Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil Review

Evil never sleeps. Not only does it not sleep, it's apparently sinister enough to resurrect against our best wishes. This can only mean two things: Gandhi was right, you can't fight violence with violence, and subsequently, the marine dude is to blame for everything. And yet, id, Nerve Software and Activision haven't learned anything from this, and have decided to fight the resurrected evil with even more mindless violence, much in the same way the marine dude fought it in Doom 3.

You have my heart on a plate here.

Nothing says 'destruction' like a double barreled shotgun.

What this means, of course, is that players are once again cast in the role of a stranded hero, left all alone in a hellish place to fend off a demonic invasion and save the world by harnessing the power of an ancient artifact. Get this; not only is the ancient artifact a powerful weapon, it's also a ... get ready... a gateway to another dimension!

OK, all sarcasm aside (hey, I'll try (Scrotum -Ed)), the expansion pack to Doom 3 follows pretty much the same gameplay principles as its big brother. Awkwardly spawning hell's minions will be attacking from all sides as you romp through the linear levels in search of power cells (instead of keys), scattered power-ups and ammo.

Hey look!

A couple of armor shards are lying in the dark corner there! You know what; I should pick them up. Hell, things look peaceful enough in here. Sure, I can hear sinister ambient noises in the background, but that doesn't mean there are any monsters lurking about, right?

Gah!

Wrong!

A monster leaped out of the shadows as I was picking up the armor shards...

... OK, I'm just gonna insert this power cell here and I'm sure no monsters will spawn as I'm heading back to turn the lift on.

Gah!

Foiled again!

An additional number of monsters spawned as I was heading back to the lift! Holy hell, Batman! I *never* saw it coming.

Yep, you get the idea. And what did you expect really? This is after all an expansion pack to the game that patented such gameplay.

Luckily for id, there are still many gamers out there who find mindless romps through beautiful-looking levels a good thing. When taken in smaller doses, this type of gameplay can indeed raise the adrenaline levels and give you a bit of a buzz in between titles with modestly suspenseful story lines. This thrill ride is not for everyone, but if you liked Doom 3, I don't see any reason why you shouldn't enjoy Resurrection of Evil. It does provide that same type of thrill.

While bringing back all the old stuff that made Doom 3 so ... controversial (the community was pretty much split on this title: some called it a brilliant action game and others an uninspiring and unoriginal blast from the past), Resurrection of Evil does manage to broaden the scope of the franchise with the addition of a few 'novelties'. This for me has been one of the biggest sticking points with Resurrection of Evil.

The single biggest novelty in terms of how it affects the gameplay is the Grabber gun. Make no mistake about it, folks, this *is* the Half-Life 2 gun, and it's used in a very similar way Valve used it in HL2. OK, one could argue that Valve initially stole ideas from id and now id is returning the favor, but if the single biggest novelty in your game is one of the biggest novelties in one of the best shooters of last year, then you have a lot of explaining to do to both your fans and the press.

Other novelties in the expansion pack include the double barreled shotgun, which works just like the old Quake 2 'double shotty' did (and it's a blast to use (Har Har! I get it! A BLAST!! -Ed)), and of course, the powers absorbed throughout the game by the alien artifact. You wield the artifact as a weapon and means of solving environmental puzzles designed to make use of its powers. For example, the ability of the artifact to slow time around you is useful when dodging certain Tomb Raider-like traps and the Berserker power is used to kick much ass when you're overwhelmed with demonic fiends.