Doom 3: BFG Edition

PC review by Richard Wakeling on 25th October 2012

As a console game, Doom 3: BFG Edition makes perfect sense. Not only does it come complete with the seminal Doom and Doom II, expansion pack Resurrection of Evil and the newly-released Lost Mission, but it updates Doom 3 in the process, providing console gamers with a release more akin to its PC brethren than that of the downgraded Xbox port. Look at it purely as a PC release, however, and it can only be described as superfluous at the very least. A misguided venture that will do little to help relieve a dwindling reputation for id Software and their original fanbase.

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Doom 3 was divisive when it was first released eight years ago and little has changed in the time since. Some will appreciate the homage it pays to its influential predecessors, confining the action to narrow corridors, monster closets and jump scares, but others will take issue with id’s failure to progress the genre they popularised, opting instead to rest on their laurels with a dated concept. Its quantum leap in graphical fidelity was certainly an impressive facet of the overall package, offering visual quality no other game could yet match, but its gameplay was distinctly archaic.

Playing it now as part of the BFG Edition, it’s clear how palpable that still is.

You’ll move from corridor to corridor, room to room. The coherency of its art design funnelling you onwards through metallic hallways, brightened by effulgent touchscreens and impeded by malfunctioning sliding doors – the staples of a science fiction aesthetic. An enemy will lunge out of the pitch black darkness, another will appear in a haze of demonic orange light, while the rest will respawn three rooms away, ready to sneak up behind you when you least expect it.

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Original Flavour

Rather damningly, the release of Doom 3: BFG Edition has seen the removal of the original Doom 3 and Resurrection of Evil on Steam. You can still purchase them but only as part of the £75.99 id Software Pack. However, Bethesda have provided assurances this issue will be rectified, saying in a statement: “We do realise that there are fans that would like to purchase the original version of the game, and we’re looking into options for them. When there’s new info to share, we’ll let everyone know.”

Doom 3 lives on its jump scares. Ubiquitous monster closets litter each environment as though Hell’s minions want nothing better than to play peek-a-boo. It has moments where it manages to catch you off guard, but all too often its scares are disappointingly predictable. You’ll blast away well-designed Imps, Pinkie Demons and Cacodemons as they blatantly move towards you with their limited AI, ready to meet their demise at the end of the latest pea shooter. Weapons feel lightweight and unsubstantial; their sound design is lacking in oomph and the AI fails to react to anything other than a killing blow. The gunplay is unsatisfying and quickly descends to repetition as the formula fails to evolve and your arsenal lacks considerable improvement. These issues were apparent in 2004 and age has not been kind to Doom 3.

Its visuals do still hold up, however, the fantastic lighting engine helping to create a superbly macabre atmosphere. Graphical improvements over the original are minimal at best and options are limited to v-sync and anti-aliasing leaving no room for adjustments, but its mood remains intact. At least until you begin using your flashlight, that is.

One of the ways Doom 3 originally divided opinion was with its rather distinctive flashlight mechanic. The flashlight took up its own weapon slot meaning you couldn’t use it at the same time as any other firearms. This created an oppressive tension as you had to weigh up visibility over defence. You would come face to face with a pitch black room, use your flashlight to get a quick lay of the land before entering with your shotgun at the ready, relying on memory to proceed. From that point on your only source of light came from the faint ambient glow of computer screens and the muzzle flash of your weaponry briefly illuminating the room. It may have only appeared because of technical limitations but the flashlight juggling act was an effective and progressive tool that heightened apprehension, combining wonderfully with the game’s ominous atmosphere.

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It was an alienating mechanic, though, and within a week of the game’s release the infamous “duct tape” mod appeared on the scene, allowing you to use both flashlight and weapon concurrently. Doom 3: BFG Edition has taken this same route, removing the original system entirely in favour of an easy flashlight toggle. It’s an understandable move but having no menu option to revert back to the previous mechanic is extremely disheartening, completely removing Doom 3’s defining feature. Being able to use a flashlight at any time severely dampens the tension, especially when the new light source fails to cast shadows off of the environment. Not only does it look bad but it destroys a lot of the game’s mood and frightful moments. When you’re trapped in a room and all the lights go out there is no panic, and it makes even less sense when an NPC offers to lead you through a dangerous, darkened area with his own lantern when you can just light the whole path yourself.

The BFG Edition makes fundamental changes to the original game’s design, losing its defining feature in the process, and its trivial technical adjustments do little to justify its existence. Graphical options are almost non-existent and mod support is completely absent. When you consider the fact there are mods that exponentially improve the original game’s visuals and even its sound design, it’s even more baffling.

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The Lost Mission is the only piece of new content here, but its two-hour slog of generic action is not a reason to own the BFG Edition. You’ll move through constrained and brightly lit rooms, killing waves of spawning enemies before rinsing and repeating. It lacks the unique enemy entrances of Doom 3’s campaign, dumping enemies directly in front of you and asking that you clear each room before moving on. None of it is particularly entertaining but it mercifully ends before too long.

It may be dubbed the ultimate collection but even on consoles the BFG Edition is far from ideal. As a PC game its existence is highly questionable; any esoteric changes made on id’s part have already been done better by a dedicated modding community. Doom 3 may not be a groundbreaking title but there’s a certain reverence for many aspects of its experience, no matter how dated it has become. It was divisive, memorable and holds a particular place in history; the BFG Edition loses all of this. There’s no discerning reason for it.

Two out of ten

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About the author

Richard Wakeling is a Staff Writer at Thunderbolt, having joined in June 2008. Get in touch on Twitter @richardwakeling.

Comments

Benny
25th October 2012

As much as I think Doom 3 is an abysmally poor game. Is it really 3 points worse than Duke Nukem Forever? Or infact lower than any other game you have reviewed? It strikes me that it is out of disappointment, or even betrayal, you have cast it so low.

I’m not really bothered, reviews scores are meaningless, but it just seems bitter on your part.
Richard Wakeling
25th October 2012

Doom 3 is average, and some of its faults can actually be improved by mods. The reason I score the BFG Edition so low on the PC is because it’s a pointless game. Having the whole Doom collection in one place is nice, but I’ve bought them all on Steam for cheaper before, and that’s with the original Doom 3, not this chopped up version. The lack of graphical options or mod support just reeks of a game designed for consoles, and that’s where it makes sense. As a PC release there’s just no need for it.
Anthony
25th October 2012

Sounds like retard logic
Benny
25th October 2012

That’s odd justification. What is the point in any re-release? Sonic is available on every system in so many forms at so many prices. Does it therefore deserve a 2/10 today? What about Serious Sam HD which you gave a far healthier 6/10? An update with a few extra gubbins. What was the point in Golden Axe: Beast Rider? A game which you said it boring and annoying, yet somehow scores two points higher. A game which takes the original and quite frankly forgets anything that was remotely good about it.
Blimey O’Reilly
25th October 2012

I actually see exactly where you’re coming from with this. Much like with Sega’s rerelease of Jet Set Radio which added little and preserved its faults, this is done with little to no intention of showing love to the final result. It’s a brutal cut you’ve given the game with your final score, but when you remember that the original iteration is still readily available for purchase (albeit within limitation for now), why release this declaration of halfhearted game construction?

I’ll actually back you on this one. Games are more than a hobby or passtime to many people. This isn’t the sort of thing you would expect to see these days in professional publishing. I don’t know why so many companies deliberately defy the opportunity to endeavour for greatness. Not everything has to be a spectacle, as mobile gaming platforms will demonstrate with ease, but why allow yourselves to be lazy or openly incompetent? I think id need to make some serious internal decisions before their next major release.
Benny
25th October 2012

I don’t necessarily disagree with the sentiment, but it’s by the reviewer’s own internal logic it is an odd score as shown by the other reviews. Like I said, I think D3 is a poor game and this re-jig does very little to make sense.
JamesDew
25th October 2012

Ouch, I wouldn’t want to be Doom 3 right now. I think people have been way too hard on it, though.
Richard Wakeling
25th October 2012

I’ve not heard of any re-releases or HD remakes that not only fail to improve upon the visuals in any way, but also reduce its functionality and make fundamental changes to the gameplay that diminish its enjoyment. They’re charging more for something worse. People who already own Doom 3 were excited for it so it’s worth warning them off.

If this was a review for the 360 or PS3 version I might have scored it higher. It’s not ideal considering the changes (and lack of options) made to the flashlight mechanic, but it’s an improvement on the previous Xbox port, and a debut on a Sony machine. It has value. On PC, it has none.
Guymar Dudikoff
26th October 2012

“I’ve not heard of any re-releases or HD remakes that not only fail to improve upon the visuals in any way, but also reduce its functionality and make fundamental changes to the gameplay that diminish its enjoyment. They’re charging more for something worse.”

Not sure I hit EVERY single criteria here, but, Final Fantasy Chronicles, which I bought at full price at the time. Pretty sure there are some X-Box live ports out there that did the same thing.
Nathan
27th October 2012

I’m not 100% sure but isnt the PC version supposed to support the Oculus Rift when that launches?

I could see that being a justifiable reason to release a new PC version… but yeah outside of that it does seem rather pointless.
Adam
30th October 2012

I agree with the article writer and all of his comments. This does deserve a 2/10, even though I do love Doom 3.

A review of a remake is not reviewing the game, it is reviewing the remade parts. What is added deserves a 2/10, if that, for the PC version as the author stated. It is obvious ID focused on consoles, then brought over the updated textures and mechanics to PCs. This should have been a console only release.

ID software just wants to maximize profit now. Carmack needs to get over his ego and listen to the community as well.
Chubzdoomer
2nd November 2012

Doom 3 wasn’t chastised because of its archaic design. Rather, people were frustrated with the game’s many poor design decisions and having been delivered an experience that played so little like the games that came before it. Sure, you still roam around corridors blasting enemies with a large arsenal. But the similarities, for the most part, end there. The main complaints I and many others had were the stupid flashlight mechanic, environments that were so dark they made the gameplay more tedious than fun, too many spawning enemies (a sign of lazy game design), weapons that sounded laughably weak, PDAs that you had to sift through to acquire key codes, and incredibly repetitive environments that completely lacked imagination and awe-inspiring architecture. These gripes, as a matter of fact, are why many considered Doom 3’s Hell levels to be the best in the game. They took you back to a more oldschool style of play in which you explored fairly well lit surroundings, blasted bad guys, and had a jolly good time without any of the slow, plodding gameplay that plagued the other levels. It’s a game I’ve been unable to play through since I completed it the first time back in 2003. I play the original games all the time, on the other hand, and create content for them to this day. id Software dropped the ball, period. This “re-release” is just more incentive to care nothing about their efforts in the future.