🎮[REVIEW] DOOM 2016 is The Revival the Franchise Needed

After being dormant since 2004 the DOOM franchise has finally returned. The father of all FPS games released in 2016 a continuation that serves as a great reminder of what made it great to begin with and a perfect introduction to new players.

I'll admit, I'm the latter. This was the first time I played a DOOM game and was excited to see what made this old id Software IP as respected as it is and after playing it I think I understood what's so special about it.

Firstly, it is the most action packed fps I've ever played. From the moment I saw the trailer I was expecting a game that would have me shooting and running like a mad-man and it delivered exactly that.

It is a fast-paced and brutal shoot first ask questions later type of game that rewards aggression and quick thinking over careful planning. I didn’t have to follow orders from someone or have to care about casualties, I just went crazy and shoot everything that moved.

Until this day I've mostly played tactical shooters like Call of Duty and Battlefield which require me to take things slower most of the time since they try to emulate what it's like to be on a military operation. On the other hand DOOM had me running into hordes of demons with a shotgun in one hand and a chainsaw in the other.

It was the first time I played a game that dared to show me just how powerful the main character truly is.

I knew these kinds of games existed and always wanted to give them a try. I'm glad DOOM 2016 was not just my introduction to the franchise, but also to what is now my favorite game genre.

In other words, DOOM was the first game that made me feel like a one-man army and today I want to share what it felt like to play the campaign of a DOOM game for the first time.

📖The Story

DOOM is the kind of game where you have a story that guides you forward and is simple to follow but is not the most important element because gameplay is the main star.

Here is a summary:

Samuel Hayden is a scientific mega genius who founded the Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC), built a facility on Mars, and had the “bright” idea of harvesting hell of its resources to solve an energy crisis on Earth.

One of his scientists is Olivia Pierce and she got tricked by the demons to open a portal to connect Mars to Hell. Samuel realized that something was going on with Olivia so he made an expedition to Hell and found you (the DOOM Slayer) imprisoned in a tomb and brought you back to his facility in case something happened and well…it did.

Olivia freed all the demons the UAC had capture for experimentation and they proceeded to redecorate the facility with the bodies of the other employees so Samuel freed you to stop them.

As you go back and forth between Hell and Mars, you find new weapons, upgrades, and runes to make yourself better, faster, stronger, and more lethal against the demons until you eventually stop the invasion.

That’s the gist of it.

You learn most of the story throughout cutscenes and holograms that appear during missions.

Then, if you want to learn more about the world, the demons, and the characters, you can look into your Codex to read the entries you collect on every stage, and to learn about the DOOM Slayer you can listen to the Slayer Testaments you find in the missions in hell.

🎮Gameplay

I think this is the first game I played where the enemy was afraid of the protagonist, which made this game even cooler for me. However, what DOOM lacks in a detailed storyline, it makes up for in gameplay.

Firstly, you don’t get boring and lengthy tutorials. Instead, you get thrown into the action and get text boxes briefly showing you what to do while the story is direct enough to guide you.

What I liked the most about the gameplay, though, lies in the simplicity of its combat. For the most part, you only have to keep in mind the following:

• Don’t stay in one place for too long
• Use the correct weapon on the right enemy
• Remember to use the different weapon mods
• Perform Glory Kills at every opportunity
• Use the chainsaw when low on ammo
• Pick up the power-ups at the right time
• Save the BFG for big tanky enemies

That’s all.

But my favorite aspect of the combat was the Glory Kills because they kept the flow of the fight and rewarded me with health for being aggressive, and the power-ups for making the fights more intense in a good way. Like the Berserker power up that showed a bit more of the Slayer’s brutal fighting style.

I also like the weapons you can get from secret areas or by progressing the story. I won’t get into much detail about them but here is a list of them in no particular order:

• A pistol
• A shotgun
• A super shotgun
• A plasma rifle
• A gauss cannon
• A heavy assault rifle
• A chaingun
• A rocket launcher
• A chainsaw
• The BFG 9000

Most of the weapons are upgradeable so you can make them more lethal, which is good since the enemies kept getting harder as I progressed the story.

Personally, I liked most of them. The only gun that felt out of place was the pistol because of how underwhelming it was compared to the rest.

It would have been great if the upgrades had made it into a kick-ass weapon but they didn’t. On the bright side, it has infinite ammo and a charge shot for more damage so it is effective for taking out the weakest enemies and safe the ammunition of your other guns for the big guys.

There is also a bit of exploration and platforming which rewards you with upgrades, armor, health, ammo, new weapons, collectibles, and secrets.

Some of these secrets involve:

• Praetor Suit Points – These allow you to find some chips that let you improve your dexterity , exploration , equipment , resistance, and power ups .
• Runes – These give you useful bonuses to support you in combat that you get after completing specific challenges.
• Argent Cells – This is a direct upgrade to the health, armor, and ammo of the DOOM Slayer.
• Weapon Mods – These allow you to modify your weapons and make them more lethal.
• Maps – To help you know where you are going, where you have been, and where to find other secret items as well as extra lives.

Speaking of secrets, my favorites are the levers that open a secret area resembling the Classic DOOM stages. As someone who never played the classic DOOM games, it’s nice to see how the stages looked and how much respect the developers have for the first title.

🎨Design

Besides the gameplay, the second thing that DOOM nailed was the visual and sound design.

From the start, you are introduced to a place that has been devastated by the demons, with entire rooms decorated with blood and “meat status” created with the bodies of UAC employees giving a clear picture of how bad the situation is without directly telling you.

In the UAC stages, you see how advanced their technology is, and the presence of candles and symbols hint at the cult-like nature of the activities performed by the UAC personnel, despite them being people of science.

The Hell stages are desolated of all life and you can only find stones, skulls, guts, and some crude constructs with symbolism showing how savage the demons are despite being able to create portals to different worlds.

Speaking of the demons, their design is also great. They look like strong opponents that come in different shapes and sizes, and can kill if you are not careful, especially the bosses.

However, I can’t talk about the ambiance of a DOOM game without mentioning the music.

I’m not a Metal fan, but Mick Gordon did an amazing job at creating the perfect tracks to make each moment even more intense. I mean, just listen to this:

Each track is strong, aggressive, cool, and most importantly it complements the combat instead of feeling like background noise. Now I understand why some people say that DOOM is a metal album with a free game.

😐The Negatives

Honestly, I don't have many negative things to say about DOOM 2016. It was an amazing game in almost every way. However, there are a couple of things that did bother me a bit.

• Most of the information about the side characters, the places, and the demons is hidden behind collectibles. I prefer when games show us their lore or at least make the information more engaging to read because I like to focus on playing rather than reading a wall of text.
• The gameplay can become a bit repetitive. This is just because it consists on slaughtering demons in different arenas so it can be a bit repetitive after a while. But then again the combat is still fun so it wasn't much of a problem.

These are very minor points and they didn't affect my experience so I still had an amazing time ripping and tearing through the demon hordes.

⭐Final Verdict 4/5 - Amazing

DOOM 2016 is the revival the franchise needed. It's a great game with fun visceral combat that introduced new players to the franchise and gave long-time fans what they were craving. I loved it and it became one of my favorite titles.

I'm excited to see what else will come out of id Software in the future. Not only from the DOOM IP but also from their other titles.

Next on my list is DOOM Eternal and I’ll let you guys know what I think about it after finishing it.

DOOM

Now includes all three premium DLC packs (Unto the Evil, Hell Followed, and Bloodfall), maps, modes, and weapons, as well as all feature updates including Arcade Mode, Photo Mode, and the latest Update 6.66, which brings further multiplayer improvements as well as revamps multiplayer progression.

WAKE UP SLAYER!