Doom 3 retrospective and BFG edition

So recently I bought myself a copy of Doom 3 BFG edition. This well-deserved re-release of the classic Doom 3 not only contains the full game and it's expansion pack (resurrection of evil) but a never-before-seen campaign titled the "Lost Mission" as well as the original Doom and it's sequel Doom II so this is one title just jam-packed with content and extras, as well as new game modes and hidden secrets and easter eggs and all at a lower RRP than your average title (I picked mine up for £15, about the same price as a DVD and less than half the price of the new Halo game)

As I was enjoying the hell out of this game, I thought I'd best fish out an old retrospective to get you up to speed on the original Doom 3 and top it all off with some extra critique of the BFG edition content, read on;

Doom 3

Rarely does a horror game stand the test of time, have you played the original Resident Evil recently? The zombies’ muffled moans and dull textures make them more of a joke than a threat. As graphical fidelity and programming techniques improve, what was once nightmare-inducing becomes laughable and quaint. It is with grim satisfaction therefore that I recommend Doom 3 as it’s use of atmospheric lighting and themes of darkness and despair still makes it a wonderfully immersive pant-wettening experience.

You gotta have zombies...

Many ages ago, back when dragons walked the land and the black plague was still in it’s infancy a developer named id software released Doom. Crude by today’s standards, Doom was a marvel of game design that all but introduced gamers to the world of first person shooting. Combining fast paced run and gun gameplay, grotesque hellish beasts and enough firepower to make Duke Nukem blush, id software took the gaming world by storm, releasing Doom II shortly afterwards to critical acclaim.

Many years later id software decided the dust off the series for a modern sequel in proper 3D. The result was Doom 3, a chilling tale of a colony on Mars in the year 2145 as the inhabitants unearth ancient artifacts and unwittingly rip open a portal to Hell itself. Sent in to investigate the catastrophe, you play as an unnamed space marine (unofficially dubbed with the longstanding series moniker “Doom Marine”) who slowly begins to uncover the atrocities committed by the scientists on Mars and the nightmarish demons they unleashed.

The story goes that whilst researching certain artifacts, researchers were also working on advanced teleportation technology. Upon testing the teleporter, the scientists found there was an unexplained delay caused when transporting materials through the device. They resolved to send a video recorder and upon inspection of the footage found eyes, dozens of eyes staring at the recorder, they had discovered life in a dimension parallel to our own. Doing what they do best, the research team began sending human subjects through the teleporter in the hopes of capturing a specimen. Things did not go well, however as every man sent through was driven completely insane, one test resulted in the volunteer chewing off his own fingers.

There's a whole host of weapons at your disposal

One particularly dangerous scientist named Betruger took it upon himself to steal one of the facility’s mysterious martian artifacts, named the soul cube, and take it through the machine. The result was devastating as with the soul cube’s power, the demons of Hell could enter the facility on Mars, slaughtering and warping the minds of it’s inhabitants. Betruger acts as the game’s antagonist and appears to be working on behalf of the minions of Hell to spread their infernal influence and ultimately bring Hell to Earth.

So we step into the Doom marine’s boots and it’s pretty much business as usual for an FPS, controls are simple and responsive but the best part of Doom 3 is the graphics. Unique amongst games of the age, id software graced Doom 3 with a top-quality lighting engine that made shadows pitch black and light sources ominous, the result is a game world in which every shadow there could be an enemy lurking. Simply by the scarce use of lighting Doom 3 lends itself to internal fear, the fear of the unknown as you will be unable to relax so long as there is one dark corner you haven’t yet checked for monsters. One brilliant addition to the game is the fact your flashlight is large and unwieldy, meaning that you cannot have your flashlight in your hands at the same time as your weapon. This makes trying to illuminate your path or check a cranny for supplies a gamble as should you come across an enemy you’ll find yourself at a serious disadvantage (you can hit enemies with your flashlight but it won’t do much damage). The result is a terrifying panic as you scramble to back away, plunging the enemy into darkness as you ready your gun, their eyes glowing menacingly.

The flashlight, you can always whack 'em with it.

*** I will mention at this point that the flashlight is missing from the BFG edition in favour of a shoulder-mounted light that allows players to use a weapon simultaneously. Whether this is an improvement or not is a matter of personal taste, personally I miss the flashlight and would have liked the option to choose between the hand and shoulder versions. If you want the old style light, buy the old style edition like I did***

A great deal of time and effort has been put into the environments of the Mars facility. You are rewarded for exploring dark corners and air ducts with much needed ammunition and health pickups and scattered about every level you will come across PDAs (Personal Data Assistant) which hold emails and voice messages sent amongst the researchers. Not only do these titbits hold interesting information on the storyline and the events leading up to the catastrophe, they will occasionally hold pass codes to get you into various storage lockers scattered about the game. At first I found I would skim messages looking for such codes but before long I was hooked on reading them, they’re remarkably well written and offer genuine insight into the plot. id software really nailed getting the player to get involved in the plot by rewarding such tangents.

Enemies in Doom 3 are both charmingly retro and terrifying. In a call back to the old Doom days of yore, id software decided to keep the enemy roster to familiar faces such as flaming skulls, floating fire-breathing mouths, plasma-hurling imps etc. These monsters, whilst quaint really do seem to have come from the traditional ideas of Hell we all envision with pools of lava and plenty of flame so go a long way to strengthening the setting. One particularly scary level sees you enter into Hell to retrieve the soul cube and do battle amongst floating rocks and lava pits with terrifying demons lit only by the flames of the inferno.

I'm guessing this fella's not the friendly type

So there you have it, Doom 3 is a wonderful amalgamation of tension, action, exploration, stunning graphical and sound design all rolled into a brilliantly detailed game world. It's a true pleasure to play and a modern classic, well deserving of it's HD remake. Any fan of first person gaming or horror should play this game!

BFG edition extras

So you've finished Doom 3, think it's all over? Well, not only did you have the pleasure of playing in full HD, you have a whole host of other things to keep you entertained, you can play the classic Doom games (with the extra missions included for hardcore fans), try out the online modes for competitive or cooperative balls-to-the-wall action or dive into the Doom 3 expansion packs to satisfy your craving for more hellish carnage!

First up is the Resurrection of Evil campaign, here id software have done what all developers should do when creating additional content; include all of the original game's strengths and build upon them. There's more action, more weapons and more enemies meaning more ways to play! Now id software don't pussyfoot around when it comes to gameplay, they know you're here because you want more Doom 3 so instead of a gradual build up and tutorial phase you're thrown into the action from the get-go, with a new relic that can slow time by feeding on the souls of dead humans and the all-new "grabber" tool that can pick up and throw objects including the ability to hurl enemies' plasma balls back at them for that oh-so-sweet "in your face!" moment. Like all great games, you're encouraged to mix up your play style and learn to use the new mechanics to your advantage with a brief explanation and a lot of opportunities to practise so before long you'll be throwing exploding barrels about and slowing time to really punish your adversaries. The best way to learn is to do, afterall.

This doodad can slow the passage of time!

Story-wise, Resurrection of Evil features Bertruger back and more pissed off, with a posse of three deadly daemons called the "hunters". After the Doom marine defeated him the first time around, a replacement band of fuckwits discovered a new relic in an underground excavation site on mars, proving that not even the apocalypse can make mankind leave well enough alone.

Next up we have the never-before-seen "Lost Mission" expansion, a planned add-on that was panned before it saw a release, which is a shame as although it's short, it's a veritable cornucopia of action and a non-stop gauntlet that will challenge all Doom veterans.

The story goes that whilst Bertruger was working on the teleportation projects in Delta labs, the UAC was secretly working on a much larger-scale version in the hopes of being able to teleport large pieces of equipment (like tanks) over large distances. The problem is, when all hell broke loose (zing) this larger teleporter meant a much bigger rift for unholy beasties to cross through. You play as a lone survivor frantically struggling to close the portal before everything goes tits-up in a big way, real fast. It's non-stop action and has a few easter eggs for fans to find along the way. Not to be missed.

The super shotgun makes a return in the expansion packs

And finally, special mention goes to Doom and Doom II that were generously bundled in, they may look seriously dated but they're still damn fun to play if you want to waste an hour or so, it's great fun to try and find all of the easter eggs and hidden rooms (you'll be rewarded for doing so with a trophy or achievement) and using your controller instead of a keyboard circa 1993 is a definite advantage. Once you get into the swing of it, you'll love mowing down corridors of sprites to a delightfully retro metal soundtrack. Keep your eyes peeled for the Wolfenstein secret levels and the hidden ending to Doom II ;)

We've come a long way, baby.

So there you have it, Doom 3 BFG edition is an absolute treat for old and new fans and really greases the gears in anticipation for Doom 4, which is in production right now! Grab yourself a copy and whether you're and old-school Doom fan or a newbie looking to see what all the fuss is about, you won't be disappointed!

A different style

Hey guys,

so a while back i applied to write for gamepeople.co.uk, a website that writes about games in a more anecdotal fashion over commenting on content. They asked me to write a few reviews to see if it would work out (in the end it didn't, but it took them 3 months to tell me they weren't really looking for writers). Here's one of the reviews I wrote, im just posting it as a curiosity to show a different writing style, enjoy!

Demon's Souls review by Dilarus

for gamepeople.co.uk

“Right, time to be a hero” I told myself, starting up Demon's Souls. I'd heard from everyone who came into contact with the game that it was tough as a concrete codpiece, but that was just more enticing to a hardcore gamer like me. The first thing that was difficult was making a Female character that didn't look like a Neanderthal. Nose bridge depth, tip angle, width and height are just some of the things to choose from when editing the nose alone, there's gotta be over two hundred facial features to tweak and I'm no expert. Settling for something unisex with long eyelashes I made a mental note to wear a helmet with the visor closed.

Choosing the Temple Knight as a class, due to its high defence and healing magic, I started my quest in the training area. Via ingame messages left on the floor like the scrawlings in your local public restroom I was taught the buttons for dash, block, heavy and light attacks and was soon slaying skeleton soldiers left right and centre. There's a knack to the combat, you have to watch your opponent carefully and strike at the right moment. Swinging a weapon uses stamina that you use to block and sprint so if you use it all up the enemy's attack will stun you, leaving you open to more brutal punishment. If I'm honest I picked up the combat quickly and found it interesting and not too challenging, “most people don't like to think when playing games so that's why they found it hard”, I thought to myself.

By the end of the tutorial I was eating those words as I entered a room with a gigantic ogre that turned me into a crimson smear on the flagstones. When I awoke I was addressed by a lady clad in black robes and some kind of wax all over her face like really bad conjunctivitis. She told me I was dead and that whenever I died I would be taken to the Nexus, which acts as a world hub. What I was not told however is that I would have to clear the first world as a spectre with half my maximum health.

From then on things got interesting, more often I read the messages players would leave around the levels, warning of danger, they were helpful and allowed  me to prepare. Preparedness counts for nothing, however, if you can't fight effectively so I would creep around areas, stealthly stabbing unsuspecting enemies in the back and robbing their corpses. A couple of times I was ripped apart by rabid wolves or reduced to a puddle of molten chainmail by a dragon performing strafing runs, but after some farming I was a force to be reckoned with. Undead bodies shattered against my shield and ghoulish possessed armour was as nothing against my enchanted blade when suddenly the game thought “f**k this” and had me trodden on by a twenty foot tall armour clad behemoth.

Demon's Souls revels in ruining your day. It gives you the opportunity to craft a brilliant fighter 'gainst whom the forces of evil break like waves then whips the rug out from underneath you and watches you meekly retrace your steps with more than a little humility. It was when I started being a total bastard that I was let in on the joke. Taking advantage of the fantastic pseudo-online capabilities, I forced myself into another player's game and tracked him down like an animal. You see when you die you have three choices available to you. Firstly you can reach the point where you died to regain your lost souls, then defeat the boss and get your body back. Secondly, you can turn into a Blue phantom and aid another player in their world and get your body back. Finally, you may choose, like I did, to become an infamous Black phantom and ruin someone else's day whilst simultaneously stealing half their souls and getting your body back.

Now, I'm not mean spirited exactly, but if given the chance to vent my anger on a hero as brave and bold as I once was I'd gladly take him down a notch to satiate my displeasure. Following the trend of storming through levels and hitting the brick wall of the boss monsters, broken up by stints of gleeful mischief, I made it through to the end of the game. Admittedly I summoned a few blue phantoms to distract the bigger adversaries whilst I hacked away at the back of their legs. At the end of the game you're given the age-old choice of saving the world or enslaving it, and i'm proud to say I saved it. Whether this was in repentance of all the bad things I did on the way to the top or to be sure that no hero could rise to overthrow me I cannot say.

Demon's Souls was a real challenge and I'm really glad I saw it through to the end. There were times I'd be seriously ticked off after being killed by the impossibly tough bosses, but luckily there was a steady stream of other players I could vent my frustrations on, who were quick to tell me what they thought of me via private messages.

Sensitive content in videogames and sexual diversity in gaming ♥

Sensitive content in videogames and
sexual diversity in gaming
♥

After watching extra credits' sexual diversity in gaming video on the escapists' website i have decided to take up blogging. I have had strong views about gaming as a media for a long time and would like to make them known, so here goes.

for starters i urge you to watch that particular episode of extra credits here:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/2520-Sexual-Diversity

this way we're all on the same page, if you have time read some of the comments people have posted as they have raised some points ill be touching on in this blog.

Ok for starters, i am in agreement with the people at extra credits, i see gaming as a budding art form, there have been a variety of marvellous titles made over the years by teams of skilled artists, unfortunately these have flew under many people's radars as they were not aware of them or see gaming solely as entertainment or solely for children/loners this needs to stop.

There is a lot of stigma attatched to being a gamer that is not attatched to being a movie/ music lover or avid novel reader, and these mediums have been through similar scrutiny and have managed to overcome them as the years have gone by. For example elvis was accused of corrupting the youth of the 50s, harry potter books were burned in america for encouraging witchcraft and there have been countless books banned for their content, one of the most popular being catcher in the rye by J.D. Salinger

(you may have noticed i am reiterating some points mentioned in previous extra credits episodes, i am aware of this and am doing so to set the context.)

Now, if i may bring up some recent cases of sensitive content in videogames we can begin discerning between the public perception of videogames and the actuality of these cases. There are of course cases when designers will have taken something "too far" including content of an explicit violent or sexual nature, but for many cases the public uproar caused has been  misled or blown out of proportion.

Case 1: Mass Effect
Sexual content

Mass effect is a futuristic role playing game for the Xbox 360 set in a fictional universe inhabited by a number of races including humans. You play as "commander shepard", a member of the human "alliance" (a military organization) who has been called in to investigate attacks on a human colony and eventually must fight to save the races of the galaxy from a deadly threat. You can create and shape commander shepard as you see fit, make them male or female and choose how they react to multiple situations. You can try to solve conflicts with diplomacy or brute force, you may act in an evil fashion should you choose or be a paradigm of morality, this makes the player think more about their actions as every choice they make has a consequence.

The controversy stems from the relationships you can develop with your crew members, who consist of humans and humanoid aliens. As you become closer to them you can discover more about their personal historty and side stories separate from the main game, and should you wish you may eventually develop a physical relationship with that crew member. I would like to point out the extent of these scenes is in no way explicit and is done in context and very tastefully and is only possible with 3 characters in the game. Watch this video for an example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-58E7Iuzt0

when the media caught wind of this content they branded the game a "sex simulator" and a political blogger known as Mike McCullough wrote in his blog:

"Mass Effect can be customized to sodomize whatever, whomever, however, the game player wishes," and "with its ‘over the net’ capabilities virtual orgasmic rape is just the push of a button away."

Although exposed as baseless, his views sparked a lot of letters written to the games developers, demanding the game not be released as well as numerous defaming articles on the national news and resulting in the game recieving 18+ ratings in countries such as singapore.

This infuriates me as it was obvious the man had never played the game or was ever going to give it a chance, but was willing to accuse the gaming industry of being perverse at the drop of a hat.

Case 2: Resident Evil 5
Racism

Resident evil 5 is a horror genre videogame, the series originally featured zombies (the walking dead) as the main enemies, which various survivors had to fend off in order to survive. Since resident evil 4 the main enemies of the game have been "las plagas", humans transformed into savage monsters by a parasite. Resident evil 5 sees Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar fending off such monsters in various fictional locations in africa.

Controversey stemmed from the fact the protagonists were white people killing native black africans. Kym Platt, a journalist wrote on her blog:

"This is problematic on so many levels, including the depiction of Black people as inhuman savages, the killing of Black people by a white man in military clothing, and the fact that this video game is marketed to children and young adults. Start them young...fearing, hating, and destroying Black people."

I will start off by pointing out that the black people in the game were portrayed as savages not because of their way of life or beliefs or colour of their skin, but because the umbrella corporation (which is a corporation experimenting with bioweapons for use in times of war) infected them on purpose with the parisite which forces them into a murderous rage. I will also note on a personal level i felt no joy in killing black people and was very aware that i was infact killing inhuman monsters in the context of the game's story.

This accusation recieved a lot of publicity, some people supported it but gamers were quick to point out some facts, the least of which being that the company making it was Capcom, a japanese company. In japan the views on black people are the same as anyone else, there isnt the predjudice, there was no black slavery. The japanese simply pointed out that in africa, there are a lot of dark skinned people, so to exclude them from a game set in africa would be ridiculous. they have different racial sensibilities and i doubt very much there was any evil intent.

response
Now these examples don't represent a large portion of games, but are very typical of the type of hype aimed at controversial games, 99% of the time when a game recieves criticism it is ill founded or comes from someone who hasnt played the game in question and often is not a gamer at all! now im not an art lover so i wont begin to say whether or not a painting is any good, i can offer my opinion on it, saying whether it is pleasing to the eye but im not about to say that it is bad for a FACT like these politicians and journalists do. they say a game is disgusting and violent or lewd and racisst, with no artistic value and without any kind of moral context and in my eyes thats wrong.


i fully support the fact children should NOT be playing games like call of duty or grand theft auto without learning the reasoning or context, if they dont understand why soldiers fight or why a man may turn to a life of crime it paints a bad picture. War is not fun and crime should be frowned upon but when experienced in a safe environment they can be an interesting insight into another way of looking at things. i have seen enough videogames to know i would not like to be shot at and i know crime doesnt pay, you cant just slap a bandage on a gunshot wound and you cant murder someone then spray your car another colour so the police cant find you. i may write more on kids and games in future, as its something i feel strongly about


so please, people don't be so quick to judge, common sense tells us companies dont set out to offend people, gamers must enjoy these games in order to want to buy them, noone wants to play a game that they find distasteful. many may require a pinch of salt, but you should know what you like and don't like, if you dont like horror dont buy "Saw: the game" if you dont like board games dont buy "monopoly" and if you dont want to kill germans dont buy a world war II shooter. you have the power to choose what you play and what you let your children play, dont expect developers to stop making them if you dont like it! nut allergy sufferers don't ask supermarkets to stop selling nuts, they simply ask that they are told if nuts are in their food, it should be clear what you are getting in a videogame and it is.


Sexual diversity in games:


now for a word on sexual diversity in videogames. Now i believe gaming has some truly memorable characters, from solid snake of the metal gear solid games to the prince from the katamari games to wander, the semi mute (he says only one word as far as im aware) protagonist of shadow of the colossus and they dont really push the boundaries of sexual diversity. Snake might take a glance at a naughty poster a soldier has pinned to their locker, or peek at the leading lady's chest that she has so obviously on display (im looking at you eva) but he doesnt let his emotions get in the way of the mission (except for a freudian complex he has with "the boss", his mentor and hero who defects to the russians in metal gear solid 3 and crops up again in peace walker) so of course context is important.


Gaming has a bad rep when it comes to sex in games thanks to lara croft, duke nukem, playboy the mansion and the dead or alive series, painting it as a hetero-oriented closed minded medium where women have to be scantily clad and men have to be schwarzenegger clones. shining through the muck are gems like the persona series (covered very well in extra credits' video) and the valkyria chronicles. other games are aware of it but it is not a focus (such as the sims games and fable, where you can start a relationship with either sex with no difference between them in terms of gameplay)



Valkyria chronicles is a game set in the fictional country of gallia, a very european-style country in the fictional continent of "europa" set during the "second europan war" ok the setting is paper thin, world war 2 with a new coat of paint, and pain is very fitting, the game looks stunningly like a watercolour in motion, take a look:


http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/866/866142/valkyria-chronicles-20080411040153763_640w.jpg


nice, huh? well without going into too much detail, the game touches on some VERY serious subjects throughout, despite its colorful appearance. Throughout the story youll find racism, prejudice, genocide and murder as well as sexuality. Each of the members of your squad is unique, they have likes and dislikes, allergies and sexual preferences. But what does this have to do with the game? during the firefights your characters act like real people, they rely on eachother to aid them, if they should be next to someone they like they will be more enthusiastic and fight harder, if they have a dust allergy deploying them in the desert might be a bad move, so you need to think about your squad memers as actual people, not faceless cannon fodder. This is something this game achieves remarkably well and seeing one of your men/women fall in battle is a sorrowful experience, especially when their name appears in the register of the dead.


Now when it comes to sexuality and romance i found this game charming, one character "Ted ustinov" fancies both men and women so is a real showoff in the battlefield, trying to impress both the men and women in his squad with his heroics. "Jann walker" is a delightfully feminine man with a fetish for muscle-y men and develops a crush on "Largo potter" one of the games main characters and heavy weapons expert, this is hinted at multiple times in the story, with jann saying how dreamy largo is, and largo going red. These instances, along with fitting dialogue ingame, make you see each and every character as a unique person and causes you care more about your squad members. All of this makes for one fantastically involving and touching game, sexuality is not core to the game but i wouldnt have it any other way, and the choice to not ignore that aspect of people's personality is one i applaud.


reading the comments on that particular extra credits video i came across many people asking why we should care if someone is straight or gay, that it is pointless and has no place in games. i'll agree that certain games have no place for it but to say that no game has a place for sexuality is seriously wrong. in a first person shooter your character is usually a faceless nameless nonentity as you are meant to believe you are the character so they act however you want them to, but in role playing games, strategy games, even third person shooters you are very aware that YOU are not the character, you are controlling someone else or even have to step into their shoes and BE them so to leave out certain parts of them because you dont see the point is... pointless. What would be the reason in making a character that shares the same views and likes the same things you do? all novels and films would be soo dreary, and i personally play games for an escape from my life, not to just live it on a screen. 

so i believe we have to have sexual diversity in games, to bring characters to life. the game doesnt have to be ABOUT sexuality but to ignore it sounds too much like sexual repression to me. there is a place for it and it is important.



THATS IT!
Thats all for this blog, yes its wordy and might be sketchy in places (i didnt draft this) but hey thats what it's like inside my head. i hope to do more in the coming days, its almost christmas so i have to do something to take my mind off the fact theres no santa.
Dil