Doom (2016)

Doom (2016), developed by id Software, published by Bethesda Software ltd. 

It took some time, but I've finally placed the final bullet through the massive carcass of the spiderdemon at the end of the re-imagined Doom. As an old fan of Doom, I was 13 when the original Doom was released. That was back in 1993 and 23-years from that, Doom was more or less remade into a bit more modern high-octane 1st person shooter. I feel somewhat conflicted about it. 

I guess I could start by pretending that Doom 2016 has a story. I mean, it does have one, but it matters as much as it matters in the original Doom. Every snippet of a story you stumble upon exist only as an excuse to slay more demons so that in mind, you can completely ignore all of it. All that matters is, that you are a Doomslayer, a hellbound supersoldier who wakes up when a demon outburst takes place in a research facility on Mars. There is more story in this iteration of Doom than there was in the original game, but that said, I care very little of it. And in the case of Doom, it doesn't come in the way of good action like it felt in the new iteration of Wolfenstein 2014.   

So, Doomslayer wakes up, dons his familiar, but now far more detailed armour, grabs a gun and aims it towards the hellspawn. While Doom is a modern FPS, it also is closer to old school FPS'. The controls are modern, the gameplay is modern, the graphics are modern as are the animations, sounds and music. But while the gameplay is modern, it also is old school in a way, that the best way forward is not to hide or plan elaborate tactics. No, the best way forwards in Doom is to go forwards, guns blazing, mowing down enemies, who, when killed, can drop precious morsels of health and ammo and as far ideas go, that's even older school than original Doom.

A modern approach has been tacked on the Doomslayer and the weapons. Both can be evolved further. All the weapons, and there's no limitation on what you can carry, can be modified to be more efficient and can have separate firing modes. The only weapon that can't be upgraded is the chainsaw, but it also works very differently from the original Doom. Now it has a supply of fuel, which is used when a chainsaw kill is made. Initially, it holds 3 portions of fuel, but that can be upgraded with the suit modifications, that allow the player to carry more ammo. The weapons are upgraded in two ways. First, you need to find a mod cache, that allows unlocking of a mode. Then, you just need to collect skill points, which can be used to upgrade the modes further. If you seek out all the secrets, it should be possible to upgrade all the weapons to their fullest. 

The suit upgrades allow more health, more ammo and more armour. These upgrades are opened with Argent Energy Cells sprinkled over the levels. Additional upgrades can be done with chip modules found from dead soldiers. After you've collected enough of them, they can be spent on whatever suit upgrades you feel benefit you the most.

The big question is, is Doom 2016 a fun game? That's really is what it is aiming at. It isn't trying to be a game with a deep story nor much originality in its setting. What it tries to be is a fun shooter, that lets you mangle as many demons as you can before you either die or emerge victoriously. I can't help but to feel, that had I not played Doom back in 1993, I would like this new iteration better. It definitely is different from most modern shooters and it is very good at what it does. It's slick, fast and filled with action and the monsters you face are fun to kill. That's really the best you can ask from a game like this. That it's fun.

At the same time, I can't help but feel that the original Doom is far more playful. Don't get me wrong. Both of these games seem to be very aware of what they are. Neither of them is trying to hide the fact that they are games. Still, the original Doom is, or at least it feels, more playful and joyous in what comes to level design and gameplay. In Doom 2016, even the more playful aspects, like the jump pads, feel a bit tacked on. And you know, I don't really like jump pads, they were already a bad idea in Rise of the Triad back in 1994.

Don't get me wrong. I do like Doom 2016 far more than I liked the 2014 reboot of Wolfenstein, which took itself far too seriously. That one was an odd mixture of pulp schlock and serious storytelling, which didn't really lead to a super exciting end result. Doom doesn't have any pretence at all of being overly serious. It handles its story more on the side, fully acknowledging the story means little in Doom. That said, it did take me some time to play it though, as it just doesn't manage to present itself as a similar must play game as the original Doom did. 

Now that I've finally completed Doom 2016, I'm in no hurry to get the sequel for it. I probably do at some point, but I feel I've had enough of it for now. The original Doom was a game I played a lot. I went through it several times, but this one, I'm in no hurry to replay it. I might do that as well, at some point, but I feel no need for it either.

So, you know, Doom 2016 isn't a bad game as such and had I played it first, I might like it better. But I didn't and perhaps this new take suffers because of it. If you want to play Doom yourself, the original or 2016, it's easy enough to find. Steam has it as do several other stores. Have fun. Or don't. Your mileage may vary. It has an overwhelmingly positive score there, so what the hell do I know about fun.