Introduction

Doom A series iconic in the isles of gaming history for popularizing and essentially birthing the FPS genre as we know it today Doom has always been a shooter with a huge legacy and following, praised for its methodical approach to shooting, varied weapons and intricate level design. Although there were many games that would follow that would evolve the genre like your Halos and your Call of Duty’s there was something in the subtle simplicity’s of Doom, that make it easy to pick up and play, but difficult to master and fully conquer, storytelling that isn’t cinematic, but subtle and told through its environments and level design. Doom 2016 is an relenting and uncompromising version of every think that 1993’s landmark of a video game was in a modern form, and it is a modern masterpiece of a first person shooter.

Doom 2016 is what Doom from 1993 would be if it released in the modern age of video games, with a heavy focus on movement, gorey kills, exceptional level design feels full of hidden rewards and arena styled rooms that are rich with environmental storytelling, as well as serving as quasi-arenas that are intentional in the shape structure and item placement.

Ultimately what seals the deal is an ensemble of incredible weapons that feel incredible to use, with incredible sound design that packs a punch feeling with main and alternative fires that make each kill feel varied and full of expression, and a soundtrack that keeps your blood pumping the whole time.

The FPS Genre has many different personalities that the game tries to convey through their gameplay with Freeman from Half-Life articulating your wit or Master Chief from Halo making you feel like a super solider. The Doom Slayer makes you feel like a One Man Army, a brutal killing machine, and Doom 2016 masterfully invokes this feeling and does it in ways and with mechanics that make it all feel effortless.

Story

This part of the video I'm going to keep light and to be honest it was an aspect of the game that I wasn't going to really touch on for the video. It isn't bad in any way, but the story for Doom 2016, feels like a driver, that facilities and justifies and provides purpose to the places you go to and your reason for being there. But essentially the story for Doom 2016, see's you assume the role of The Doom Slayer the iconic poster child of the series, who awakens from there sleep, chained in a facility in Mars, and after realizing that everything has gone to shit. The UAC a multi-planetary facility that has situated itself on Mars linking and opening a portal to explore the deep dark depths of hell to mine and acquire Argent energy which is a renewable energy source that would help power Earth and its needs.

The Mars facility has been overrun by the demons of Hell with people possessed or destroyed and I feel one form of storytelling that I really do find fantastic is how Doom 2016 handles environmental storytelling, there are some rooms you'll go into and you'll see bloodstained walls, dismembered bodies and even sometimes some holotapes of events that transpired, and these moments are eerie and haunting, and give you insight into the chao that transpired.

Overall Doom's story is one that is satisfying and entertaining, it isn't going to be the main allure of that or what you'll walk away from as the key highlight from the experience, that would be the gameplay, and believe me when I say Doom 2016's combat is an unmatched feeling

(play montage)

Gameplay

The Flow of Combat

Now to the meat of this video and that is the combat of Doom 2016, which operates like a dance, that is comprised of slick movement, impactful gunplay and Strong enemy variety.

Each of these iconic demons comes with strong set of abilities that pressure you and allow you to think and swap between weapons and think about your weapons more as tools. Every enemy is a nail and you are the hammer, playing as The Doom Slayer is a power fantasy, but it walks this genius tightrope that has been at the core of Doom's DNA since its original release, and that is making the enemies and monsters from hell feel like a challenge, so when you're powering through steamrolling the enemies, it feels earnt and you feel like the absolute monster that the Doom Slayer is.

Enemies are designed with the mechanics clearly conveyed by both their design and how they interact with the slayer. It becomes a clear how to operate and engage with them, what to avoid and how to engage with them fundamentally upping the ante of each encounter and testing you skills with each weapon you’ve acquired. Doom Eternal would double down on finding the right tool for each enemy, but Doom 2016’s freedom to use and abuse enemies with your favorite weapon of choice is still something that I think reigns supreme with this game to this day.

The Enemy Ai depends on difficulty I played on ultra-violence and the enemies would provide a challenge where the demons will pressure you in different ways with some rushing you and others with range attacks. The higher difficulties also come with you taking more damage too as well which again plays into the importance of Doom's movement and overall how the Slayer controls.

The way The Doom Slayer controls, feels smooth, satisfying and fast. When I originally played this game back around its release I played through the Xbox One, using a controller, which handled well. But man, I have to tell you and I don't want to sound like some asshole elitist, but the way the Doom 2016 handles on keyboard and mouse feels unrivaled in fluidity, momentum and how smooth your movement feels it allows a level of reactiveness, precision feels unmatched in how it performs and how much player expression it affords you, setting the tone and rhythm of combat.

The flow of combat for each encounter operates as a part FPS where you're utilizing each weapon and piece of equipment efficiently to wreck havoc, but the flipside is a resource management lop where you're thinking a few steps a head on how to keep your health above zero and your ammo in steady supply.

The weapon feedback feels weighty, punchy and every smack, slam or crack that comes via the various glory kills feels like you're absolutely mincing and mashing your enemies to dust.

The ability pick-ups too are absolutely insane with Haste absolutely turning you into a speed demon, and Berserk making you some Fist of North Star one man army that clears the whole arena. It is absolutely incredible, and it makes you feel absolutely indestructible.

This is where mechanics like the chainsaw and the glory kills are a work of genius, because they force the player to get up close, but on the flipside offer a huge reward of restocking and resupplying your ammunition. But the chainsaw isn't something that can be spammed either, as it is its own resource, which makes it work as an insta-kill and an ammo reset that can turn the tide of an encounter where the odds are sounding like they aren't in you favor.

The amount of new weapons that are introduced are thrown in at a proper cadence that runs in parallel with the introduction of new enemies making there
feel like a consistent fresh rate of new enemy variety along with weapon variety.

Doom’s combat was described by id as Push Forward combat and has become a philosophy that has reverberated out to the genre post Doom’s success. Push Forward combat is the concept that the player should always be engaging with the core gameplay loop, the combat. Like think about how perfectly this works, engage enemy, glory kill enemy to get health and ammo, which allows you to continue killing more enemies. Rinse and repeat.

Doom 2016's combat in a nutshell is one that can be punishing and kick your ass if you're unprepared or get to comfortable, but rewarding and satisfying when you get to grips and master its flow, rhythm that it demands.

Level Design

It's worth discussing the level design of Doom 2016 as well, as I believe that there is a solid foundation and structure that makes each level feel neatly woven together and comprised of many components that make these levels so engaging. The main one would be the open levels that are littered with secrets and offer up some light puzzles that revolve around getting keycards and skulls that unlock new areas.

There are also some light platforming segments, which a shorter and less of a pace-change then Doom Eternal. The puzzles and traversal whilst looking real nice and bringing this atmosphere to life, and ultimately serves to move you into the different arena-like rooms where onslaught of brutal Demon destruction ensues. The layouts of these rooms I refer to as arenas feel neatly structure in their design pick-ups and enemies that they choose to have for each encounter, calling you to move around jump to different floors. It creates the environment that Doom 2016's combat loop instils and this is the continuous tug-a-war between offensive and defensive play, and also has the right amount of pick ups too which I makes you always feel like you're thinking on your feet. Each room in Doom feels like a puzzle that needs to be solved, but one that comes with multiple variations to how it can be solved, and a ton of player expression in the way in which you choose to do so.

There are many things tucked in Doom's level design that makes you want to search the area to uncover all of its secrets, and ultimately facilitates arenas that are intricate and intentional in the way they're crafted, and in execution and an exceptional playground for you to let loose, which gravity lifts, teleporters, and multiple different environmental hazards, all to test your awareness and efficiency, and I never got tired of seeing what each level would offer up next, and that's the beautiful part, it never runs out of steam.

Gameplay Systems

The Progression of Doom 2016 is divided into a few key components on the is focused around the Praetor Suit which can be upgraded through modules that can be found on dead soldiers which is like a collectible upgrade that incentivizes exploring the levels to find and acquire these upgrades. There are also these orbs that are scattered across each level which offer permanent upgrades to The Doom Slayers Health, Armor, and overall Ammo he can hold.

These upgrades to the slayer are tied to exploration. But the last core pillar of progression is the one that is tied to your weapons and this is accomplished through combat challenges to which there are three for each level. There are additional upgrade tokens that can be acquired through killing most or all the monsters in a given level, and you can track this with your combat rating in the top right screen.

The point of acquiring these combat tokens is that they provide unique upgrades to your weapons Alternate fire options permanently altering the moment to moment flow of combat and offering each of your weapons, a steady stream of progression, and also a final perk that is unlocked through a challenge. It isn't anything ground-breaking in concept, but the way that Doom 2016, steadily has you progress along side the game where it feels like it offers a reasonable variety but isn't so overbearing that it feels like you're stuck in menus all the time. The progression in a lot of ways does feel like it is a reward for exploring the levels.

The last form of progression is in the form of Runes, which are abilities that overall impact and shape combat, these are things that can provide armor drops for glory kills or staggered enemies will remain staggered for longer. These runes can be acquired in Rune Trials which are these fun time trial activities which will reward you with said rune. It's all of these nice little detours that I feel do harken back to Doom's roots, and everything about this experience and how you progress, whilst modernized and revamped, feel refreshing and faithful to what Doom is.

Visuals & Sound Presentation

Sound

I'd now like to talk about the visual and sound presentation for Doom 2016, and I'd like to start with what I believe is the heart-beat of Doom 2016 and that is the games soundtrack and sound design. Firstly, lets tackle the soundtrack composed by Mick Gordon is still to this day one of the most energetic and aggressive soundtracks, and is an absolute opus in the realm of video game soundtracks, embodying the the feeling of being set on the warpath. The iconic Rip and Tear is heart pumping and every time BFG Division starts to play you know you're about to fuck shit up and that you are The Doom Slayer, the immovable object. The best way I can describe it is through that line from Watchman because it isn't you who is locked in hell with the demons, but the demons who are locked in hell with you.

One awesome thing about Doom's soundtrack and how it operates in combat when landing a glory kill on an enemy, the music will briefly fade-out or pause whilst executing the glory kill focusing purely on the sound of cracking limbs and smashing skulls, and then resuming alongside the pace of the moment to moment combat. It is incredible, it feels like it provides emphasis to the glory kill, but also feels like the music and gameplay are two beasts working in tandem and when the flow of combat slows down the music follows.

It can not be understated how incredible the sound design for Doom 2016 is as well. The weapons all feel satisfying to use because of the weight and impact they carry which is in part their presentation visually, but in large part is attributed to how they sound.

The punchy buckshots that you engrave in your foes through your shotgun, the powerful charge of your gauss canon, and the rapid fire bullets firing with precision and forceful impact, it all boils together to make this high-octane action that demands your time and attention and at the same time makes the world feel foreboding to be in and you are a wrecking ball to bring it all down, in short the combat and atmosphere is super satisfying in large part due to the the culmination of this games score, and the brutal sounds of your bullets plunging into the your demonic foes.

If Spider-Man's movement makes you feel like Spider-Man then Doom's soundtrack is what makes you feel like The Doom Slayer, it is where the adrenaline and overall atmosphere comes into full form and Mick Gorodn's work is one that should studied for years.

Visuals

The visual presentation for Doom 2016 is absolutely incredible, it feels so inspired and and whether it is the rundown tech facility on Mars or the brutal hellscape with all this ancient demonic architecture or monolithic towering carcass's of ancient demonic creatures.

As I've stated before there is something incredible about how Doom is able to invoke feeling through its presentation where it is how it cultivates and conducts its environmental storytelling, or portrays the demonic underworld through its shrines, structures, and iconography. It all is something that feels cohesive that is able to again create this sense of atmosphere that is begging to be explored and engaged with and even now nine years later, there are some moments where I would just stop and look at the

Conclusion

Doom 2016 is one of the best First Person Shooters that I've ever played. It is simple pick up and understand, and difficult to master, with a high skill ceiling that brings out an endless amount of player expression and efficiency in how you conquer each level.

Doom 2016 is impactful for how uncompromised it feels distinct and refreshing, it was a breath of fresh air in 2016 and still holds up as something special now, nine years later. It truly is a testament to how id has been able to modernize Doom in a way that feels faithful to its predecessor, its legacy and roots, and not buckled to chase trends of its time or compromising on any of the core pillars that make Doom what it is.

Doom 2016 feels like its music, sound design, visual carnage and fast-paced heart pumping action, feels like it is running in lock step with one another, upon writing the script for this video and meditating on my thoughts, it is harmonious, it all is perfectly synchronised in way that is damn near perfect. It’s feels like Doom never pulls its punches and walks the tight rope between kicking your ass, and providing you the tools to kick the games ass is one thing that Doom 2016 nails in spades, and it makes you feel like the Doom slayer, but boy does it make you earn that feeling, which is what makes it so goddamn satisfying.

The soundtrack or Doom 2016 is one that I truly believe is one of the best video game soundtracks period, and is the beating heart that makes the combat feel as complete and satisfying in a way that is hard to properly define, but is instinctive in how it feels. The combat is as smooth as butter with an incredible amount of weapon variety, and enemy variety to match, that are steadily introduced into this experience, slowly upping the ante and requiring you to call upon prior skills and weapon utilization, enemy weaknesses and then neatly stacks another block on top, and creates combat encounters that never get old, because of how satisfying the weapons feel to use, the music is pumping in the back, and the still to this day impressive backdrops of Mars and Hell that create an atmosphere that is unapologetically Doom.

Simply put, if you are a fan of First Person Shooters then Doom 2016 is a must play video game, but more so one that is top of its class and undoubtably one of the all-time greats.

Thanks for watching.