Just read this on steam, and must say i wholehearthly agree. This game is way inferior to previous doom unfortunately:/
3 reasons why I enjoy this game way less than Doom (2016)
Theoretically and objectively, Doom: Eternal should be a better game if we would compare the different game mechanics of it with Doom's (2016).
After all, Doom: Eternal has more interconnected and complex levels, more enemies, weapons (that are also more varied), new ways to traverse and explore (unique environmental puzzles, the ability to dash, climb, etc.).
Its combat is also much more complex and it plays like a chess game, it plays like a thinking person's action game - you have to rely on your intelligence and tactical thinking aside from your general skills and reflex in order to succeed.
You need to know how certain enemies work, what are their weakpoints, how you should approach them, what is the most effective weapon against them. You have to manage your resources carefully, swap weapons and mods constantly according to the given situation and use grenades, flame belch, glory kills, blood punch, etc. in a smart manner.
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So yeah, I understand it clearly what Doom: Eternal tries to do. However, despite this, I enjoy it significantly less than Doom 2016. I think that this game is a perfect example of the saying that sometimes less is more. There are certain additions and gameplay tweaks that the game overall benefits from, but a lot of the changes just make the game more convuluted and complex than it should really be.
I try to explain it in a simplified way, why I think I find less enjoyment in this title than in the previous game - basically because of three key reasons.
- Improperly tuned resource and damage balancing
I feel like in Doom: Eternal, using different secondary gadgets is not an optional/occasionally necessary thing, but an absolutele necessity, as opposed to the previous game. It wouldn't necesseraly be a problem, because if it would be well implemented, it would better drive home the fact that you have to think about your actions and play this game in a more methodical, tactical manner in order to succeed.
But the problem is that I think that the different statistical aspects of the game are just simply not in harmony with each other - I'm thinking about things like how much damage a demon does with one hit in close quarters combat, how often you'll be hit by projectiles if you are constantly moving, how much HP you can get back by using a Glory Kill, how much ammo or Armor Shars can you get back by using the Chainsaw and the Flame Belch, etc.
I feel like I never really got rewarded for either playing skillfully or smartly (and obviously, both). When I play skillfully and I dodge and run in an arena, I still get shot in the back by enemy projectiles a lot and they easily chip away my armor and HP - it wasn't the case in Doom (2016) - in that game, speed was a much more effective tool.
Or if I try to use Glory Kills or the Flame Belch to replenish some HP or armor, by the time I do the Glory Kill / normal kill, enemies will close the distance on me and eat away all the HP/armor I have just acquired previously, and then some.
I think that the relative damage enemies usually do aren't in balance with how much HP/armor I can get back by performing certain actions, especially if we take into account the extremely aggressive enemy behaviour which I'll talk about in the next point. In the end, all of these things usually lead to the overreliance on the secondary gadgets, and I basically spend more time using them than my guns and actually shooting freaking demons. - Too aggressive enemy behaviour
The second key problem that makes the game less enjoyable in my eyes is the general enemy behaviour - to put it simply, they are way too aggressive. This manifests in a lot of things.
For example, I've lost at least 5 (but probably way more) Extra Lives because somehow the enemies cornered me and pretty much softlocked me to a spot - I wasn't able to dash/jump out, or do anything, I wasn't able to move at all, my character just got stuck on a 1x1m tile and then I watched how he died after three seconds.
I've never experienced anything like this in Doom (2016). The size and layout of the maps/combat arenas were always in pefect harmony with the amount and types of demons spawned in a specific area. It's not fun or challenging, it's just frustrating that I've died because I had absolutely no control over my following actions.
But the problems of the aggressive enemy behaviour are also present in other combat situations as well. As I have previously stated in the first point, if I do a Glory Kill, by the time I finish it, enemies will close the distance on me and damage me in that half a second window in which I'm still not being able to move after finishing the execution animation - so basically I lose the HP (or even more) that I just acquired from killing a demon.
The same is true for situations in which I play in a speedy, fast and agile way (dashing, using poles and jump pads, jumping, etc.). A lot of times it feels like that enemy projectiles are hitscan and hit me regardless of what I do. This is also annoying. - Overreliance on secondary gadgets, too much things to keep memorized, to little time to utilize the HUD
I touched upon this aspect previously in the first point - the fact that I feel like I usually spend more time using secondary gadgets and actions than actually blasting through demons with powerful guns. I feel like more time is being spent with item management and trying to find the right key to press for a given secondary action/gadget than... actually playing the game.
Why? Because there are quite simply way too many of them. There are way too many replenishing/automatically refilling gadgets and abilities that are pretty much mandatory to use. So it doesn't matter how hard I concentrate, I always forget about using some of them for a while... and even if I remember that I have to use a certain one, a lot of time I'm panicking because I have no idea what button to press, etc.
There are simply too many secondary things to keep track off in my head... at least for me. And I can't even rely on the HUD in order to know how many of a certain ability/gadget I have left or is it refilled or not, because I don't have any time for that because of the already mentioned ultra aggressive enemy behaviour and the fact that demons can eat away all of my health pretty quickly.
This leads to situations where I accidentally use my Blood Punch in the wrong time because I don't know that it's refilled, or the opposite: I try to use the Chainsaw but it turns out I don't have quite enough fuel yet in it so I die in the process because I just got close to an enemy for 2 seconds.
There is the Glory Kill (1), the Blood Punch (2), the Chainsaw (3), the Grenade (4), the Ice Grenade (5), the Flame Belch (6), and the Crucible (7), which I also count as a secondary tool.
So aside from managing the 8-9 shooting weapons, swapping weapon mods, controlling the general movement of the character, managing when to use the jumps/double jumps and dashes, I also have to keep another 7 things in my head.
Maybe I'm just a retard, but for me, it is simply too much, way too much. Roughly half of my actions do not have anything to do with shooting, which still should be the core pillar of a Doom game (even if exploration, solving puzzles, platforming and resource management should be all important).
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Basically, these three key aspects make the game siginificantly more frustrating and significantly less enjoyable in my eyes than Doom (2016), especially because they directly strengthen each other.
Doom (2016) is one of the most balanced games I've ever played, I always looked forward to combat encounters and I freaking loved fighting in it - there wasn't a single time when I felt that there was a difficulty spike - the whole game was challenging but fair all the way through and I completed it to 100% under 2-3 days... and I would have played it even more after I finished it.
But with Doom: Eternal, I almost have to force myself to actually play it... I'm starting to feel some kind of a frustration and deep anxiety whenever I'm starting to get close to a combat arena... and this is bad... a video game shouldn't make you feel things like this.
I still have 4 levels to go but I'm finding it harder and harder to actually convince myself to keep playing the game.
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