Vores and Imps and Beholders oh my!

It took me a while, but I got Doom3 at last. Just a few days ago, my mom gave it me- along with the latest Sims, but let's not discuss that- and Uru, a game of the Myst family, which I will discuss when uninstalling Doom 3 leaves me with enough hard disk space for it. As it is, I had to uninstall Max Payne for Doom... and, yeah, it was damn worth it.

I got my first PC at about the same time Doom, the original one, was selling. I loved it and then I found Quake and that was it, I was hooked. I think I played Doom 2 and a flurry of other Doom titles, but what I was really waiting for was Quake II. When I got it, I felt cheated... Because it wasn't Quake 2! It was Doom 3, only they got the name wrong... I mean, Quake was all about medieval cyber-steampunk horror/ action. Doom was the space marine title. But then, Quake II had nothing of the original atmosphere and feel. It was dark and morbid, but, that was it. It was also set on another planet, with cyber beasts (and no Shamblers, Ogres, Vores, Death Knights or Fiends) and the only thing it had in common with the original, was the grenade launcher... sigh...
At least there was a no-gravity level. Secrtet, too... sorta. Small consolation for me. I had played the original Quake so much I had started seeing Dopefishes in it... (that must have been a dream, really... a vision... I think... maybe... maybe not?)

Anyway, I 'm very satisfied with Doom 3. I expected a kind of rehash of the old stuff, but with better graphics, which is really not enough to make a game, for me (hey, come on, I played and enjoyed games on my Spectrum 48 K RAM... I have seen bad graphics and they don't make one difference in how good a game is and how quick or slow it is to make you fatally bored with it). But, well... it's not like that. First of all, theres'a storyline, you know, like in Half Life... there's characters that can guide you around in the game (mostly, they help you find ammo and supplies if you help them) and there's two particular ones (a counsellor Something and his bodyguard) who you sort of keep bumping on during the game but never quite can find in time to follow, at least as far as I 've gone (which is not too far). There's a PDA you carry around which you can download other peoples' data into and that slowly spins the tale of what was happening on Mars before you got there, like in an adventure, you know, and then, some of the data helps you unlock weapons and supplies cabinets. And then, there's little robotic sentries which are on your side and will guide you and protect you and make litte funny R-2 like noises when you fall back to search for items... I like those... and they pack a helluva punch too...

The monsters are well done and scary, OK but the best part of the game is that it's dark, really dark- in many rooms, you can't see a thing unless you use a flashlight. Yeah, that's totally stolen from Silent Hill, but this is not Silent Hill. Oh, hey, wait, don't get me wrong... Silent Hill is one of my all time favourites, only, it's a completely different game. Like, there's Myst style games where you don't have to shoot anything but a ton of riddles to solve, Silent Hill (well, it's Resident Evil should get the glory, but I like SH way better) type games where there's stuff you can shoot and a fair deal of riddles and then, there's the Doom clones where you mostly shoot at things and don't have much time for riddles (my "secrets" score is always lame... duh...). Anyway, the flashlight is a great addition and a pain in the ass, because you have to swap between it and your equipped weapon all the time, so I get shredded to bits in the dark a lot... hehe... Just yesterday I found a guy with a chainsaw and I got so excited I was mincemeat before I knew it...

Now, I 'm one of those mazochistic people who like realism in their games... well, in the context of games, you know what I mean... When I was in my splatter/ B-movie phase, I was usually dismayed by the slow action in most of them (and all action movies too). All the monsters were so slow you could aim a drunken ladybug at them and never miss. Now, Doom 3 is nothing like that... those monsters move fast, I mean, really fast. Faster than the Fiends in Quake. They 're really fast. Plus, this time they 're actualy smart, for a change (but ID always took pride to their monsters', um, brains). Together with the darkness or flashlight problem, it makes for really gut-wrenching gameplay. And then, there's this new thing- you have to actually reload your weapon! That's a new one for the line, if I 'm not mistaken. It's a really cool addition and I 'm enjoying it lots. Of course, after a while it becomes a habit: shoot- hit R(eload)- hit F(lashlight). Sometimes I get it wrong and get killed (when I hit F twice in panic and end clubbing the demons with the flashlights' butt... which tickles them a little, I guess...) I still love it loads and loads.

The weapons are cool too. I think I might 've missed a double-barrelled shotgun somewhere 'cause I already got the plasma gun, but I 'm still using the single riffle. I know there's a BFG in the game and I 'm waiting to see what other goodies lie in store in my future. The plasma gun, by the way, and the minigun are the best to date. The minigun (eh, sorry... chaingun) has the most addicting noise and the plasma guns' effects are the best, ever. I loves it, hehe.

I think it was yesterday that I bumped on a Vore (the spiderwoman? Come on, big bad mother with lotsa legs?) That hurt. Both of us. And there's beholders and a new type of monster (for me at least) which looks like a mechanised and mutated hound from fucking hell, fast like anything else in the game despite the unbelievable bulk. There's the coolest zombies you 've seen (Resident who?) and some squishy spiders... I really hope there's more ahead- and more ammo too 'cause I 've deteriorated to a lousy shot and I 'm running out fast. Heh.

I wonder if there's a railgun in this game... I wouldn't mind it, but what I miss is the thunderbolt. And the nailgun. Oh please god, let there be a fucking nailgun, please oh please oh please...