🎮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 now understand what's so special about it.

For started, DOOM is a different breed of shooter because, while most try to emulate the feeling of being on a military operation, DOOM will have you running into hordes of demons with a shotgun in one hand and a chainsaw in the other.

Don't worry about following orders, just rip and tear until it is done.

📖The Story

You are the DOOM Marine, now known as the DOOM Slayer and you wake up in your birthday suit at a facility on Mars which is overrun by demons and possessed humans.

As you navigate the place you will soon find your armor and then you are contacted by Samuel Hayden who is in charge of the facility you are currently on and guides you throughout the station to stop the demonic invasion.

Later you learned that one of his scientists named Olivia Pierce got tricked by the demons to open a portal to connect Mars to Hell which caused the mess you are currently in.

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 until you eventually stop the invasion.

You also get bits of lore and information about your enemies via collectibles like Codex entries and the Slayer Testaments you find in the missions in hell.

🎮Gameplay

The gameplay is very straightforward. You go throughout the stages fighting hordes of demons, finding new weapons, discovering upgrades, and looking for collectibles.

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.

Some people have opinions about the difficulty, but I think it is quite simple, you only need to keep moving, perform Glory Kills whenever possible, use the chainsaw to refill your ammo, pick up the power-ups at the right time, and save the BFG for big tanky enemies.

You also have a large arsenal you can upgrade. Most of the weapons are fine, but you will find yourself relying on some more than others. In my case, I spent most of my playthrough using the shotgun, super shotgun, plasma rifle, and chaingun over the rest because they got the job done.

There is also some platforming where you find secrets, like:

• 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.
• Levers – To open a secret area resembling the Classic DOOM stages.

🎨Design

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

The UAC stages show how much damage the demons have done and what happens to anyone unfortunate enough to cross their path. On the other hand the Hell stages perfectly show how savage the demons are despite being able to create portals to different worlds.

The demons also have a great design. They don't just look great but are also easy to identify which helps a lot during combat makes prioritizing targets more simple.

The music and sound was one of my favorite elements. 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.

Each track is strong and complements the combat instead of feeling like background noise.

😐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 9/10 - 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.

For that reason I give DOOM 2016 a 9/10 and 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!