Doom (Reboot)

Even though we are all probably distracted with Final Fantasy XV at the moment, I figured I'd review an older game during the year until we all finish at least 200 hours of the new Final Fantasy. In fact, while I was waiting for those 50 GBs to download, I wanted to waste an hour or two on the reboot of doom. Doom wasn't a big series for me recently but it was back then where I grew up playing it. I didn't keep up with it and completely ignored the third installment. However, I was completely stupid to think I would play it for an hour and go back to FF, I had to beat it. It is that engaging and gripping. You are literally thrown into hell and there is no break from hell from the first hour and it really reinvigorates my taste for FPS game again.

The best thing it does well is not only did it send the fans back to its roots, but it also gave the same exact feeling I had playing a doom game and that you're literally screwed the whole time. The same monster designs we've loved to hate and it has no room for cover and all maps are in the shape of an arena or an open world where you have to fight to survive. How or why is that? Well, here is where its new for me, where enemies drop health when you kill them using your guns and they drop a significant load of health when you execute them right before they die. You also obtain a chainsaw early in the game, which was a normal weapon in the old game but its purpose is you can kill any enemy with it in one hit and they will instantly drop a lot of ammo. I think that is genius in the sense it reminded me of Bloodborne's gameplay where you have to risk it to survive. A high risk and high reward environment is very fitting for an FPS, let alone Doom.

The difficulty in this game kicked my ass and I liked it. That was only on the normal difficulty and I dont plan on trying the harder one. You face hordes and hordes of monsters and get introduced to new types of monsters every now and then that might seem almost impossible to beat, only for you to face 4 of them at the same time later on. There is not much room for puzzles and platforming where it was mostly linear and self explanatory for me even though every level had a lot of secrets that I missed out on so I'm sure they have room for exploration. However, due to the fast pacing, I enjoyed just going through the campaign one horde of monsters after another, whether it was a blue or yellow key I had to find to progress or a blue or yellow skull, this game did not give me a break because I am too busy executing one monster after another.

Don't let me get started with boss fights, those really put me to the test based on the choices I had for my character. If you walk on a linear path to the story, you would only get the upgrade points you find along the way. Those upgrade points add a bit to your health, ammo, or your armor. I generally focused on health and armor and did not put a single upgrade on my ammo, that is where I became weak in boss fights because there is little room for you to have ammo and your skills as a player are put to the test, avoiding projectiles up and down and area of effect hits from bosses. Anyway, it's hard to describe here but the adrenaline rush in boss fights is worth every penny for this game.

Last but certainly not the least part of the game are the guns. The most fun part about doom is the cathartic effect from shooting a demon in the face and Doom really reminded me how unique those guns are. Full of personality and even the pistol felt good to kill someone with until I got the BFG. The soundtrack added to the aesthetics of the rest of the game offers an experience that is far from being forgettable. You're always so busy being in the shoes of the protagonist of Doom and I haven't even scratched the surface with exploration such as challenges and secret items. Doom is one of the best games for me this year and its enough for me to get drawn to it from start to finish. You can find it on all platforms. See you in my next review.