Doom 3, developed by id Software and distributed by Activision, is by all means a state of the art first person shooter computer game utilizing the best of today’s available graphics potential. I have recently purchased this game along with my new laptop computer from Alienware and have enjoyed every minute of my gaming experience. 
<- a lil early but what the hell...
The game is available for play in two distinct methods. First there is single player mode, which when chosen, gives you the option to play solo against the computer. This option is mainly for those who do not have an internet connection and/or for those who do not want online play. Doom 3’s manual describes the game as follows, “You are a marine, one of the earth’s toughest, hardened in combat and trained for action. Shortly after reporting for duty at the Union Aerospace Corporation’s Mars research facility, a massive demonic invasion overwhelms the base, leaving chaos, horror and uncertainty in its wake. As one of only a few survivors, you must use overwhelming firepower and all of your combat skill to battle through the demon hordes, find out what went wrong and prevent the evil from spreading. Only you stand between Hell and Earth.” Simply put, you are a marine on a base on mars and have to fight demons from hell to stay alive. One new feature that sets this game apart from other first person shooters is the ability to access a PDA (personal digital assistant). This feature allows the player to view video/audio files and read email that they may have found during the game. This feature is also vital to the players survival because it lists the mission objectives and the current items/weapons they may have.
Now the second mode of play is multiplayer. This option allows the player to compete against other players online and is only available via a broadband connection. Doom 3’s manual describes online play as follows, “Doom 3 multiplayer pits up to 4 battle-hardened marines against one another in a test of combat skills and firepower. Compete in one of 4 game modes including Death match, Team Death match, Last Man Standing and Tournament.” Although online play can be, at times exciting, I prefer to play against the game to have the best experience of the graphics potential. Online play can sometimes take away from that experience.
Playing this game has left me in astonishment at how realistic games of today can be. From the shadow effects, to the shading in objects, to the realism in the death of a zombie, this game is clearly of the 21st century. The game also has a good “fear factor” to those who are not use to such games. The dialogue and eerie sound effects that are used combined with the level of realism can really give the player a good chill down their spines. Also many of the games creatures tend to pop up out of nowhere when advancing to certain areas. They usually come out of dark corners and can even show up when a door has been opened. Some even come out of a hidden area when a door that looks like a wall suddenly opens. Another unpleasant but unique feature is the ability to, once a creature is killed, shoot at the dead body until it is gone. This at times can be helpful in attracting nearby monsters to you so that you wont be surprised as you proceed.
Throughout the game, I have found some downsides that can at times be annoying. Most of the game is played in dark areas with little or no light. To combat this problem players are able to utilize a handy flashlight which happens to have unlimited battery life but then again, it is the future right? The problem with this is that you have to switch between the flashlight to see and your weapon to shoot. Id expect, since you are a marine of the future, you would have some kind of built in night vision or something. Id also expect if night vision is out of the question, that the weapons themselves be able to mount the flashlight on them like today’s current weapons, but that seems to not be possible either. I have also found that many of the emails and video/audio files that the player eventually finds are pointless. They are often a complete waste of time and are rarely useful. However, completely ignoring these things is not the best thing to do since some of them are vital to advance through the levels such as the ability to unlock doors and cabinets. Another major downside of the game is that its not to different from the original versions of Doom. I understand that it is a remake of the first Doom but they could have added more features and more open maps which could then lead to the possible use of vehicles.
The game will soon be available for the Xbox platform as well. The two versions for the most part will be identical with a few minor differences. Apart from being able to customize the resolutions and the differences in the player controls, they will be exactly the same. According to Xbox.com, “Doom 3 ships this fall and will be fully Xbox Live-enabled, including online cooperative play—a feature that the PC version won’t be receiving.”
Now in order to have an optimal playing experience, the player must have a system that meets the minimum system requirements. My Alienware system (and the help of koolaide- thx
) far surpasses the requirements which are why I am able to set the game on high resolutions resulting in better graphics and at the same time not loose game speed. As I mentioned before you must also have a broadband connection for online play. Dialup will simply not do because of the massive amounts of data that must be transmitted quickly. In addition i have attatched the file that koolaide gave me and it really helps fixing certain garphic issues.
After playing this game, it is no surprise that it has been rated M for mature by the E.S.R.B. Packed with plenty of gore, blood, violence and language its completely understandable. The use of many realistic and futuristic weapons combined with the ability to slay demons from Hell is not exactly the type of game that I would recommend to a kid, but for those who are of age and are fully aware that this is indeed just a game, I say, “Have a blast!”
<- a lil early but what the hell...The game is available for play in two distinct methods. First there is single player mode, which when chosen, gives you the option to play solo against the computer. This option is mainly for those who do not have an internet connection and/or for those who do not want online play. Doom 3’s manual describes the game as follows, “You are a marine, one of the earth’s toughest, hardened in combat and trained for action. Shortly after reporting for duty at the Union Aerospace Corporation’s Mars research facility, a massive demonic invasion overwhelms the base, leaving chaos, horror and uncertainty in its wake. As one of only a few survivors, you must use overwhelming firepower and all of your combat skill to battle through the demon hordes, find out what went wrong and prevent the evil from spreading. Only you stand between Hell and Earth.” Simply put, you are a marine on a base on mars and have to fight demons from hell to stay alive. One new feature that sets this game apart from other first person shooters is the ability to access a PDA (personal digital assistant). This feature allows the player to view video/audio files and read email that they may have found during the game. This feature is also vital to the players survival because it lists the mission objectives and the current items/weapons they may have.
Now the second mode of play is multiplayer. This option allows the player to compete against other players online and is only available via a broadband connection. Doom 3’s manual describes online play as follows, “Doom 3 multiplayer pits up to 4 battle-hardened marines against one another in a test of combat skills and firepower. Compete in one of 4 game modes including Death match, Team Death match, Last Man Standing and Tournament.” Although online play can be, at times exciting, I prefer to play against the game to have the best experience of the graphics potential. Online play can sometimes take away from that experience.
Playing this game has left me in astonishment at how realistic games of today can be. From the shadow effects, to the shading in objects, to the realism in the death of a zombie, this game is clearly of the 21st century. The game also has a good “fear factor” to those who are not use to such games. The dialogue and eerie sound effects that are used combined with the level of realism can really give the player a good chill down their spines. Also many of the games creatures tend to pop up out of nowhere when advancing to certain areas. They usually come out of dark corners and can even show up when a door has been opened. Some even come out of a hidden area when a door that looks like a wall suddenly opens. Another unpleasant but unique feature is the ability to, once a creature is killed, shoot at the dead body until it is gone. This at times can be helpful in attracting nearby monsters to you so that you wont be surprised as you proceed.
Throughout the game, I have found some downsides that can at times be annoying. Most of the game is played in dark areas with little or no light. To combat this problem players are able to utilize a handy flashlight which happens to have unlimited battery life but then again, it is the future right? The problem with this is that you have to switch between the flashlight to see and your weapon to shoot. Id expect, since you are a marine of the future, you would have some kind of built in night vision or something. Id also expect if night vision is out of the question, that the weapons themselves be able to mount the flashlight on them like today’s current weapons, but that seems to not be possible either. I have also found that many of the emails and video/audio files that the player eventually finds are pointless. They are often a complete waste of time and are rarely useful. However, completely ignoring these things is not the best thing to do since some of them are vital to advance through the levels such as the ability to unlock doors and cabinets. Another major downside of the game is that its not to different from the original versions of Doom. I understand that it is a remake of the first Doom but they could have added more features and more open maps which could then lead to the possible use of vehicles.
The game will soon be available for the Xbox platform as well. The two versions for the most part will be identical with a few minor differences. Apart from being able to customize the resolutions and the differences in the player controls, they will be exactly the same. According to Xbox.com, “Doom 3 ships this fall and will be fully Xbox Live-enabled, including online cooperative play—a feature that the PC version won’t be receiving.”
Now in order to have an optimal playing experience, the player must have a system that meets the minimum system requirements. My Alienware system (and the help of koolaide- thx
) far surpasses the requirements which are why I am able to set the game on high resolutions resulting in better graphics and at the same time not loose game speed. As I mentioned before you must also have a broadband connection for online play. Dialup will simply not do because of the massive amounts of data that must be transmitted quickly. In addition i have attatched the file that koolaide gave me and it really helps fixing certain garphic issues.After playing this game, it is no surprise that it has been rated M for mature by the E.S.R.B. Packed with plenty of gore, blood, violence and language its completely understandable. The use of many realistic and futuristic weapons combined with the ability to slay demons from Hell is not exactly the type of game that I would recommend to a kid, but for those who are of age and are fully aware that this is indeed just a game, I say, “Have a blast!”
All i know is that the tweak helped me out a lil bit. If you want to dl the file and decipher it for all of who are in the same boat as me, please do so 
