Doom closed beta thoughts

Some of the best things in life come free... or temporarily free at least. When I first heard of Doom seriously happening outside of the dark rumors, I read and drooled over a bullet point list of amazement. Brutal melee, no regenerating health, loads of weapons you could carry around, a gory sci-fi facility, etc. It all sounded perfect for Doom. Then another source added in "Oh yeah, there's multiplayer to" (paraphrased of course), and that vague kind of nonchalant mentality is exactly how I felt. The game sounded so perfect, so amazing as it was originally told, that multiplayer slapped on top of it (especially knowing how multiplayer FPS usually works) was just something I shrugged at and said "well I guess that's a thing that will be there". Turn to today, where I've been sinking time into the closed multiplayer beta as well as having even played a hush-hush alpha for the multiplayer. My reaction now? Holy shit! Doom is going to be an all-star game at this rate where ever mode is fighting for your time and love.

So the game basically works like an old-school arena shooter at its core. You've got modern touches like a loadout system, more meta-like bonuses, grenades, and the growing standard of animations like vaulting and melee kills. However the good thing is, unless you're a super purist this stuff shouldn't ever bother you. The game is still dotted with tons of items and power-ups, is instantly noticeable for being faster than your other FPS, and the gunplay even is left most intact with arena shooter mentality. You'll be platforming across chasms to grab that super health pack, leaping into corners of the map for armor, racing around others (team and foes alike) to get that special power or weapon for an edge, and frantically running around dedicating bullets into bringing down your opponents health and armor. The two weapon loadout system doesn't rule out the fun in mixing the right weapons for the right area, and power weapons mean you'll still be hunting for other guns. Meanwhile the hack module meta-game reward just allows you to have these simple and randomized helpful prizes like being able to see enemy health, or to mark the guy that last killed you. Its mostly stuff to make your own experience a little smoother, but from an outside perspective you wont notice the difference and have just as good of a time fighting these guys back without any module assistance.

I will especially vouch for how satisfied I am with the gunplay and current balance of everything. Bethesda/ID hasn't yet pandered to the current day's crowd in mass market shooters. You've got health packs, armor plating, and then there's the beautiful fact that it actually lasts in a normal battle. Yup, no 1-3 hit reflex kills on average. If somebody did kill you that fast, well they earned it through beating everyone to a specialty, or by placing a damn good shot on you with their rockets, grenades, and plasma bombs. The only matter of "pull the trigger first" mentality comes after you've won a race to the big guns. Otherwise if you're running around with normal loadout stuff, you'll have to assert maneuverability, aim, and smart speedy decisions to drill your opponents down to 0 first. Fights can be actual fights, with intense back and forth, mind tricks in mid-fights, can go from short to long range or vice versa in seconds, and gives the room for retreats and chases. Its all chaos, and incentives the use of map memory, tricks, weapon mastery and combos, and adrenalin-fueled races to the good stuff. Demons are also intentionally OP, able to absorb three times as much damage, while dishing out nearly insta-kill type weaponry. However there's a timer, various ways to deal with them, and they're mortal. Plus there's that subtle twist in Warpath where you almost have to move away from the objective to get one, so the winning team on the objective is less likely to dominate, and whoever gets it may find their time trimmed down once they find the spotlight of the game. A good team can take a demon out almost as soon as one comes into being, but the usual case is that its a good frightening wild card to throw into the match that gives you that "Oh shit!" moment. That's exactly why I love this game to, and one of the core reasons I look to enjoy a multiplayer FPS to begin with. You get these fast racing moments, unpredictable wild-cards and frenzy kills, and then there's just that joy in tricking or slipping up in front of someone and feeling great or laughing off the "good one" move someone pulled on you. Its all a thrill that's been missing for far too long from most FPS games.

So what about the rest of the stuff? Well let me cut that short, because it truly is trivial at best. For personalization there's selecting what demon rune you may be getting, your armor, your two weapon + grenade loadout (3 custom ones in the beta), gun paints that work exactly like your armor paints, and what hack module bonuses you'll bring into each map. The main thing to take away from, is that unlocks seem to be more based on cosmetics than guns. You unlock the lightining gun and static rifle, but that's basically it. Aside from that you're essentially getting a random set of colors or armor pieces to play with, and every round seems to end rewarding you two hack modules at least. If I had any complaint, its that the customization could use a little extra user interface polish, and they reprioritize what's unlocked at the start... because only glossy paint and lacking any black is just plain wrong for this kind of game. Meanwhile graphics are perfectly set to compromise a little on models and common textures, whereas special effects are the highlight of the show. Blood dripping from walls, explosions, camera effects, etc all glorify the screen. Meanwhile at the rate you're moving, the only time you'll stop to notice the UT3 type models is when the 3D pop-up of your killer shows up while you wait to respawn. Its perfect for the theme and style of game, and looks great. Plus consider they're sure this is going to land at 60fps/1080p, so looking this good and running like that is a treat.

Oh yes, it feels good.

In the end, Doom's multiplayer taste is just amazing. It shows a project with the right heart, energy, direction, and fun factor to be a true old fashion FPS game in the right ways as well as just a damn good game in general. I can only imagine the campaign is even better, and the map editor will allow for some great possibilities. If I have any concerns with the multiplayer portion itself, its that the balance will be questioned by people who don't know what they're talking about (COD fans saying "Ew, guns are too weak"), or the fact that the demons aren't properly tested with only one of them ever being in either test phase of the game. Still, what we experiences is showing off something brilliant. Its refreshing, energetic, thrilling, and most importantly... its fun. Maybe one could even say fun as hell... because, pun. No? Well fine, its awesome either way.