DOOM Eternal is bursting into the gaming world at a time when populations the world over are longing for entertainment. What could go wrong? With a perfectly captive audience, how does DOOM Eternal stack up?
DOOM Eternal Review – In short: F*CK YEAH IT STACKS UP!
DOOM as a property has had a couple of shaky moments, but Id Software has grabbed the franchise by the horns and injected it with rocket fuel. Love gore? Love action? Love a challenge? Nostalgic much? DOOM Eternal has it all.
Everything from the sound design to the graphics feel tweaked to give you a true sense of epic scale. Although one small criticism is that it seems to have lost some of its humour. In its place: a dark, moody space fantasy, steeped in ancient lore and alien occult mysticism. It has hints of Devil May Cry, even in its complex-but-fluid combat system. And that’s a good thing.
DOOM Eternal – Pew pew pew!!!
Gamers are advised in one of DOOM’s many pre-load tips: “If you stop moving, YOU DIE!” And it couldn’t be more apt. When you enter a battle zone, enemies come at you thick and fast from all directions. And each presents a unique challenge meaning you’ve got to learn quickly, shoot accurately and most importantly – keep moving!
DOOM Eternal eases gamers in with a very manageable opening campaign stage. It pretty much serves as a 2-hour introduction to the game’s premise and tutorial for its combat system. But it moves through the gears rapidly. And by Act II gamers are thrust into thick, heavy action that ruthlessly punishes mistakes. Unless you’re playing on its entry level difficulty setting of course, but what’s the point in taking it easy?
DOOM Eternal – Low stock
Each map is sparingly littered with health, ammo and armour. It’s most definitely not enough to survive a whole battle. To make up the shortfall, you have to harvest goodies from your foes. Depending on your actions, enemies will drop health, armour, ammo or all three if you’re clever. The trick to success is to combine multiple attack types to maximise your effectiveness in the heat of the action. You will die repeatedly. But once you overcome having zero extra lives and having to start again from a Check Point to complete a battle, the sense of accomplishment is punching-the-air satisfying.
DOOM Eternal – Up for the challenge
Any other title that kills you this frequently would be exceedingly fascinating. But DOOM Eternal’s action is so pleasing, you can genuinely revel in it. Even when you fail. Particularly because of its brilliantly choreographed “Glory Kills” – basically a mid-action Fatality. The melee sequences are vivid and full of bone-crunching and blood splattering awesomeness. And best of all, Glory Killing feeds the health bar. So you find yourself in the red mist, running around looking for enemies to damage enough to stagger them into prime Glory Killing stance.
DOOM Eternal does a good job of keeping gamer’s on their toes by regularly introducing varied demons and weapons that require you to experiment with completely new strategies with each introduction. Speaking of weapons – all of the classics are included. Aside from the chainsaw, frag grenade and canon mods, you’ll be able to enjoy favourites such as the Plasma Rifle, Combat Shotgun, Rocket Launcher and BFG.
The need to harvest your enemies to survive as a resource management mechanism is genius. It forces you to be tactical in every anxious and intense moment, while engaging and dodging attacks furiously. There’s no hiding and waiting for your health bar to creep back up.
DOOM Eternal – Seek and ye shall find
There are hidden treasures all over the map in DOOM Eternal. It’s a game that enjoys rewarding curious minds that are keen to explore and interact with the environment. Everything from codex entries that flesh out the title’s premise, to toys, upgrade tools and good-old-fashioned 1UPs are available to find if you search around. We only wish that 1UPs weren’t automatically spent on death. You should get the choice to use it or return to checkpoint!
DOOM Eternal – VERDICT!
Ultimately, you want to know: Is DOOM Eternal worth your money?
If you love uncompromising FPS-arena action that punishes slow reactions and rewards players who enjoy bringing the pain…Then absolutely, YES! This game is for you. This is one of the most enjoyable and re-playable titles of this style in years. Especially as you can find cheat codes that let you run through levels with enhancements without inhibiting your progress.
The game engine is superb, rendering demon-packed action at dizzying speed and incredible detail. And the weapon and combat system is complex enough to keep things interesting and allow for different approaches, without being a chore. We also love the mods and custom suits, which again, add variety to the whole experience.
If you’re on the fence, leap off. DOOM Eternal hits the spot and blasts it into oblivion with a BFG!
For info and updates check out the DOOM IG page and iD Software Twitter Channel
