Games not designed with VR first have a tendency to be rather hit-or-miss, but the PSVR adaptation of DOOM 3 – the black sheep of the esteemed shooter franchise – is most definitely a hit. A shooter lives and dies by how the gunplay is, and DOOM 3 VR’s shooting is spectacular. While using the PSVR Aim Controller is definitely the superior experience, using a regular DualShock 4 is a surprisingly competent alternative. This holds true both in the actual controls, and in regards to tracking. Despite trying multiple setups, with multiple controllers, we didn’t run into a single tracking hiccup, which as PSVR gamers know, is a rarity. While the DualShock is better suited to seated play, the Aim is great for standing, even if some of the buttons that you need to use regularly are very awkward to reach.
Less successful is comfort while playing. DOOM is, of course, renowned for being a fast-paced franchise, and as such, the game is able to induce nausea easily. Even coming from someone who is almost never susceptible to motion sickness in VR, we highly recommend you leave some of the comfort settings on.
DOOM 3 VR is also able to breathe new life into one of the game’s more divisive facets: the horror. While jump scares are constant, and as annoying as ever, the VR succeeds in placing you on Mars in a way DOOM 3 has never previously been able to accomplish. This means all of the ambient audio, the lighting, the abrupt discomfiting silence – everything contributes to the creepiness of the experience to an unprecedented level. It provides an opportunity to appreciate all of the things that DOOM 3 did well all those years ago, without having to carry the baggage of defining the series moving forward. And it’s better for it. Just don’t expect much of a visual upgrade, as thanks to the headset’s limitations, things more or less look the same as when the game first launched.
Comments 17
"Motion sickness can be severe"
Hard pass. No matter how good the game is, it's a dealbreaker. Learned that the hard way.
The only reason I don't own VR is the motion sickness thing.
I get it very bad.
Shame as some games seem like they could be amazing.
Is a "hame" the wonderful mix of game and ham? How would that work? Do you eat the ham while playing the game? Do you play a game about some ham?
@Olmaz Fixed!
I knew just from watching the trailer this would not be well suited to VR, at least for all but the most steely-stomached.
But then that’s not uncommon for games that weren’t designed around VR.
I'm buying this and playing it in all its vomit inducing glory. It's the Doom way.
Agree with review on almost all points but, for my money, seated Aim play has been fine (though standing is more fun) and playing with comfort settings off isn't really that bad imo.
I didn't like Doom VFR very much mainly due to mild motion sickness but I recognised it was well made (IMO) so I'm willing to give this one a go as well.
Seems awesome. If I ever get VR, I'll be sure to pick this up.
I also get motion sickness and experienced it a bit during Farpoint so far, but I just play shorter sessions. I'm sure I'll be able to do longer sessions eventually, too.
Doom VFR is the only VR game to made me feel a bit sick (I could only play in short 30mins bursts wheres as I had no issue playing RE7 a few hours at a time)
I was hoping Doom 3 VR would be ok due to its slower pace than VFR.
I did intend to pick it up but pushsquares review had nusf pushed me onto the wall.
I can last an hour max playing this on the telly I’d be 5 mins with it strapped to my face before projectile vomiting. Great game tho. Love it!
I might have to get this. It looks good and I’m always ready to ready to see what VR challenge I can give my stomach. If I get, first thing I’m doing is turning off every comfort setting.
This would terrify me in VR. Bought the original on PC in 2003 and used to sit there in the dark with my headphones on jumping out of my seat! Lol
I’ll pick this up when VR2 comes out
I've been enjoying this hugely, it's fantastic with the aim controller.
One thing not mentioned here is the weird scaling issue where characters and particularly NPCs look too small, though this can be 'fixed' by reducing your eye-to-eye distance to half in the settings. Hopefully a patch will sort this and also increase resolution for the PS4 Pro and PS5.
@Cambrius Huh, you know that's not actually something I really encountered! Even while sticking with the game after finishing up the reivew. That sounds super weird haha. Agreed, it could really do with a resolution boost (I guess most PSVR games could though haha)
@Jaz007 That's what I do hahaha. This is one of the only games where I had to actually go turn some things back on that I can think of
@Burntbreadman If you're interested enough it might still be worth your time (this is where demos being a popular thing again would be super helpful haha). It was really bad with no comfort settings no, but once I turned a few (the vignette helped a lot, I was able to leave smooth turning on with that instead of turning in increments)
everything was fine after that!
@RubyCarbuncle I vastly prefer this to Doom VFR if that helps! haha. I was underwhelmed by VFR, but this one's pretty fun!
@zupertramp I found it a littttttle too cumbersome to play seated, but I'm extremely impressed with the AIM on this one. Almost reminded me of how well it was implemented with Farpoint at times!
@GoodGame It's definitely a disappointing obstacle in a lot of instances. I'm glad I don't normally have to worry, but it's a shame it exists at all!
@naruball It was quite manageable with comfort settings on, but the fact I needed them at all was a first for me!
@Cambrius yeah I mentioned something similar in my own takes on the game in the PSVR Recommendations thread except the scaling issues seem to mostly just make NPC heads look really tiny to me. Something looks off anyway. Maybe I'll try that eye distance thing.
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