Doom³

Moby ID: 14320
Windows Specs
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The third game of the DOOM series (now in full 3D) takes gamers through the depths of Hell, where technology and demons meet. But this time round, the game is more focused on horror elements than previous games in series.

Doom 3 is set in the year 2145, on Mars. You start as an unnamed marine soldier sent to the Red Planet, where a corporation named The Union Aerospace Corporation makes secret experiments based on ancient aliens' technology. People around the base are on the edge, & something is not right. You receive your first simple mission and when you depart, the game really kicks off.

This third major release of the Doom series is especially based on single player experience. As in most First Person Shooter games, you aim, you shoot, & you run... Enemies are zombified humans from the base or daemons straight from Hell. Doom 3 is much darker visually than previous games - you can use a flashlight in dark corridors, but you must choose between various weapons and the flashlight (the marine can't use them both in same time.)

The game has multiplayer with four game modes for four players.

Spellings

  • Doom 3 - Alternative spelling
  • 毁灭战士3 - Simplified Chinese spelling
  • 둠 3 - Korean spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

141 People (135 developers, 6 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 85% (based on 108 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.7 out of 5 (based on 305 ratings with 28 reviews)

Another Id Engine seller, but nice.

The Good
Well, It's basically Doom. Lot's of enemies, ammo and fights. This is a game that revives the old classic in a modern way.

The Bad
A good lightning, but with an excess of dark. It's really boring to walk around all the time with the flashlight... Some really nice enemies make just a few appearances (pink demons) while others appear all time (imps).

The bosses are too easy, and there isn't much more to do once you finish it.

Another bad thing is the usual lack of variety in the levels. When I reached Hell I was amazed, but after that, the game went back to the dark base theme. Pity!

The Bottom Line
Id, more than anything, likes to make engines. Their great blockbusters are always, like some say, tech demos. This game is no exception. It does have a feeling that Id tried to do something better, but it relies too much on their old concepts to be a something different.

Despite that, it's still a good old school shooter and you should be pleased playing it.

Windows · by Geraldo Falci (12) · 2004

Demons and zombies are coming, prepare to be bored

The Good
Doom 3 starts out well, I have to say. You just can't help not to notice the technical brilliance such as the millions of little details in graphics, great animation and particularly the impressive audio design. I recommend everyone to play this game alone in a dark room with headphones. The calm, action-free opening reminds me of better games such as Half-Life 2 and Escape from Butcher Bay, and even in the beginning, you still get the feeling that something will go down. The game did manage to scare me in some parts and the pacing is somewhat good, with new gameplay elements introduced little by little.

The Bad
But it's just not worth all the hype. Though it's definitely longer than the average fps, most of it is incredibly repetitive action in narrow, dark corridors. Super-detailed graphics and cool lighting effects aside, the game looks rather bland, even Hell seems like a somewhat boring place to be. Okay, demons, flying skulls, fire, nothing we haven't seen before. The gunplay feels monotonous due to extremely underpowered weapons - there are mods to fix this, but to me, that hardly made the game worth of a replay for me. While monsters in the original Doom swarmed in huge numbers, now they come just a few at a time at maximum.

The original Doom invented the gimmick of turning off the lights while enemies creeped at you. Back then, that freaked me out - now, it frustrates me, as Doom 3's flashlight can't be wielded at the same time as a weapon, leading to many jokes. Fortunately, a mod has been made to fix this, too. Speaking of the horror elements, Doom 3 just overuses its few gimmicks: darkness and monsters jumping at you from closets or appearing behind you. What scared you once will just bore you in the end. Even the creepy voices you hear are just looped and you just eventually phase them out.

The single player experience just didn't seem worth the money, not to mention the effort of getting the game to run back then. Even the final boss fight was lame. The story is just a rehash of the original, and while it's good that they kept the forgettable storyline on the background, the fact that you have to browse through logs and stuff to find out what happened seems old-fashioned. This isn't System Shock, guys.

The Bottom Line
A mediocre shooter that's Doom in name only. id tried to make the original, adrenaline-filled fast-paced shooter into a slower-paced horror game and failed, so the whole thing just ended up dull and monotonous. Good visuals and sounds can't hide the fact that the gameplay blows.

Windows · by Zokolov (49) · 2012

More like a tech demo than an actual game

The Good
When id software released the original Doom, it soon caught the attention of gamers for its frenetic gameplay and great graphics. Rumour has it that some people bought computers just to play it. Call me crazy, but Doom struck me as being way overhyped, its immense popularity more due to a clever marketing plan by id than merit on the game’s part. Its brain-dead, million-kills-a-minute gameplay and a “story” that you could write on the back of a postage stamp might not have impressed me, but Doom’s still-large fanbase must have convinced id that doing a third game in the series would be worthwhile. So, after four years in development, we find ourselves looking at Doom 3.

The game is a remake of the original Doom. Just as a recap, you’re a crack space marine in the 22nd century, who has been sent to Mars with a rapid response unit to help protect a research station there. The research station is tampering with the very fabric of space and time, and a rift between our world and somewhere else has opened. Soon, monsters are pouring through the portal, and and the station is utterly decimated. All of your buddies are killed (and turned into zombies…we must not forget that), and it’s up to you to stop the tide of hellspawn before it spreads to earth.

On all levels, the game is graphically stunning. Surpassing even Far Cry in this department, Doom 3’s unfalteringly dark, claustrophobic enviroments are a treat to look at. Blood-splattered walls and eery dripping pipes crank the mood up considerably. Both humans and monsters (you’ll see far, far more of the latter category) are rendered well and look almost real. The game also has a good physics engine, you’re able to push stuff and throw it around the room. And don’t let anyone tell you that you need a top-of-the-line graphics card to play. I was able to play quite satisfactorily with a Rosewill Radeon 256MB card on the highest resolution.

The level of player interaction is superb, especially for a shooter as generic as Doom 3. You have a thing called a PDA on which you can receive voice mail and instructions. The PDAs of slain personnel can also be viewed for more information on the backdrop story. There’s a good deal of black humour in many of the PDAs, which have messages from employers pompously asserting how “immune to attack” the research station is, and how they are ignoring the deaths of workers near the portal to hell. Some PDA messages are irrelevant but funny, such as spam advertising for online RPGs and sexual adventures. Talk about satire.

The Bad
Doom’s graphics might be cutting-edge, but its gameplay is at least eight years out of date. Doom is reminiscent of the early days of the FPS genre, where no game passed its beta testing stage without the required quota of blood and gore, gameplay consisted of running around shooting heaps of enemies, and the “story” was a paragraph somewhere in the manual. Doom fans would probably say that id is trying to recreate the feel of classic Doom. Doom haters would probably say that the game’s simplicity can be chalked up to laziness on the part of id. Actually, I think that it’s a bit of both.

On one hand, it’s refreshing just to play a run and gun shooter without having stuff like a story impede you. On the other hand, it stands at variance with the whole atmosphere id has tried to weave into the game. It is hard maintain a scary claustrophobic aura and a chillingly realistic setting when the player spends most of his/her time shooting at tomato-headed monsters.

Doom 3’s story is IMMENSELY unsatisfying. Not that id has ever placed much priority on a game’s plot, but this time around it’s different. Id has obviously tried to create an interesting story, tried but failed miserably. At least the original Doom had no pretensions about the experience it meant to deliver, but Doom 3 starts off with cleverly-plotted cutscenes, an ominous atmosphere, and a number of interesting developments that leave the player wanting more. But as the game progresses, the game turns into a generic kill-‘em-all shooter and the plot is left largely undeveloped. It’s as if id intended to do a story-based game, but halfway through they lost interest in the idea and just turned Doom 3 into a mindless monster fest.

Critics are hailing Doom 3 as “a masterpiece of horror” and “one of the scariest games ever.” Humbug.

Doom 3 relies heavily upon the “BOO! Scared ya!” kind of thrill tactics that have been done to death is countless Resident Evil clones. Sure, you might be shocked the first two or three times a pink, jelly-like monster lunges at you from out of the shadows, but shocked is all you’ll be. The trouble is, there are so many monsters in Doom 3 that you spend most of your time pumping iron into them and hoping you don’t run out of ammo. It becomes extremely easy to predict where monsters will next strike. “Okay, see that extra clip lying over there? I bet that if I go to pick it up the door over there will burst open and a zillion monsters will attack me.” The monsters themselves look so downright absurd that they elicit laughter more than fear.

It’s things like this that spoil the atmosphere id has so painstaking added to the game. And for a game so bent upon realism, id apparently hasn’t done their homework. Come on! You’re a crack soldier in the 22nd century for Heaven’s sake! How come you’ve got such primitive armour? Shouldn’t you at least have a helmet? How come the marines have brought chainsaws to Mars? Why can’t you hold a flashlight and a gun at the same time?

Multiplayer mode was clearly added only as an afterthought. It supports four players (by comparison, it is fast becoming industry standard for 26 and even 32 player support in mid-range FPS titles), and while several fan-made mods hope to fix this, the game out of the box definitely is definitely not going to please Quake III fans.

The Bottom Line
Dare I say it, but Doom 3 is but another continuation of id’s trend of placing visuals ahead of playability. Once the wow factor wears off, it is actually a pretty mindless and generic shooter with not a lot of content.

Windows · by Maw (832) · 2005

[ View all 28 player reviews ]

Trivia

1001 Video Games

DOOM³ appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Board Game

This game was loosely adapted into 2004's DOOM: The Boardgame.

Budget

The budget for this game was US$15 million.

Cut Content

Original concepts for the game included: * Longer outdoor excursions that got scrapped mostly due to engine considerations. Their removal being quoted as the final nail in the coffin for the inclusion of a railgun (the weapon from Quake was originally going to be in the game as the long-range/sniper weapon). * More female personnel in Phobos, including a never confirmed female receptionist and an apparently complete topless dead female modeled by Kenneth Scott that was to be found on an autopsy table later in the game. * A flamethrower was at one point considered, and the PDA was going to include a map feature like in the original DOOM games. * Finally, (and most infamously) the game's initial concept called for a use key like in the original, but this feature was removed by head honcho John Carmack who called the feature "just a gimmick".

German Release

In Germany, the game was released unlocalized and uncut, both which are very unusual.

Language

The name of the doctor responsible for the disaster is Dr. Malcolm Betruger. "Betrug" is the German word for fraud or deceit, which is exactly what the doctor does.

Narrative

The Doomguy speaks only one word in the entire game. That word is "God..." as he sees the Cyberdemon. Incidentally, this is the first time the main character in a DOOM game talks.

Novels

As of 2009, two novels based on the game have been released, Doom³: Worlds on Fire, and Doom³: Maelstrom. Both were written by author Matthew J. Costello, who helped writing the story and dialog on DOOM³ and its expansion pack, DOOM³: Resurrection of Evil.

References: General

  • In a certain section of the Delta Complex, the player comes across a whole area of employee offices. The names on the door are names of actual id Software employees.
  • On Site 3 and the Excavation Dig Site, there are four stone tables which the archaeologists had found. One of these is showing the ancient hero in a battle against the forces of hell. This ancient hero is actually the Marine from the original DOOM, and the stone tablet looks almost exactly like the front cover of the original US DOS DOOM box. Other examples of hidden images in the pentagram are the UAC (Union Aerospace Corporation) logo and a Moon symbol (probably referring to the moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos, but it is not sure whether this really is a reference)
  • At one point in the game, the player comes across a nearly-dead soldier named E. Webb. This is most likely a reference to id Software monkey Eric Webb.
  • At certain points within the game, magazines with various covers can be discovered. One of them, called Booty actually sports a picture of Hunter's (a female character from Quake III: Arena) lovely backside.
  • The game's intro (text and voice-over) and story bare an uncanny resemblance to Resident Evil: The Movie.
  • Among the many names the game uses for owners of the PDF pads are Seamus Blake and Ben Wolfe. Besides being laborers who have turned into the undead, these people are also renowned contemporary jazz musicians.
  • The logo of the Super Turbo Turkey Puncher 3 mini-game is a parody on the Street Fighter Alpha 3 logo.

References: Internet

  • id Software registered www.ua-corp.com, making it look like the homepage of the Union Aerospace Corporation.
  • The player will receive e-mails on their PDA that advertise for Martianbuddy (the greatest company ever conceived!). It is a jab at the annoying Bonzibuddy. When visiting martianbuddy.com, the player will receive the cabinet code 0508, which can be used prior to the end of Alpha Labs to unlock the chaingun and at the end of Delta Labs 2 to unlock the BFG9000.
  • The player will get a message on their PDA that refers to the famous 419 Nigerian scams. The sender, John Okonkwo, is not a random name, just read this.

Secrets

  • Near the end of the game, there is a clickable brick on the wall bearing the id Software logo. Click it and a wall opens. Inside, a secret PDA can be found, with messages from the id employees thanking everyone for playing the game.
  • The character who supplies the protagonist with the PDA turns back to typing after doing so. If the player takes a look on the man's screen, they can see him typing an e-mail about the main character being rude for watching over his shoulder.
  • In the very first levels you can see UAC employees that can not be reached normally. When using the noclip cheat code and going through the walls to reach the unreachable areas, it can be seen that all of these employees share the name Joe.
  • Try one of the old cheat codes from the other DOOM games; in addition to the obvious "unknown command" reply, the message "your memory serves you well" will also be shown.

Super Turbo Turkey Puncher 3

After arriving in Mars City, go to the kitchen. There the arcade game Super Turbo Turkey Puncher 3 can be played. The game looks like a previous DOOM game, except for the turkey of course. And so it plays (playing the Marine while he is in Berserk mode). After having punched enough turkeys and reaching a score of 25,000, the player receives an e-mail via their PDA saying: "Your parents can rest easier knowing they have raised another shining example of humanity. Due to the incredible amount of time you wasted punching poor defenseless turkeys, your vacation time has been docked two days."

Technology

  • The game refuses to run not only if CD/DVD emulation software is installed on your computer (CloneCD, Alcohol), but certain burning software as well (Nero).
  • According to the promotional video G4 History of Doom when DOOM³ was first demonstrated at the E3 Expo in 2002 the E3 Judges had to offer people to play a part of the game or to play the game themselves in order to show that the game being demonstrated on the screen was in fact real. People were that impressed by the graphics.

User Created Content

  • While most new FPS games have outrageous minimum system requirements, especially for video cards (at least 128MB, Texture & Lightning required), the Doom III engine is, despite the hefty overall requirements, quite scalable. Some users have developed a small patch that makes the game compatible with the Voodoo 2 card, among others in the Voodoo line. These are some of the very first 3D cards and they often do not carry more than 12MB. The game does not look better than Quake II with such setup, but it still is a fine piece of programming.
  • Within approximately 1 day of release, there was already a game modification which added a light to the pistol. In the game itself, players must swap between the flashlight and a gun.

Awards

  • Computer Gaming World
    • March 2005 (Issue #249) – Best Sound of the Year
  • GameSpy
    • 2004 – Special Achievement in Graphics Award (together with Far Cry)
    • 2005 – #5 Xbox Game of the Year
    • 2012 – #7 Top PC Gaming Intro
  • Interfaith Center of Corporate Responsibility
    • 2004 - one of the Top 10 Worst Violent Video Games of 2004
  • Golden Joystick Awards
    • 2004 - PC Game of the Year
    • 2004 - Ultimate Game of the Year
  • PC Powerplay (Germany)
    • Issue 03/2005 - #4 Biggest Disappointment

Information also contributed by AHO, bobthewookiee, Hamish Wilson, Karthik KANE, lasttoblame, lvnvgmb, M4R14N0 Maw, piltdown man, Pseudo_Intellectual, Sciere, Silverblade, Steve ., Tiago Jacques, Xoleras, Zack Green and Zovni.

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Related Sites +

  • A Guide for Beginners
    IMG's introduction to playing Doom 3.
  • Doom 3
    Official website
  • Doom 3
    Official game page on id Software's website
  • Doom 3 HQ
    A well-rounded Doom 3 fansite, with custom levels, game info and a forum.
  • Doom 3 Portal
    Comprehensive fansite for all things Doom 3 from fan art and fiction to a mod index.
  • Doom 3 on Win98
    A quick and easy to follow tutorial on running Doom 3 on Windows 98
  • Doom Wiki
    A Wiki site for the Doom series.
  • Doomworld
    Website with classic Doom and Doom 3 news and forums.
  • Hints for Doom 3
    Question and answer type solution guide gives you nudges in the right direction before revealing the final solutions.
  • Lord FlatHead's Homepage
    Hasn't been updated since Doom 3's release, but contains a lot of interesting articles about the technology behind Doom 3 and some speculation.
  • Once More into the Inferno
    An Apple Games article about the Mac version of DOOM³ (February, 2005).
  • PlanetDoom
    GameSpy's Doom Website

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 14320
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Lexicon Dominus.

Macintosh added by Corn Popper. Xbox added by Sciere. Linux added by Iggi.

Additional contributors: James1, Unicorn Lynx, Lord FlatHead, Jeanne, Michael Dionne, Guy Chapman, Sciere, Jack Lightbeard, Silverblade, Maw, xy xy, Zeppin, Cantillon, lee jun ho, Patrick Bregger, Titan10, FatherJack.

Game added August 9, 2004. Last modified July 2, 2024.