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Sunday, August 08, 2004

Well I went out and got myself a copy of Doom3 and played it last night. Man what a monster. It puts my rig working in overtime. I have an Athlon 2100 with GeForce 4 all water cooled and I can still only play the game at 600X800. Even then it still has a slight screen lag. I know the pc is not all that, but this is one of the few games that even puts a strain on it. I love it!

The game itself is great! I have not played a game this intense since Alien vs. Predator 2 or Half-life. There are very little lights, so seeing from where something may jump out and attack is nerve racking. It reminds me of the levels of playing the marines in AvP2. Hear something over there; see a movement out of the corner of your eye. It is hard to shoot what one cannot see. I could turn on the flashlight, and peek into a nook, but then a demon comes leaping out, and I have to switch back to a gun or club it with my trusty maglight. I expect it, but it still makes me jump sometimes. Popping into a nook for cover when reloading is NOT a good idea. Every door, every step, every sound, has me expecting something bigger, something worse to come barging threw a wall. It's GREAT!

The lighting effects are mind-boggling. I think they just put some of the "scientific" equipment in rooms just so they could play with the lights. There is rarely a room that is completely lit up, even before hell's gate is opened. Red running lights, the glow of a monitor flickering off the walls, a radioactive substance casting an eerie glow as it spins, even something as simple as the flashlight all are just extremely impressive.

I think they should have included the original Doom games as a mini-game. There are a ton of things you can interact with, and gather information to enhance the story. They give you a PDA so that you can download info from terminals or other character's PDAs. Some of the info is just story line enhancements, some will let have key codes to get extra health and ammo, and other things you have to get to get clearance to another room. I often times find PDA by a pile of limbs and some dark crevice. I know something is there, but I want that data, they are teasing me. I inch forward with my shotgun ready, I will myself to reach, stretch, stay as far from that void as possible, got it, RUN! KILL IT! Shoot it! Watch as the corps burns up and the blacked bones blow away like in Blade.

Only complaint right now is the cut scene. Do not get me wrong, they are mesmerizing. I have not seen scenes that look this good from a game engine, they rival pre-rendered cut scenes in many games. I just do not like the fact they break up the game play. My instinct is to shoot the thing coming at me, not sit and stare at how ugly the thing is in a clip before it lets me dispatch of it.


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