At last years E-3 Doom wasn’t in playable form, and although disappointing there
was some nice trailers and footage to be seen. Since then it has missed several
expected in store dates and Id’s "When it’s done" mantra is all you’ll get from
them. For the attendees at this past years Quake-Con, Id did have some death
match set-up but the press was not allowed to film or photo anything there.
What we do know is that Doom 3 is utilizing a completely new graphics engine
much like every Id title has done before it. It will take place mainly on Mars
and is essentially a retelling of the first two Doom title. It will feature
multiplayer modes but they will not be as robust as say Unreal Tournament 2004.
Unlike Quake3 which was online only except for bot-play, Doom 3 will focus
mainly on telling a single-player story.
Unlike Doom 3’s older siblings, it will not throw insane monsters at you. Id’s
goal this time around is to scare you with dark foreboding graphics and 3-D
positional sound. Judging from the footage we’ve got our hands on they’ll likely
succeed. The intro cinematic has all the trappings of a Hollywood horror film
and even the sound and score seem to be done well.
Doom 3 has a lot going for it, but it will be competing with many big titles
this spring and summer. Already the gorgeous Far Cry is slated to be out within
weeks and in March Unreal Tournament 2004 will be out as well. Doom’s biggest
competition will undoubtedly be Half-Life 2, the biggest and most controversial
title of the year. Both Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 look and sound good but which one
will be king may be decided by which one can come out first.
Hopefully Id will actually add some substance to Doom 3’s story. One thing
they’ve not been known for is story telling. Add that to the fact Doom 3 isn’t
much more than a remake and it could leave gamers wanting. Although the visuals
look great, one can’t help but hope it’s not just a pretty tech demo for Id to
pimp out to third party developers. Considering how many games in the past few
years have used the Quake 3 engine this is a legitimate fear. With Id not
putting a lot into the multiplayer aspect this would leave Doom 3 with nothing
to fall back on should players not embrace the single player mode. Some
attendees at Quake-Con noted that the multi-player was fun but didn’t really
have anything extra to set it apart besides the graphics. With Unreal Tournament
2004 adding vehicles this time around it’ll be an interest war of the shooters
this year.
Publisher
Activision Developer
ID Software Platform
PC, X-Box One Player
First Person Shooter,
Multiplayer
Online Release Date Second Quarter
2004
At last years E-3 Doom wasn’t in playable form, and although disappointing there
was some nice trailers and footage to be seen. Since then it has missed several
expected in store dates and Id’s "When it’s done" mantra is all you’ll get from
them. For the attendees at this past years Quake-Con, Id did have some death
match set-up but the press was not allowed to film or photo anything there.
What we do know is that Doom 3 is utilizing a completely new graphics engine
much like every Id title has done before it. It will take place mainly on Mars
and is essentially a retelling of the first two Doom title. It will feature
multiplayer modes but they will not be as robust as say Unreal Tournament 2004.
Unlike Quake3 which was online only except for bot-play, Doom 3 will focus
mainly on telling a single-player story. 
Unlike Doom 3’s older siblings, it will not throw insane monsters at you. Id’s
goal this time around is to scare you with dark foreboding graphics and 3-D
positional sound. Judging from the footage we’ve got our hands on they’ll likely
succeed. The intro cinematic has all the trappings of a Hollywood horror film
and even the sound and score seem to be done well.
Doom 3 has a lot going for it, but it will be competing with many big titles
this spring and summer. Already the gorgeous Far Cry is slated to be out within
weeks and in March Unreal Tournament 2004 will be out as well. Doom’s biggest
competition will undoubtedly be Half-Life 2, the biggest and most controversial
title of the year. Both Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 look and sound good but which one
will be king may be decided by which one can come out first.
Hopefully Id will actually add some substance to Doom 3’s story. One thing
they’ve not been known for is story telling. Add that to the fact Doom 3 isn’t
much more than a remake and it could leave gamers wanting. Although the visuals
look great, one can’t help but hope it’s not just a pretty tech demo for Id to
pimp out to third party developers. Considering how many games in the past few
years have used the Quake 3 engine this is a legitimate fear. With Id not
putting a lot into the multiplayer aspect this would leave Doom 3 with nothing
to fall back on should players not embrace the single player mode. Some
attendees at Quake-Con noted that the multi-player was fun but didn’t really
have anything extra to set it apart besides the graphics. With Unreal Tournament
2004 adding vehicles this time around it’ll be an interest war of the shooters
this year.
