Doom then and now

Doom was the first FPS game I played back in the 90’s. It was fast, jumpy and like a maze to get through. Each level was made up of finding secrets, hidden weapons, key cards and of course lots of monsters. To this day if I play classic Doom I still feel on edge and pumped up when blasting through a brawl of monsters, especially on the latest modded versions such as “Brutal Doom” and the latest multiplayer mods with Coop gameplay.

 

Next up was Doom 3 and the add-on Resurrection of Evil. A very story orientated game focusing on the reasons for the hell invasion. It kicks off with you and many others on mars and then it all goes tits up when the portal is opened. From that point on your left to kill off everything in your way whilst trying to track down Malcolm Betruger and close the portal to hell. I found this game to have an Unreal, the game, type of feel to it. It was very tense and suspenseful at times and full of jump scares. It had a different feel to the original doom but I liked it due to the story line and spooky theme.

 

When I heard A Doom reboot was being made I was existed but slightly apprehensive as I had heard they had attempted it before with “Doom 4” but it was scrapped for being too much like Call of Duty. My first concerns came upon playing the multiplayer beta for the new Doom as it seemed to be more like Call of Duty meets Doom but I had heard the single player was focused more on the old style of Doom.

Canceled Doom 4

As soon as the game was released I got it and cleared my mind of any doubts and just hoped for a good game. What can I say…  it delivered! It delivered so much that I don’t quite nowhere to begin. It is quite literally old Doom meets new graphics. I was worried it was going to be a brawl of monster after monster after monster but the Balance between exploring and monsters is spot on.

Secrets are a big thing in this game and I went out of my way to find them all. My favorite Secret is the old Doom maps. Playing though these levels with the new graphics was immense. Also to find you way around you now get a map which is a more advanced map
than old Doom but works it very much the same way to help find your way around.

 

Talking of finding your way around Key cards are now back! And at times you may have to double back on yourself to get though doors once you have the key. This is where the map comes to use otherwise you can get lost in the multi-layer levels.

 

Let’s talk monsters. They cannot be more than spot on. The monsters in Doom 3 I felt lacked the style and look of the monsters in the old Doom, however this reboot has taken the old look and given them steroids. Let’s take pinky demon as an example he/she has a clear comparison to its old self but in doom 3 it went with a different style.

 

The Story in the New Doom is kept simple and to the point, there’s no big cut scenes its just you a sort of friendly robot and a crazy chick that your trying to stop and once again close the dam portal, do they ever learn… keeping it simple was another nod to the old style game which only game some idea of a story at the end. The only thing missing from the new Doom is the death of doom guys pet rabbit.

Overall I think each Doom has its own place and theme to it discounting the Doom film, which was a bit crap. The old Doom has the aspect of being classic game play and old memories. Doom 3 in having a lean into being more about horror jump scares and the backstory and the latest having a blast of nostalgia and rebooting the old one in the best way possible. I just look forward to the next installment.

 

 

 

Alien Isolation review

Alien Isolation aka Alien 1.1 placed is set in 2137, 15 years after the events of Alien and 42 years prior to Aliens, playing as Amanda Ripley in a journey to track her mother Ellen Ripley down,

                                                                                                                                      The game starts with her team heading to the Sevastopol but shit hits the fan from the get go and you’re left to wonder round the station and figure out what’s going on and remake contact with your team.

This game was what Colonial Marines should have been. In my opinion it is like another film that I have the privilege of playing through as

the main character. It has everything about an alien film such as face huggers, the androids and of course the daunting xenomorph, which can all be picked up on the  motion scanner as small dots moving about.

The fear and unnerving feelings throughout the game kept me on edge from start to finish. Even in sections of the game where the alien was not around I could just never tell as the music was always suspenseful and the sound effects of creaking or pipes hissing kept my nerves on edge and my senses high.

Some people may criticize it for just being a run and hide game mixed with opening doors but it is so much more than that. It has a good story, tension and the use of my brain. What I mean by that is there’s times in the game where you need to figure things out or solve puzzles to get to the next place or unlock an area to get a key card for a corridor, that was not accessible before, or to use a computer to access intercom. I would say it has a slight aspect of doom 95 about it, in regards to not always knowing where to go and having to find items to get into locked areas.

This is by no means a shoot ’em up game. In fact if you do fire off your gun then you will find the alien popping out and killing you shortly after and the fact that there is no auto save and only booths to save at  here and there most of the game is spent being quite, hiding or later in the game using the flame thrower to its best making you feel like Ellen Ripley when she toasts the next in the film.

There are times when you can get a bit gung-ho when faced with the other emery’s on the ship such as there freaky crazy androids or other people on the ship out to kill all others just to stay alive. But be aware ammo is sparse and it’s sometimes better to save up just in case. However you do get a few added extra treats that you can make from items found lying around such as pipe bombs or an EMP

Overall I loved this game and it made me go and buy the Blu-ray set of the Alien films. If you’re a fan and you like Alien films and you like games such as outlast mixed with dead space then combine an alien film with all that mixture and here you have it. An amazing jumpy suspense packed game and in my opinion the best alien game I’ve ever played.

Here’s a short clip of a few of my moments:

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