When DOOM (aka DOOM 2016) first released in 2016, it must have been seen as something almost miraculous by long-time fans. After all, the series had effectively been on hiatus since the release of DOOM 3 in 2004, and that game, ambitious though it may have been, burned a lot of longtime fans and wasn't the 3D DOOM game they had been dreaming of. Previews and footage of this game were promising, though, promising a proper return to form for the legendary, long-dormant series, combining the 3D aiming and movement of DOOM 3 with the speed, ferocity, and difficult of the classic games of yore. And that, to put it lightly, is what the game delivered.
DOOM 2016's most notable change is the way it layers complexity to the experience that enhances and expands the focus of previous games. Previous DOOMs were somewhat minimalistic in terms of their gameplay (which, admittedly, works well for this series). Kill demons, find your way to the end of the level. Wash, rinse, repeat. DOOM 64 counteracted this mindless simplicity a bit by adding more intelligent, puzzle box level design that forced the player to think about how to progress, but it still amounted to the same basic thing: kill demons, and get to the level goal. DOOM 3 shook things up a bit more dramatically by making it where the player often couldn't examine their environments AND have a gun out at the same time, which slowed down gameplay significantly and added a more distinct survival horror feel to proceedings. It also forced the player to stop for long periods of time to listen to droning audio logs from scientists located around the UAC base. The changes were interesting, but also controversial, because they didn't really fit with the ethos of DOOM.
DOOM is about movement! Action! Spontaneity! Running at breakneck speeds around hell and blasting demons in their ugly faces with missles. So it's easy to see why the changes (partially counteracted in the BFG remaster) didn't sit well with the established fanbase.
DOOM 2016 leans into the gameplay focus of older DOOMs, but establishes its own unique identity by turning the game into something of a collect-a-thon. Secret collectibles fill nooks and crannies in every level in this game: some are purely aesthetic (you can find these adorable Doom Slayer action figures throughout the game that unlock 3D models in the main menu), but most are part of an elaborate nest of upgrades that touch on almost every aspect of the game. There are multiple collectibles that I'll be discussing, but I do want to mention two immediately. You'll find the corpses of Elite Guard marines throughout the game, and collecting tokens from their lifeless bodies will allow you to upgrade your 'praetor suit' so that, for example, your in-game map displays collectibles within a certain radius, or power-ups stay active for longer, or you become more resistant to certain types of damage, and so on; Argent Cells, which contain weaponized hell energy, will, when found, permanently upgrade either the Doom Slayer's armor capacity, HP limit, or total ammo capacity, acting a lot like missile and health upgrades in Metroid games.
I said before that DOOM 2016 embraces the 3D movement of DOOM 3, but that really is an understatement. DOOM revels in three-dimensional freedom in a way few games do. This is perhaps what informs the level design of the game: while there are corridors and keycards/colored skulls used to access new areas, as in previous games, they are a minor element in this game. The confusing labyrinths of hallways and doors are largely a thing of the past here, and DOOM opts for levels that feel incredibly open. There are, of course, the obvious arena-like environments where gigantic enemy skirmishes take place, but the levels in general feel very spacious, organic, and vertical. This is made clear in the game's very first level, which takes place on the surface of Mars, as you trek between buildings and explore ridges, hills, and blasted structures while fighting off waves of demons. Later levels feature significant platforming elements, multi-layered structures where battles take place, and so on. Jumping is now a huge part of the equation, and that becomes even more the case when the player unlocks equipment that allows the Doom Slayer to double jump. There are times when I'm reminded of a Metroid Prime game... although that impression fades a bit as the thrash metal soundtrack kicks off, and I'm flying between platforms and structures, sniping demons as I pass over them before landing and snapping enemy necks.
I know I've mentioned this in relation to other DOOM games, but I genuinely cannot imagine playing this game with anything other than a mouse and keyboard. DOOM 2016 is heavily reliant on split-second decision-making and speed, and I found I often had a small window of time to actually line up a shot, given the demons in this game are often as adept at parkour as I am. Even moreso than with previous games in the series, the only way for the player to avoid dying almost immediately, especially on higher difficulties like Ultra-Violence or Nightmare, is to continually be moving. Stopping means death. Slowing down means death. DOOM is perhaps the most aggressive action game I've ever played, and the only way the player stays alive is by becoming a sort of monster themselves, hurtling themselves at grotesque foes with almost reckless abandon.
It shouldn't come as a surprise that the game is also horrifically violent. Not that older DOOM games were shy of blood, but this entry dials the brutality up several notches, and you're rarely going for more than a minute or two without inflicting all manner of grievous injuries on the denizens of hell with your powerful weapons. Even being somewhat desensitized to depictions of violence, I was rather flabbergasted the first time I chainsawed an enemy in half for ammunition (chainsaw executions are used to both instantly kill enemies and recover ammunition in this game, although limited gasoline keeps the player from abusing the mechanic). It was so raw and... juicy.
The level of on-screen violence is elevated even further with this game's glory kill system. Every demon in this game has a damage threshold where they're staggered and will begin flashing. If the player presses the punch key while close to them during this period, they'll perform a glory kill, which is a brief animation that leads instantly to the death of the forementioned enemy. I initially worried that this would break up the marvelous pacing of the combat, but I actually found it enhanced it: combat is so vicious and overwhelming in DOOM that the brief animations allowed my brain a second of respite in order to process what was happening, which allowed me to keep up with the game's high-wire ballet of gore and death. If that wasn't enough incentive on its own, I should probably also point out that glory killing enemies causes them to drop more health when they die. The best defense in this game is ALWAYS a hyper-violent offense.
The glory kill system also enhances a status effect that I found didn't work very well in previous DOOM games. In past iterations, the "Berserk" status effect allowed the player to run up to demons and kill them in a single punch. But punching in first person shooters has always been sort of awkward, and I found this status effect never worked well for me. Berserk status is AWESOME in DOOM 2016, though, because the punches are replaced with automatic glory kills. And they're even more spectacularly gruesome than the normal ones. Where you might smash an enemy's face in with your boot during a normal glory kill, you'll suddenly be ripping them in half, tearing their skulls apart, and otherwise totally obliterating them in a glorious manner that recalls the fatalities in Mortal Kombat games.
I've harped on about the violence, but, in truth, it's so constant and outlandish that the visceral impact of it quickly fades. Once you've torn off a demon's leg and beat the creature to death with it hundreds of times, the shock wears off, and you're able to appreciate the unique grace your ultra-violent dances of death possess.
In terms of the glory kills, it's worth mentioning that they're actually context sensitive. You'll perform different glory kills on a given enemy depending on where you're aiming and how you're positioned when you trigger the animations. Which leads, I think, into a brief discussion about another one of the features of this game: level challenges.
Starting with the second level of DOOM, you'll have access to three challenges in every level. Progress toward goal completion is reset if the players exits the level, so they have to be undertaken in one go. Challenges can range from having to find certain collectibles to finding optional easter eggs within the levels (one particularly tricky challenge required me to find a random computer on which to play a DOOM-themed Bejeweled clone). One challenge type that seemed to continually crop up would ask me to kill certain demons with certain targeted glory kills a specific number of times. This sounds simple enough, but a number of the glory kills in this game are obnoxiously hard to trigger, with the worst being one that required me to target the lower half of the right leg of an enemy demon that didn't show up significantly often within the level itself. It's interesting how contextual the glory kills are, but I found the targeted glory kill challenges to be little more than a nuisance.
In terms of weapons availability, DOOM 2016 doesn't rock the boat by introducing much in the way of new weaponry (I believe the Gauss Cannon is new, but that's about the only one that doesn't have some level of precedent in previous DOOM games), but instead opts to reintroduce almost every major weapon from previous games in the series and make them feel better than ever. This includes the double-barreled ("super") shotgun, and it's as amazing and stupidly overpowered as it ever was. That's not to say, of course, that the weapons have been left untouched. One of the many joys of exploration in this game is finding these adorable field drones that give selectable weapon modifications to the Doom Slayer. These modifications can be swapped on the fly, and their unique effects can be strengthened via weapon upgrade points, which are earned by completing level challenges and discovering secrets, typically. A weapon mod, once fully upgraded, will finally unveil a "mastery challenge." Mastery challenges typically involve challenges that require skillful use of the upgraded weapon mod. Mastering these challenges grants one final upgrade to the weapon's effectiveness that makes it significantly more useful. For example, with the fore-mentioned super shotgun, completing the weapon mastery challenge allows you to fire the weapon twice in quick succession before reloading, which can make quick work of even the most powerful enemies at short range.
I'd also be loathe not to mention runes and rune trials as well. The player will find hidden portals throughout the game that will transport them to rune trials. In these trials, the player has to accomplish some sort of goal in a short amount of time, often with severe handicaps imposed. For example, a trial goal might be "kill 20 demons in 30 seconds using only [insert weapon]," and you'll additionally be limited to a small amount of ammo, most of which you'll have to scavenge from the environment. Some trials also task the player with reaching a location within a specific amount of time. Completing these trials will unlock runes that will additionally have their own challenges the player must complete before the rune can be equipped. Runes are powerful, though, and can do anything from dramatically increase the period of time in which demons are staggered to give the player full control of their mid-air mobility when jumping or falling, which helps tremendously when one is trying to access hard-to-reach secrets stuck out on distant ledges.
Everything in this game feels designed to work together to make the player stronger, faster, and more effective as a demon-killing machine. The primary reason this nest of collectibles, systems, upgrades, and challenges works out as well as it does is due to how the game goes out of its way to minimize tedium and unfairness when the player is engaging with it. Progress in level challenges, for example, doesn't reset until the player leaves the level, so dying and having to go back to a previous checkpoint doesn't erase the player's hard work, and can even be used as a technique to cheese some of the more annoying challenges in this game. When the player completes a level challenge, or collects something, they can also immediately leave the level without having to finish it, which shortens the playtime dramatically for someone going for 100% completion. If there is one thing that DOOM 2016 doesn't like to do, it's to waste the player's time.
Thankfully, this respect for the player's time applies to the storytelling in DOOM 2016 as well.
DOOM actually has what is probably the best narrative in the series. Granted, the plot is essentially identical to other DOOM games: greedy megacorp discovers Hell, thinks: "oh, it'd be a splendid idea to try and exploit Hell's resources for our own ends," and then, as it always does, Hell finds a way to invade our dimension, necessitating the gory antics of our silent hero. The game begins rather memorably, with the Doom Slayer awakening to find himself strapped down to a table next to a sarcophagus, demons bearing down on him. After donning a suit of power armor, our intrepid hero is contacted by the gravel-voiced Dr. Samuel Hayden, the UAC scientist primarily responsible for the plan to use argent energy from Hell to solve Earth's energy crisis. The dynamic between your character and Hayden is interesting and tense: Hayden, for his part, fully plans on continuing his research into exploiting Hell's resources, but woke the Doom Slayer out of desperation after one of his lead subordinates struck a deal with Hell and built a devil-worshipping cult under his nose that led to the invasion; the Doom Slayer, on the other hand, has only one goal: smash anything even tangentially related to Hell or demons. There's also a third party that factors in: a sentient artificial intelligence named VEGA, whose role in the game grows over time, and who, I thought, had a great character arc as time went on.
Where DOOM 2016 really shines is in the worldbuilding. The DOOM Slayer, for example, has made something of a name for himself in Hell, and you'll discover "testaments" in Hell that narrate the exploits of the character in Hell since he decided to stay there at the end of DOOM 64.
Hell itself is... organized, we learn. Imperialistic. There are conquered worlds and an entire mythology the player can learn about. Even game-y mechanics like power-ups are given naturalistic in-game explanations. You could probably spend a decent chunk of time reading all of the supplemental material that appears in the informational lore collectibles you find around both the UAC and Hell.
This is all delivered mostly non-intrusively. Lore pick-ups, as detailed as they are, are purely optional and don't slow down the game one bit. Story bits with VEGA and Samuel Hayden tend to be communicated either via intercom, which is loud, brief, and rarely slows down the action. There are one or two exceptions to this in the game: one in-game moment where Hayden invites you to his office and talks to you about how you're going to help him seal the portal to hell was so long that I spent a good two minutes bouncing around the room like a maniac. I can only imagine what it looked like to Samuel as my impatient Doom Slayer jumped on his desk, spun in the air around him, ran into walls, and so on as he tried to have a serious conversation with me about the apocalyptic predicament at hand.
But, for the most part, the game is able to tell a story while also keeping the pacing lightning fast.
In terms of enemy variety, DOOM 2016 seems to be the best in the series. Almost all of the classic demons return, and a few new ones are introduced. Returning demons are often similar to their old iterations, but much scarier and more dynamic: Imps crawl all over the walls; Hell Knights will come bounding up to you and attempt to crush you with mighty strikes to the Earth; Revenants flit around in an unstable manner, firing rockets off left and right (thankfully, they no longer home in on the player); "Pinky" demons have the animalistic instincts of their DOOM 3 iterations, but, stylistically, recall the classic demons from the older DOOMs, and have to be baited into charging past you, because their thick hides protect from most damage in the front; the "possessed," zombie-like enemies that are humans in the first stages of transformation after being exposed to Hell, return from DOOM 3 as well.
Arch-Viles are gone, but replaced by a similar and far more annoying enemy, called "the summoner." Summoners are more feminine in design and spawn demons/spam damaging waves of energy like arch-viles of old. What makes fighting them anxiety-inducing is the way they zip around the battlefield at insane speeds, making them exceedingly difficult to shoot. As is DOOM tradition, the first one you fight is a sort of mini-boss, and they begin appearing as regular enemies later on. They're always the first enemy I target in an ambush, because focusing on lesser demons first is an easy way to get quickly overwhelmed by their quick attacks.
The only fully new enemy in this game is the Hell Razer, which is just a demon that can shoot lasers out of its arms. The lasers are easy enough to dodge, thankfully, and Hell Razers are easier to dispatch than imps thanks to their slower, much more humanoid body types.
The real upgrade on the enemy front in DOOM 2016 is the bosses. A DOOM game FINALLY has decent bosses, with attack patterns that can be dodged without hiding behind buildings and taking potshots, multiple forms, unique mechanics that have to be exploited to defeat them, etc. If I had any criticism of this element of the game, it'd be that the final boss is arguably less imposing than some of the fights leading up to it. I'd also have liked if the bosses were more evenly distributed throughout the game than bunched up in the last few levels like they are. With that said, I'm just satisfied to see a DOOM game finally get bosses right, as they were cheap and annoying in the older games and just underwhelming in DOOM 3.
There is a ton of in-game content to engage with after you play through the levels 2 - 3 times each, grab all the collectibles, complete all of the challenges, upgrade all of the runes, and so on. The developer patched in a fun arcade mode that essentially removes all of the forementioned variety and complexity from the game. Data logs, cutscenes, collectibles, exploration, even bosses are put by the wayside, and you focus on doing one thing and one thing only: killing demons. Killing them quickly, glory killing them, chaining multiple kills together in quick success, etc. seem to contribute to achieving a higher score multiplier, and the end of the level, you're awarded with a metal depending on how high your score got. I didn't spend much time with this, since I've played through the main game 3+ times in full by this point, but I do think it'll be a lot of fun to go back to when I just want to engage in some mindless demon slaying.
Much has been made about SnapMap, a sort of in-game level editor that allows you to create your own levels, share them with friends, play SnapMaps uploaded by others, etc. It sounds like it probably adds an insane amount of replay value to the game on top of the ultra-meaty single-player campaign and arcade mode, but I haven't messed with it at all. Probably another feature to engage with in the future (long in the future, because if I keep messing with this game's treasure trove of bonus modes and whatnot, I'm never going to get to DOOM Eternal!). There's also apparently multiple multiplayer modes, a leveling system associated with those, unlockables, a multiplayer-exclusive demon, etc. Honestly, it sounds like an entire game on its own, but I don't really care to play my games with other people, generally, and I imagine the multiplayer servers are probably fairly dead at this point, so I won't be able to say anything intelligent about that aspect of the game, either.
Oh, and I couldn't find a good place to mention this, but I HAVE to mention the levers and secret levels. Every level in this game contains a lever, usually hidden in plain sight somewhere (they blend into the background, unfortunately), that, when pulled, will unlock a secret door somewhere in the level that's styled after the classic DOOM games. Entering these rooms will unlock tough retro levels from the first two DOOM games in the main menu. They're really cool unlockables, and you'll also have to find all of the levels if you want to 100% the campaign, as they're counted as one of the secrets in every level. I'd recommend just looking up the lever locations if you're struggling to find them, however, as they can be exceedingly hard to find in this game's frequently complex and very lengthy levels.
DOOM is visually gorgeous and surprisingly well-optimized for lower-end hardware, and much of that is thanks to the powerful id Tech 6 engine, which was first used in this game. Of course, the art design is a winner as well. DOOM 2016 seems to find a balance between the darkness and grime of DOOM 3 and the neon colors and aggressive satanism of earlier games, and it works really well: I'd be terrified if going to war against the forces of hell weren't so darn fun. A lot of the environments also have a sense of scale to them that was missing in older DOOM games; especially spectacular setpieces like the long climb up the Argent Tower, where you'll spend an entire level jumping onto enormous pieces of machinery and surviving demonic ambushes as you ascend an enormous mechanical structure.
Perhaps DOOM's greatest presentational feat is in its soundtrack, though. The relatively fresh-faced Australian composer Mick Gordon's throbbing industrial metal soundtrack radiates pure aggression and infuses every battle with a practically demonic energy. Just listen to these pieces and imagine ripping and tearing your way through demonic hordes in the process. Additionally, and I don't know how the game does this, but I noticed the flow of the music often seemed to synchronize with my movements in battle. Was this just me getting really in groove with the music, or is there a responsive feedback loop between player input and what plays in the background? Either way, it's an iconic soundtrack that does an amazing job of lending a unique sense of aural identity to this game. I also liked how creepy and atmospheric the music often is outside of battle.
I guess if I had to lodge a criticism at the game's music, it'd be that it lacks diversity. There's not a lot of variety on display: the music is always either creepy-ambient or ultra-aggressive and murdery. As a result, it's not a soundtrack I'd ever listen to outside of the context of the game, and I will admit I miss the more thrash metal-inspired tunes from the original DOOM, but the composer's work here is superlative.
While I'm nitpicking, I'd also make a couple of other criticisms of the game. Firstly, I think, like most DOOM games, it's a little too easy to just fall back on the super shotgun and rely on it to carry me through the game. Since using the chainsaw on enemies restores ammunition, and ammo seems to be fairly plentiful on all difficulties through Ultra-Violence, the second highest difficulty setting in the game, and the one I played on the most, there's not a ton of incentive to branch out to other weapons when you're not chasing weapon challenges. It's easy to stick with a handful of weapons that fit your playstyle and totally ignore the rest most of the time. The BFG is also a little unbalanced. Granted, its ammo is fairly limited, but it has been turned from an instadeath shot to a weapon that'll clear an entire room of baddies in one shot.
While the game is full of cool optional and post-game content to engage with that's structured in a user-friendly manner, I can't deny that it succumbs to checklist-itis a bit. Whereas in previous DOOM games I was only concerned with having a blast murdering demons, I spent way too much time going back to my menu to check my map and challenge lists to see if I missed anything (oh, and I didn't mention this, but the complex environments in DOOM are rendered perfectly navigable thanks to this game's amazing 3D map). Attempting to complete weapon, level, and rune challenges also drastically impacted the way I fought in battles, often leading to me battling in a sub-optimal manner to try and tick off another item on a checklist. All of the various challenges, upgrades, etc. also serve to complicate what used to be a blissfully uncomplicated experience.
Finally, the game is structured around a checkpoint system that disallowed normal game saving procedures, which I found rather uncomfortable to adjust to after previous DOOMs all let me save my game wherever, but it didn't end up being too much of an issue for me.
The Wrap-Up
If my complaints about the game sounded feeble or half-hearted, it's because they were, and I listed them only in an attempt at objectivity. The truth is that DOOM 2016 is one of the best video games I've ever played. Even moreso than DOOM 64, it addresses almost every problem with previous DOOM games while simultaneously taking the scale of the experience and the moment-to-moment awesomeness of it to new heights. DOOM has fully regained its status as supreme overlord of the first-person shooter genre (in terms of its single-player campaign, at least), and every similar game developed in its wake is going to have to try harder to step out from under its titanic shadow. I'm giving this a rare, but well-earned, 10/10.
@RogerRoger
Finally got this piece in a state I'm semi-satisfied with.
I started out playing on Hurt Me Plenty and then dialed up the difficulty to Ultra-Violence soon thereafter, as Hurt Me Plenty is a little gentle for my liking. With that said, I don't think I'll be playing on Nightmare difficulty any time soon. I like actually enjoying my games, and demons can already kill you in a few hits in Ultra-Violence.
Yeah, the level design is great. Playing the games in order, it's so impressive to go from the confused, endless labyrinths of the original DOOM to the sweeping vistas and complex verticality of DOOM 2016. It's one of those series where the developers keep clearly improving on things with nearly every iteration (DOOM 3 was sort of a sidegrade, but I still liked it). Technologically, it's just so impressive. It also runs well on potato hardware: even my previous PC ran the game on low settings at 60fps. And even on low graphics, the game is still gorgeous.
Speaking of potato hardware, the Switch version is actually my favorite console version of the game. The halved framerate and muddy textures aren't great coming from other versions, of course, but it's responsive enough on lower difficulties once you get used to it. Putting aside the portability (which, c'mon, is the only reason to play any non-exclusive on a Switch), the reason I appreciate that version is because of the gyro aiming. It's not as responsive as mouse aiming, but it's a fair sight better than using dual analog. Even as someone who grew up with consoles, I've always sucked at aiming with sticks. I tried out the PS4 demo of DOOM, and it was pathetic; my skills were similar to that Polygon guy who demoed DOOM and struggled to hit anything with his gun.
But having played the PC version, I'm not chomping at the bit to play the same game with worse performance and at 4x the cost. That DOOM runs on a handheld is supremely cool, but it's not really a game that benefits tremendously from portability, IMO. And since I've been cooped up in the house so much this year, having portable versions of games is less of a draw than it used to be.
I guess I need to invent a juice scale, huh? From year old orange to fresh watermelon cut open in the summer, perhaps?
@RogerRoger Danke! I tried to hit all of the major bases with this game. The basic presentation is easy to talk about, but there's SO MUCH under the surface. I didn't really expect the collect-a-thon aspect either. I expect some people probably play the game once and mostly ignore that aspect of it, but it really takes over in the post-game clean-up.
😂 I did go into particular detail about the gore with you in mind, since I figured you'd appreciate a warning on that front. It really is incredibly visceral. Which it'd have to be, I guess: OG DOOM was controversial for its time, but the bar for violent content has been raised so high now that you have to go full on splatterpunk to achieve a similar effect.
You know, I played Wolfenstein: The New Order years ago and (mostly) enjoyed it, but I can't, for the life of me, remember any music from it. I really should revisit the game. Especially now that I'm not a complete goober when it comes to M+K controls!
I've noticed I rely on certain words and phrases as a textual crutch. If I hit ctrl-f and see 5+ hits for a certain phrase, I know I have work to do. Thankfully, we can endlessly edit our own posts, so I go back every once in a while and touch up something in a previous review. I expect I'll do the same with this one.
Eternal is definitely on the list in a few months. With that said, I think I'm going to play and review some shorter and more obscure games in the meantime. I have a LOT of those in my Steam backlog. I've never even heard of half of these games. I'm guessing a lot of them came packaged in bundles with other stuff I wanted.
@RogerRoger Well, in fairness, I usually don't replay games either, but I do try to fully experience them when I do play them.
Within reason, anyway. I won't spend hundreds of hours going for all of the endings in a long game, I'll just take what I get and be satisfied with it.
I don't see how the bar could possibly get higher with violence in games. You can now slice and dice a body in every which way in modern games. I suppose there will be incremental increases in realism, but that's about it.
And, I kind of alluded to this, but I think that's why I could tolerate the savagery in DOOM. It's not realistic. It's hyperviolent to the point of sheer cartoon absurdity. It doesn't have the suffering and tragedy to it that accompanies the violent action of something like The Last of Us Part II, gameplay of which still frequently turns my stomach.
It also helps that all of the violence is being inflicted on monsters.
The biggest problem with TNO for me is that it's a much more explicitly "cinematic" game than DOOM is. DOOM is a masterclass in pure, unbridled gameplay, like most of Nintendo's output, whereas Wolfenstein is a narrative you invest yourself in. It also features stealth and planning versus the Doom Slayer's "LEEROY JENKINS!" approach. But it has been years, so I am interested in revisiting it and seeing if my opinion changes at all.
Heh, glad to see I'm not the only neurotic person around here.
And thanks! I had a tough time writing this piece. Lots of false starts. I restructured it and rewrote entire pages multiple times. And, of course, the inner critic is an irrepressible b*tch. Even re-reading it, when I can't specifically pinpoint anything wrong, certain turns of phrases and descriptions still make me cringe. So it does mean a lot to hear that I managed to cobble together something halfway readable.
Well, I'm not really buying the games blind, persay. It's more like: "Oh, I can get one or two games I want for a good price, and these other games I've never heard of before come along with them, so why not!" That's the reason I have a Call of Duty game in my Steam library, for example: I got it for $15 alongside the Crash trilogy, the Spyro trilogy, and about three other games. Primarily through Humble Bundle.
It's not quite as good as it used to be, but there are still some excellent bundle deals on there, and it's nice that you can choose how much of your money goes to charity!
@Ralizah Yeah, I didn’t find the violence that bad to be honest just because it’s so cartoonish that it’s almost comical. I find myself wincing more even in a game like Assassin’s Creed just because the slightly more realistic visceral kills sound squelchy while not being OTT.
@nessisonett My sister, for her part, loves gore films and stuff like bloody surgical footage, but she can't play Monster Hunter because the pained sounds when you wound creatures in that game, and especially the limping behavior when they're grievously injured, just does her in.
@RogerRoger Everyone's different, and has their own triggers and limitations. With that said, I'm not TOO worried about being desensitized as someone who has, on at least one occasion, seen brutal real life violence first-hand, because it's so different than the cartoon excesses of a game like DOOM. If I worry about the effects of any video game violence more broadly, it's the far less intimate 'depersonalized' violence of games like Call of Duty, which organizations like the US Army are using to 'game-ify' war and death by de-personalizing it. Granted, I suppose DOOM does as well, but it's very upfront about what you're doing. You always see the full and immediate consequences of what you're doing.
With all that being said, I've noticed that seeing some level of suffering first hand and the natural process of aging has had a softening effect on me over the years in terms of where I'm willing to draw the line with my entertainment. When I was a teenager, I could have played something like TLOU Part II just fine, but it approximates horrible and needless human suffering enough that it would just hurt me these days. Of course, this is all just me: as I said, we all have our triggers and limitations, and I think it's perfectly valid to drift away from even obviously outlandish gore if you feel like it's going to move you in an emotional direction that's unhealthy for you.
Your pieces flow great and are well-written, so I'm rather impressed that even the longer ones are essentially written in one go. I wish I could do that. There are two or three shorter reviews where I was able to do that, but, in general, anything longer or more elaborately constructed takes time, planning, and a lot of effort from me. I do appreciate your "ripping the band-aid off" philosophy as well. It's so easy to allow self-doubt to win, say: "this is embarrassingly poor work that nobody else should be forced to read," and lose out on hours of what might have been decent writing.
On the forums, I have that issue as well, but posting is no real solution for me, since I can endlessly edit my posts. I'm ALWAYS tempted to go back and tinker with what I've written. I succumb to the temptation quite often, unfortunately. Kudos to your approach of posting something and then leaving it to the world.
A few other sites to watch, if I haven't linked to them before:
www.cheapassgamer.com (this is a useful resources for sales across ALL platforms)
www.greenmangaming.com (some really impressive deals on newer games at times)
www.reddit.com/r/GameDeals/
@Ralizah It’s been said but I’ll add my adulation for the fabulous DOOM review. It was fun to re-experience the game in my head through reading your thoughts. And I pretty much agree across the board with most of your praise. I’m coming from a different perspective with it being my first DOOM game, but it was no less enjoyable without the history to compare it to. Anyways, outstanding writing and spot on critique.
It’s interesting discussion as well generated by @RogerRoger@nessisonett and others, in particularly the ultra violence and where each of us draw our own line in the sand with content. I’m more squeamish than most, but found DOOM to be easy to digest after the first couple hours, and I think the “cartoony” nature of it is responsible for that. Most of my disdain for violence in media occurs when the violence accompanies some sort of emotional hook, and directors of games and film play into that purposefully at times (like the aforementioned tugging at the heart strings when a creature limps away in Monster Hunter World). In playing God of War currently, the irony is not lost on me of how there is a moment when an animal is killed (and I hope I’m not spoiling anything, I’ll try to be vague) when the music ramps up, the camera pans to characters faces to show regret and grief and I, as the player, can’t help but feel remorse and guilt, all the while I’ve brutally slaughtered countless demons and demigods prior and afterwards.
The ultra violence is the single most reason for hesitation to playing TLoU2 because of the cited realism and intentional weightiness.
Another example — I recently have been on a DC kick and watched the movie Joker and then immediately moved on to Birds of Prey: Harley Quinn and it’s an example of two very violent movies, but in the former you feel legitimate emotional impact and cringe at some of the powerful violence and in the latter it’s all comical and ridiculous. (Come to think of it, Birds of Prey’s violence probably seems comical because the movie is so atrocious that its very existence seems like a practical joke to the fandom... but I digress 😜)
Anyways, as time goes on (and whether it’s society and culture’s evolution or my own aging perspective of life) I am not as put off by violence per se as I used to be. I’ve found it a powerful story-telling tool. So for me it’s all about context.
@Th3solution I'm pretty sure I know the moment you're talking about. As someone who looks up movies beforehand to see whether that specific animal is going to be killed off for cheap dramatic effect early on, as they often are, you can understand why I noped out of TLOU Part II pretty hard.
I'm not into emotional torture porn either, so establishing guilt over behaviors that the player is forced to engage in seems similarly cheap to me. Like, yep, I sure feel bad about doing that thing you made me do.
I think you're currently playing Undertale for the Game Club, right? The element of player guilt figures prominently in that as well, but I've always loved how the game never actually forces you to engage in any of the behaviors you might end up feeling guilty about. Undertale satirizes the standardized and unthinking reliance on violence in RPG story progression, and so its effective use of guilt is a means to an end of making the player question their own unthinking obedience to its structure and mechanics. Your experience with the creature in question in TLOU Part II would have been far more meaningful if you had the choice of actually trying to avoid killing it.
I'm all about humanizing enemies in video games if there's a point to it, but the bit you're referencing, and probably the game in general, is just intended to inflict suffering on the player using its characters as a proxy.
@mookysam I never got on with the Wii's IR tech, personally. I like how gyro is just slight fluctuations in hand movements, whereas IR games require you to point at specific points in space relative to the censor. It's exhausting, and unlike a lot of people, I found RE4 almost impossible to play that way.
As for the juicy scale, maybe 0 could be like a lone grape that fell down the side of the fridge and turned into a shrivelled, forgotten raisin, shrouded in dust and mould. It's only company a dead spider with three legs missing.
That sounds awfully specific. Bad childhood memory?
@RogerRoger Yeah, we all have to carry our own crosses, in terms of what we've endured and inflicted on others in the past. I try always to never make assumptions about the lives and experiences of the people I talk to, and, as much as possible, temper the severity of my reactions to the often frankly baffling perspectives of other people with that inherent epistemic limitation in mind.
In terms of age and growing more empathic, I don't think it's actually anything inherent to the process. The cruelest and kindest people I've known have mostly been older individuals. Rather, I think, barring life-shaking events that fundamentally change how we think about the world, people tend to grow less spiritually pliable as they grow older. Maturity, as you allude to, also factors in, and seems to be connected to empathy in some manner. My father is not what I would describe as a "bad" man, but he is someone fundamentally lacking in empathy and maturity, and, as a result, I find it almost impossible to talk to him for any length of time without an argument brewing.
I'm glad the review index has been so well-received! Now I just have to hope I'm years away from a hard limit on how many characters that first post of mine can contain.
@Ralizah Yes, I am doing my best to play Undertale along with the club, although I’m not quite enjoying it as much as I’d hoped. This is my second attempt at the game, and I am liking it a little better this time. Part of the problem I have is honestly the paradigm shift in playstyle that you refer to and the first go around I didn’t really understand the game and how the aggressive response is optional. It’s a really fascinating design choice and I can see the power of the statement being made by the developer. But so far the message isn’t strong enough to make the strange gameplay enjoyable though. Perhaps it will if I can stick it out to the end.
Some of the best game messages or lessons that I’ve experienced have occurred at a game’s conclusion.
Dead or Alive 5: Last Round (PS4) - Don't have too much time to play PS4 these days, so I finally bit for this since I casually enjoyed the past DOA games as something to quickly drop in & out of, so I've goofed around with it enough the past few weekends to have some thoughts on it.
This title looks totally serious.
Gameplay:
It's a 3D fighter with a generally fast paced combat flow centering on a rock, paper, scissors mechanic (strikes beat grapples, grapples beat blocks, and blocks beat strikes) and combo juggling your opponent into oblivion (while it is possible to counter strikes at the right moment, which is useful in higher calibur play if you can get to grips with it, in general if someone gets locked into a combo prepare for around half of their total health to take a hit before really getting a chance to retaliate).
Otherwise the stages are highly interactive and will either have electrified boundaries (or even floors!) or have the ability for combatants to be knocked off a ledge or through a wall (and even through a weak floor!) into a different area accuring damage during impacts on the way down (some stages have a set number of drops, while a few actually infinitely loop between 2 or 3 areas). Maybe not the best for competitive play (though I'm sure there are options to shut it off), but as someone who just plays for casual fun I never tire of the spectacle (one of my favorites is a stage that starts off on the top of a skyscraper with some steel beams on one of the corners, and the first time someone gets knocked into the corner the beams fall down, and the second time the fighter falls off into a traffic accident caused by the beams, bouncing off of an exploding semi). There are usually some other interactive elements as well, such as objects (like glaciers, tables, etc.) that are breakable, certain grapples will be different up against a wall, and getting into water will temporarily wet the combatants' clothes.
In terms of content on offer it has a Story mode (a couple hours long campaign that puts you in the shoes of most characters, each usually has 3 fights, interspersed with cutscenes), Arcade (with 7 difficulty options, you'll face a set number of randomized foes), Survival (kind of an endless mode I suppose), and of course the standard Free Play & Training modes (including a mode where you can practice going through each character's combo pool). Most modes have Tag Team variants (which is pretty self explanatory) & online play. It even has a Spectator mode where you can view fights you've saved or watch endless CPU bouts with a (pretty barebones) photo mode so you can capture that special moment.
It has a pretty full roster that features nearly every character that has appeared in the series thus far, newcomers Rig, Mila, Phase 4 (a Kasumi clone), Nyotengu, Honoka, & Marie Rose, further Ninja Garden crossover with Rachael & Momiji joining the fray, Virtua Fighter guests Akira, Jacky, Sarah, & Pai, and even King of Fighter's Mai Shiranui (although a pretty natural fit, she's one of only two DLC characters not part of the core game).
Of course alt costumes have long been a core part of DOA's appeal, and the game doesn't short change on that front. Each character starts out with 2 costumes unlocked, and have anywhere from around 5 - 12 to unlock, with a couple usually being pallet swaps (the female fighters tend to have more costumes). They are unlocked in consecutive order each time you clear arcade mode with a fighter (as far as I can tell this can all be done so on the easiest difficulty, though I can't say definitively as I'm most definitely not going clear it a dozen times with each character). Outside of that it has an absolutely obscene amount of DLC costumes (some of the female fighters have dozens, & I mean costume counts that get into the 50's when combined with what they have in the base game). They are usually sold for $2-$3 a pop, or bundled together in $20-$30 groupings (the game itself at this point is $40, so even two bundles at this point will likely cost more than the game itself, and again it has over a dozen different bundles, so you do the math). Of course this is all purely cosmetic, so if you feel the need to buy absolutely everything rather than the occasional outfit for your favorite few characters maybe that's more on you (some people absolutely lambasted KT for the total cost of all the DLC). Full disclosure, I caved and bought a couple of bundles of crossover licensed costumes (including the Senran Kagura set), as the licenses are starting to run out and are being delisted from the store (the game came out in 2015, and a few sets were delisted earlier this year, while one of the sets I bought was delisted just a few days after the fact). The vast majority are original though (or from other KT owned franchises like Dynasty Warriors) so shouldn't be going anywhere any time soon. Another thing to note is that some of the DLC costumes get battle damage & break apart (they are noted by a red star on the selection screen).
I should also mention about the DLC costumes is that when you buy the game you'll be prompted to download a few dozen free "costume catalogs" as well. You don't have to download them, but they contain the data for the DLC costumes so you'll need them installed to see them online (if your opponent is using one) or buy the DLC yourself. Also, I forgot to mention before that each character usually has 2 or 3 random DLC costumes unlocked from the getgo along with their default 2 base game costumes (I guess as a taste of what you'd get with the full set), so that's another reason to download these. I figured I should mention it though as I've seen some confusion online from those who've purchased DLC that isn't showing up (it's because they forgot to DL the corresponding catalog beforehand).
Visual/Audio:
It was originally a PS360 title, so nothing cutting edge, but it looks really clean & performs really well on PS4. The fighter models themselves still look really appealing if I say so myself. Stages look crisp and range from futuristic labs/military instillations, colorful natural venues & tropical resorts, neon infused metropolises, dingy urban back lots & more.
Didn't really get a good overall shot of a stage, so here's Ninja Gaiden's Ryu Hayabusa doing a bit of self promotion while fighting Virtua Fighter's Akira.
DOA has always been known for specific "details" of it's character models, and DOA5: Last Round goes all out on options in that regard. To get the elephant out of the room first, yes, there are 4 different options in regards to the series' staple jiggle physics. It's set to "Natural" by default (with minimal movement), however they can also be set to "DOA" (classic eggagerated physics), "LR" (I'm assuming exclusive to Last Round, gives the female fighters completely bonkers DOA Extreme levels of mobility), or you can even turn them off completely. "DOA" & "LR" modes even include bonus jiggle mapped to the DS4's gyro function. Outside of that, there are options to turn on sweat & dirty appearances if fights last awhile or a character gets knocked to the ground.
I wouldn't say it has standout music, but what it has fits the theme of the game. Has kind of a rockish sound in the menus, and a soft ballad type number that plays during the story mode credits.
Story:
Believe it or not the DOA series does have an overarching narrative, though historically it's hit the same beats as typical fighter fare, with the mysterious organization known as DOATEC trying to learn the secrets of the Mugen Tenshin ninja clan in an effort to create super soldiers, and naturally they throw regular martial arts tournaments as part of their plans. Historically the story outcome was determined by which character you cleared arcade mode with (with only a few being considered canon ends, I assume), however that changes here...
You see, DOA5 is the first numbered entry in the series to feature a dedicated story mode with cutscenes and a set path (the first was Dimensions on 3DS, which cumulated the intended narratives of DOA 1 - 4 into one). At the end of DOA 4 Helena Douglas (the heiress of DOATEC's founder) destroyed the company from within (with the help of a certain ninja clan) after finding out the plans of the shadowy forces within, and here in 5, while building a newly reformed DOATEC she discovers the previous shadow forces have simply moved elsewhere continuing their work & she recruits the help of the Mugen Tenshin clan to shut them down once & for all (naturally throwing a martial arts tournament to cover her tracks in bringing them together). It's nothing fancy, but it gets the job done (though the end boss is a b**** as it can shapeshift into different characters at will, changing it's moveset). Ninja Gaiden's Ryu Hayabusa is (a playable fighter) heavily involved in the story as an ally of the Mugen Tenshin fighters (Kasumi, Ayane, & Hayate), and in fact the entirety DOA series (including the volleyball games) is canon with the modern Ninja Gaiden trilogy.
It should also be noted that DOA5 takes place after a 2 year time skip since 4, as a means of aging up Ayane, Kasumi and a few other female fighters to avoid criticism from western circles in regards to the sexualization angle (the two heroines were 16 & 17 previously, so now 18 & 19).
Conclusion:
It's not some GotY juggernaut, or even a fighter I plan on playing seriously, but I find it to be very fun comfort food when I want to jump in & out of something.
Currently Playing:
Switch - Blade Strangers
PS4 - Kingdom Hearts III, Tetris Effect (VR)
@RR529 Nice impressions on Dead or Alive 5: Last Round!
The only game I've played semi-seriously was the 3DS entry, which was a lot of fun, but man, that story mode was pure, unadulterated nonsense. Also, cranking up the 3D slider tanked the framerate. Still, it's easily my favorite fighting game on that system, and, from what I've played of it, I'd say there's a strong argument to be made for Dead or Alive 5 Plus being one of the better fighting games on the Vita. Pity the series seems to have bypassed the Switch entirely.
"DOA" & "LR" modes even include bonus jiggle mapped to the DS4's gyro function.
lmao
It's too bad Sony went full puritan a couple of years back. It'd be hilarious to see what fanservice game devs would have done with the Dualsense controller.
Currently Playing: Fields of Mistria (PC); Cookie Clicker (PC); Metaphor: ReFantazio (PC); Overboard! (PC)
@RR529 I put quite a bit of time into DOA5 when the free version hit PS3. I don't play it competitively, but DOA has always been a fun pick up n' play fighting game for me.
Since I'm a fighting game freak, I should probably write a review for one here if I decide which one to tackle.
"We don't get to choose how we start in this life. Real 'greatness' is what you do with the hand you're dealt." -Victor Sullivan "Building the future and keeping the past alive are one and the same thing." -Solid Snake
Just playing through the Game Of Thrones Telltale game (PS3!) on my PS5. It's an easy plat and I never got the chance to play it... it is one of the most boring experiences I've ever had. I keep zoning out and having to restart scenes. I'm never going to get through this!
@TheIdleCritic Funny. I could use almost those exact words to describe my reaction to the A Game of Thrones novel. Never ended up getting more than 150 pages in. Life is too short.
Currently Playing: Fields of Mistria (PC); Cookie Clicker (PC); Metaphor: ReFantazio (PC); Overboard! (PC)
@RogerRoger Yes... and no! I've only ever seen 2 episodes of GoT. The first was muted as my friend was watching it with headphones on, and I was next to him doing something else. The second was the one with the White Walkers. And at the end the main one held his arms up and all the dead people got up. That was cool. I actually really enjoyed it... but not enough to make me want to watch the rest of the show.
The game sounds interesting. Probably something I'd wait for VR tech before playing, because I think I'd be constantly distracted by the sense that I was 'missed out on' an integral part of the experience (even if that feeling is irrational), but it's good to hear the game works out well on a TV setup as well.
Also cool to hear about the nuanced characterization, split-perspective gameplay (playing as the baddies has never bothered me, really; I'm of the belief that, even in morally clear-cut scenarios, there's some value to seeing both sides of a story), lack of microtransactions (it really seems like EA has strived to make mostly non-exploitative Star Wars games, based on what I've heard about them), and strong campaign in general.
You mention simulation-y aspects to it... how complex are the controls? I assume it's more Star Fox than Microsoft Flight Simulator, at the end of the day?
Good work as always. The socratic format particularly works well with your more conversational style of writing.
Currently Playing: Fields of Mistria (PC); Cookie Clicker (PC); Metaphor: ReFantazio (PC); Overboard! (PC)
@RogerRoger I played through every season of The Walking Dead, dabbled in The Wolf Among Us, played the first episode of Tales From The Borderlands but it didn't do it for me at all. I want to play the Batman one, but whenever I try to download it, it ends in an error.
I've also played games like Syberia, so I've liked them in the past. I just found the pacing and writing in the Telltale GoT to be boring. Didn't grip me at all. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.
@RogerRoger Great review. And don’t worry — the people who say they don’t talk to themselves are actually the crazy ones. 😉
As for SW Squadrons, I think it sounds really good. I could never get myself into flight simulators though. This despite one of my historical fascinations being airplanes and airborne combat. I tried one of the Star Wars airship games back on PS2 or PS3 (I forget the exact title) and struggled to enjoy it, despite being a SW fanboy.
Glad you got along well with it though! Do you think this will motivate you to play games like Ace Combat?
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@RogerRoger I played through every season of The Walking Dead, dabbled in The Wolf Among Us, played the first episode of Tales From The Borderlands but it didn't do it for me at all. I want to play the Batman one, but whenever I try to download it, it ends in an error.
I've also played games like Syberia, so I've liked them in the past. I just found the pacing and writing in the Telltale GoT to be boring. Didn't grip me at all. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.
I love TTG games, played all of them several times, I think the stories and characters are great. The best are the Batman ones, classic adventure games. Can’t recommend them highly enough.
The PSVR is the best VR system on the market today.
Completion Status: 8 hours; achieved the true ending
When people think about the classic "bouncing balls off a paddle to destroy bricks" genre, their minds often pretty quickly jump to Atari arcade classic Breakout, but my go-to game in this genre has always been the more elaborate NES version of the game, called Arkanoid. Arkanoid greatly improved on the original Breakout with a rudimentary story, basic enemies, alternative brick types (generally, some bricks were harder to destroy than others, which led to differing strategies when it came to clearing them off the screen), and power-ups for your paddle and/or ball (most of these power-ups had a risk/reward factor to them: the multiball, for example, put three balls on the screen at once, which was devastatingly powerful if you were quick enough to keep juggling all three, although there was often the risk of losing all three balls because your attention was split between three fast moving objects). I'd not seen much in the way of notable elaborations of the concept until Wizorb, which apparently originally released on Xbox Live Arcade in 2011. Descriptions of the game online promise a crossover between Breakout-style gameplay and role-playing elements, which is enticing: anyone who has ever played the NDS/PSP classic Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, for example, knows how that game utilized rudimentary RPG mechanics and progression structures to radically evolve the match-3 gameplay of casual puzzle games like Bejeweled. Did it succeed at refreshing and evolving the genre for a newer, savvier generation of gamers?
...kinda.
In Wizorb, you play as Cyrus, a wizard who has arrived in the Kingdom of Gorudo to help stop the onslaught of the Demon King's forces of evil. You do this by... erm... bouncing a ball and destroying blocks. OK, so it's not the most story-driven experience in the world. Your case of operations, as it were, is Tarot Village, which has been decimated by the war. The player will venture out from this town to various lengthy chapters, which are 12 stages long and always capped off by a boss battle at the end. When you complete a given chapter, you can return to Tarot Village and use the funds you've accumulated through the various levels (gold drops from many of the blocks you destroy in the chapters, and you gain bonus gold at the end of levels when you play well) to help the devastated townsfolk rebuild their village. All of the villagers you help will reward you with an item of some sort as thanks, and certain villagers will re-open shops that you can use to buy items to help you in the game's often challenging levels.
The chapters themselves might be a bit too long. I love the gameplay, but spending 40+ minutes on twelve levels can be a bit taxing on anyone's patience, given the simplicity of the gameplay. If you struggle to keep your eye on the ball, you'll also frequently see yourself staring at a game over screen of sorts once you run out of lives in the middle of a chapter (particularly in the brutal final chapters). It is, at least, the most involved game of its type. In addition to the usual ball-bouncing gameplay, you can use MP to cast fireballs that help you destroy blocks faster, and even summon gusts of wind the alter the direction of the ball. Levels themselves can have secret exits, which you'll need to find when revisiting chapters if you want to get the best ending. Multiple levels also have switches that, when activated, allow access to secret rooms that house shops, bonus stages, etc.
Unfortunately, there's a dearth of content after you beat the game, as Wizorb doesn't appear to have any unlockable gameplay modes, and even the town-building aspect is shallow as hell. The plot itself is so rudimentary that I didn't get any real sense of satisfaction out of seeing it to the end, either. Wizorb is fun, but it also feels a bit half-baked in ways that inspired some level of disappointment in me.
Control-wise, on PC, you can opt to use keys on your keyboard or your mouse to control the paddle. And, here's the thing: the mouse is wildly faster, to the point where it's often too fast. While it's much easier to keep up with a wildly fast ball, it's also easier to get carried away and overshoot your mark most of the time. Nevertheless, it's the way I chose to play, as it added a fun skill component to the moment-to-moment gameplay.
Presentation-wise, Wizorb is a bit of a slouch on the musical side, but the pixel art is vibrant and detailed enough to be easy on the eyes.
Wizorb is a fun variation on the Arkanoid concept, with more elaborate enemies, power-ups to collect, decent bosses, and, most importantly, a fairly lengthy campaign with replayable levels and rudimentary town-building elements. In terms of how it shakes up and/or evolves the existing game design of its genre, however, it's more Pokemon Pinball than it is Puzzle Quest: the fundamental approach to how the game is played is still almost identical. As someone who played countless hours of Arkanoid on the NES as a child, I relished the opportunity to re-experience this style of gameplay, but it does nothing to reinvent the wheel, and would benefit dramatically from post-game challenges or even a randomized play mode, as there's precious little reason to return to it once the game is over with.
I've decided I'm going to start rating modern and semi-modern games. Wizorb scores a solid 6/10 in my book.
I'd never heard of Descent, but it looks pretty cool. Kinda like a standard corridor-heavy FPS from the mid-90s, but in a gunship of sorts. Interesting approach! I've added it to my steam wishlist.
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