Doom 3

Genre: First-Person Shooter

Players: 1

Game Company Bad Behavior Profile Page: ZeniMax Media Inc

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in the Compilation Doom Slayers Collection, along with Doom (1993), Doom II Classic, Doom 64, and Doom (2016). All of these games are also included in the physical-only Compilation, Doom Anthology, along with Doom Eternal.)

Doom 3 is a First-Person Shooter originally released in 2004, alternately celebrated and maligned by critics and gamers. On the one hand, this game represented a huge leap forward in graphics and presentation for videogames, with visuals that were incredibly impressive at the time, and still hold up pretty well even today, over a decade and a half later. At the same time, series fans were frustrated with gameplay that largely flew in the face of what many felt was the heart of the series – its fast-paced action-packed gameplay.

In its place, Doom 3 focuses on dark, horror-soaked atmosphere, with surprise ambushes lurking throughout. The darkness here was actually an element of the gameplay, for better or worse, with the original release of Doom 3 forcing players to swap back and forth between their gun and a flashlight. This much-hated feature was replaced in the game’s expanded BFG edition, which this release of the game is based on, with all of the game’s expansion content included as well. However, replacing that mechanic with a flashlight that runs out of power in mere seconds sorta’ feels like swapping one problem for another, even if it’s an improvement.

As for the gameplay, it’s fairly standard first-person shooter gameplay, although the game’s claustrophobic corridors seem designed to limit the action. There’s also no multiplayer mode here, which just seems wrong for the Doom series. Oddly, this game’s focus on story and atmosphere is a large part of the highlight of this game, which feels like an odd thing to say. Play a Doom game for the story? Hmm…

As far as the presentation goes, this game has aged marvelously well, and it looks fantastic on the Switch. There are some low resolution textures here and there, and some character models that are low-poly and odd-looking by today’s standards, but the mostly-stable 60FPS framerate and 1080p resolution (720p in handheld mode) is absolutely beautiful, and the level of detail and the lighting effects in this game’s environments still look impressive even today. Really, the one noteworthy flaw I can find in this Switch port is the lack of gyro aiming, which feels like a missed opportunity.

In the end, Doom 3 will always be the black sheep of the series to many players, as so much of what it does runs counter to what fans tend to associate with what Doom is and should be. In its place is a slower, more atmospheric game that’s still enjoyable in its own right, albeit not without its flaws. It’s a game that has aged surprisingly well, and it looks fantastic on the Switch. If you’re a fan of the First-Person Shooter genre, you should definitely give it a try.

tl;dr – Doom 3 is a First-Person Shooter that acts as a huge departure from the first two games, focusing more on story and atmosphere, with a slower pace and more methodical combat, for better or worse. Even a decade and a half later, the game is still fairly visually impressive, and the Switch version is a solid port. If you’re looking for a solid First-Person Shooter on the Switch, this is a good choice.

Grade: B

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