First Impressions of DOOM - A Dark and Very Deadly World
Originally Published on the Official Blast Away the Game Review Facebook Page
Written by Dustin Murphy
At E3 2014 we were given a glimpse at the future of DOOM. For many, you will remember the trailer that displayed flesh, machine, and evil beginning to merge. The creatures body began to come to life before us as the camera zoomed in upon something very twisted, sick, and evil corruption that has tainted flesh, machine, and UAC parts. For many of us, the anticipation began to arise within us when we saw the Cyberdemon come to life and power-up its weapons right before our eyes. This all seemed surreal when it turned and moved towards the nearest airlock to it. Within those moments we got to hear the classic airlock sound play, the classic shotgun load come through, and then the trailer end saying “DOOM” in all the glory it has earned. With the trailer showing the name, viewers were informed that on July 17th, 2014, would be the date of the reveal. The first day of the Bethesda hosted event named Quakecon. Our hope was once more rekindled for DOOM as that trailer ended. From there we could only wonder what was going to happen.
Within minutes of being seated, the lights focused in on the stage as Marty Stratton, the executive producer at id Software, made his way to the stage. His excitement definitely seemed to feed off the crowd as he waved off the stated 50,000 or so viewers and bid them a farewell so that those attending Quakecon 2014 could see the closed door event. Now that the room was emptied out of live streamers, we got to hear a bit more about the project. What we learned was one thing that we all wanted to hear. This latest installment is truly a reimagining of the series. They want to return it back to its roots from the days of DOOM and DOOM 2, where it was a fast paced, non-stop, blood spilling shooter. On the stage we got to hear Marty state what we all wanted to hear, “DOOM is not about taking cover. It’s not about finding a place to hide to let your health regenerate. It’s about fast, fluid combat, dodging projectiles, finding that next target and charging forward with nothing in your way of slaughtering that next demon.”
After having said that, Marty took our attention to a brief history of DOOM. It highlighted things such as the Revenants, Cacodemon, Imps, Hell Knights, and even the most beloved of enemies: Cyberdemon. He also visited the weapons that make DOOM unique such as the fan favorite, double barrel shotgun, chainsaw, and last, but not least, the BFG. All of these are going to assume will be making a nostalgia filled return. Some of them we know will and can only hope you are excited for them as the crowd was. After a brief discussion of DOOM remaining on mars and the franchise history, we are witness to a legacy that has become something we knew once before. This meant one thing. DOOM 3’s go forward and push back occasion that had seemed very present even in the BFG Edition is now gone, and will allow for a return to the once fast paced series. After a short briefing of the footage for the E3 trailer we saw played, one thing was evident: the crowd knew what was coming from just what we saw. When we heard Marty Stratton say the following quote, “You’ll see crazy demons. Unbelievable mechanical demons built through secret and corrupt UAC experiments. Demon’s like hell knights, the cyberdemon, zombiemen, the revenant, pinkie and many more. Whether these demons are something familiar, or something totally new, each of them is designed to create a unique combat experience, regardless of whether you are fighting against it, killing it, or being killed by it.”
When Stratton said that? We saw him build the crowd's excitement as claps roared from the Ventrilo Main Stage ballroom at Quakecon 2014. After a few more small notes that were made, a few jokes, and acknowledgements about the new id Tech 6 (jokingly stated as we heard from him, id Tech 666 Engine, the pun is fully intended), Stratton introduced Steven Serafin from the DOOM development team who was making his way up onto the stage.
As Steven got the demo ready for us to see, Stratton confirms that DOOM is committed to 1080p at 60 frames per second. What does this mean? We are unsure at this time if that is for both PC and the new-gen or just PC. We can only assume that they mean both, which is something we really can’t wait to have, and the crowd confirmed that theory, and what came out next? We were not disappointed as fellow writer Jonny Red leaned over, commenting about the HUD design popping up as the main character put his helmet on for seemingly the first time, and with it, a very futuristic screen that displayed a booting sequence within the helmets face piece.
In the following minutes, Serafin dispatches several demons rather brutally as they spawned in around him, allowing him to move to them, melee them, rip out the first imp-like demons heart, only to drop it once done. Within seconds he moved for the next demon only to once more demonstrate one more of the many brutal kills we saw, which was his character snapping the enemies arm in order to proceed to the killing blow that followed shortly after. This was not the only one we would get to see and we knew it. Stratton knew we would see a game that was brutal, fast, and in your face. That is exactly we got to see and now need . After a few seconds Serafin was once more dispatching another enemy, sweeping it from its feet only to deliver a curb stomp-like killing blow. Once the room was clear, Serafin began to venture on, letting us see the new face of the revenant as it flew by with its jet packs allowing him to hover momentarily. It even remained to have the pure bone face that made Jonny and I think of only one thing: it needs to die and soon. Venturing on through his destination, Serafin moved to a bio scanner for the doors. What does this mean for him? He needed a hand-print and the only ones that would be around are well… Dead. In order to solve this problem, a body in the corner was spotted and the only logical thing would be to drag the corpse and use the hand. What’s the fun in that when demons are lurking around every corner? This made us not think out of the box like the development team did. Who ever thought he would use the corpses hand in order to unlock his door he needed open? He did just that by ripping the hand off the body, then using it for the what he needed so that he could walk through the now unlocked door. This gave us a look at the fact this game is meant to be brutal, dark, and very gory. Now we learned something unexpected, DOOM definitely has some new tricks up its sleeve on the side of brutality and exploration.
With us being as excited as we are for it, one thing is now for certain, id Tech 6 is an engine that could possibly set a standard for many of the games coming out within the near by future. This is something I’m sure many of the artists within id Software can be very impressed with, especially with how well received the demo’s came off as from the fans at Quakecon 2014 as they walked around the showroom floor discussing the game.
Stepping aside later, I was able to discuss the games future, the graphics, and even what was impressive about it with both team members of the development team, but also other journalists. From here there was something that began to come through from everyone. DOOM is back and ready to allow players to once more provide a very dark setting for us to fight through in the environments designed for this game.
With all things put aside, DOOM is returning to what we knew and loved as kids. With all that said we truly can’t wait to get our hands on it. Unfortunately, it seems that it may be a year or so before we do, but it’ll be time well spent waiting as anticipation grows within those who witness the reveal demo’s. All that can be said is this. There are a lot of new features, the graphics are the best witnessed to date, and what has been made will push a new look and standard for in-game graphics. With E3 2015 only a year out, we can expect something big between now and then, and if the time is right, a press kit for us to share with you. Till that time, we’ll be waiting just like you.
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