Doom Eternal

The newest remake series of the old FPS classic, Doom, are not games that I should generally like. In fact, I nearly skipped over the first one completely save for an awesome PlayStation Store sale where it was packaged with another game. Both 2016's Doom and this year's Doom Eternal are incredibly violent, fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat shoot-em-up's against hell's demons with hard rock blasting in the background. Seeing as how I'm not an overweight dude eating Tostino's pizza rolls and chugging mountain dew, I naturally thought these games were not for me. 

As I mentioned, I kind of stumbled into the first Doom. What I found was an incredibly unique first-person-shooter that was unlike anything I'd played before. It held my attention well enough, but the story was a bit nonsense and the level design was a bit monotonous to where I was ready to be done with it once I finished. 

Given everything going on, Doom Eternal kind of snuck by me - hence why this review is late. I eventually found it on sale, and began playing. In quarantine, this game has been a Godsend (and given the game deals with Hell, there's some irony there). I won't pretend my quarantine has been any more stressful than the next person's but we've all got our stressors. During this time, I've bought a new townhome with the girlfriend that we're moving into soon and between trying to sell our current place during a pandemic, prepping finances/documents for the current purchase, HOA bulls**t at my current residence (I'm on the Board), lots of stuff to do at work, general stress about the world, economy, etc., and nowhere to funnel that pent up energy like I'm used to at a gym, I've been stressed for sure. Doom Eternal is so gloriously violent, gory, and over the top that it's been the perfect game at the perfect time for me to relieve stress by chainsawing demons in half, ripping their heads from their torso, and blowing them to smithereens with rocket launchers. It's mature violence for sure, but there's such a gleeful cartoonishness to it all that it makes a hard day seem to float away. 

Oh...there will be blood

Better level designs this time around

Suffice it to say my stereotypical Doom player may not be how I vision myself, but I'll be damned (a Hell pun!) if Doom Eternal isn't one of the best games of the year. 

What the Doom revival has done is quite remarkable and akin to modern day remakes like Tomb Raider, God of War, and even the more recent Modern Warfare. For comparison's sake, it's most like Tomb Raider where it's in the same spirit as the original, but has essentially been redesigned from the ground up for modern gameplay. And much like the Tomb Radier series, it feels like the first Doom was a "test case" to see if it would work while Eternal improves upon it in nearly every way. There's honestly not much here that I would fault the game on. At moments in the campaign it can get a little "samey", but no where near as repetitive as its predecessor and part of me wishes it had more multiplayer modes than the very intriguing Battlemode that we do get. 

At this point in the generation, we've gotten some of the best first-person-shooter campaigns ever with Battlefield 1, the aforementioned Modern Warfare, and far-and-away Titanfall 2 (which remains one of the strongest campaigns of any game I've ever played). Doom Eternal now happily, and perhaps shockingly, joins that list. It feels epic in scale and keeps the story simple, but also with some gravitas. It feels like what you're doing is important here - much like some of the best Halo stories - by travelling to defend Earth from demons, then take the fight back to them by killing members of their upper hierarchy. Along the way, I had a general idea of why I was doing what I needed to (hint: it's mostly to kill something), but its a well suited plot for this sort of game that kept me invested. The campaign is a huge step up from the previous game however because of the level design. The locales are varied vs. just the red Mars and red Hell from last time and they feed into that "epic" feeling (i.e. aliens from a different time, portals to far away planets, etc.). There's also far more platforming here, most of which is a total blast. Again, none of it can touch what Titanfall 2 accomplished, but it's still a good break from the norm and progressing through levels with these challenges or finding secrets by taking a risk and jumping/dashing to a certain spot are consistently rewarding. 

Chained in half and dropping that sweet, sweet loot

Hmmm. I wonder how much torque I can
create by twisting his horns?
Ooops! Too much!

What continues to differentiate this remake series is the gameplay. Again, if the first game was a test bed for the hectic "management" system (my words, not theirs) then Doom Eternal all but doubles down on it for the better. There's no ADS (aim down sights) or crouching. There's double jumping and double dashing. You character feels immensely powerful, but so do enemies and the amount of agility you're outfitted with is so staggering that it plays entirely different than any other FPS. In a way, it reminds me of what Just Cause did for 3rd person shooters back in the day where it can be disorienting to go back to something else. The "management" system I refer to is the constant attention you have to provide to your health, armor, and ammo - as well as smaller things like Blood Punch, grenade timing, gasoline for your chainsaw, and some more secrets along the way. If it sounds like intense micromanagement, it kind of is, but in a really fun way. Not only are you tasked with killing hordes of demons, you must keep an eye on all of this stuff in the meantime. Performing Glory Kills gets you health, chainsawing foes gets you ammo, and Flame Belching them gets you armor. Meanwhile there's pickups around the map to help you out with these but at some point you have to take things (read: demons) into your own hands and rip them apart for the goods. I cannot stress enough how hectic, frantic, and fun this makes the gameplay feel. What's better is that the enemy variety is probably one of the best of any game I've ever played with significant changes in tactics being needed for certain foes. Your everyday grunts can be farmed for armor and health while larger demons have counter attacks, shields, and special powers that you must get around. Some of them are so tough that they instill the fear of God (again, irony) in you when you see them on a battlefield. Then in classic Doom fashion, you'll eventually enter a more hectic battle where there's two or more of that enemy. 

This shotgun has a flaming chain hook that brings you to the enemy through the air and you can shoot it the entire time. So yeah, this game is f**king awesome

Doom Eternal is an incredibly difficult game as well. I played it on normal mode out of pure fear from the harder modes and I got my ass handed to me more than a few times. I rarely felt cheated (though there were a few times) and I was able to get past it all and beat the game, which feels like an accomplishment. Eternal may on the surface look shallow and bro-ish, but reflecting back it feels like the most intense game of chess you'll ever play. It throws both demon quantity and hectic combinations at you and with 20+ different enemy types, it's consistently feeling fresh. In a weird way, the stress that Eternal caused me during the game seemed to wash away my real life stress. Entering a room and being bombarded with 10-15 demons on screen, sometimes more, all firing projectiles sucks you right in and you soon build an on-the-go strategy for each encounter. It's problem solving at its fastest and most violent. Do I take down the big guys first? Well, my health and armor are low so I need to kill some minions. But this shield guy is annoying me so I should take care of him and...WHERE THE F**K DID THAT GUY COME FROM?! 

Oh look, a devilish floppy
disk just lying around!

And in true iD (the developer) fashion, the game looks, plays, and sounds incredible. Controller mapping takes some getting used to, especially as I've been playing a lot of COD, but it's logical once you get over the learning curve. Demons and locations are detailed and grotesque, with tons of detail being put into the gore of it all too. And the sound of your weapons, punching a demon so hard they explode, and many other effects all rock. And speaking of "rock", the soundtrack hits hard too with a proper balance of heavy guitar rifts to get your blood pumping and creepy, atmospheric music during the games more mysterious moments.

There's also the game's multiplayer, Battlemode. Time will tell how much I invest into this, but for now it stands as unique, hectic, and enjoyable. Basically there is one "Slayer" player (same as you play in the campaign) and two "Demons". The demons have their own abilities but can spawn enemy after enemy. The goal is for the Slayer to kill the player Demons or vice versa. While it may sound unfair, I've actually found most of my games to go into multiple rounds and come out close. As the Demons spawn enemies, it also gives the Slayer the ability to gather health, Blood Punch, armor, etc. It's not going to rival anything like the current Modern Warfare, but it's different enough to hold your interest even if I wish there were more modes on bigger maps that could be Slayer vs. Slayer similar to the Unreal Tournaments of the past. 

Can't say I'm proud of it, but this dude is about to eat his own, glowing heart. Sorry guy!

My review didn't even touch on the progression system, gun upgrading, gun variety, old-school vibe, collectibles, and several other features because that stuff is all icing on the cake. All you need to take away is that Doom Eternal is one of the most unique FPS games currently on the market, features a phenomenal campaign, intense and fluid gameplay, and some of the best enemy variety I've ever seen. Don't judge the book by its cover like I did and just give it a chance. Given everything going on right now, I imagine you'll find it an excellent stress reliever like I did.  

CONS

• Here and there it begins to feel a little rinse-and-repeat. Not nearly as much as the game before it however
• I would have liked more multiplayer modes. Battlemode is fun, but I'm not sure it'll keep me hooked
• Similar to the point above, I wish there was something...else...here. Once you finish the campaign there's plenty of replay opportunity but a horde mode or build-your-own-mission would be awesome
• Rare, but there are times I died not because of my own skill, but because the game did something stupid

PROS

• Unique, fast-paced, and hectic gameplay that feels a lot different from other FPS out there
• The "management" system dials the intensity up as you'll lose a lot of health and armor, but can replace it quickly too
• Plays fluidly and you're outfitted with a lot of agility options that keep you constantly on the move
• Better level design with platforming sections to switch things up. The various locales help too and make the campaign one of the better ones I've played in recent years. Solid length as well
• Straightforward story that feels epic, but also mysterious
• Awesome graphics with tons of gory details (pun!) with loud, hard-hitting audio and well-chosen music/soundtrack
• Pretty good gun variety, some are more awesome than others...flame-chain-shotgun FTW!
• Gloriously violent against demons and filled with plenty of gore
• Absolutely incredible enemy variety that creates unique combinations throughout and certain enemies will immediately make you hold your breath as you prepare for hard fights
• Difficult game that rarely feels cheap and continues to dial up the intensity. If you would have told me some of the rooms of demons I'd kill in the later game I'd have said "Not possible"
• Fun Battlemode that is super unique and fun thus far....jury is out on how long it can hold my attention
• A game that feels like a very complete package with a unique spin on FPS gameplay and doubles down on everything (for the better) that its predecessor did several years ago

Rath's Review Score | 9/10