engine does not have quite as spectacular physics. So the Grabber doesn’t really get my inner child going, like Valve’s game did, after all.

This time, you need to use suspicious objects from Hell to win.

Lastly, you get a mysterious object that resembles a large heart torn from the body of an unknown creature. This object can be used for slowing down time, among other things, and effect the game calls Hell Time, but is, of course, your average, mandatory Bullet-time.

This object will get you past obstacles that would normally be considered impassable, and it will lend you extra time, during which you can, as they say, kick massive demon ass. The device runs on souls from your fallen comrades, so you’d better make it count, soldier.

Not wildly impressive

To be honest, I’m not very impressed by the new selection of weapons. The double shotgun is really nice, but shouldn’t it have been in there from the beginning The Grabber inevitably comes off as a cheap knockoff of Half-Life 2’s more interesting Gravity Gun.

We don’t care who imitates whom, as long as the result is impressive, but someone should have considered the inclusion of the Grabber twice, because it really pales in comparison with Valve’s efforts. The weird Hell Time object is not really my cup of tea either. It seems like a forced alternative to the Soul Cube, and it’s not intuitive enough to make it much fun to play with.

Monsters' Ball

This was when Billy the Demon learned the painful meaning of the words "double-barrelled shotgun."

An expansion pack is not much without a few new monsters, and RoE delivers. First, you’ll meet The Forgotten, who are identical with the Lost Souls you fought in DOOM I and II, and who, in all effect, are identical with the Lost Souls found in DOOM 3 (err… that really gets me excited –ed.) Now they have horns and try to ram you, but they’re still pretty easy to kill, if you can hit them, that is.

Next, you’ll come across the Vulgars, who are very reminiscent of the Imps, but instead of fireballs, they’ll try to do you in with plasmaballs. They look cool, crawling all over the place, but at the end of the day, they’re just Imps with plasmaballs (so basically, these new monsters are the equivalent of the differently coloured ninjas from American Ninja, right? –ed.).

The ourdoor areas give a bit more light and room to manoeuver in.

The Bruisers are another story, though, at least graphically. With their handy TV-monitor faces, they hide in walls and come crashing out when you least expect it. Now this is an exciting new monster design, which completely lives up to id’s standards.

Sadly, the final new monster it not quite as impressive. The Hunters are much like the Hell Knights from the main game, and have to be fought through various scripted events. The first time you encounter one, you must use the Grabber to snatch energy blasts from two automatic cannons, and fire these at the Hunter.

Is it quite enough?

Hallways and monsters, just like in the good ol' days.

Apart from the 12-mission single player part, which is perhaps not quite as long as it should have been, RoE also comes with four new deathmatch maps. However, DOOM 3 already proved that this wasn’t really what the game was designed for, and Threewave Software have therefore been hired to create a four versus four Capture the Flag mode, to spice things up a little.

The skeleton had put his life vest on, in case of an emergency. This, of course, made no sense at all. And then we all laughed till our bones rattled.

I remain unconvinced that DOOM 3: Resurrection of Evil really was what the doctor ordered. The single player mode does not get me going in quite the same way that DOOM 3 itself did. The original campaign was so lengthy that it was almost too much of a good thing, but the expansion seems to go the other way. Furthermore, there are too few new weapons, and the Grabber comes off as a cheap knockoff.

The new monsters are not as interesting as the original ones, and even though they’re still frightening, they just don’t fill the void left by DOOM 3.

Resurrection of Evil is an expansion for people who just can’t get enough of DOOM 3, but if you’re anything like me, you’ll already have met your quota, and then the expansion won’t really do enough to rekindle your interest. Resurrection of Evil is a decent product, but not nearly as demonically good as I had hoped.

Source: Boomtown DK
English version by: Jonatan A. Allin (neonwolf)