Nowadays we have a wide variety of FPS games from run-and-gun to team-based tactics and even military simulators with high realism involved. But today we are looking at a reboot of a game that can be put on a list of shooters that gave birth to the FPS genre. I’m off course talking about Doom! Pitting you up against demons and hellfire with a wide diversity of blood splattering weapons we take a look at what ID Software is trying to do with an old school shooter brought back from the depths of hell itself.
In this beta we get to see 2 types of modes both of wich are 6v6 teams pitched into a fast-paced run and gun type of play, firstly Team Deathmatch, the classical mode every shooter player knows and loves. It’s simple and just good fun on your own or with friends. Secondly we have Warpath, a King-of-the-hill mode wherein you try to capture 1 zone and hold it to get points, while fending off the opposing team. But there is a small twist to this, the point slowly moves around the map making it that no team can really put up shop and hold the position forever, this makes for some really intense firefights as you slowly move with the point in order to keep it and keeps you alert as your surroundings continuously changes and new pathways open up for your enemy, great for setting up ambushes if you get pushed out to get right back in and take it back. In both of these modes we also got to try out the first Demon called The Revenant, equipped with an instant kill rocket launcher and jetpack for increased mobility this truly is a beast to watch out for. Picked up from random spawn location after a certain time the Demon pick-up appears for everyone to see and it becomes a race on who gets it first as any team backed with a Demon has a nice advantage, work together to kill the enemy demon and its pick-up is dropped and left with its remaining time to play as it does have a time limit as how long it can roam around and cause mayhem.
Weapons and Equipment
Now Doom wouldn’t be the same without some kick-ass weapons that can shred your opponents into a thousand pieces, for now we get to see 7 that can be unlocked through leveling up and a special pick-up weapon found in the maps itself All of the weapons have a primary and secondary fire and to finish up your arsenal 3 different gadgets.
-Heavy Assault Rifle: A fully automatic ballistic type weapon featuring a scope as secondary fire to extend ranged combat for those more accurate shots.
-Plasma Rifle: Shoots out superheated plasma balls that also does splash damage and features a secondary fire that fires a plasma orb that creates a puddle of burning plasma on the ground to keep those enemy’s at bay.
-Super Shotgun: Truly a super close range weapon with bone splitting damage and a secondary fire that closes the bullet spread for a tighter shot pattern.
-Vortex Rifle: The go to sniper rifle of the game with a primary laser shot and a secondary charge up shot that does devastating damage and increased magnification.
-Lightning Gun: A close range weapon with a constant beam of lightning and as a secondary creates an electrified field that when hits a surface can deal damage to multiple enemies at a time.
-Rocket Launcher: Being one of my personal favorite weapons to use in the beta dealing a good deal of splash damage and when you miss a shot can detonate at will using your secondary fire.
-Static Rifle: One of the trickier weapons to use, gains power when in constant motion and drains when idle with a zoom option as secondary fire for those long-ranged engagements.
-Gauss Rifle: The special pick up weapon of the game and is an instant kill canon if fired upon any opponent unlucky enough to get into your crossfire.
As for equipment goes you have 2 types of grenades, the first being the standard frag grenade and a life stealing Siphon grenade that gives the stolen amount of life to the player that threw the grenade. Lastly, we have a Personal Teleporter that you throw down and when activated again teleports you to the set location.
Loadouts are customizable and you get 3 standardized load outs and 3 custom ones you unlock on different levels where you can customize them with any combination of these aforementioned weapons and equipment.
Hack Modules
When you play this fast-paced festival of blood at one point, you too might face a guts splashing end to your life, sometimes you might even get dominated and get more time on the kill screen than actually playing. Don’t be alarmed, though, because when you die you now have the option to enhance your soldier with a Hack Module, a timed power-up that ranges in three categories, Awareness, Boosts and Wallhacks. With the first option you can get Supply Timer wich shows respawn timers on items and Vital Signs that shows your enemies health. Bounty gives you 50% more EXP and Armor Plating Boost gets you that extra bit of armor to start off with. The last category Wallhacks may grant you Power Seeker that tracks the nearest power-up or weapon on the map and Retribution, showing you the location and health of the person that killed you last. All of these are timed and vary in level for even more powerful Modules and increased time. Getting these are random at every match you complete and off course completely optional to use, you can chose your own loadout in the menus up to 4 slots to use ingame or let autofill pick them out for you.
Customization
Nowadays customizing your soldier is a big part of shooter games and Doom delivers on that with a variety of different Armor pieces that even can be individually modified from different arms, legs, torso and helmet. To make your armor look nice and dandy you can choose from a Primary and Secondary color, your visor color and a sweet pattern and to make it even more fancy your pattern has 2 color options as well. You start off with just your basic armor and some options to make your soldier “YOU” and get new patterns, colors and armor pieces by kicking ass in the multiplayer. And if that wasn’t enough to satisfy your customizing needs, you can even use a slider option to increase the “dirt” and “scratches” on your armor to make it look even more badass. Weapon customization is also present and each weapon has 2 zones to paint, put a sweet pattern on and dirty it up if you please, so if you want to jump around in Pink armor, carrying a Yellow-Blue Rocket Launcher, Doom will not disappoint you one bit.
Humiliation
Many shooters have humiliating moments, a frag catches you off-guard and sends you flying or a good old fashioned tea-bag in the kill cam. We have all done it and we all love to show our supremacy to the poor player we just blasted in pieces. Doom has an answer to that as well with Glory Kills, get your enemy low enough on health and a yellow aura will surround that player, get in close enough with a nice melee and you’ll get a finisher that breaks necks and splashes your enemy into bits. To top off your glorious victory you can choose from 4 taunt options that you pick out and earn on the battlefield. Just don’t forget to check your surroundings while you do so or you might be on the receiving end of the Glory Kill and get ripped to shreds.
Ready to unleash Hell
So are you ready to pick-up your rocket launcher and fight it out against players and demons alike? Doom is looking to be a nice fast-paced shooter, with a wide variety of customization and enough blood splatter to hold you onto your seat to get that next Glory Kill. But we will see what Doom fully brings in May and what Demons we will have to face alone, or with friends. I’ll see you all there in the pits of Hell.
