Every detail and every aspect of Doom 3 was worked and prepared to give and deliver a unique experience to any player.
Doom 3 did not change the old-school style from the series, but the slower pace make the "old-school feeling" to be lower. "Marine" is how the player will be called through the game and he just got transferred to the UAC Mars base. After receive his first assignment, he find a scientist predicting that the entire base is doomed to an unknown devil and, suddenly, everything start to shake and a mysterious and horrendous wave pass through the entire base, changing everything. After that, "Marine" will have to fight to stay alive and, at the same time, try to stop this mess and save Earth.
What I like most from Doom 3 is exactly that part where we control a lone soldier in a huge Mars base, crowded with all kind of demons. In some parts, we will encounter some help, but it really doesn't take away the feeling of danger or loneliness. Every step we take is an invite to become a living target for the demons. In every corner, in every room, in every corridor… there is no safe place to hide or to run away. And this feeling is only possible because of the amazing engine that power Doom 3. Capable of a high level of texture details, impressive lights and really accurate shadows, this game presents one of most detailed and best looking games from its year.
Not only that, but if you play it now and make a comparison with other games from today, we can notice how advanced and well made was this game in that period. Be ready to face a real darkness, where a single light can make all the difference and where no light can make everything really dark. I have to warning you that Doom 3 is capable to make weaker minds several days afraid of darkness. It's almost like an extra challenge for the players who dear to face the dangerous of that doomed base.
What I mean with all that? Expect to find your enemies in the dark only through the little shine of their eyes or just find them when they start to attack you in the most profound darkness. It's almost claustrophobic sometimes, mainly when we must face many spawning enemies in rooms that have the same dimensions of my house's room.
Then I reach the main point of Doom 3 experience: the "personal approach". In other two games of the series, in 90% of time we had open rooms or large open areas where we had a lot of space to move and shoot the demons. But, here, we will face fewer enemies, but in claustrophobic rooms and corridors. Of course that they will be stronger, faster and a lot more dangerous, but only few at time. Have to say that, this would be perfect if the ammunition were more difficult to find. This could had increase the "tension" of player, where ammunition for his most powerful weapons are harder to find and where powerful demons could appear at any time. But this will not happen, and we will easily stay with almost all our weapons in full ammo limit and this kind help to decrease the "fear level" or the suspense of the scariest moments of Doom 3.
I say that above because the weapons in this game are really powerful and can deliver great damage in many enemies in some few seconds. Mini gun, plasma gun, grenades, rocket launchers and even the simple shotgun can deliver a great damage when used in the right moments. Then, plus the fact that we got few enemies than before, and we got a killing machine marine where the most powerful enemies will not be enough to make us tremble before our huge and almost limitless arsenal. At least, all of them are fun to use and they really sound powerful, with a descent variation and even presenting remodeled old weapons from previous games from the series.
But what got my eyes through the entire game was the level design. Every sector of Mars base look amazing well designed, where all that machineries seems to be alive, seems to be really working in something really important, increasing the immersion level and making everything look a lot more "natural" for a base in other planet. I mean, every machine have a great design, have its own way of work. Also, even when Doom 3 will happen almost entirely in UAC Mars base, the dark corridors and rooms will not look repetitive or boring, and, for being very straightforward and linear, here we not fall in that déjà vu problem, where corridors look the same and that feeling that we already saw that place. Means that every part and moment in Doom 3 are special, capable to deliver many memorable moments.
Here goes a tip: if you already played Doom 3 but never got to reach the "Hell" level, then, I said that you NEVER played Doom 3 or, at least, never experienced what Doom 3 had mean to be.
For facing few enemies at each time, is easy finding them kind of repetitive. But, making a deep analysis, it's not a little close to have repetitive enemies. It's impossible to a game that possesses, at least, fourteen types of enemies to become repetitive, mainly in the middle of the most diverse and unexpected situations that the game manages to create and deliver. Even when most of them are recreations from the old Doom games, they were all remodeled and rebalanced to fit the "personal approach", and also to fit in that small dark rooms and corridors.
Other element that really helps to create all that atmosphere of despair and loneliness in Doom 3 is the sound effects. They were amazing well made and designed to deliver the best experience to create all that ambient of horror. Monsters, screams, machines, computers, doors, explosions, strange voices, whispers… all are there to create that unique atmosphere and immersion. Special attention to the footsteps: for me, they were there just to increase the level of loneliness. I mean, our own footsteps will sound lauder to us, because everything is in silence. We're almost the only human presence there and, hear only our footsteps, can be really creepy sometimes.
Also, the voices are amazing good too. Not that we will stay chatting around Mars base, but, Doom 3 put a new element in the series called PDA. This personal little computer will help us to gather information and keep us updated about our next mission or destination. Also, is through the PDA that we get access to some areas. But our own PDA has a really limited access in Mars base. So, to access sectors that we can't, we must find the PDA of other people and download its content to our own PDA. This will grant us access to new areas and, occasionally, codes to open doors, supply containers and even tips in how to avoid some dangers from the environment. And some of that information is recorded in audio logs, "forcing" us to hear some of them to proceed or unlock that tips or codes. And is here, in the part of the "audio logs", where the voices are amazing good.
Well, after analyze most aspects of this game, I can safely say that Doom 3 got to be one of the best games ever produced. Extremely polished, is almost a "bug-free" game, where every detail and every aspect of the game was worked and prepared to give and deliver a unique and new experience to the fans of Doom series and, if the player wasn't a fan or never played it in its life, it got the chance to be immersed in this great experience, to play it and know how everything begins in the series.