DOOM

Review

The UAC (Union Aerospace Corporation) created a state of the art research facility on Mars. Unfortunately, this superb establishment has been overrun by an army of ferocious demons! You are the only marine left on the red planet and the UAC has no other option but to activate you with the sole mission to eradicate all demons from the site. Let’s face it, this mission is suicidal . . . it is DOOM!

Doom is an action/first person shooter game where you take control of the last marine on the UAC research centre on Mars. You will wake up chained to what looks like an operating table, and within a few seconds you will realise that you are not the only one in the room. Menacing sounds are coming from your left, your right - actually from all around you! You free yourself, grab a gun on the floor and eliminate all enemies with sheer ferocity. Your next step is to find and equip yourself with a Preator suit - you will need it - it is going to be a brutal ride!

In the campaign mode, you will go through stunning and well-designed levels with plenty of demons to kill. I personally enjoy killing them when they are in the stunned state (glowing orange) with your bare hands - absolutely marvellous!  Each level has secret areas, items to find (check your map for hints) and challenges to meet. If you manage to locate a ruin, you will be able to activate a new challenge to succeed and keep a piece of the ruin.  Make sure to look everywhere, as there are a number of objects to collect:  Preator tokens (which can be found on fallen marines) so you can upgrade your suit, ammunition crates, shield plates (well, that’s what I call them), health icons and, of course, weapons. A little harder to find are the agent cells which can upgrade your character’s following skills – health, armour or ammunition.  The fun really starts when you find a “Gore Nest”- rip its heart out and a wave of demons will appear in the area. Sometimes you might notice an orb - pick it up and you will receive an extra boost in battle. I really like the Berserk Orb - just great to clear the area! If you succeed in eliminating all these nasty creatures you will receive an upgrade point; accumulate enough of these points and you can upgrade your weapons.

The multiplayer mode is also available in DOOM, but I find it really hard to get into a match, which is a bit disappointing. There is good character customization, however.

Graphically the game is superb, with a great voice over as well as a great soundtrack and sound effects. In regards to the controls, I strongly recommend the mouse and keyboard - I find it easier, but it’s always a personal choice.

There are a couple of issues that you might encounter while playing DOOM. The first one is setting your video resolution (bear in mind, I have the latest Nvidia driver installed). The game keeps launching in a window mode for some reason, even after applying full screen on the setting. Then I have to lower the resolution to get back to my full screen and re-apply to a higher resolution. The second issue is the crashes to desktop. You might be able to play for 3 hours without an issue but then the game will crash for no apparent reason. It seems that people have been experiencing the same issue with a wide range of PC setups (crashes).