Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil Preview

The Evil is awake and pissed off

I don't know what it is with people and their obsession with Mars. First they claim it is populated with little green men, which obviously inspired Dan Simmons to write his majestic 'Illium' (If you have not read it, GO READ IT! -Ed). Then people proclaim the Martians have snatched Elvis and made him serenade to them every night on their lonely red planet, which of course makes no sense - Elvis is alive and well in another galaxy. And finally, they make games that take Mars as its topic. But I must admit we have learned a lot of useful things from these Mars-inspired games:

1. All aliens are evil;
2. Aliens go mad when you disturb them in the privacy of their home planet;
3. Aliens are not very intelligent, but they are capable of building a technologically advanced empire;
4. It is frightfully dark in open spaces if you're on Mars.

Oh and sometimes aliens are really just hell spawns imported from planet Earth's version of the underworld. With that in mind, it is painfully obvious that the hell spawns must die, and that you should be the one to judge them, and what better venue to do this in than in a game that takes place on, um, say Mars. Say, like the Doom 3 expansion, Resurrection of Evil.

Evil, as you know, never sleeps and this time, not only is it fully awake but it's pissed off as well. The story since Doom 3 goes like this: further exploration of Mars has been cancelled and all activity in the region has been shut down, another strange signal is mysteriously emitted from the infamous Site 1, and a new team is sent in to investigate. The situation is, unfortunately, taken care of in the worst possible way, as you are once again left stranded with the prospect of meeting some rather unpleasant things in the many dark corners and trying to survive the encounter. Still, your nameless character differs from the one you played in Doom 3 - this time you're a combat engineer who works for Dr. Elizabeth McNeil, an ex-colleague of Dr. Betruger on Mars. Although you will never get to see your employer in the game, you will communicate with her often in order to find out what you have to do next. McNeil, you see, is some sort of an expert on aliens and their mating habits (Obviously a sicko - Ed). OK, forget about the mating part, although it would definitely be something worth seeing if you could.

"In the original game, the person that told Swan to come to the Mars base to check out Betruger was Elizabeth McNeil. She was Betruger's research assistant in charge of understanding the ancient civilization. She was basically the whistle blower of the original game. She got booted from Mars by Betruger before the events of the first game [took place], so she's still alive. She heads up the team that returns to mars to check on this strange signal. Players will take the role of a combat engineer on her team tasked with finding the source of the signal," explains id's Tim Willitts.

Resurrection of Evil takes place some two years after the events in Doom 3. Following everything that happened, the Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC) decided to keep a lid on things and at the same time, keep the truth to themselves. The situation was blamed on a broken reactor, so the public doesn't really know what happened. And everything would have probably stayed that way if it hadn't been for the fact that the UAC satellites were still orbiting the planet and one day a mysterious signal was received. And you know the old proverb 'curiosity killed the cat'? Guess who is the kitty this time around. That's right Cubby, you.

And not only that: you will get to see the changes that RoE has brought to the series. One of the first things you'll notice is that your helmet now has a built-in flashlight (Upgrades. Cool -Ed). This will help you with your inability to cope with two things at the same time, namely the flashlight and the gun. And while we're on the topic of guns, it is worth mentioning that RoE will feature at least three new weapons, one of which was forged in Hell itself. This weapon is a relic that absorbs the power of the Hunters (will explain later), allowing you a range of special abilities like invulnerability and berserker, which are quite self-explanatory, and a special ability dubbed 'Hell Time.' Hell Time has the power to successfully emulate bullet time without actually being called bullet time and subsequently getting id in legal trouble over possible copyright issues.

Maybe the most interesting addition will be the inclusion of a new weapon labeled the Ionized Plasma Levitator (the Grabber Gun), which is quite similar to the gravity gun from Half-Life 2. I believe you are all too-familiar with its possibilities, which is the ability to control objects or creatures in the game. Throwing something on your opponent is a good example. (And no, I don't mean the fruitcake.) The double-barrel shotgun is also back, and you get it early in the game, which should make Quake 2 fans very happy. You will soon find that you need your weapons more than ever. Why? Because at the very beginning of the game, you stumble upon an alien artifact only to find out that it is an evil weapon that can do some really terrible things (Like producing naked photos of Celine Dion? -Ed), like wiping out the entire galaxy or something even worse - turning you into a heap of molten metal and overcooked meat (Oh. Well I would still take that over a naked Celine Dion any day -Ed). Of course, in real life you would instantly get rid of the bloody thing, but here it's just the start of your troubles. Because of the blasted artifact, three Hunters are now after you, and what promised to be a nice and pleasant walk on the surface of the red planet suddenly turns into a twisted nightmare. You mustn't allow the evil aliens to get their 'hands' of the artifact, so you will have to play the hero (again). id Software designer Matt Hooper is quite clear about this: "It's Hell's ultimate weapon, and you have to get it to the surface." Well thank you, id.

Anyway, what's so important about these 'messengers from Hell' called the Hunters? As I've already mentioned, the artifact they want so much has the ability to absorb their powers, and each Hunter is assigned one special ability that you will find very useful in the game once you acquire it. Apart from the Hunters, you'll soon discover Mars is swarming with angry aliens and hell's minions, such as the Vulgar - a more powerful version of the Imp, the Forgotten - similar to the Lost Soul, the Bruiser - a large monster with cannons instead of arms to name a few. Of course, Mars is also rich in zombies so you will have to take care of those half-rotten bastards as well. In any case, the monsters are supposed to be slightly more difficult to beat, which is definitely encouraging and the addition of an official flashlight mod is certain to change the dynamics of the gameplay for the better.

Are there any other innovations that we should expect? Well, yes and no. For example, not much will change in terms of game play (aside from what I had already mentioned), although this time the locales you visit should be more varied than in Doom 3. We had to consult Matt Hooper once again: "People liked a lot of the later environments and ancient civilization areas that were a lot different from the base stuff, so we're starting the player off in these areas right away. The first areas that you traverse through are the remnants of a really ornate ancient civilization and are part of the dig sites where the UAC was uncovering things." Still, he insisted they have kept the dark and scary feel from the original Doom 3, which was to be expected really.

Some areas from Doom 3 will reappear in RoE, so you will get to be in familiar territory at certain stages of the game. Some new characters will also be introduced in the game, but what is even more important is that familiar characters also have their place in the expansion, including Dr. Betruger, who will fight you at the end of the game (Good. That dude needs an ass beating like nobody's business -Ed). Another unique feature of the Doom 3 expansion will be reflected in the game's approach to the new 'ultimately evil' artifact. The way you use the artifact will have an impact on your style of play, adding a somewhat non-linear dimension to an otherwise linear gameplay experience.