DOOM: Go to Hell.

When it comes to the FPS genre they simply don’t make them like they used to. Now I’m not saying this because I lust for the past as many of the characteristics of old school FPS games were born out of limitations more than anything else. Indeed many of the changes that your bog standard FPS has today were done specifically to address the deficiencies in the genre. However, as with all change, sometimes things are lost in the transition. The 2016 reboot of Doom looks to recapture the essence of the original, now 2 decades old, game play whilst amping it up with a modern embellishments.

You awake on top of a stone table, surrounded by candles and gore. Before you have time to think you’re set upon by other worldly demons, hell bent on your destruction. Beside you is a gun, your only means of making it out of here alive. Seconds later the room is strewn with the corpses of your enemies, devastated by your rage. It’s a scene that will play out time and time again as you battle your way through the facility you find yourself in. All of this because humanity needed to solve its energy needs by tapping directly into hell, indifferent to the risks that doing so might pose. You must stop them but as to why? Well, there’s only one way to find out.

Doom is the first game to be released on the id Tech 6 engine which, whilst designed by the venerable John Carmack, was principally developed by Tiago Sousa previously of CryTek fame. The main improvement comes via the reintroduction of dynamic lighting, something which helps alleviate the bland, lifeless feeling that id Tech 5 games had. Visually it’s quite impressive, even if the vast majority of it takes place in corridors or boxed in areas. What is most impressive however is how id Tech 6 is able to deliver consistent, smooth as glass performance even when there’s all sorts of mayhem going on. Hopefully id chooses to license the engine more widely this time around as I’m sure there’s a lot of developers out there who’d be keen to make use of this engine’s performance.

Unsurprisingly Doom takes its inspiration from its predecessors, bringing back the core FPS game play of yesteryear. Weapons don’t need to be reloaded, have alternate fire modes and you can carry each weapon with you, changing them as you see fit. There’s no regenerating health, instead you’ll be scouring the environment for health, armour and picking up slivers of health from downed enemies. There’s an upgrade system for both yourself and the weapons you carry with the required points coming to you via completing challenges, killing stuff and exploring the map to find collectibles. Other than that Doom plays out pretty much exactly how you’d expect it to, being the definition of a corridor shooter.

The combat is fast paced, intense and unforgiving. Most encounters occur in rooms (both large and small) and you’ll be fighting wave after wave of enemies before you’re allowed to progress to the next section. As you progress through the game the number and variety of enemies increases linearly, meaning you’ll need to be quick to adapt in order to make it through each challenge. You’ll never be a one weapon wonder as most enemies have their way of making a good chunk of your arsenal useless against them. For instance the Hell Knights love to get up close and personal, making any of the longer ranged weapons largely ineffective. Thankfully nearly all of the guns have a good amount of utility in them save for possibly the super shotgun which just seemed horrendously useless.

It bears mention that when I say “intense” I really mean it. Playing Doom for extended stretches is quite the exhausting mental experience, enough so that I’m sure the “Save and Exit” button shown to you at the end of each chapter was put there deliberately. Whilst throwing wave after wave of enemies at a player isn’t exactly a novel concept Doom makes it anything but boring. Indeed even in repeating the same encounter it’s not likely going to play out in much the same way, even if you know when and where everything is going to spawn. So unlike many other FPS games, which I tend to play for hours at a time, I couldn’t really do much more than a single chapter in Doom without needing a break. You’d think that would be a negative however, in this modern age of FPS games, it’s actually quite refreshing as few games (even ones like Dark Souls) have tired me out that quickly mentally.

The upgrade system is a nice touch, allowing you to mould the experience a little more to your liking. The map makes it easy to get all the tokens, trials and collectibles and most of the challenges are relatively easy to accomplish. Indeed I didn’t do every level to perfection and had pretty much everything at max about 2 hours before the end of the game, meaning you won’t be wanting for progression for long. Min/maxing the various stats that matter to you won’t make the game that much easier however it will give you more leeway in how encounters play out. The only upgrade that made a noticeable difference to my game play were the early upgrades to the amount of ammo I could carry as they meant I could use my weapon du’jour for that much longer.

Doom is a mostly polished experience however there were a few rough edges that caught me out every so often. One particular section of the game seemed to randomly crash to desktop on me every 5 minutes or so. There was no error message or anything and it was gone after half an hour so I didn’t bother investigating further. Additionally some of the enemies with physics based abilities (like punting you across the map) can sometimes cause the inevitable stuck in the wall or falling through the level glitches. I did notice a patch that came out just after I finished my play through however so it’s likely that some of these issues have been smoothed out. For a first release on a new engine though it’s commendable that there were so few issues.

Now FPS games aren’t exactly renown for their deep stories and Doom isn’t much of an exception to this. Sure there’s a treasure trove of background locked away in the data files you can pick up but, for the most part, it’s just your stereotypical action movie-esque tropes. Realistically you’re not playing Doom for the plot, you’re doing it for the action, so the amount of effort put into the story is above what I’ve typically come to expect. They do lose a few points for screaming sequel right at the end however, a sin from which no game can ever be forgiven. Overall it’s above average but not something I’d recommend playing Doom for.

Doom is an homage to the FPS games of old, dragging them kicking and screaming into the present day. The id Tech 6 engine shines with its debut title, showing that id can still produce exemplary technology even in John Carmack’s absence. The game is a fast paced, ultra-intense slugfest that’s sure to delight FPS gamers both young and old. It might not be a perfect experience but those slight foibles are easily forgotten. The story is above average for its class but not a feature that I think many will come to care about. Overall Doom does exactly what it set out to do: to bring FPS gaming back to its roots whilst paying tribute to the two decades of time that have passed since.

Rating: 9.0/10

DOOM is available on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One right now for $59.99, $80 and $80 respectively. Game was played on the PC with 10 hours of total play time and 58% of the achievements unlocked.