Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil Expansion Pack
By GUSTAVO HERNANDEZ
Published June 13, 2005
Company: Id Software
System: Windows
Price: $35
Grade: D
As with most expansion packs, Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil suffers from a game developer's desire to squeeze every last drop out of a game at the expense of consumers.
Although the new developer did a great job of creating a similar feel to Doom 3, buyers will wonder what the real incentive is to purchase an expansion that appears to be more of the same.
Resurrection of Evil feels more like a really good modification for Doom 3 created by a group of amateurs than a retail game created by professionals. The addition of two new weapons, the double-barrel shotgun and the ionized plasma levitator, also known as the grabber, is a sad attempt to add variety to an already ample arsenal.
The expansion picks up almost two years after the strange occurrences at an archaeological dig site on Mars. Another hapless Marine is sent in to uncover the mystery behind a distress signal from the planet. He soon discovers an artifact that releases another round of hell on the Mars base.
This artifact carries three separate powers, such as time slow down, which are unlocked as players defeat the three "hunters" sent to kill him. While the hunters are impressive eye candy, they are too easily defeated with a number of shotgun blasts or a slung fireball.
Tossing these fireballs and other objects is made possible through one of the most blatant ripoffs of another game I have seen in years. Trying to cash in on the success of the much-acclaimed gravity gun in the game Half-Life 2, developers have included the grabber.
While this seems fun to players at first, they quickly discover that the gun basically takes all the challenge out of the game. With one quick grab and toss, enemies are vanquished. This makes for a much less enjoyable experience than Doom 3, where you had to scramble, shoot and run due to the number of enemies on screen and their high tolerance to weapons.
Speaking of enemies, the "new" ones are mostly just clones of previous creations. Among them is the Vulgar, which is just an Imp on steroids that tosses blue fireballs instead of the Imp's red ones. In addition, the biosuit zombie offers nothing more than an ooo-ahh glance and quick run by. Honestly, how scared could you possibly be of something in a bright yellow suit?
Consequently, with the exception of a few - and I mean few - scares, Resurrection does not deliver the same tense moments that Doom 3 did.