fun

1. SCRIPT
The premise is simple:you shoot demons. Thenewtrick is to shoot demons until they stagger beforemoving infor a Special Kill -a
contextualfinisher thatsees the faceless Doom Marine breaking, tearing,smashing, ripping, sawing and eviscerating his foes todeath.
Killing inthis way results in a colourfulshower ofhealthand ammo packs -vitalin a game withoutregenerating healthandwhereyour
primary interaction with its world is shooting until there’s nothing left toshoot.
It’s a flawless sliceofgame design- easy enough tomaster, fast enough tobe called intrusive,however itis graphic enough tofeel
empowering,andintrinsicenoughto survival for you to keepcoming back for moreandmore andmore. Id’s designers knowthis, and
make a marked pointofgiving you very littleelse toconcentrateon,as you progress.
The inimitableDoom Marine doesn’t care either -his indifferencecommunicatedthrough a series ofmutephysical expressions. As UAC
facility boss Samuel Haydenexplains theimportance ofsomeresearch,DoomMarinesmashes it to pieces before Hayden can even finish.
An in game holo-screenhelper,he pushes aside toget onwith the killing. The intention is clear.
Hopping betweena ravaged research baseon Mars andtheburning depths ofHell, Doom’s locations couldbe calledderivative. Its sci-fi
base is all pristinemetaland crisp lighting,whiletheunderworldis fireandbrimstone. This isn’t new togames by any stretch, butDoom
goes a long way toselling its hellscapes farbetter thanany game beforeit.
Part of this comes from some great art direction,but mostly from someastounding technicalflourishes. Doomis incrediblydetailedand
whether you’refighting through a flaming foundry,anAI corecooled toabsolutezero,or thecorpseinfested wastes ofHell itself, it’s
distractingly pretty. Infrequent shifts from the games nearconstant reddishtinge feel memorable, but you’realways ready toget back to
its blood soaked corridors.
As soon as you pick upa shotgun,sidelining the games pistolwithin the firsttwominutes, Doom starts. Fromthere, itcontinues to
introducenew weapons at a perfect pace so thatyou’realways playing withsomething new andexciting; anassault rifle, a rocket
launcher, a super shotgun,a chaingun, the comically namedBig Fucking Gun.Thenthere’s thechainsaw -rather thanserveas a standard
melee weaponit operates as a one-hit killdevice that relies ona finitefuelsource. The bigger thedemon you want to kill, the morefuelit
uses, sothechainsaw’s gruesomeflesh-ripping is saved only for thedirest ofstraits.
The game relishes in thediscovery ofeachweapon, slowing theaction toa crawl for a few seconds, as DoomMarinelooks it upand down
with a sense of appreciation.
That chaos is withoutdoubt the game’s crowning achievement. Doom’s demons arevaried andgrotesque and positively lethalin groups.
The only way to win is tomovefaster andshootquicker. Pumping a HellKnightfull ofshotgunshells, toraining plasma orbs downon a
group of Possessed, or unleashing a devastating Big Fucking Gun blaston a staggered Revenant, Doom creates a bloodymurderthat
requires constantthoughtand unending movement tokeep up.Doom is remarkable.