I figured I'd reply here as I did say I was penning one (And I'll give you a tag too @nessisonett)
Here's a a short and sweet (For me at least) loosey goosey impressions piece.
Code Vein
Despite the fact it has numerous souls mechanics such as mistle (bonfire's), respawning enemies, Haze (Souls) is used for purchasing/upgrading everything, dropping said haze when you die...
Code Vein is more forgiving then the souls games with a number of features.
It actually has a map & minimap for starts. Though you need to find various mistle in each area to unlock portions of said map. Still even if you don't have any of the map unlocked it still shows you where you've walked already so it's easier to navigate the souls games.
The partner character is typically really quite good at dispatching normal enemies (Though you can dismiss them if you wanna go at it alone). They can also revive you (or you can revive them) at the cost of half your health (and it does have a cooldown)
Haze seems to be a fair bit more plentiful then souls too. Like the Souls games upon dying you lose all the Haze you can go fetch it to get all your lost Haze back... BUT there's a hot springs at your home base where you can go rest there and you have the option to get back half of the haze you last lost (At the cost of the other half being gone forever).
Codes/Classes can be switched on a whim and whilst it will mess with your hp and ichor (mp) total to do so... It allows for a lot more experimentation. The fact that skills can be permanentely learnt and (providing you have the required stats) can be equipped to other codes/classes does mean a fairly good degree of flexibility too.
With the heavier focus on a narrative and learning backstories of your companions, and other side characters, in a more upfront way (Though they're both still kinda told in a bit of a fragmented way like the souls games) not to mention the character interactions in general...
Maybe I'm just making a bit of an excuse for it but to me it feels a bit more like it's an action JRPG that has souls-like mechanics rather then a full blooded Souls-like if that makes sense?
I'd say it's definitely easier overall then the Souls games. Not to brag or anything but I beat the first three bosses (Well the tutorial boss and the bosses of the Ruined City and the Dried Up Trenches) without levelling up at all 😉 (Though compared to the souls games leveling only dictates your overall health and stamina... The Codes/Classes dictate your other stats).
The Howling Pit is giving me a run for my money though at lvl 1. The Executioner lady is not playing nice at all! 😂
That's the Executioner on the right
I'd say it's probably worth giving the demo another look Sol as the UI involving the Codes (Classes) still isn't as clear as it could be even in the main game but I've gotten used to it and like I previously mentioned being able to mix and match skills between them all... I quite like it myself which as I already said feels a bit more forgiving because of that and allows you to be a lot more experimental.
The world/level design isn't as exciting as the souls games so far... But hopefully there'll be some more interesting locales as I progress further (Though I do actually kinda like the pit and trenches ) and the enemy designs are ok too with the bosses being a bit more interesting visually then the main grunts (The Boss fights themselves have been pretty good too)
I'm pleasantly surprised really as I'm quite enjoying my time with Code Vein... Especially as I kinda bounced off of the original Dark Souls a few months back.
The photo mode is pretty fun to use as I'm sure you've seen throughout this piece
and the character creation is especially rather good too! (Though a fair few of the outfits for the girls are a bit on the skimpy side of things)
But yeah... First impressions are pretty positive
Previously known as Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy
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"You don't have to save the world to find meaning in life. Sometimes all you need is something simple, like someone to take care of"
Yeah like the Souls games you can upgrade your weapons and the various jackets you can get @Th3solution.
Like the souls games you can also enhance weapons to have things like poison, fire, have your weapon weigh less at the cost of less atk etc... But the materials for those are actually tied to your companions and you'll have to give them gifts and raise your affinity with them in order to get them (At least from what I've seen so far you might find them in the world too).
There's a number of different designs for the jackets (with varying stats and the likes) but there's only four core types (Regarding using them and their drain attacks at least) of the claw, stinger, swords or the hounds.
Weapon types are grouped into 1h swords, 2h swords, Bayonets, Halberds & spears and Axes & Hammers. There's some varying movesets (Usually an attack or two) between weapons of the same type but so far I haven't encountered a whole lot of different looking designs yet.
@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Oh, that’s cool. And so there’s a social / relationship building mechanic too? I like that. It really does seem like a mish-mash of several different genres of games, doesn’t it? Are you able to choose from different companions then, I assume? Does having a stronger relationship also yield more perks in battle and also extra storylines?
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
There's at least 4 companions I know of that you can chose from to journey with you @Th3solution ... But I don't think the relationship stuff does anything other then let you get some items from each individual?
Though your choice of partner (Once they give their Blood Code to you) does give you a special gift/ability that you can only use with that partner. Also they might give you a present (an item) that when used grants you some additional haze.
@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy I had no idea anime dark souls (or, going by what you've said about it... anime with a side of dark souls?) had a map system. I might actually check this one out! Thanks for the impressions piece.
@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy I had no idea anime dark souls (or, going by what you've said about it... anime with a side of dark souls?) had a map system. I might actually check this one out! Thanks for the impressions piece.
As I've said in the impressions piece it definitely has "Souls" mechanics and is a souls like.
Like I said maybe I'm just making up excuses for it... But it's sorta similar to how I felt about my crash 1 review where I said despite the fact it's a 3D platformer it usually focuses on the one plane at a time so it's more of a sidescroller or something akin to 2.5D rather then full 3D due to it's hallway like design.
It just doesn't feel quite right calling Code Vein a Souls like compared to say Mortal Shell or the likes when it does stray from the usual codifiers of the genre and is an easier experience (Though it's still challenging and I have died a number of times still)
There is a demo on the PS4 that should still be up if you wanna give it a shot... I don't think that went to PC?
When DOOM (aka DOOM 2016) first released in 2016, it must have been seen as something almost miraculous by long-time fans. After all, the series had effectively been on hiatus since the release of DOOM 3 in 2004, and that game, ambitious though it may have been, burned a lot of longtime fans and wasn't the 3D DOOM game they had been dreaming of. Previews and footage of this game were promising, though, promising a proper return to form for the legendary, long-dormant series, combining the 3D aiming and movement of DOOM 3 with the speed, ferocity, and difficult of the classic games of yore. And that, to put it lightly, is what the game delivered.
DOOM 2016's most notable change is the way it layers complexity to the experience that enhances and expands the focus of previous games. Previous DOOMs were somewhat minimalistic in terms of their gameplay (which, admittedly, works well for this series). Kill demons, find your way to the end of the level. Wash, rinse, repeat. DOOM 64 counteracted this mindless simplicity a bit by adding more intelligent, puzzle box level design that forced the player to think about how to progress, but it still amounted to the same basic thing: kill demons, and get to the level goal. DOOM 3 shook things up a bit more dramatically by making it where the player often couldn't examine their environments AND have a gun out at the same time, which slowed down gameplay significantly and added a more distinct survival horror feel to proceedings. It also forced the player to stop for long periods of time to listen to droning audio logs from scientists located around the UAC base. The changes were interesting, but also controversial, because they didn't really fit with the ethos of DOOM.
DOOM is about movement! Action! Spontaneity! Running at breakneck speeds around hell and blasting demons in their ugly faces with missles. So it's easy to see why the changes (partially counteracted in the BFG remaster) didn't sit well with the established fanbase.
DOOM 2016 leans into the gameplay focus of older DOOMs, but establishes its own unique identity by turning the game into something of a collect-a-thon. Secret collectibles fill nooks and crannies in every level in this game: some are purely aesthetic (you can find these adorable Doom Slayer action figures throughout the game that unlock 3D models in the main menu), but most are part of an elaborate nest of upgrades that touch on almost every aspect of the game. There are multiple collectibles that I'll be discussing, but I do want to mention two immediately. You'll find the corpses of Elite Guard marines throughout the game, and collecting tokens from their lifeless bodies will allow you to upgrade your 'praetor suit' so that, for example, your in-game map displays collectibles within a certain radius, or power-ups stay active for longer, or you become more resistant to certain types of damage, and so on; Argent Cells, which contain weaponized hell energy, will, when found, permanently upgrade either the Doom Slayer's armor capacity, HP limit, or total ammo capacity, acting a lot like missile and health upgrades in Metroid games.
I said before that DOOM 2016 embraces the 3D movement of DOOM 3, but that really is an understatement. DOOM revels in three-dimensional freedom in a way few games do. This is perhaps what informs the level design of the game: while there are corridors and keycards/colored skulls used to access new areas, as in previous games, they are a minor element in this game. The confusing labyrinths of hallways and doors are largely a thing of the past here, and DOOM opts for levels that feel incredibly open. There are, of course, the obvious arena-like environments where gigantic enemy skirmishes take place, but the levels in general feel very spacious, organic, and vertical. This is made clear in the game's very first level, which takes place on the surface of Mars, as you trek between buildings and explore ridges, hills, and blasted structures while fighting off waves of demons. Later levels feature significant platforming elements, multi-layered structures where battles take place, and so on. Jumping is now a huge part of the equation, and that becomes even more the case when the player unlocks equipment that allows the Doom Slayer to double jump. There are times when I'm reminded of a Metroid Prime game... although that impression fades a bit as the thrash metal soundtrack kicks off, and I'm flying between platforms and structures, sniping demons as I pass over them before landing and snapping enemy necks.
I know I've mentioned this in relation to other DOOM games, but I genuinely cannot imagine playing this game with anything other than a mouse and keyboard. DOOM 2016 is heavily reliant on split-second decision-making and speed, and I found I often had a small window of time to actually line up a shot, given the demons in this game are often as adept at parkour as I am. Even moreso than with previous games in the series, the only way for the player to avoid dying almost immediately, especially on higher difficulties like Ultra-Violence or Nightmare, is to continually be moving. Stopping means death. Slowing down means death. DOOM is perhaps the most aggressive action game I've ever played, and the only way the player stays alive is by becoming a sort of monster themselves, hurtling themselves at grotesque foes with almost reckless abandon.
It shouldn't come as a surprise that the game is also horrifically violent. Not that older DOOM games were shy of blood, but this entry dials the brutality up several notches, and you're rarely going for more than a minute or two without inflicting all manner of grievous injuries on the denizens of hell with your powerful weapons. Even being somewhat desensitized to depictions of violence, I was rather flabbergasted the first time I chainsawed an enemy in half for ammunition (chainsaw executions are used to both instantly kill enemies and recover ammunition in this game, although limited gasoline keeps the player from abusing the mechanic). It was so raw and... juicy.
The level of on-screen violence is elevated even further with this game's glory kill system. Every demon in this game has a damage threshold where they're staggered and will begin flashing. If the player presses the punch key while close to them during this period, they'll perform a glory kill, which is a brief animation that leads instantly to the death of the forementioned enemy. I initially worried that this would break up the marvelous pacing of the combat, but I actually found it enhanced it: combat is so vicious and overwhelming in DOOM that the brief animations allowed my brain a second of respite in order to process what was happening, which allowed me to keep up with the game's high-wire ballet of gore and death. If that wasn't enough incentive on its own, I should probably also point out that glory killing enemies causes them to drop more health when they die. The best defense in this game is ALWAYS a hyper-violent offense.
The glory kill system also enhances a status effect that I found didn't work very well in previous DOOM games. In past iterations, the "Berserk" status effect allowed the player to run up to demons and kill them in a single punch. But punching in first person shooters has always been sort of awkward, and I found this status effect never worked well for me. Berserk status is AWESOME in DOOM 2016, though, because the punches are replaced with automatic glory kills. And they're even more spectacularly gruesome than the normal ones. Where you might smash an enemy's face in with your boot during a normal glory kill, you'll suddenly be ripping them in half, tearing their skulls apart, and otherwise totally obliterating them in a glorious manner that recalls the fatalities in Mortal Kombat games.
I've harped on about the violence, but, in truth, it's so constant and outlandish that the visceral impact of it quickly fades. Once you've torn off a demon's leg and beat the creature to death with it hundreds of times, the shock wears off, and you're able to appreciate the unique grace your ultra-violent dances of death possess.
In terms of the glory kills, it's worth mentioning that they're actually context sensitive. You'll perform different glory kills on a given enemy depending on where you're aiming and how you're positioned when you trigger the animations. Which leads, I think, into a brief discussion about another one of the features of this game: level challenges.
Starting with the second level of DOOM, you'll have access to three challenges in every level. Progress toward goal completion is reset if the players exits the level, so they have to be undertaken in one go. Challenges can range from having to find certain collectibles to finding optional easter eggs within the levels (one particularly tricky challenge required me to find a random computer on which to play a DOOM-themed Bejeweled clone). One challenge type that seemed to continually crop up would ask me to kill certain demons with certain targeted glory kills a specific number of times. This sounds simple enough, but a number of the glory kills in this game are obnoxiously hard to trigger, with the worst being one that required me to target the lower half of the right leg of an enemy demon that didn't show up significantly often within the level itself. It's interesting how contextual the glory kills are, but I found the targeted glory kill challenges to be little more than a nuisance.
In terms of weapons availability, DOOM 2016 doesn't rock the boat by introducing much in the way of new weaponry (I believe the Gauss Cannon is new, but that's about the only one that doesn't have some level of precedent in previous DOOM games), but instead opts to reintroduce almost every major weapon from previous games in the series and make them feel better than ever. This includes the double-barreled ("super") shotgun, and it's as amazing and stupidly overpowered as it ever was. That's not to say, of course, that the weapons have been left untouched. One of the many joys of exploration in this game is finding these adorable field drones that give selectable weapon modifications to the Doom Slayer. These modifications can be swapped on the fly, and their unique effects can be strengthened via weapon upgrade points, which are earned by completing level challenges and discovering secrets, typically. A weapon mod, once fully upgraded, will finally unveil a "mastery challenge." Mastery challenges typically involve challenges that require skillful use of the upgraded weapon mod. Mastering these challenges grants one final upgrade to the weapon's effectiveness that makes it significantly more useful. For example, with the fore-mentioned super shotgun, completing the weapon mastery challenge allows you to fire the weapon twice in quick succession before reloading, which can make quick work of even the most powerful enemies at short range.
I'd also be loathe not to mention runes and rune trials as well. The player will find hidden portals throughout the game that will transport them to rune trials. In these trials, the player has to accomplish some sort of goal in a short amount of time, often with severe handicaps imposed. For example, a trial goal might be "kill 20 demons in 30 seconds using only [insert weapon]," and you'll additionally be limited to a small amount of ammo, most of which you'll have to scavenge from the environment. Some trials also task the player with reaching a location within a specific amount of time. Completing these trials will unlock runes that will additionally have their own challenges the player must complete before the rune can be equipped. Runes are powerful, though, and can do anything from dramatically increase the period of time in which demons are staggered to give the player full control of their mid-air mobility when jumping or falling, which helps tremendously when one is trying to access hard-to-reach secrets stuck out on distant ledges.
Everything in this game feels designed to work together to make the player stronger, faster, and more effective as a demon-killing machine. The primary reason this nest of collectibles, systems, upgrades, and challenges works out as well as it does is due to how the game goes out of its way to minimize tedium and unfairness when the player is engaging with it. Progress in level challenges, for example, doesn't reset until the player leaves the level, so dying and having to go back to a previous checkpoint doesn't erase the player's hard work, and can even be used as a technique to cheese some of the more annoying challenges in this game. When the player completes a level challenge, or collects something, they can also immediately leave the level without having to finish it, which shortens the playtime dramatically for someone going for 100% completion. If there is one thing that DOOM 2016 doesn't like to do, it's to waste the player's time.
Thankfully, this respect for the player's time applies to the storytelling in DOOM 2016 as well.
DOOM actually has what is probably the best narrative in the series. Granted, the plot is essentially identical to other DOOM games: greedy megacorp discovers Hell, thinks: "oh, it'd be a splendid idea to try and exploit Hell's resources for our own ends," and then, as it always does, Hell finds a way to invade our dimension, necessitating the gory antics of our silent hero. The game begins rather memorably, with the Doom Slayer awakening to find himself strapped down to a table next to a sarcophagus, demons bearing down on him. After donning a suit of power armor, our intrepid hero is contacted by the gravel-voiced Dr. Samuel Hayden, the UAC scientist primarily responsible for the plan to use argent energy from Hell to solve Earth's energy crisis. The dynamic between your character and Hayden is interesting and tense: Hayden, for his part, fully plans on continuing his research into exploiting Hell's resources, but woke the Doom Slayer out of desperation after one of his lead subordinates struck a deal with Hell and built a devil-worshipping cult under his nose that led to the invasion; the Doom Slayer, on the other hand, has only one goal: smash anything even tangentially related to Hell or demons. There's also a third party that factors in: a sentient artificial intelligence named VEGA, whose role in the game grows over time, and who, I thought, had a great character arc as time went on.
Where DOOM 2016 really shines is in the worldbuilding. The DOOM Slayer, for example, has made something of a name for himself in Hell, and you'll discover "testaments" in Hell that narrate the exploits of the character in Hell since he decided to stay there at the end of DOOM 64.
Hell itself is... organized, we learn. Imperialistic. There are conquered worlds and an entire mythology the player can learn about. Even game-y mechanics like power-ups are given naturalistic in-game explanations. You could probably spend a decent chunk of time reading all of the supplemental material that appears in the informational lore collectibles you find around both the UAC and Hell.
This is all delivered mostly non-intrusively. Lore pick-ups, as detailed as they are, are purely optional and don't slow down the game one bit. Story bits with VEGA and Samuel Hayden tend to be communicated either via intercom, which is loud, brief, and rarely slows down the action. There are one or two exceptions to this in the game: one in-game moment where Hayden invites you to his office and talks to you about how you're going to help him seal the portal to hell was so long that I spent a good two minutes bouncing around the room like a maniac. I can only imagine what it looked like to Samuel as my impatient Doom Slayer jumped on his desk, spun in the air around him, ran into walls, and so on as he tried to have a serious conversation with me about the apocalyptic predicament at hand.
But, for the most part, the game is able to tell a story while also keeping the pacing lightning fast.
In terms of enemy variety, DOOM 2016 seems to be the best in the series. Almost all of the classic demons return, and a few new ones are introduced. Returning demons are often similar to their old iterations, but much scarier and more dynamic: Imps crawl all over the walls; Hell Knights will come bounding up to you and attempt to crush you with mighty strikes to the Earth; Revenants flit around in an unstable manner, firing rockets off left and right (thankfully, they no longer home in on the player); "Pinky" demons have the animalistic instincts of their DOOM 3 iterations, but, stylistically, recall the classic demons from the older DOOMs, and have to be baited into charging past you, because their thick hides protect from most damage in the front; the "possessed," zombie-like enemies that are humans in the first stages of transformation after being exposed to Hell, return from DOOM 3 as well.
Arch-Viles are gone, but replaced by a similar and far more annoying enemy, called "the summoner." Summoners are more feminine in design and spawn demons/spam damaging waves of energy like arch-viles of old. What makes fighting them anxiety-inducing is the way they zip around the battlefield at insane speeds, making them exceedingly difficult to shoot. As is DOOM tradition, the first one you fight is a sort of mini-boss, and they begin appearing as regular enemies later on. They're always the first enemy I target in an ambush, because focusing on lesser demons first is an easy way to get quickly overwhelmed by their quick attacks.
The only fully new enemy in this game is the Hell Razer, which is just a demon that can shoot lasers out of its arms. The lasers are easy enough to dodge, thankfully, and Hell Razers are easier to dispatch than imps thanks to their slower, much more humanoid body types.
The real upgrade on the enemy front in DOOM 2016 is the bosses. A DOOM game FINALLY has decent bosses, with attack patterns that can be dodged without hiding behind buildings and taking potshots, multiple forms, unique mechanics that have to be exploited to defeat them, etc. If I had any criticism of this element of the game, it'd be that the final boss is arguably less imposing than some of the fights leading up to it. I'd also have liked if the bosses were more evenly distributed throughout the game than bunched up in the last few levels like they are. With that said, I'm just satisfied to see a DOOM game finally get bosses right, as they were cheap and annoying in the older games and just underwhelming in DOOM 3.
There is a ton of in-game content to engage with after you play through the levels 2 - 3 times each, grab all the collectibles, complete all of the challenges, upgrade all of the runes, and so on. The developer patched in a fun arcade mode that essentially removes all of the forementioned variety and complexity from the game. Data logs, cutscenes, collectibles, exploration, even bosses are put by the wayside, and you focus on doing one thing and one thing only: killing demons. Killing them quickly, glory killing them, chaining multiple kills together in quick success, etc. seem to contribute to achieving a higher score multiplier, and the end of the level, you're awarded with a metal depending on how high your score got. I didn't spend much time with this, since I've played through the main game 3+ times in full by this point, but I do think it'll be a lot of fun to go back to when I just want to engage in some mindless demon slaying.
Much has been made about SnapMap, a sort of in-game level editor that allows you to create your own levels, share them with friends, play SnapMaps uploaded by others, etc. It sounds like it probably adds an insane amount of replay value to the game on top of the ultra-meaty single-player campaign and arcade mode, but I haven't messed with it at all. Probably another feature to engage with in the future (long in the future, because if I keep messing with this game's treasure trove of bonus modes and whatnot, I'm never going to get to DOOM Eternal!). There's also apparently multiple multiplayer modes, a leveling system associated with those, unlockables, a multiplayer-exclusive demon, etc. Honestly, it sounds like an entire game on its own, but I don't really care to play my games with other people, generally, and I imagine the multiplayer servers are probably fairly dead at this point, so I won't be able to say anything intelligent about that aspect of the game, either.
Oh, and I couldn't find a good place to mention this, but I HAVE to mention the levers and secret levels. Every level in this game contains a lever, usually hidden in plain sight somewhere (they blend into the background, unfortunately), that, when pulled, will unlock a secret door somewhere in the level that's styled after the classic DOOM games. Entering these rooms will unlock tough retro levels from the first two DOOM games in the main menu. They're really cool unlockables, and you'll also have to find all of the levels if you want to 100% the campaign, as they're counted as one of the secrets in every level. I'd recommend just looking up the lever locations if you're struggling to find them, however, as they can be exceedingly hard to find in this game's frequently complex and very lengthy levels.
DOOM is visually gorgeous and surprisingly well-optimized for lower-end hardware, and much of that is thanks to the powerful id Tech 6 engine, which was first used in this game. Of course, the art design is a winner as well. DOOM 2016 seems to find a balance between the darkness and grime of DOOM 3 and the neon colors and aggressive satanism of earlier games, and it works really well: I'd be terrified if going to war against the forces of hell weren't so darn fun. A lot of the environments also have a sense of scale to them that was missing in older DOOM games; especially spectacular setpieces like the long climb up the Argent Tower, where you'll spend an entire level jumping onto enormous pieces of machinery and surviving demonic ambushes as you ascend an enormous mechanical structure.
Perhaps DOOM's greatest presentational feat is in its soundtrack, though. The relatively fresh-faced Australian composer Mick Gordon's throbbing industrial metal soundtrack radiates pure aggression and infuses every battle with a practically demonic energy. Just listen to these pieces and imagine ripping and tearing your way through demonic hordes in the process. Additionally, and I don't know how the game does this, but I noticed the flow of the music often seemed to synchronize with my movements in battle. Was this just me getting really in groove with the music, or is there a responsive feedback loop between player input and what plays in the background? Either way, it's an iconic soundtrack that does an amazing job of lending a unique sense of aural identity to this game. I also liked how creepy and atmospheric the music often is outside of battle.
I guess if I had to lodge a criticism at the game's music, it'd be that it lacks diversity. There's not a lot of variety on display: the music is always either creepy-ambient or ultra-aggressive and murdery. As a result, it's not a soundtrack I'd ever listen to outside of the context of the game, and I will admit I miss the more thrash metal-inspired tunes from the original DOOM, but the composer's work here is superlative.
While I'm nitpicking, I'd also make a couple of other criticisms of the game. Firstly, I think, like most DOOM games, it's a little too easy to just fall back on the super shotgun and rely on it to carry me through the game. Since using the chainsaw on enemies restores ammunition, and ammo seems to be fairly plentiful on all difficulties through Ultra-Violence, the second highest difficulty setting in the game, and the one I played on the most, there's not a ton of incentive to branch out to other weapons when you're not chasing weapon challenges. It's easy to stick with a handful of weapons that fit your playstyle and totally ignore the rest most of the time. The BFG is also a little unbalanced. Granted, its ammo is fairly limited, but it has been turned from an instadeath shot to a weapon that'll clear an entire room of baddies in one shot.
While the game is full of cool optional and post-game content to engage with that's structured in a user-friendly manner, I can't deny that it succumbs to checklist-itis a bit. Whereas in previous DOOM games I was only concerned with having a blast murdering demons, I spent way too much time going back to my menu to check my map and challenge lists to see if I missed anything (oh, and I didn't mention this, but the complex environments in DOOM are rendered perfectly navigable thanks to this game's amazing 3D map). Attempting to complete weapon, level, and rune challenges also drastically impacted the way I fought in battles, often leading to me battling in a sub-optimal manner to try and tick off another item on a checklist. All of the various challenges, upgrades, etc. also serve to complicate what used to be a blissfully uncomplicated experience.
Finally, the game is structured around a checkpoint system that disallowed normal game saving procedures, which I found rather uncomfortable to adjust to after previous DOOMs all let me save my game wherever, but it didn't end up being too much of an issue for me.
The Wrap-Up
If my complaints about the game sounded feeble or half-hearted, it's because they were, and I listed them only in an attempt at objectivity. The truth is that DOOM 2016 is one of the best video games I've ever played. Even moreso than DOOM 64, it addresses almost every problem with previous DOOM games while simultaneously taking the scale of the experience and the moment-to-moment awesomeness of it to new heights. DOOM has fully regained its status as supreme overlord of the first-person shooter genre (in terms of its single-player campaign, at least), and every similar game developed in its wake is going to have to try harder to step out from under its titanic shadow. I'm giving this a rare, but well-earned, 10/10.
@RogerRoger
Finally got this piece in a state I'm semi-satisfied with.
@Ralizah That's one heck of a review right there! And a very informative one, as well. I had no idea they'd leant so heavily on the collect-a-thon approach; the movement, level design, variety, story and presentation I'd seen praised by everybody who's ever mentioned it, but the upgrades, runes and hidden bonus encouragement is something so befitting the DOOM games of old (whether it was present or not) yet here, given a modern spin from the sounds of things. Awesome.
But you've also reinforced my pre-existing external perception of the game, specifically by using the word "juicy" to describe its gore. Your visceral descriptions of the glory kills will unfortunately keep me away, but I'm pleased to see that (targeted challenge requests aside) you found them a successful addition to an experience so hell-bent on delivering a specific tone. Well done to id Software.
That music is very evocative of the modern Wolfenstein games... which is no surprise, as Mick Gordon composed their soundtracks as well. It's what I'd describe as being a crunchy style and yes, you do get into a gameplay rhythm with it. I don't think it's a technical trick, more an emotional one.
A superb bit of writing which you should be fully satisfied with, not just semi-so, and a fitting addition to your series of DOOM reviews. Next stop, Eternal... right?
Hopefully it won't force any further expositional desktop tapdancing out of you!
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
I started out playing on Hurt Me Plenty and then dialed up the difficulty to Ultra-Violence soon thereafter, as Hurt Me Plenty is a little gentle for my liking. With that said, I don't think I'll be playing on Nightmare difficulty any time soon. I like actually enjoying my games, and demons can already kill you in a few hits in Ultra-Violence.
Yeah, the level design is great. Playing the games in order, it's so impressive to go from the confused, endless labyrinths of the original DOOM to the sweeping vistas and complex verticality of DOOM 2016. It's one of those series where the developers keep clearly improving on things with nearly every iteration (DOOM 3 was sort of a sidegrade, but I still liked it). Technologically, it's just so impressive. It also runs well on potato hardware: even my previous PC ran the game on low settings at 60fps. And even on low graphics, the game is still gorgeous.
Speaking of potato hardware, the Switch version is actually my favorite console version of the game. The halved framerate and muddy textures aren't great coming from other versions, of course, but it's responsive enough on lower difficulties once you get used to it. Putting aside the portability (which, c'mon, is the only reason to play any non-exclusive on a Switch), the reason I appreciate that version is because of the gyro aiming. It's not as responsive as mouse aiming, but it's a fair sight better than using dual analog. Even as someone who grew up with consoles, I've always sucked at aiming with sticks. I tried out the PS4 demo of DOOM, and it was pathetic; my skills were similar to that Polygon guy who demoed DOOM and struggled to hit anything with his gun.
But having played the PC version, I'm not chomping at the bit to play the same game with worse performance and at 4x the cost. That DOOM runs on a handheld is supremely cool, but it's not really a game that benefits tremendously from portability, IMO. And since I've been cooped up in the house so much this year, having portable versions of games is less of a draw than it used to be.
I guess I need to invent a juice scale, huh? From year old orange to fresh watermelon cut open in the summer, perhaps?
@RogerRoger Danke! I tried to hit all of the major bases with this game. The basic presentation is easy to talk about, but there's SO MUCH under the surface. I didn't really expect the collect-a-thon aspect either. I expect some people probably play the game once and mostly ignore that aspect of it, but it really takes over in the post-game clean-up.
😂 I did go into particular detail about the gore with you in mind, since I figured you'd appreciate a warning on that front. It really is incredibly visceral. Which it'd have to be, I guess: OG DOOM was controversial for its time, but the bar for violent content has been raised so high now that you have to go full on splatterpunk to achieve a similar effect.
You know, I played Wolfenstein: The New Order years ago and (mostly) enjoyed it, but I can't, for the life of me, remember any music from it. I really should revisit the game. Especially now that I'm not a complete goober when it comes to M+K controls!
I've noticed I rely on certain words and phrases as a textual crutch. If I hit ctrl-f and see 5+ hits for a certain phrase, I know I have work to do. Thankfully, we can endlessly edit our own posts, so I go back every once in a while and touch up something in a previous review. I expect I'll do the same with this one.
Eternal is definitely on the list in a few months. With that said, I think I'm going to play and review some shorter and more obscure games in the meantime. I have a LOT of those in my Steam backlog. I've never even heard of half of these games. I'm guessing a lot of them came packaged in bundles with other stuff I wanted.
@Ralizah I expect a lot of people don't bother to replay games nowadays, given that there are so many vying for our attention. That's something that's surprised me about my time here, encountering folks who are allergic to replays. Fair enough and each to their own, and there are certainly bad games that I'd never return to, but I'll always keep an enjoyable experience around for a second shot someday.
Yes, and thank you for that (don't worry, I wasn't eating)! Seriously, cheers for the heads-up. Times change, technology evolves and edges are blunted; case in point, me actually completing the original Resident Evil 2 lately, something that was once considered the pinnacle of horror but now feels like a Disney haunted house. Where we are right now, this DOOM is too much. Maybe someday, its juicy charms will become quaint or nostalgic, so I'll never say never... but, as you say, the bar for violence has been raised so high, it's practically non-existent. There are no limits nowadays. Anything that could potentially be believable is dangerous for me to contemplate, and that'll never change.
I can't remember any Wolfenstein music either, not specifically; it's more an undercurrent, a tone that follows you around and accentuates your actions in an almost hypnotic way. Very much what this Mick Gordon fellow seems to specialise in and heck, it clearly works. Should be interesting to see what you make of The New Order again, following your experience with this new DOOM, as they reportedly share a lot more DNA than just the music.
Speaking of repeating certain words or phrases, I think this'll be the third or fourth time I've replied to you with a hearty "Hey, I do that, too!" but, well... hey, I do that, too! The whole Ctrl+F thing. More for individual words and descriptions than entire sentences and metaphors; the fear of repeating oneself (he says, as he repeats himself) is common to a lot of writers, I reckon. I also reckon that you won't have to return and edit this review at all, as I felt that this was your most varied piece yet. I've always admired your skill, but this one in particular was downright professional-level stuff. Nicely done.
Ah, mystery tour, eh? Sounds like fun! Although I can't get my head around buying games blind, I'm obviously new to PC gaming and having a Steam account, so give it time!
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@RogerRoger Well, in fairness, I usually don't replay games either, but I do try to fully experience them when I do play them.
Within reason, anyway. I won't spend hundreds of hours going for all of the endings in a long game, I'll just take what I get and be satisfied with it.
I don't see how the bar could possibly get higher with violence in games. You can now slice and dice a body in every which way in modern games. I suppose there will be incremental increases in realism, but that's about it.
And, I kind of alluded to this, but I think that's why I could tolerate the savagery in DOOM. It's not realistic. It's hyperviolent to the point of sheer cartoon absurdity. It doesn't have the suffering and tragedy to it that accompanies the violent action of something like The Last of Us Part II, gameplay of which still frequently turns my stomach.
It also helps that all of the violence is being inflicted on monsters.
The biggest problem with TNO for me is that it's a much more explicitly "cinematic" game than DOOM is. DOOM is a masterclass in pure, unbridled gameplay, like most of Nintendo's output, whereas Wolfenstein is a narrative you invest yourself in. It also features stealth and planning versus the Doom Slayer's "LEEROY JENKINS!" approach. But it has been years, so I am interested in revisiting it and seeing if my opinion changes at all.
Heh, glad to see I'm not the only neurotic person around here.
And thanks! I had a tough time writing this piece. Lots of false starts. I restructured it and rewrote entire pages multiple times. And, of course, the inner critic is an irrepressible b*tch. Even re-reading it, when I can't specifically pinpoint anything wrong, certain turns of phrases and descriptions still make me cringe. So it does mean a lot to hear that I managed to cobble together something halfway readable.
Well, I'm not really buying the games blind, persay. It's more like: "Oh, I can get one or two games I want for a good price, and these other games I've never heard of before come along with them, so why not!" That's the reason I have a Call of Duty game in my Steam library, for example: I got it for $15 alongside the Crash trilogy, the Spyro trilogy, and about three other games. Primarily through Humble Bundle.
It's not quite as good as it used to be, but there are still some excellent bundle deals on there, and it's nice that you can choose how much of your money goes to charity!
@Ralizah Yeah, I didn’t find the violence that bad to be honest just because it’s so cartoonish that it’s almost comical. I find myself wincing more even in a game like Assassin’s Creed just because the slightly more realistic visceral kills sound squelchy while not being OTT.
@Ralizah Hey, as long as you feel like you've personally gotten your money's worth from an experience, or that you've spent all the effort on it that you're prepared to, who's to argue? Especially since games are unique in that regard; few books have ever "ended" two-thirds of the way through, providing nothing but supplementary reading and alternate chapters for the last couple hundred pages.
That's what worried me the most, though; the part where you said that you eventually became desensitised to the game's ultra-violence. That's a personal worry for myself, though, and no comment on you or your approach to playing the game. I have... how best to put this, I have emotional lines that I can't afford to cross any more. And it's weird that elaborate, cartoonish demons could drag me closer to those lines than the realistic human and animal enemies in Wolfenstein, or in countless other games I've played and still play, but... well, this is a rabbit hole, so I'll stop typing now. Thanks for your expanded thoughts, all the same. I appreciate you discussing this point with me, and for me.
Context is everything, though, you're absolutely right. There's no way I could ever play The Last of Us either, given what I've heard about it. Calling it "heavy" would be an understatement.
And yes, you're spot-on about the new Wolfenstein games. I quite like stealth gameplay (used to adore it, now I'm a little more immediate but it depends on the execution) so really appreciated being given the option in a game where I didn't expect to be, at all. Trying to maintain stealth where possible also made the "LEEROY JENKINS!!" moments (great description) more cathartic when certain levels or sequences forced your hand, but I get your point about looking for different things from gaming.
Yep, yep and yep. You're describing exactly what I went through with that Shadow review (although in a much more compressed timeframe; all of my reviews are completed in the moment, direct into the forum's reply box, started a couple hours before I hit "post" and forged from scrawled notes, disjointed sentences and screencaps I collect for a few days beforehand... they usually take me a morning, but Shadow took me an entire day). I wish I could plan better like you do, spend proper time refining things and editing them, but I'm scared that I'd doubt myself even more than I already do, if given the chance. It's like ripping off a bandage for me; if I don't hit "post" right away, I never will. It's then in the immediate aftermath, when I'm re-reading what I've written, that I notice errors and start cringing at my own ineptitude.
Like now. If I don't post this reply in the next minute, I'll delete it, so apologies if it's a hot mess.
Thanks for the Humble Bundle link! Had heard the name before, but never really looked into it, considering my previous aversion to PC gaming. Will check 'em out!
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@nessisonett My sister, for her part, loves gore films and stuff like bloody surgical footage, but she can't play Monster Hunter because the pained sounds when you wound creatures in that game, and especially the limping behavior when they're grievously injured, just does her in.
@RogerRoger Everyone's different, and has their own triggers and limitations. With that said, I'm not TOO worried about being desensitized as someone who has, on at least one occasion, seen brutal real life violence first-hand, because it's so different than the cartoon excesses of a game like DOOM. If I worry about the effects of any video game violence more broadly, it's the far less intimate 'depersonalized' violence of games like Call of Duty, which organizations like the US Army are using to 'game-ify' war and death by de-personalizing it. Granted, I suppose DOOM does as well, but it's very upfront about what you're doing. You always see the full and immediate consequences of what you're doing.
With all that being said, I've noticed that seeing some level of suffering first hand and the natural process of aging has had a softening effect on me over the years in terms of where I'm willing to draw the line with my entertainment. When I was a teenager, I could have played something like TLOU Part II just fine, but it approximates horrible and needless human suffering enough that it would just hurt me these days. Of course, this is all just me: as I said, we all have our triggers and limitations, and I think it's perfectly valid to drift away from even obviously outlandish gore if you feel like it's going to move you in an emotional direction that's unhealthy for you.
Your pieces flow great and are well-written, so I'm rather impressed that even the longer ones are essentially written in one go. I wish I could do that. There are two or three shorter reviews where I was able to do that, but, in general, anything longer or more elaborately constructed takes time, planning, and a lot of effort from me. I do appreciate your "ripping the band-aid off" philosophy as well. It's so easy to allow self-doubt to win, say: "this is embarrassingly poor work that nobody else should be forced to read," and lose out on hours of what might have been decent writing.
On the forums, I have that issue as well, but posting is no real solution for me, since I can endlessly edit my posts. I'm ALWAYS tempted to go back and tinker with what I've written. I succumb to the temptation quite often, unfortunately. Kudos to your approach of posting something and then leaving it to the world.
A few other sites to watch, if I haven't linked to them before:
www.cheapassgamer.com (this is a useful resources for sales across ALL platforms)
www.greenmangaming.com (some really impressive deals on newer games at times)
www.reddit.com/r/GameDeals/
@Ralizah It’s been said but I’ll add my adulation for the fabulous DOOM review. It was fun to re-experience the game in my head through reading your thoughts. And I pretty much agree across the board with most of your praise. I’m coming from a different perspective with it being my first DOOM game, but it was no less enjoyable without the history to compare it to. Anyways, outstanding writing and spot on critique.
It’s interesting discussion as well generated by @RogerRoger@nessisonett and others, in particularly the ultra violence and where each of us draw our own line in the sand with content. I’m more squeamish than most, but found DOOM to be easy to digest after the first couple hours, and I think the “cartoony” nature of it is responsible for that. Most of my disdain for violence in media occurs when the violence accompanies some sort of emotional hook, and directors of games and film play into that purposefully at times (like the aforementioned tugging at the heart strings when a creature limps away in Monster Hunter World). In playing God of War currently, the irony is not lost on me of how there is a moment when an animal is killed (and I hope I’m not spoiling anything, I’ll try to be vague) when the music ramps up, the camera pans to characters faces to show regret and grief and I, as the player, can’t help but feel remorse and guilt, all the while I’ve brutally slaughtered countless demons and demigods prior and afterwards.
The ultra violence is the single most reason for hesitation to playing TLoU2 because of the cited realism and intentional weightiness.
Another example — I recently have been on a DC kick and watched the movie Joker and then immediately moved on to Birds of Prey: Harley Quinn and it’s an example of two very violent movies, but in the former you feel legitimate emotional impact and cringe at some of the powerful violence and in the latter it’s all comical and ridiculous. (Come to think of it, Birds of Prey’s violence probably seems comical because the movie is so atrocious that its very existence seems like a practical joke to the fandom... but I digress 😜)
Anyways, as time goes on (and whether it’s society and culture’s evolution or my own aging perspective of life) I am not as put off by violence per se as I used to be. I’ve found it a powerful story-telling tool. So for me it’s all about context.
@Ralizah There's a much wider, more personal discussion to be had here, and I hope you'll understand if I refrain from giving details, but... well, you get it, and that's the most important thing. Your right to cite age as a factor, with or without considering individual experiences, as that's a trend I've noticed in those around me, as well as myself separate from my specific past. Emotional maturity is needed to reinforce empathy, one of the key ingredients in making an audience feel the impact of violence (and that's what @Th3solution is driving at, I think; the way in which some games employ violence and cruelty in their narratives to drive home a certain message in a certain moment, rather than simply using it for healthy, cathartic escapism). By definition, most of us can't be taught maturity, despite society's best efforts. Were I still in my teens, I reckon it's likely I'd also be playing The Last of Us, Part II right now, comfortable to execute whatever actions the game asked of me.
Here we both are, wishing we could borrow one another's opposing abilities! And yet, we share our work in the same place, which I find pretty cool. I've certainly learned a lot from reading your reviews, and the reviews of others who've contributed to this topic, so I remain hugely grateful to you for starting it. Tweaking individual words and sentences aside, being able to post anything here is something I think everybody should be proud of, because it does take a degree of courage (he says, inadvertently tooting his own horn) and then, thanks to your efforts, we can look back at what we've done and see the steady improvements more clearly. It's a rare and invaluable kind of support.
Having something accessible to editing is a temptation, for sure. The amount of screencaps I've abandoned, having sat in Photo Mode for hours trying to get the angle perfect, the colour just right... and then I just go "Nope, not happy!" and cancel back to the game. It's the digital equivalent of screwing up a sketch and throwing it in the bin, and I do it all the time. It's sudden and irrevocable, but here, with that edit button readily available? Yeah, I have to sit on my hands sometimes.
Thanks for the further links! Have bookmarked, will research. Gaming is a very immediate hobby, one for which you can needlessly waste a lot of money. Always pays to shop smart.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@Th3solution I'm pretty sure I know the moment you're talking about. As someone who looks up movies beforehand to see whether that specific animal is going to be killed off for cheap dramatic effect early on, as they often are, you can understand why I noped out of TLOU Part II pretty hard.
I'm not into emotional torture porn either, so establishing guilt over behaviors that the player is forced to engage in seems similarly cheap to me. Like, yep, I sure feel bad about doing that thing you made me do.
I think you're currently playing Undertale for the Game Club, right? The element of player guilt figures prominently in that as well, but I've always loved how the game never actually forces you to engage in any of the behaviors you might end up feeling guilty about. Undertale satirizes the standardized and unthinking reliance on violence in RPG story progression, and so its effective use of guilt is a means to an end of making the player question their own unthinking obedience to its structure and mechanics. Your experience with the creature in question in TLOU Part II would have been far more meaningful if you had the choice of actually trying to avoid killing it.
I'm all about humanizing enemies in video games if there's a point to it, but the bit you're referencing, and probably the game in general, is just intended to inflict suffering on the player using its characters as a proxy.
@mookysam I never got on with the Wii's IR tech, personally. I like how gyro is just slight fluctuations in hand movements, whereas IR games require you to point at specific points in space relative to the censor. It's exhausting, and unlike a lot of people, I found RE4 almost impossible to play that way.
As for the juicy scale, maybe 0 could be like a lone grape that fell down the side of the fridge and turned into a shrivelled, forgotten raisin, shrouded in dust and mould. It's only company a dead spider with three legs missing.
That sounds awfully specific. Bad childhood memory?
@RogerRoger Yeah, we all have to carry our own crosses, in terms of what we've endured and inflicted on others in the past. I try always to never make assumptions about the lives and experiences of the people I talk to, and, as much as possible, temper the severity of my reactions to the often frankly baffling perspectives of other people with that inherent epistemic limitation in mind.
In terms of age and growing more empathic, I don't think it's actually anything inherent to the process. The cruelest and kindest people I've known have mostly been older individuals. Rather, I think, barring life-shaking events that fundamentally change how we think about the world, people tend to grow less spiritually pliable as they grow older. Maturity, as you allude to, also factors in, and seems to be connected to empathy in some manner. My father is not what I would describe as a "bad" man, but he is someone fundamentally lacking in empathy and maturity, and, as a result, I find it almost impossible to talk to him for any length of time without an argument brewing.
I'm glad the review index has been so well-received! Now I just have to hope I'm years away from a hard limit on how many characters that first post of mine can contain.
@Ralizah Yes, I am doing my best to play Undertale along with the club, although I’m not quite enjoying it as much as I’d hoped. This is my second attempt at the game, and I am liking it a little better this time. Part of the problem I have is honestly the paradigm shift in playstyle that you refer to and the first go around I didn’t really understand the game and how the aggressive response is optional. It’s a really fascinating design choice and I can see the power of the statement being made by the developer. But so far the message isn’t strong enough to make the strange gameplay enjoyable though. Perhaps it will if I can stick it out to the end.
Some of the best game messages or lessons that I’ve experienced have occurred at a game’s conclusion.
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