The Doom series does not need a long introduction. These are old-school arcade shooters. A fresh game from id Software enhances the merits of its predecessors, but retains the traditional charismatic and mood of brutality.
Weapon kit and the inhabitants of Hell
The weapons and abilities of the game also greatly changed . All we described above is just the top of the iceberg. For example a shotgun can be changed into a machine gun. The shooting mode, as in the previous part, changes with the help of modifications. A double-barreled shotgun was borrowed from Scorpion from Mortal Kombat so that you can be attracted to the enemies. The Gaussian cannon was replaced with a ballistic one, which can easily cut the hordes of demons with an released energy blade (this is better to see firsthand).
Besides the Doom developers apparently decided that all this is not enough, and installed a flamethrower on its shoulder (indeed, an empty spot on the suit, after all). Burning demons will now irrigate the surrounding area with small charges of armor. There was a bloody blow, which with one wave of his hand causes damage to all demons in a small AOE radius. At the end of the game, Doom will find a demonic sword (which is not replaced with a chainsaw), cuts any evil forse in one swing. Hilk will fall from the corpses. Thus, the variability and the need for combining the entire arsenal is increased.
Satan’s messengers now have their weaknesses, the destruction of which changes their behavior. Shooting from the revenant (this is the one with two rocket launchers on his shoulders) guns, he will fight in a close battle. And a kakodemon (flying, one-eyed) will even scatter into small pieces if a grenade is directly thrown into his mouth. There are new minions with their unique skills. Each representative of Hell needs to be destroyed by a certain method that will be most effective. Have we already talked about the need to juggle with all your abilities? Yes? Think about a low ammunition, reduced hero health and increased damage to monsters. Now you understand why we are come again to ourselves? This is a really important aspect of the game, which makes it several times as more dynamic and difficult.
The game atmosphere and levels
We must pay tribute to the developers: they have surpassed their past brainchild in everything. Levels have become more diverse. If earlier all that was offered to us was the classic “red hell”, now the color palette has expanded significantly. This is also due to the place of action: the action takes place not on Mars, but in different worlds, which defy from each other. At the same time, the picture became a little more toy looking, if may said so. The developers significantly threw up the image brightness, contrast and saturation. Not that this harms to the general perception, but we did not particularly like this move. The realism inherent in Doom 2016 impressed much more.
What also didn’t benefit the game is such long levels. Do not be surprised if you need an hour and a half to complete the task. At some point you catch yourself thinking: “I will pass the mission and finish.” And as a result, everything drags on for several hours. You will not be interrupted at the time of the drive meat grinder, right? I would like to receive a small reward in frequent portions faster, rather than a healthy pack of experience and buns every 60 minutes. However, this helps to keep the gamer playing, we will not deny this. Also, long levels made it possible to create huge, impressive landscapes. This has a positive effect on the atmosphere.
On locations now all secret places are marked with proper signs. However, you will have to look for secret passages by yourself. Also, after passing the level, it becomes possible to teleport to some points on the map. This allows you to collect all the buns that were accidentally missed.
Separately, I want to note the soundtracks. Mick Gordon with his works, as always, is on top. It seems that he was raised by Doomguy himself, and all his life he’ve been messing with demonic creatures. So his music is brutal and pathos.
Verdict
Eternal has absorbed the most striking qualities of the series and significantly improved them. This is without a doubt the best arcade shooter that can drop a player a lot of emotions. Dynamic gameplay, hordes of monsters, tons of abilities and weapons – all this in the compartment causes frenzied delight and makes the heart beat more often from an adrenaline rush. Doomguy boldly is fully bursts into the video game market and, defiantly, without closing the door behind him, with just a pathos look puts on the shoulder blades of all genres that miserably cling to the scenario. Tear, shred and chop – nothing more.
