I wasn't 100% sure what you'd get with this game despite launch trailers etc, due to its development reset. But Doom is a brilliant FPS that does something modern games don't.

Gameplay: 10/10

I can't fault the gameplay and design, it's made with the original in mind, fast brutal and hectic, on ultra violence difficulty you can't afford to stand still for a second, which helps keep the game flowing. You'll find yourself strafing left to right avoid imps fireballs, hell razers erratic blasts of energy beams and revenants missile barrages while you lock and and fire multiple missiles at the revenant, switch to heavy mg and fire a rack of missiles and blast it away with the standard mg. Switch to a plasma rifle and take at a group of scurrying imps before performing a glory kill on the last, using it's own leg to kill it.. (a good number of different and satisfying kill animations, they glow orange when able to execute the glory kill but I turned the color glow off for realism) And finally using the chainsaw on the hell razer to replenish ammo. Then a hell knight will come and stomp on your head, or a summoner (arch vile) from the original will confuse you, leaving trails of hell energy as they zap around firing arcs of fire at you.

Call of duty, Battlefield and co hold your hand as you follow another character and watch them perform cinematic actions. In this game you stand still and you're dead meat. But beyond the hectic combat and array of weapons/modifications to use or power ups and glory kills, there's a good amount of exploration and platforming too. This game is fast paced and you can scale the environment in an agile manor, finding a number of secrets or collectibles (in the form of doom guy dolls or classic maps)

There are codex's scattered throughout which add well written lore about everything from environments and background to characters, demons and weapons.

In this game you can get 2 different modifications for each weapon by finding little bots, these mods have different levels or perks to make them more effective, and really give the needed edge in battle. Plus a number of the weapon mods are pretty cool!

There's also suit upgrades found from usb stick/bio chip implants you can remove from red armored elite marines found dead in out of sight areas. Finally you can find balls of argent energy which up your health, armour or ammo capacity. There are also rune perks adding bonus effects, acquired from rune challenges.

Power ups make a return (coloured spheres, invincibility, haste, quad damage). We also have the afore mentioned hidden classic maps, one for each level, you must find a hidden lever then find the hidden entrance to a classic map, which in turn unlocks it in the main menu.

Visuals: 9/10

I'm not as blown away as ratchet and clanks sumptuous colors and beauty, but the game has some pretty solid visuals. When traversing the Martian outdoors or for instance in the lava abundant foundry, it's easy to admire them and their lightning or the UAC complexes detail, hell and the titan realm especially are designed well. The demons look great and have been designed mostly from the original games, only a few decisions to probably modernize them. The weapons look nice too and don't feel like any of them are too similar to one another.

Audio: 8.5/10

The sound in the game is good, the music similar to Doom 3 (metal mixed with ambient/industrial pads/synths or whatever they're called) go perfect with the hectic gameplay. Some of the weapons sound effects could've been more meaty or better. The voice dialogue (what there is) is done well and goes with the games tone well, the demons don't say a lot, hard to pay attention to how they sound when you're dodging projectiles from every direction.

Story: 8/10

I've not yet completed all the campaign and the game isn't exactly The Last Of Us in terms of plot or story, but the premise seems smart enough and the codex's you can find and their lore, or a few holograms and dialogue help put together pieces of the story. Basically the hell portal is opened again thanks to an overly fanatical scientist Olivia Pierce, by releasing a wave of Lazarus wave (killing or warping any UAC personnel in its path) and the doom/ed marine that hell seems to be familiar with is woken from a slumber to deal with it. Also the UAC on mars are mining/farming argent hell energy which has unlimited use and potential, but hell doesn't agree.

The multiplayer is fun, there's no room for cod/battlefield camping here, you run and gun like a mad man, it has an old school arena style to it. It's not perfect, not the highlight of the game (whereas call of duty lives off multiplayer) this games single player is strong.

The snapmap level editor is a great edition adding longevity rather than taking the route of every FPS and charging for dlc maps. The map editor is akin to Timesplitters, you put together various section of pre made structures and walls, but can add and edit a lot of elements to make challenges for others to share or battle it out on, including events and triggers.

Overall: 9/10

The game turned out to be a fun one, with an old school design that works, very slight repetition in some lock down areas and the not perfect multiplayer don't really detract from everything else the game does well, one of few hype inducing games this year which pleasantly lives up to it.

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