Doom 3 review by Grdi (gamer.hr)

It's impossible to talk about history of computer games without mentioning Wolfenstain and Doom. They are both a product of people from id Software, but while the first was successful becouse of limited market of PC platforms and toughts that PC is a bussines computer, Doom came when we were floded with cheap computers from "east". The truth is that Wolfenstain was the first FPS, but Doom was the one that took the popularity of this genre, FPS, and the one that still has some development on it, even we tought tousend times that it's over with it. After eleven years from the first ressurection on computers, powers of Hell came back to take our time, money, and that little sense we have after all these years with spent with Doom titles. Doom 3 is coming in great style, as you can guess, nothing won't be the same after it. History repeats for x times.

It's easy to define Doom 3, but on the other side it's... hard. Myth that Carmack and his team are serving on eydropper for five years, in final form it's far from true genre innovation. Even indeed, developers were not interested in inventing features that will impress some reviewer that spits on every game that has not at least two noticable features important for further games development. Nope. Doom 3 even a step ( or even two) backwards from the current shooter who succeeded to the throne as some references the need to work on all future FPS 's, but the team behind it even emphasizes that their ultimate goal was the old doom in a new light. And they succeeded. Doom in all his glory comes on the new engine, and inspires us just as he did his predecessor before ancient eleven. If you then remain impressed by the then junk , the screenshots will not no help to understand what is today's doom, because these background images are nothingness to experience that every player is acquired new step in the dark atmosphere of the game which simply kicks ass in all segments.

The story that the FPS's never been one of the main advantages is not it is not in Doom 3, but it is far more elaborate than similar in games where we get the task before the mission and rokaj until you fulfill, and most importantly, is closely linked the atmosphere about which more will be said. Introduction to the game begins between-scene in which a soldier (which throughout the game we did not managed to find out the name, nor the respective opened his mouth to say something) arrives at Mars in support of the local Marine Corps. If we into account that the human colony on Mars was established solely for the purpose of pumping mineral resources and dangerous experiments, and there is no way that hostile forces came to this planet, and the other opponents than its own animals the human race has, then the existence of heavily armed troops in the cramped conditions of such complexes more than surprising. Even more so since there a series of security measures which would be activated on any threat, either outside or inside. Of course, these are the conclusions and analysis of the situation after adverse events which will follow soon after arrival, when at one point some experiment in a remote part of the base set in three splendid opening the doors of hell hordes that mankind on Mars reduced to a single digit. Of course, the human factor in this supernatural phenomena played a decisive role.

The basic feature of Doom 3's atmosphere and without it there would have been a simple game that few would look. WSAD, jump, squat, weapons (only one mode). Going beyond just around the corner or burial remember, and although it could now refer sharp criticism for that, we do not want to do that, nor would it be wrong on our part, because again we repeat, it is a remake of Doom which is not crowded opponents like the original, but again manages to cause that feeling of panic that we both loved.
In fact, the maximum number of opponents on the screen is four, possibly five, but we assume that it is so intentionally made since a large number of likely caused twitching even more powerful machines, and again, opponents in Doom 3 are more but well-designed and serve a purpose - intimidation of players . The easiest opponents, zombies in which the inhabitants station on Mars turned during disasters, they are very slow and can they escape on foot with several pauses to light a cigarette, but are always positioned in some tight areas where it is almost impossible to pass them by without consequences. Even worse situation when they occur in the pitch dark, and it's too late and shine a flashlight in it is likely to freeze in fear.

The lamp with the PDA one of the most useful accessories that will be used often, in parts even more often than weapons particularly in areas and times of the total blackout . What some referred to as a lack, we are positive fora which raises the atmosphere, but it's about the impossibility of simultaneous use of lamps and weapons. We know, in the future, Marines will be equipped with much more sophisticated devices of lighting the helmet or ordinary adhesive tape would can be linked arms with the light source, but this is a horror game that depends on the atmosphere, and it creates just this kind of thing.
While I was writing this, there was a mod Duck Tape whose name speaks for itself, but the author of this text did not installed it because the authors of Doom 3 did not want it that way. In addition, those who want a brighter picture, put the maximum gamma, but there are other ways to get a picture similar to the negative, but it destroys the gameplay and thats cheating, as we have noted, some reviewers were heavily used, especially when describing Doom 3 Are you evil? About that when it comes to describing the game without playing. It's like watching a movie on DVD to skip the chapter and accelerated playback, and later saying that bad and no punch line. Barf!

PDA. A small but useful addition to that we can take a peek to see mission objectives, but except reminders role in it are driven video materials that pick up along the way, as well as personal Discs of former colony residents (who became demons or were brutally murdered - in case someone forgot ). Personal drives are mainly used as identification to open various doors (easier - keys) or contain Email Owner ranging from job -related duties persons , to " pen1s " spam. In addition, some people are taped and audio recording in which talk about the recent strange events or testing a new weapon type BFG (r0x !) and from them, and if from these e - mails is possible to find out the codes of the cabinets which contain ammunition or some other objects essential for successfully penetrating through the game.

Atmosferu između ostalog podižu i mnogobrojne međuscene koje su u službi priče, a zadivit će vas sinkronizirano pomicanje usana i govora, kao i nevjerojatno realan prikaz likova za što je zaslužan vjerojatno najnapredniji engine današnjice (btw. jedva čekamo prve screenshote iz nastavka Wolfensteina i Quakea 4 koji se na njemu rade). Čak i unutar same igre postoji niz skriptiranih događaja u kojima aktivno sudjelujete i koji će vam podići kosu na glavi. Primjerice, u određenom trenutku biti ćete pred monitorom na kojem će neki lik nešto pričati (nećemo reći tko i o čemu se radi). Zadubljeni u njegov performans krajičkom oka primijetit ćete da je nešto propuzalo staklom iza ekrana na koji ste usredotočeni, i panično ćete napuniti oružje i povući se dalje od prozora. A onda… Psssst, tiho smo. Dakako, za takve situacije zaduženi su triggeri, nevidljiva mjesta koja pokrenu neki događaj. U ovom slučaju su to najčešće oklopi, municija i ulasci u nove prostorije, a posebno valja paziti na situacije u kojima ekran pocrveni, jer nakon toga slijedi demonstracija opakijih paklenih sila, ili kako bi rekli Američani - all hell breaks loose.

Protivnici su definitivno jedni od do sada maštovitijih, čemu posebno pridonosi prokleto realan organski izgled raznih dijelova tijela. Dakako, uglavnom su to čudovišta iz starog Dooma koja vjerojatno nećete prepoznati od prve, no svi su na broju, čak i velike lebdeće kosturske glave koje su neki od nas popularno zvali "paradajzima", iako nemaju veze s tom vrstom povrća. Na žalost, ne možemo da ne spomenemo kako je prilikom njihovog dizajniranja AI ipak ostao u drugom planu. Premda neki od njih koriste izmicanje, skakanje na strop ili zid kako bi izbjegli metke, zombiji-marinci se zaklanjaju iza stupa i slično, ipak je njihova uobičajena taktika pravocrtni napad na vas. Poanta priče je da se vrlo lako sakriti iza ugla i spremno dočekati protivnika koji će garant doći za vama, tako da nekih većih problema s monsterima ne bi smjeli imati pogotovo kad ih držite na distanci, jer ipak, bliski susreti znaju biti bolni i konfuzni. Ako igrate nerazumno i ulijećete u nove prostorije bez do vrha punog spremnika, tada vam jedino možemo preporučiti taktiku promašaja i pokušaja, odnosno quicksave funkcije koja radi besprijekorno, no mislimo da Doom 3 nije pretežak za završiti na standardnom nivou težine.

Kako napredujete kroz igru, dobivat ćete sve bolja oružja uključujući rocket launcher i BFG, no valja napomenuti kako je Doom 3 ipak više orijentiran na blisku borbu zbog dizajna samih nivoa, te s eksplozivnim napravama valja paziti, što uključuje i razne bačve kojih se u žaru borbe valja kloniti. Svako oružje ima svoju namjenu i neka su posebno učinkovita protiv pojedinih neprijatelja, i iako smo u globalu zadovoljni svim njihovim featuresima, moramo upozoriti na vrlo jadan zvuk shotguna, pištolja i strojnice. Umjesto da prasak opaljenja bude glasan, više nalikuje udaranju dva poklopca jedan u drugoga što baš i ne pridonosi osjećaju da u rukama držite oružje velike vatrene moći, što je pak potpuna suprotnost ostalim zvukovima u igri.

Škripa savijanja metala, mumljanje spomenutih zombija, mistični upozoravajući glasovi, vrištanje umirućih demona, potmuli udaljeni urlici prestravljenih malobrojnih preživjelih ljudi, šištanje pare iz mnogobrojnih cijevi i slični zvukovi bitni su elementi bez kojih ova igra ne bi bila ni napola tako dobra kao što jest. Zanimljivo, ali glazbene teme koja bi se provlačila tijekom igranja uopće nema, premda u nekim trenucima ne bi bilo loše čuti žestok ritam kojeg smo svi priželjkivali. Doduše, postoji glavna tema koju možete čuti dok petljate po izborniku za koju je zaslužan Chris Vrenna, bivši član Nine Inch Nailsa, ali u samoj igri postoje isključivo zvukovi orijentirani na radnju, kao da nas autori nisu htjeli odvlačiti od događanja na ekranu.

No dakako, osnova za sve navedeno nalazi se u superiornom grafičkom enginu i vizualnim efektima koji prvi upadaju u oči pri pokretanju igre. Možete se kleti u što god hoćete da nije tako, ali oni koji su zaigrali Doom 3 znaju kakav je prvi dojam gotovo realnog okruženja u kojem nas iskrcava transportni brod i koji osjećaj ostavljaju uski hodnici prepuni detalja kada se krećemo kroz njih. Uistinu, dizajneri su svoj posao obavili više no odlično stvorivši igru koju će u atmosferi teško nadmašiti neki naslov u skoroj budućnosti. Doduše, moguće da Valve napravi nešto slično s Half Life 2, no o njemu ćemo suditi kada dođe vrijeme za to (nadamo se uskoro). Vratimo se mi Doomu i njegovom enginu. Imate li jaču karticu, igra će je znati maksimalno iskoristiti, a zadivljujuće je da postavke kvalitete odlično odrađuju svoj posao.

Na testnom stroju (Barton 2.5, 512 RAM, 9800pro) igra je sasvim korektno radila pri srednjim postavka i rezoluciji 1024x768, te je pri tome broj FPS-ova varirao od 60 do 30 (češće), no trzanja nije bilo. U kvalitetu prikaza se možete uvjeriti i sami na popratnim screenshotima skidanim sa takvim postavkama. Povećanje detalja donijelo je vidno poboljšanje kvalitete slike, no pri tome je dolazilo do kašljucanja i trzanja pri naglim eksplozijama ili više protivnika, dok je ultra mod uistinu neopisiv što se tiče vizualija, ali njegovo učitavanje traje abnormalno dugo, dok ugodno igranje (na navedenoj platformi) zaboravite. No mogao bi vas natjerati na izdatak koji niste planirali (nešto što počinje sa 68, pa još dvije nule), stoga bolje da ga i zaboravite.

Ali postoji krug ljudi kojima je sve ovo nebitno. Jedino što ih zanima je multiplayer, a on u Doomovom izvornom obliku nije nešto posebno. Znam da ću zbog ovoga dobiti prijeteće mailove od nekih ljudi, no gledajući realno, samo četiri igrača po igri, te vrlo mali broj mapa uistinu nisu nešto što bi očekivali od id Softwarea ako znamo da su isti legende osmišljavanja multiplayera u FPS žanru. No pojava gomile modova par dana nakon izlaska među kojima i onaj za 32 igrača i najava OSP-a, daju naslutiti kako će vrlo skoro fanovi od Dooma 3 napraviti multiplayer igru koja je u svom izvornom obliku ipak impresivno single play iskustvo i način prikazivanja novog id-ovog engina, a zatim sve ostalo. Idućih par mjeseci će pokazati u kom smjeru kreće razvoj ovog naslova, ali imamo filing da će tek nadolazeće igre na ovom pogonitelju, Quake 4 i RTCW 2 biti će ono pravo, i vjerujemo kako će upravo one postaviti nove standarde ove komponente FPS igara. Ne moramo posebno naglašavati da jedva čekamo prve informacije o njima.

Doom 3 nije revolucionarna igra glede gameplaya, dok priča o grafičkom enginu nije završena, niti će još dugo vremena biti. Oni koji stalno prigovaraju kako je igra dosadna, naporna, predvidljiva i slične stvari, vjerojatno se svrstavaju u skupinu igrača koja je od Dooma 3 očekivala osrednju nuklearku u najmanju ruku, dok su svi oni koji su željeli odličnu igru, izvrsne atmosfere i vizualnih efekata, dobili upravo to - odličnu igru, izvrsne atmosfere i vizualnih efekata. Ako i multiplayer zaživi, kako se iskreno nadamo, Doom 3 je u svim aspektima ostvario svoju namjenu, a ponegdje čak i pozitivno iznenadio. U svakom slučaju, ovo je jedna od igara koju fanovi FPS-a ne bi smjeli propustiti, te će sigurno poslužiti za primjer mnogim budućim projektima, baš kao i prethodnik. Povijest se ponavlja po x-ti puta.

+

story presentation, single play, atmosphere, design monsters, engine, playability

-

low sound of some weapons, not for scary people, big hardware requirements

Score:

90 %

id Software/ Activision / 2004

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