Doom3 first impressions

BKtje

he atmosphere is good but it's not new. Alone in the dark gave the same if not more atmosphere.

No its not new but its implemented much better than most games. A lot of games have dark moments and when its dark u expect stuff to jump out. Doom3 is dark all the bleedin time so i never know what to expect.

True lighting is good, but unplayable and jerky when turned on.

As i said im having no problems what so ever.

About something wrong with me computer could be but I doubt I'd be able
to run COD/UT2k4 at 1600x1200 2x AA 8x ASF steady(no major fluctuations) 60/35-40 FPS respectivly.

Well if doom3 aint working somehting is wrong as your pc is pretty much on par with mine. I can play all those games withiout a problem too and doom3 isnt any hastle.

The physics engine - Well it's dumbed down alright but thats not the problem. It's the interactabiliy wit the world that the physics engine suks. sure I can move a few cones and boxes. but not a can on a table ?. This is supposed to be ground breaking lads.

Fair point but until u said it i hadnt noticed. Its not exactly earth shatteringly important to me to be able to shoot cone. Theres plenty of games that let you do it. If your thing is for shooting cans thengo try them

Lets not be fooled.

You make some valid points but i still think your being influenced by your shoddy pc (or whatever it is thats casuing it to run ****).

RuggieBear

I'm feeling a bit underwhelmed.

It's very pretty and all but the guns seem to weak...while some of the monsters are too strong too early (imps) and those enormous dog thingies only take three shot gun blasts.

I know it's probably a homage to the originals but it's becoming very boring to keep having to kill the things "sneaking" up behind me or coming out of a "secret" panel. It was exciting at first but practically every piece of armour and ammo has a so-called suprise.

I don't think this is a good game at all....there are moments of genius but these are let down by sheer repetition of action. I think the engine is fantastic and perhaps another company can use it to make an interesting game.....Admitedly, I'm only at the Comm tower so i can only hope it improves...

Without giving it away....does this game improve?

P

ykt0di9url7bc3

Just Finished it... quite good... infact probably the best atmosphere/action you can get, all the weapons are fun, the levels well thought out... think of it as Q2 meets Resident Evil... all the little details are there - the interactive screens and the UAC logs and emails...

normally I disregard graphics as a plus for a game but Doom3's graphics have me gobsmacked through out the game... I rem coming across a piece of machinery moving stuff around, so I went to take a closer look, I was watching it trying to figure out what it was doing then BANG! I was getting slapped around by an Imp...

I have been playing ID's games for years and still i got caught by many a booby trap...

Walking around with the flash light, seeing something move and just firing blindly in the hope of hitting it...

Deathmatch is fun on LAN, the beserker power-up being a scream as you run down players and laugh as they try to run away..

all in all a great game
imho pisses all over Far Cry


PS: anybody open one of those Martian Buddy lockers?

AB03

Im at around the comm tower now myself aswell. Its gettin very repetitive I have to admit. Hopefully it improves. Any time I get lost it seems to end up in walkin around for about 20 mins waiting for some monster to pop out then I know Im on the right track again cos I aint killed him yet.
Had to stop playing there a few mins ago cos I was gettin that dizzy 'seasick' type feelin I got from the original doom after hours of play.
Great gfx, even on medium quality 640x480 and the game really does have its scary-as-**** moments, but the intensity is startin to get a little annoying and quite predicitable at times. More satanic cut scenes and the extremelly disturbing baby cries would add a lot to the atmosphere again. The first hour or two is quite definatly pant filling on the other hand.
The sound has to get a mention aswell really, its just as impressive and as much of an atmospheric tool as the graphics are. If it wasnt for the disturbing sounds and machine noises, this game wouldnt be half as intense and enjoyable as what it is.

It'll take another day or two's play to see if it warrants buying the game (only so I could play online), but the 50e mark seems a little steep for this title tbh.
I expec some crackin mods and new games to spawn from this tho, that engine can only bring new and exciting games very soon imo.
Hopefully top end (top end these days anyway) hardware such as 6800's and the like, will be a bit more affordable then and we can all get a decent graphic experience from em.


Thats my review anyway....

Jilm

Allan Substantial Pigeon wrote:

anybody open one of those Martian Buddy lockers?

Like their email said, you have to check out their website,
www.martianbuddy.com

davkav

I have the game running at 1024 x 768 on ultra graphics and AA at 16. Graphics are brilliant better than far cry i would say, its just the gameplay is crap after about an hour of playing I was bored of running into rooms that had monsters in them every room has them, things then become predictable and find myself turning the game

ColmC

anyone any idea how it will run of my sony vaio pcg-v505EX?

centrino 1.5
512mb
ati mobility radeon 9200

AB03

ColmC:

You'll be able to play it, just about, but it'll still look fine, Im tellin ye now...
It'll look even better on a long bus journey or somthing. You'll probably jump and scare the person beside ya!

koneko

This might be of some use to ye with low-end systems or laptops:

http://www2.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NjQ0LDU=

(HardOCP Doom3 hardware guide)

GinjaNinja

"
You make some valid points but i still think your being influenced by your shoddy pc (or whatever it is thats casuing it to run ****).
__________________
[AMD64 3200 Clawhammer (2ghz/CG) @ 2400mhz] [MSI K8N Neo Platinum (BIOS:1.33)] [2x512 corsair xms3200xl Platinum 2-3-2-10-1t] [Audigy] [Sapphire 9700pro @ 350:320] [Antec truepower 480w] [Vapochill XE. Idle : 24. Load : -15] "

Extremely similar to my rig. You've got an extra 512 or ram. I've got a MSI RX9800 Pro (MSI being detect as an XT).
Could be my Ram but i doubt it a other games are flying along. Trust me B-K. Ask Khannie from the unreal boards. Even he's having problems stuttering along etc.

Have you made any changes to the config file.
What setting have you got in OGL tab in Cat Control panel.
What Cats have you got.

If I can get this game to be playable at 1024*768 then i might change my mind. But even still 1024*768 for a graphics card that cost over 200 bills. Man somthing stinks.........

BKtje

Extremely similar to my rig. You've got an extra 512 or ram.

Sorry i came accross more forecful than i meant. Basically im saying there is somethign wrong with your system as even at stock speeds (ie 2ghz) this game runs perfectly for me. Im thinking that maybe the extra 512k l2 cache i have is making a difference (i assume u dont have a clawhammer).

I dunno, maybe my components just work really well together or something but that would be a surprise with the mount of troube i've had with this pc.

I've since first playing it made changes to the config and re=overclocked my system as i fixed the stability problems and it runs a bit better.

im running 4.7 cats btw with everything s default with the drivers.

GinjaNinja

B-K-DzR wrote:

Sorry i came accross more forecful than i meant.

No worrie mate. It's all about finding the issue at hand. no offense taken.
I've got a a Clawhammer but it's got the extra 512k cache disable. arrgghh.

B-K-DzR wrote:

I dunno, maybe my components just work really well together or something but that would be a surprise with the mount of troube i've had with this pc.

I have never had any problems with any of my hardware. This machine has been the most stress free i've ever had.

kowing me I'll find it soon enough.

PiE

If I was running around a dark base full of monsters hiding in the shadows, I'd think it would be extremely practical to strap the goddamn flashlight to my goddamn helmet. Switching every 3 seconds is just stupid.

Graphics are probably fantastic, I wouldn't know as I can't see them in the shadows.

RuggieBear

Just finished it! Have to say i didn't find it non putdownable (I do have alot of work to do!!) but i really really enjoyed the levels from Hell onwards, in general. Much less corridor and more open space is a good thing....

Just in case anyone wants to discover these things for themselves i'll spoiler tag my next few comments....

I really enjoyed all the "setpiece" battles in and around the sites...especially the knights and the like....they really kicked ass. Without carping i think i really enjoyed these latter levels as the flashlight was rarely needed.

I found the boss battles really interesting, although they were perhaps a little easy to kill and i think i prefered the bosses in Painkiller. But still they looked absolutely amazing!

The cyber demon at the end was awesome but again no challenge as it was obvious that you were to use the soulcube on him! I was wondering what happened to Bertrugger....Doom 3.5 for another developer perhaps!

Anyway, i think the latter levels have really redeemed this game for me. If only they did this from the start.

p

Pugsley

I foudn the game class as f*ck, really atmospheric, and some real 'argghhh' moments, I found myself kinda thinking twice about attackign the barons of hell when you first see them, scary as hell. The first time you meet the new Shaved Gorilla's is scarey as hell too, albiet a shame how quickly they die. Mancubus's first meetign was also sweet as hell, pity they never hurt you really because there was a lot of good cover in the area.

Is it just me, or did health become REALLY scarce once coming out of Hell? I was commonly running around for a good 15-20 minutes on under 10hp with no health in sight anywhere, but about 2 hours after getting out of hell (after the infinate spawn on the 2 barons of hell) health seems everywhere, and I was on 100hp constantly from then to the end of the game. As for Hell itself, wow, amasing, some of the most beutiful architecture I have seen, as nice, if not nicer, than some of Painkillers architecture. The whoel area before hell had some really nice wee 'wow sweet' moments, such as the crase to get rid of the radiation barrels, the large crane to cross the gap after hell, and the way the bridge was made infront of you near the start.

The main gripes with the game I think are that Cacodemons simply arent scarey, they used to be one of the scariest meanies in it (well when you were a kid they were scarey), but now they just look..... cuddly, its the way they move, they move the the bear in the big blue house, or something, just too huggable. They also didnt use the Imps wall walking often enough, they should be hiding in the shadows stalkign you more, but instead they prefare to just hide in a dark corner and jump out at you. Another problem is the armour, it seems to do absolutely nothing, if you lose 50 health, you would probably lose about 3 armour, and if you have flull armour or next to no armour, attacks always seem to do the same damage, armour just seems pointless, not only that buts it everywhere, there will be spare armour sitting everywhere.

However, dispite these minor gripes, I found the game to be the best single player game I have played in a LONG time, far better than Far Cry in every where, a far more enjoyable game, and far longer too I found. However if you want to get full enjoyment out of it, you need to play it on Veteren minimum, I played through it on Veteren with little problems really, only getting hard in the last quater of the game, when health got rather scarce and hell started throwing barons of hell at you. And as for whoever said the Imps were far too hard too early on, their simple with a shotgun really, its the lost souls that always gave me problems really (15 damager per headbutt? ouch!), and the Chaingun dudes and the Tenticle dudes also gave me some hard times. And as for havign to equip the flash light and be unarmed when you have it out, I really like that idea, reallys adds to the tension, you can either see or you can shoot, makes you a lot more careful, having a flash light on your shotgun would take so much of the atmosphere away from the game.

glimmerman

Doom 3 is the only game ever that made me scream like a little girl.
In fact, the GF screamed too.

In the toilet near marine hq after all hell has broken loose

KdjaCL

Im playing veteran since last sunday and im only on the comms (not a lot of gaming time) and i am enjoying it immensley.
Some minor gripes ,lack of ammo for shotgun/chaingun over abundance of ammo for stupid SMG. Somehow i missed the chainsaw in the store room and only got it in the garage and bloody hell its the best weapon in the game , just for running about about with.
i have jumped a lot but

when you meet the big doggy for the 1st time, did you camly reload shotgun? or shat yourself and try claw your way tru the wall??

i did both

Superb single player game and being nosey i looked at the maplist i got a long way to go and with only playing a few hours a week i may get 3 weeks out of this game.

But lack of shotgun ammo is annoying, not many actual bugs in the game (EA take note beta testing way of the future). very rare i find myself thinking about a game when im not playing it and looking forward to playing it later.

kdjac

BKtje

I prefer the SMG to the shotgun so im pretty much maxed out on shotgun amo and usually hovering abou th2 150bullets for the smg. Also playing on veteran.

Complete lack of ammo fo the chaingun is annoying. Also my plasma gun is almost always at full capacity.

Pugsley

KdjaC wrote:

when you meet the big doggy for the 1st time, did you camly reload shotgun? or shat yourself and try claw your way tru the wall??

I tried shooting out the wall to belt it outta there

As for ammo shortage, I always had 'enough', however I found myself running out of pistol ammo very often, all other guns were fine (I used pistol for zombies, spiders and the babies, chainsaw for zombies when i got it though), I spent most of the game with over 20 spare shotty rounds. As for the Chaingun, yea definately nowehere near enough ammo, infact I only ever used it for the Barons of Hell. Another great way to save ammo is use hand grenades, one good hand grenade can kill all them guards hidden behind thebox's popping their heads up at you. And B-K-DzR, how the hell did you cap your plasma ammo? I only had it capped once, and it that was

when it gave you FULL ammo for the cyber deamon

, I used that gun as my secondary weapon next to the shotgun, best gun for them soldiers with the tenticles/chainguns. The only guns I spent the whole game capped with was the SMG (from when I got the plasma gun it just became obsolete) and the Rockets (mostly too close range for them).

BKtje

Well i've only just got to the rocket toating guys (cant remember what they are called). Found the plasma is the best for these guys but i dont really use it for any of the other baddies. Maybe its a case of me trying to save ammo and then under using it. Ive left so many spare cells behind me. Shotguns my main weapon as things tend to try and jump outta u from close range the shotgun is handy for that. Smg is my secondary wep (would be first if i had enough ammo for it). I use grenades a lo and pistol is always hovering about 8-10 bullets (use that for spiders/ticks/zombies).

Dont think my plasma will be full for much longer with the amount of those rocket toting guys im coming accross (just got the rocket launcher tho).

About the pinky demon's first appearance, i kinda sat there reloading thinking, ah its grand he'll never get in and he'll probably just bugger off. Boy did i get a shock when

he came flying in through the bloody window

.

Thing that still freaks me out the most are those bloody spiders/ticks. Evil mofos when they are jumpin at ya in large groups. Shotgun just too slow in reloading to take em out

RuggieBear

I hate those little baby bastards (Nymphs?)....jesus do they do some damage if they get near you...

Giblet

g_dragEntity 1 (see attached)

Oh yeah, thats Mars City, theres a secret up that stairs.

Pugsley

rofl giblet, excellent

Venom

Well I just finished D3 and damm is it a good fun game to play not to mention one of the longest FPS style games I think Iv ever played. Level design is perfect for the mars base, you really feel like your moving through a real complex. The non mars levels are increadable and really well done and very fun to play.

Not as many scripted sequences as I was expecting tho the ones that are in the game are very well done. D3 really raises the bar for future FPS games. If HL2 is half the game D3 is we should really be in for a threat. I really do hope ID release a mission pack for D3

bizmark

They wont id is moveing on to a new brand cant wait to see what that is

Phil_321

Lol, Giblet. Wtf!!

po0k

Just played Doom 0.4 and 0.5 alphas.
About to try 0.1

Venom

bizmark wrote:

They wont id is moveing on to a new brand cant wait to see what that is

Where did you find this out? ID have in the past always released expansion packs for there non multiplayer only games or at least allowed others to continue the story.

BKtje

Where did you find this out? ID have in the past always released expansion packs for there non multiplayer only games or at least allowed others to continue the story.

Carmack said it in one of the pre-release videos (think it was a history of doom?) He said that ID wont be making a 'doom4' and that as far as they were concerned the franchise was now finished. They are already working on the next game.

bizmark

But at the same time ID has a lot of developer buddies like raven soft who could make an expansion pact for doom 3 it’s just pretty clear ID themselves wont be making it