May 11, 2005 - DOOM 3 is a game full of contradictions. For every one thing it does a certain way, it seems to do another in the completely opposite direction. One step forward, one step back. Steady as she goes. Status Quo on all fronts. Does this make it a bad game? Absolutely not. It’s just a little hard sometimes to describe it sometimes. DOOM 3 is pure old school gaming stuck in the trappings of modern technology. If you are looking to dual wield some weapons or drive vehicles or explore vast open areas or play through branching paths or be bombarded with cut-scene after cut-scene, you’ll have to play another game. If you are looking for some slick run and gun action, a few scares along the way and quite possibly the best looking game ever created for a console, than by all means, DOOM 3 is the game for you. It’s not a perfect game, but at the end of the day, Hell has never looked so good.

id Software was obviously in an impossible situation. DOOM, along with Wolfenstein 3D, is considered the grand-daddy of first person shooters. And to think, this geezer is only slightly over a decade old. But in an era where Halo and Half-Life are the standards by which all other FPS’s are judged, even a founding forefather flexing his capable muscle will have to do some magic to pull off a coup. It’ll have to practically reinvent the way FPS’s are played. Maybe even revolutionize multiplayer gaming as a whole. Give us something that has never been done before! Impress us! Wow us! Completely blow our freakin’ minds! And what does id do instead? They go the other way and give us classic DOOM in a way that we never thought possible.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way. DOOM 3 looks amazing. The girls of DOA may have more bounce per ounce but they have nothing on DOOM 3. In fact, it even looks as good (if not better) than The Chronicles of Riddick, and that’s saying a lot. The folks at id and Vicarious Visions have squeezed what seems like the maximum amount of graphics power from the Xbox. While not as shiny as its PC brethren, the console version is still miles ahead of any other FPS of this era. And the strange thing is this: half the game is darkness. There is never one frame, one screen, one place that will not hide something in shadow. Is this a trick to make the graphics look so nice? Hardly. This is what DOOM 3 does best; it only shows you half of anything. There is nothing more nerve raking than the unknown, of not being able to fully see what is happening or what is coming up, and this is DOOM’s gimmick. And it starts with its graphics.

The second layer is simple, make the game sound as creepy as possible. And yes, DOOM 3 sounds blood-chilling. From the slick menu audio to simply walking around in the game, there are some sounds that seem half-human to the ear. A simple laugh will never be the same again after you’ve heard it through DOOM 3’s ears. The music, while not over-bearing, fits the game perfectly. You may not even notice it as you hold your breath in anticipation... That’s how well integrated it is. On top of all that, the positional audio is spot on, and the overall audio mix is loud, booming and clear.

And then you have DOOM 3’s most talked about feature, or lack thereof; Marines can’t seem to find duct tape on Mars. And so, you can either use your flashlight to see what is coming up in the dark or you can choose to have a good ol’ weapon drawn. The choice is yours... Many will curse this implementation and wonder why the developers couldn’t just give you the best of both worlds, but honestly, what fun would that be? The game succeeds because it forces you to walk into a darkened room unarmed (or shotgun in hand but completely blind). This is DOOM 3’s legacy, a full out attack on the senses, and it doesn’t disappoint.

While many will have already played DOOM 3 on the PC and be quite familiar with its graphics and gameplay, what the Xbox version brings to the fray is an online co-op mode. Yes, this mode can only be played through Xbox Live, but it is a small price to pay after you’ve experienced it. To allow two people to sit in a room and experience it together would be to allow each person to feel a little comfortable. And as with all things DOOM 3, comfort is the farthest things from the developers’ minds. You are now forced to sit alone in the darkness with your headset on and communicate with someone (maybe a friend, maybe a stranger) who you must trust enough to illuminate your darkness or be ready to annihilate anything that jumps out at you. And that is the beauty of DOOM 3 co-op; it is all about trust.