A Doom Eternal Review, how original.

How do you do, my fellow gay fucks. As I promised, here's my review of Doom Eternal (singleplayer wise, because FUCK multiplayer). Now I know everyone is praising this game like it's the next Half-Life 2 or something, and honestly, I can kinda agree that the game is great, but it does have a few minor flaws that keep it away from a 10. But, for the time being, let's start with the great.

STORY/GENERAL OVERVIEW

I'm gonna cut the crap and get straight to the point: This game is OUTSTANDING, not just outstanding. Whereas Doom 2016 had story take a pretty big back seat in favor of making you feel like a god damn badass once you got a flow going, Doom Eternal has the story in the front seat alongside the gameplay. While I think the story can be a bit weak in most areas, it is sorta engaging enough to be a very minor (basically non-existent) reason to keep coming back for more, since it ties into the other games and says that basically we've been playing as the original Doom Guy the whole time (I would have thought that it was a bit obvious since you can unlock the original Doom Armor using an Argent Battery, but I digress).

GAMEPLAY (THE DOOMSLAYER'S ARSENAL)

Now, the main reason you'll be coming back to this game, again and again, is the gameplay. And honestly, Id Software fucking NAILED IT. If you thought that Doom 2016 was adrenaline-filled and made you feel like a badass, this game kicks it up to fucking 11. Just like the previous game, the devs kind of intend for people to play on Ultra-Violence difficulty or higher to make you feel like a true badass for overcoming a difficult area, but play on any difficulty you want, they won't give two shits. Alongside the returning weapons, weapon mods, glory kills, and movement options from Doom 2016, the game gives you a ton of new toys and moves to fuck around with.

First up, weapons. Now, the big new weapon that was originally shown off was the Crucible, sort of like the chainsaw but everything dies in one hit with it, unlike the chainsaw, which needs a certain amount of fuel to kill an enemy, depending on the size of it. However, the downsides of the Crucible is that refills for it are few and far between, the enemies you kill with it don't drop anything, and it can only be used three times before it needs refilling, you can't upgrade the number of times it can be used before running out, unlike the chainsaw, which the ammo count upgrades alongside your other weapons. The second "new" weapon is the Unmaykr, which is pretty much the superior version of the BFG, which has been downgraded a bit in this game in terms of damage. Now, this isn't the first time the Unmaykr has appeared in a Doom game. Its first appearance was almost the original Doom, before it got the boot and was scrapped. However, it later appeared in Doom 64 as a secret weapon, where it also shared ammo with the BFG. Just like in Doom 64, this is a secret gun, requiring that you collect six Empyrean keys hidden around the chapters, which are difficult to find and are obtained by completing the Slayer Gates (this game's Rune Trials). However, it's all worth it to get one of the more powerful guns in the game, which has its benefits and harms (like one or two) compared to the BFG. Each has their best and worst situations to use them in combat, so yeah. However, the Gauss Cannon got the boot, being replaced by the Ballista. This thing is pretty much a fucking laser crossbow, using plasma bullets, just like the Gauss Cannon. This is kind of just a skin for the Gauss Cannon, aside from it being a bit better, and having unique weapon mods (speaking of which...)

Another thing returning from Doom 2016 is the weapon mods. These give your guns a new ability when holding down the button used for iron sights in other shooters. All of them return from Doom 2016, including Sticky Bombs for the Shotgun, and the Mobile Turret for the Chaingun. The new mods are pretty much for the Ballista (since the BFG and Unmaykr have none, and aside from one for the Super Shotgun, which I'll talk about when I talk about the new movement options), and that's kinda it, which is a shame. The new mods are great, don't get me wrong, but I feel like they could have maybe added/changed a few more since the Masteries for each mod (Aside from the Ballista's, which are new, obviously) are the same. But what do I know, I don't design games. Maybe there was a time crunch or they just couldn't think of any new ones that would actually have some use in combat. Nonetheless, I'm glad that the mods are back and better than ever. I can't really say as much for the runes though.

Since the rune trials were replaced by the Slayer Gates, but the runes returned, you now just find them around the maps. As for the runes themselves, most of them are new. The returning ones from Doom 2016 are,

• Savagery, which let you perform Glory Kills faster

• Seek & Destroy, which let you perform Glory Kills from farther away

• Air Control, which greatly increased movement speed when in the air

• Dazed & Confused, which increase the time that enemies are in a stagger state.

• and Blood Fueled, which gives you a temporary speed boost after performing a Glory Kill

While it's a bit disappointing that most of the old ones got the boot, the new ones are FAR better, and they are as follows:

• Saving Throw, which allows you to survive one death blow and slows down time for a short time, giving you a chance to recover (recharges after death)

• Chrono Strike, which allows you to hold the secondary fire button in midair to slow down time temporarily (once drained, the player must wait for it to recharge)

• Equipment Fiend, which makes it so that enemies killed by/enemies under the influence of equipment make all equipment charge quicker

• and Punch & Reave, which makes it so enemies killed by a Blood Punch Shockwave drop health (I'll talk about Blood Punches later on)

While only nine runes isn't all that much compared to Doom 2016, which had 12, their try potential comes with certain interactions and combinations of runes. The different combinations all accommodate for multiple different playstyles. Personally, like I did in Doom 2016 (I'm bringing it up a lot, aren't I), I went for a Glory Kill build. Now, you don't need to do what I did, but I'm just saying, Runes (in my opinion) make the experience a HELL of a time (I wasn't trying to make it a pun I swear!)

Another thing that had returned with more of an oomph is the equipment. While almost all of the equipment from Doom 2016 (except the frag grenade) got the boot, the new stuff is arguably better in my opinion. First off, one of the new pieces of equipment is the Doomblade, which not only makes for more graphic Glory Kills, but also gives us a decent melee attack! (It's about fucking time?) All things aside though, while other people may say, "Oh Nathan! Why'd you say 'Finally giving us a decent melee attack?' The chainsaw is a great melee attack! Plus, there was a melee attack in Doom 2016!" However, the melee attack in Doom 2016, at least for me, wasn't really all that useful for some of the higher difficulties. Aside from triggering Glory Kills, which was helpful, trying to use it as a decent form of attack put you into harm's path. And when you're playing on Ultra-Nightmare, you don't really want that. Plus, I never really saw the Chainsaw as a melee attack, as opposed to seeing it as more of a reward for getting up close to the enemies and putting yourself in danger, with that reward being a whole truckload of practically every type of ammo. The Doomblade, at least for me, was fun to use and felt satisfying to incorporate into my combat flow at the perfect moments. Meanwhile, the other equipment is all part of one device attached to your suit: The Equipment Launcher. Aside from the returning Frag Grenade, the other pieces of equipment you'll be obtaining are the Flame Belch and the Ice Bomb. These all have their uses in combat and not need ammo refilling like in Doom 2016. Rather, they all have a cooldown time once used, and I find this WAY more appealing than having to restock on Frag Grenade ammo every time I used one. Plus, these were super satisfying to incorporate into my Danse Macabre-styled waltz of bullets. I'm not going to spend too much time on the Frag Grenade, but I will say that I think it might be more powerful than the one in Doom 2016. Next up is the Flame Belch and HOOOOO BOOOOOOY, this one is fun, satisfying, and rewarding to use effectively. Essentially, this is a personal mini fucking flamethrower, that rewards you with armor shards for killing an enemy/letting a big enemy burn, which drops armor shards as they burn alive. From what I've read online, a lot of people (myself included) believe/know that the Flame Belch is at it's most effective when used against super-heavy enemies and to begin a battle if you need more armor. And then there's the Ice Bomb. And oh man, is this one also fun and satisfying to use effectively! This is pretty similar to the Frag Grenade, but with a twist. And the twist is that it freezes enemies that you launch it at and any around it, since it not only explodes upon impact with something, but also has a decently sized explosion radius. It's effective against all normie enemies, even the heavies and super-heavies, but not marauders, which makes sense, since they are the toughest fucking assholes in the game and can end an Ultra-Nightmare run in a matter of seconds if you're not paying attention. However, this one isn't effective against every boss (it works against a very small amount of them, if I remember), which a few people complained about, but it makes sense, since then the fight would be a damn cakewalk if you just froze them and continued attacking them. One of the more effective ways to use it is to throw it an enemy (most likely a heavy or super heavy), then use the Flame Belch on 'em to get as many armor shards as possible before they break out. All three of these pieces of equipment have 3-4 total upgrades to make them better, with the 4 upgrades available for the Frag Grenade and Ice Bomb costing Praetor Suit tokens (which I'll be discussing later), while the 3 upgrades for the Flame Belch cost two Sentinel Crystals (which I'll also be discussing later). So overall, all 4 of the pieces of equipment in the game (which you get pretty early on as well, like the runes) are great. The Doomblade is a fun and satisfying melee attack to incorporate into your Ballet of Blood(TM), the Frag Grenade is a great piece of equipment for crowd control, The Flame Belch is a great way to deal with super-heavy enemies and a great way to get armor shards, especially when combined with the Ice Bomb, and the Ice Bomb itself is a great way to make a combat situation more manageable if you're dealing with a big group of demons. However, we aren't done discussing the Doomslayer's arsenal of new toys and moves and we're FAR from done with the gameplay section of this review. So stay put, this review is practically just getting started.

Now, the last part of our favorite little Doomslayer's arsenal is his movement abilities, and Glory Kills. So, let's start with his movement capabilities. In Doom 2016, you had a pretty basic (albeit very useful) set of movement options. You could jump, crouch, melee attack, and double jump (once you got the right upgrade later on). Doom Eternal, on the other hand, just takes all of the movement capabilities the Doomslayer had in the 2016 game and just says, "Yeah I like those. But they just need more ADRENALINE." Alongside the returning movement options from the previous game (all of which you start out with), we have a brand new set of moves to mess around with. For one, we can now dash, which is SO GOD DAMN FUN TO USE IN COMBAT! This is not only used to make combat even more adrenaline-filled, but also for way too much platforming for my liking (but I'll get into that later on). We also now have the ability to climb certain walls and swim in certain areas, both of which are just used for traversal around the level and platforming, but I'm not too mad that these are just condemned to platforming, as they are WAY too slow and would just ruin your flow of combat if implemented in those parts of the game. Now, we also have the ability to swing off certain highlighted bars and this makes combat way more enjoyable. It is also used in platforming, but like I said before, I'm talking about that L A T E R. There is one more, but it is the mastery for the Super Shotgun. But who gives a shit! I'm talking about it here anyway. "What does this do that would allow you to talk about it in a section about movement capabilities?" Some of you may be asking, threatening to type mean things and email them to me. Well, what this mastery does is it attaches a chain to the Super Shotgun. With it, you can zip on over to enemies during combat and give them a face full of lead. While it's only usable whilst in midair, this is a perfect welcome to the Slayer's arsenal. Never once when I used it during combat did it ever ruin my Ballet of Bullets & Blood, and that was amazing. The other thing returning are the Glory Kills. In the previous game, these were used once you stunned an enemy to get some health back. They were rewarding, satisfying to pull off, and gory as FUCK. However, there honestly weren't that many. According to the internet (and me spending quite a while counting), there are about 25 total in the singleplayer story mode. Then all of a sudden, Doom Eternal just barges in over here, stares down at Doom 2016, and is like, "Sorry little guy. You just don't have enough." Then it practically doubles the number of Doom 2016's singleplayer Glory Kills while simultaneously kicking Doom 2016 out the fucking window. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that there's a lot of fucking Glory Kills in Doom Eternal, about 45 of them in fact. AND THAT'S JUST THE FUCKING SINGLEPLAYER CAMPAIGN. Just let that sink in, there are 45 Glory Kills in just the campaign alone, and there are more in the multiplayer mode, just like in Doom 2016. The other Glory Kill related thing introduced is the Blood Punch. This is a move you can perform after you've done two previous Glory Kills. This is pretty much a Glory Kill, but it drops more health pickups, can be used on an enemy even if they're not stunned beforehand AND it releases a shockwave around you that deals damage to enemies in its radius, which is great for crowd control and extra health.

So that's pretty much everything in the Doomslayer's arsenal this time around. However, we aren't done talking about the gameplay. We still have to talk about, you know, THE GAMEPLAY. Enough babbling and wasting time, let's just jump into it.

GAMEPLAY (THE ACTUAL FUCKING GAME)

First off, let's start with the controls: THEY'RE FUCKING AMAZING! While you do have more buttons to focus on because of the new equipment, they're still fantastic as ever at what they're made for: 95% Ripping and Tearing, 5% very minor platforming to continue Ripping and Tearing. However, in this game, they might be a bit TOO good. Let me explain my outlandish statement. For starters, I think the devs thought, 'Hey! The game has half-decent controls for platforming (despite them being more oriented ripping and tearing and not platforming), let's make this game part 3d platformer!' Whoever thought of that idea should be fed to fucking Cacodemons. I'm just gonna be completely straight with you all (despite being gay as fuck). The platforming in this game... isn't the best. See, the reason the jumping and movement felt so good in Doom 2016, was because they were made for the game, not for fucking Super Mario. While the controls feel fantastic in this game, the devs thought that because the jumping and dashing and all the movement crap was so good, why not make parts of the game be a fucking platformer. As I said, the controls are fantastic, just not for this kind of game. And sometimes, these platforming segments can just feel like fucking filler and go on and on, just make the stages twice as long as Doom 2016's levels, with Doom Eternal being twice as long. But honestly devs, just make the game longer with more fun Doom gameplay and maybe even some unique ideas in each chapter, not make overly long platforming sections. Anyway, enough of me complaining about devs trying to pad a game out. Let's talk more about the controls. While the controls might seem practically identical to Doom 2016's controls, do not be fooled, as the controls in this game are better due to a small few changes they made to them. One minor thing they change was the falling speed for certain levels. For example, with the levels on Mars, the gravity is a bit lighter, meaning you jump a bit higher and stay in the air longer. Meanwhile, in stages like Hell on Earth, your jump height and fall speed is normal, due to having the gravity of Earth. They also made your run speed a small bit quicker to make traveling through levels and combat more enjoyable, yet you don't slip around like you're on ice. It's just the small things like that which make the game more fun to control. Climbing and swimming still sucks and is too damn slow.

Now, children, the main thing you'll be doing in the game is Ripping and Tearing, and it's just as fun as it was in Doom 2016. However, like Doom 2016's combat, it's not at all perfect. First of all, the fucking Goo Tentacles. Whoever thought of these, they and their fucking creations should also be fed to god damn Cacodemons. They're annoying as fuck, do way too much damage for something as pathetic as that, and they're just a fucking chore to kill. The other big problem I have is with how fucking slow it is to kill stuff like the Marauders and Doom Hunters. So, Doom is all about keeping a constant flow in combat, right? So why the fuck do I have to break the flow just to kill something using tactics and strategy. Doom's always kinda been about shoot first, ask questions later. So again, why do I have to slow down and think about what I need to do to kill something rather than just, you know, actually killing it first with speed and good aim, BEFORE asking what I did to kill it? Look, it's just REALLY fucking dumb to have to stop and think up a strategy on how to kill a thing rather than just KILLING THE FUCKING THING. This complaint kind of even goes for the fight against the Gladiator. At multiple points in the fight, you need to stop and think about how to beat it (at least that's what the game wants you to do, but I just went in guns blazing). Sure, you can technically kill these things by just going in guns blazing, but 9 out of 10 times you attempt this, you're going to fucking die. But enough of me complaining, because that's honestly just a small chip in this pristine statue, because the combat is still phenomenal as always. With the new movement abilities, combat has such a damn good flow to it as you bounce around from one place to another during your Waltz of Death. The new enemies (aside from the Marauders, Doom Hunters, The Gladiator [the wiki labeled this guy as an enemy, so SHUT UP], and the FUCKING TENTACLES) are pretty great and work with the Doom-style and fit well with the signature combat. I think my personal favorite to fight honestly was probably the Whiplash. For starters, this is actually the first female demon in the entire series, which is pretty fucking sweet. Plus, it was overall just a fun enemy to fight that required you constantly be on your toes with how fast the thing moves. I only like the Carcass for how stupid his face looks. Most of the enemies from Doom 2016 are back for more, with any that were in previous games in the series actually getting a redesign to look more like their classic versions, which is pretty cool. However, quite a few enemies got left behind in hell for this round (see what I did there?) The enemies that got the boot include Hell Guards, Summoners, Harvesters, Hell Razers (I actually kinda liked this enemy, not gonna lie), Possessed Workers, and Parasites. However, this game somehow still manages to one-up its predecessor and have twice as many demons as Doom 2016. This is because replacing the demons from the previous game that got binned are demons from the past games, including stuff like the Arch-Vile from the original and Doom 2, and the Arachnotron from Doom 64, now with a modernized version of their classic looks, which is not only a really good way to use nostalgia, but also a way to bring classic demons back into the spotlight. Some demons did get name changes though. Possessed are now called zombies, Possessed Soldiers are now called just Soldiers, with Possessed Security now being called Soldiers (Shield), Possessed Engineers are now Cueballs, which are just the Engineers except that they can't move at all, and the Tyrant, which is this game's Cyberdemon, with design harkening back to the Cyberdemon in the original Doom. They even brought back the Icon of Sin from Doom 2 with a new look that harkens back to the original game. He was the final boss there, and he's the final boss here. They also brought back the Cyber-Mancubus from the previous game, alongside introducing a new cyber demon to cause death: The Dread Knight, A Cyberized version of the Hell Knight. So overall, this is a great roundup of new and old demons that fit the classic Doom gameplay fantastically, which, as I mentioned, is phenomenal with the new movement options and new weapons.

When you aren't ripping and tearing, you'll probably be progressing through the level. As is Doom tradition at this point, there are secrets hidden around each and every level. Sometimes they're healing items, sometimes they're Praetor Suit Tokens, sometimes they're Slayer Gates to reward you with Empyrean Keys, sometimes they're toys or even sometimes Codex Entries, or they're the occasional Sentinel Crystal, Automap, or Mod Bot. This is the kind of secrets you'll find throughout Doom Eternal. One problem for me though, other than wanting to 100% the game, I didn't really have any incentive to hunt for the secrets, which is a problem in a game that recommends that the player explores to find items to help them. While this is kinda true in this game, all the weapons (aside from the Unmaykr) are just given to you as a part of the main story. Now with Doom 2016, on the other hand, while you got a few weapons as a part of the main objectives, most of the better guns were hidden away as a secret, alongside stuff like weapon mods, Argent Energy Cells, Toys, and Praetor Tokens + Rune trials, all of these giving you an incentive to explore and find them. While some of this stuff is present in Eternal, because some of the best stuff is practically given to you by the game, I didn't feel much an incentive to explore (well something motivated me because I 100%'d the game and got every fucking achievement.) This is probably also a good time to talk level design. I'll just keep it nice and short: The battle arenas where you do most the fighting are really well designed, the normal exploration parts are decent, just too many invisible walls, and the platforming segments are like some kid's first Mario Maker course.

PRESENTATION

So, let's talk about the presentation and soundtrack. I'm just gonna say it outright: they're both fantastic. Let's discuss presentation first. First of all, the UI is WAY more refined. It's super easy to tell what everything is and what they mean. However, I feel like while there's some astounding backgrounds and level themes, I think they went a bit too lazy in other aspects. In Doom 2016, the weapon placements made sense in the world you were playing through. Same goes for where the other items were, like the Argent Energy Cells or the Codex entries. But in Doom Eternal, weapons and optional items were just found surrounded by a bright color and spinning. Hell, the secrets were literally marked by fucking spinning question marks. Plus, I just honestly like the aesthetic of Doom 2016 more. For fuck's sake, explore that game's hell was like you just walked into the cover of a death metal album. That game was just all-around more metal. Doom Eternal is still pretty fucking metal, but not that metal. Now in the soundtrack department, Doom Eternal fucking KILLS it. It's so damn good! I'd even go as far to say that this game's soundtrack is better for working out. Sure, Doom 2016 had a hella fantastic soundtrack, but it just sounds like screeching NES music compared to Doom Eternal.

CLOSURE

So, it's time for the final score! While this game is definitely a step forward for Doom games, and the gunplay is basically a Ballet with Bullets & Blood, some of the lazy presentation choices, the platforming sections, and the FUCKING TENTACLES make this game just a tiny bit worse than the reboot in my opinion.

FINAL SCORE:

8.75/10

Anyway, thank you all for reading my overly long opinion on Doom Eternal. I think next I'll probably do another long review, maybe on like Dark Souls Remastered. Anyway, thank you all for reading, and remember to stay gay.