There have been a lot of cult classic first-person shooters released over the years and id Software’s Doom is right near the top, managing to offer some intense experiences across all sorts of platforms.
Now, id and its new owner, Bethesda, have returned with the Doom 3: BFG Edition, which is practically a collection of the three main games in the series, plus a variety of extra content and features.
Chief among these things is Doom 3, which is remastered in HD for consoles and boasts not just special enhancements but also its Resurrection of Evil expansion and a new Lost Mission campaign.
Does the Doom 3: BFG Edition manage to once again make the classic shooter series shine or should its monster closets and old school gameplay just get abandoned in the Martian wasteland? Let’s find out.
Story
Doom games were never really about story, at least 1 and 2, as you simply got a gun and started shooting anything that looked at you in a funny way. Doom 3, however, manages to convey a plot filled with all sorts of subjects that at least try to explain why a colony on Mars is suddenly home to demons from hell.
Besides the actual story in the standard game, the BFG Edition also includes the Resurrection of Evil expansion as well as a new spinoff campaign called The Lost Mission, which takes place in another section of the Mars facility.
While Resurrection of Evil continues the story from the standard game, the Lost Mission doesn’t add that much in terms of story, so you’re not missing out if you skip over the bonus campaign.
Gameplay
The Doom 3: BFG Edition adds quite a few new gameplay features to the classic experience. First and foremost, at least on consoles, are the improved visuals and mechanics, but on the PC you won’t really notice most of them.
The main new feature is the fact that id decided to automatically include the famous Duct Tape mod in the game, as players can now turn on their flashlights while still holding their guns. In the original game, you could either hold the flashlight or the weapon, making your journey through the demon-filled corridors of the space station that much more terrifying.
Speaking of horror, the game still holds up, offering the quintessential “gotcha” experience, as it’s filled with all sorts of surprises. While it may still be criticized for its reliance on the so-called monster closets, which pump up enemies at random, Doom 3 at least gets the whole atmosphere right and, when you combine its monsters with its tight and twisted level design, you’re going to get scared a lot.
Enemies are still the same, ranging from possessed maintenance workers to marines or full-fledged demons and your arsenal remains unchanged, going from the pistol to the shotgun or sub-machine gun and culminating with the iconic BFG-9000.
The level design is the same, managing to accentuate the horror experiences, even if quite a few new checkpoints have been added to help those who don’t remember to quick save. The Lost Mission levels are a bit more streamlined and remind loyal fans of the more frantic running and gunning from the first two Doom titles, so you should certainly give them a try.
Speaking of those classics titles, they’re also included in the BFG Edition and, while they haven’t received any care in terms of visuals, they still hold up in delivering a fun and simple shooter experience filled with old-school features like secret areas and Easter Eggs.
As an added bonus, in the BFG Edition of Doom 3, id also included support for 3D, which should make the whole action horror experience that much more realistic. While the whole trend has died down in recent months, if you have a compatible display, you should try out this revised version of the game.
Multiplayer
The Doom 3: BFG Edition includes the multiplayer mode that was first built into the game, which means from 2 to 8 players can fight against each other on the PC, while 2 to 4 can compete on the PS3 or Xbox 360.
Modes include the fairly standard deathmatch and team deathmatch experiences, as well as Last Man Standing and the Tournament ones, plus the new ones that were introduced by Resurrection of Evil, like Capture the Flag.
Sadly, the game doesn’t support the cooperative mode that was first included in the original Xbox version of Doom 3. Doom 1 and 2, however, still support offline and online co-op.
Graphics and Sound
Doom 3 impressed lots of PC gamers when it first came out back in 2005, with stunning textures, lighting, and visual effects. Fast forward to 2012 and those graphics still deliver a decent experience, although you do notice a lot of low-res textures and the characters models are quite pointy.
The lighting still works well, however, managing to keep the whole experience quite scary, so the visuals won’t put that big of a damper on your experience.
In terms of sound, a few new effects have been added but most of them are still the same and, sadly, their quality isn’t that great. Voice acting also sounds muffled and you tend to believe that the whole audio part was re-recorded by putting a speaker next to a microphone.
If you own a PS3 or an Xbox 360, however, you’re in for a better experience, as you get three great games, including a decent version of Doom 3.
The Good
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