DOOM 3
I picked up
Doom 3 the other day and I have to say I'm a bit disappointed.
The hype on this game was HUGE for quite some time so I think everybody had pretty high expectations. Even taking that into consideration, aside from the graphics, there's nothing really new and exciting here. I know that story lines in FPS games are never the most original plots you're going to find but this really seems to borrow a lot from
Half Life. The ol' corporate offices and labs gag with mutated experiments gone awry offered nothing new.
The interaction with the lab complex staff leaves a lot to be desired. I hate to keep comparing the game to
Half Life, but that does seem to be what they were going for and given the fact that they had about 6 years to improve on the concept I think they came up short.
In HL you were completely immersed in the game. The staff in the complex had important info for you and it was IN GAME not a cut scene. God I fucking
HATE cut scenes!
D3 really lacks realistic interaction. Sure,
D3 has staffers you can talk to in game but it's the usual useless information. I can't stand walking into a room and going to a cut scene to listen to some character tell me something. That alone takes you right out of the game. I guess they wanted to dumb the game down so you wouldn't accidentally miss someone you needed to talk to. Just let me enter a room and find the guy I'm supposed to talk to and interact with him IN GAME. I never want to see the character I'm playing unless it's in a sleazy, shitstained bathroom mirror. Cut scenes involving the character you're playing ruins the illusion of being in the game.
This takes me to the user interface.
I WANT A "USE" KEY! I don't like the way they made the fire button the use key! If I want to open a door or talk to someone I have to get close enough to the person or object so my aiming reticule turns into a hand or a pointer and then hit the fire button. Again, this kind of takes me out of the game. Maybe it's just me but the only time I want to hit the fire button is when I'm blowing a zombies fucking head off! I like the use key. Walk up to a door? Hit the use key. Walk up to a person? Hit the use key. Leave the fire button for what it was made for. Kicking ass.
Not having a use key also makes it impossible to interact with the environment. I like the ability to pick up a chair and smash it through a window. I liked throwing cans of soda that would pour out of a vending machine after you blasted in for no fucking reason.
Pick up a vase from a desk and throw it at a picture of the poor victim's family. Fuck him, he's dead anyway.
It's these little touches that make the environment so realistic in a game. The more realistic the environment the scarier those moments will be when a beastly mess comes out of a coat room or lunch area. If the gaming environment isn't believable the scary shit won't be either. When you enter an office you have to get a feeling in the game like, "Wow, there was just someone working here. What happened to him?"
Cool little details pull this off in other FPS. You just never get that in
D3.
Ok,
where the hell is my alt. fire!?!?! When I'm shredding the undead with my machine gun and things get a bit hot I could always depend on the handy dandy mouse wheel button to launch a grenade into the pack and turn 'em into ground round. Whether it's a rocket launcher or a trigger for an explosive pack or the button that brings up that beautiful view through the sniper scope, the loss of the alt. fire button in this game is a real kick in the nuts. I give them credit for deciding to change SOMETHING from the FPS genre but THIS is what they change? The Alt. fire gives you more options as to how you want to mess up the hallways and it can get you out of a jam when the standard ammo is low too. I think they spent so much time and energy on the graphics engine and the overall look of the game that they forgot some of the basics that SHOULD be in every FPS.
What the fuck is the deal with the flashlight? Isn't one of the Marine mottos "Improvise, adapt and overcome"? Can't this Marine figure out a way to duct tape his god damn flashlight to his weapon? In
D3 you have to "arm" yourself with your flashlight! No shit! You can't use the flashlight and any of your weapons at the same time. Ok, I kinda see what they were going for here. There are a lot of dark areas in this game. They probably figured it would be more suspenseful if you couldn't see and shoot at the same time. WHAT!?!?! I CAN'T SEE AND SHOOT AT THE SAME TIME!?!?! Switching between the flashlight and the gun is a big unnecessary pain in the ass. If I were really in this situation I would damn well figure out a way to use the light and the gun at the same time. I'd look pretty silly with the flashlight up my ass walking backwards with the gun over my shoulder but at least I'd see what the fuck was chasing me and be able to shoot at it. This feature is just moronic and makes no sense at all.
The beasts get a bit monotonous (How many monkey wrenches did this place order?)
The video and audio discs you pick up for info seems like a cool idea but after a while it's just another thing that removes you from the game for a bit.
The great graphics turn out to be just a lot of eye candy.
D3 has lots of machinery chugging away but most of it is look and don't touch. I want more interaction in a game.
I want to be able to pick up a crate and throw it into a machine and watch it get crushed.
No reason, I just want to be able to do it.
Doom 3 is pretty much a run and shoot with a few new annoying changes from the rest.
I've only pointed out the bad things because any of the good things in
D3 you would have seen before in a number of other FPS. It doesn't totally blow but I liked
Far Cry a lot better.
So we sit and wait for
Half Life 2.
