Doom 3 is the only game I've ever played that routinely scared me enough to make me gasp for breath. I can't offer up higher praise than that.
With most first-person shooter games, even most alleged horror games, the best you can hope for is getting startled once in a while. Most of the time in a shooter, you can see your enemies moving in a predictable fashion at a distance, begging to get wasted by whatever weapon you're carrying. In some games, you have time to make a choice of which weapon to use against your foe.
Not in Doom 3.
Doom 3 is dark. In fact, one of the first things you're given is a flashlight, and it comes in very, very handy. Problem is, you have to grip it in the same hand you grip your gun. By the time you see your enemy, they're usually on you by the time you can raise a gun to shoot them.
Set in a poorly lit Martian science lab, you're a Marine sent there as a replacement for another Marine. You get there, get your first assignment, and in the most literal sense, all Hell breaks loose. That's right: The science experiments in the labs unleash demons from Hell.
And when Hell breaks out, most of the lights do too. So you're left poking around in the dark, listening to your fellow Marines screaming into the radio as they die. Often you come around a corner with your flashlight to find a demon lunging at you, or from the dark behind you comes a zombie, bent on beating you down.
The graphics and the noises are realistic and gory enough that it builds enough tension to scare you every time something comes bursting out of a closet to kill you. You get antsy after a while - always have a gun ready when you open a door; just trust me.
This is easily one of the best games around, maybe even ever. I haven't played it long enough to make that call. But play it for 15 minutes and you know you're playing something special.
A few of tips:
- Worried about your kids and violent video games? I'm usually one who pooh-poohs fears of violent video games, but this one isn't pretty. There's an ocean of blood on the walls and floors throughout the game. The zombies gush more blood every time you shoot them. It's not the nastiest game I've played, but close. And, the horror factor puts this game solidly into late teen country, in my book.
- Pay very close attention to the game's hardware requirements. They're beefy and require specific graphics cards. Don't plunk down the money for a game that won't run.
- I was a bit taken aback by the desktop shortcut icon. It's a pentagram, the sign of the devil, which in the context of the game makes sense. But it made me a bit squeamish, so I deleted it.
- Parents and kids both keep this in mind: This game should be called Doom 3: The Grade Point Average Wrecker. It's one of those games during which time just melts away. I told my wife several times that I was going to play for "just 15 more minutes" and an hour later, I hadn't noticed the other 45 minutes had gone by. This game could have destroyed whole semesters of my college transcripts.
- Sound is absolutely critical to how much you enjoy this game. If you can, turn off the lights and crank up the sound. If you, like me, have a sleeping toddler in the next room, get headphones. Doom 3 is half the game it is with the sound turned off. You don't hear the whispers, the moans, the unexplained noises moving around behind you with the sound off.
