Doom IV/2016 (PC, PS4, Xbox One, 2016, id Software/Bethesda)

Doom is back.

Then again, it has always been here. From 1993 onward Doom has shaped and re-shaped the First Person Shooter genre with each release. Yeah, even the re-hashes of the "classic" era. The very first title gave us the gift of shareware distribution, a new way to play with others, and truly visceral & in-your-face gameplay. Doom 2 didn't introduce much but gave us a more honed experience with tougher (new) monsters, the infamous double-barreled shotgun, and far more effective level design. Final Doom made the series start to look stale and the ever-increasing difficulty didn't help matters. And Doom 64, love it or hate it, was the epitome of how atmospheric and creepy the franchise can be. 

Doom 3 took the series in another direction almost entirely. Or at least it was initially supposed to, much to my disappointment. If you're going to do something new then go with it, but if you're going to play it safe with old mechanics, don't do it worse than with previous installments. While it was graphically outstanding for its time (in spite of the decidedly saran-wrapped look of everything and the low polygon counts that were never addressed with the advent of improving gaming hardware) the game seemed to lack an identity of its own gameplay-wise. It didn't help that because of the loss of John Romero, the genius behind the superb level design of the classic games, Doom 3 had decidedly underwhelming (albeit more grounded in reality) aesthetics in mind. And most of the game was set in tight corridors. It could challenge you, sure, but the old games were far better in this regard. And more fun. Oh and don't get me started on the flashlight mechanic. Many people loved that but I found it to be an example of laziness on part of the team. I mean, the game is set in the 2100's after all...

Now, 12 years of waiting has given us a game that had many of us worried, but delivered far more than we had thought. Initially envisioned as a sequel to Doom 3, set on Earth (!) no less, that was scrapped due to being dubbed a "Call of Duty" clone, with too many set-pieces and lack of thrilling gameplay. Plus being on Earth should afford you much more breathing room, right? Well, a newer iteration of id Software seemed to remember what made this series fucking badass, and gave us this game. While the entire suite isn't perfect *cough* derivative multiplayer *cough*, the one aspect of the game that really matters is what makes this title better than the franchise has been in practically two decades. Yeah, better than Doom 3. 

Immediately you realize that this title was made for the sole purpose of giving you a total joyride, blowing demons apart as you would. Our marine, or whatever he is now (he's the Doom Slayer now, but still Doomguy nonetheless), outright smashes a possessed guy's head as it attacks him after he wakes up in shackles. You proceed to do the same to all of his immediate buddies. We get treated to a view of who is definitely the game's antagonist, and stumble upon a newly realized suit of marine armor. He puts it on, hears some decidedly robotic voice plead for his co-operation, and hearing about how the UAC fucked up again he smashes a screen. You better get used to him smashing important things throughout the game, because it seems like Doomguy has now had enough of everyone's bullshit. After all, if this is the same Doomguy as of yesteryear then how can you blame him for having to destroy Hell numerous times by now? Thanks to the UAC, of course.

Anyway, it immediately dawns on you that this is, no kidding, a fast-paced shooter. Not only do you move fast but your enemies, at least demonic ones, do as well. And if they're not lobbing fireballs at you while keeping a modest distance from you, they're closing in to get a swipe at you. Get used to that, too. It gets harder and harder from here. You are not going to be playing this like Call of Duty at all, so if you're used to sitting behind cover, then you're going to be out of your comfort zone entirely.

It's been said that this game follows a very similar formula to that of Painkiller, another FPS title that I enjoy playing that, too, has been compared to the likes of Doom. Painkiller gave us sequential progression, wherein you get sealed up in a room and have to clear out the bad guy quota to proceed. It's not as obvious in Doom 2016, but you will notice it if you play enough, or even care to realize it. Not that this detracts from the experience because the game is a fucking blast to play.

One aspect that I admired about this outing is that it encourages you to play with an open mind. From exploring the levels for all of its secrets & collectibles, to changing up your tactics as the forces of Hell bear down on you with the countless combinations of tactics they are capable of. It opens up replayability and promotes active participation. To stay still is tantamount to throwing in the white towel, but you still know that Hell will just fucking gut you like a pig anyway no matter how they get you. Just like you did to them the entire game. Pay Hell unto Hell, they say? Pay Hell unto Doom Marine, too. You're sick of the UAC and of Hell, and Hell is sick of you.

It has awesome pacing; the story is kind of nonsensical but funny & interesting in spite of that; you can acquire various upgrades for your weapons, suit, and runes that grant you additional functionalities like increased pickup range and others. Enemy designs are as good as ever, often paying homage to the classics and to Doom 3. And rather than lumber at you, many of them haul ass in your general direction to get as much of a furious, hate-filled punch or swipe in as possible. Weapons have "oomph!" again and when you think the game isn't cleverly mixing things up enough, their various upgrades present more possibilities in battle. 

Level design was important to the single-player aspect of Doom 4, because had it been slouched at all, or reduced to the very tedious and restricted corridors of Doom 3, then this game wouldn't be as impressive as it actually is. You're not going in straight lines this time around, and you're not going to be restricted to just backpeddling away from an oncoming threat. Levels tend to be not only very open, but have many twists and turns and, most noticeably, height plays a huge role this time around. Since Doomguy now lifts himself up on ledges and can gain an upgrade in the game to make this process more efficient, you WILL be climbing ledges, crates, cliffsides, and whatever else there is in the environment. There are also secrets strewn about in all of the levels, multiple ones each, and often just outside of your general vision. The game encourages exploration in this way, and it's fantastic.

I can't really say the same about multiplayer. Doom has never, in my opinion, had truly breathtaking multiplayer. The classics definitely brought some big new technology to the table, thus opening up multiplayer options at the time, but they have not since stood the test of time. That distinction actually belongs to the franchise's sister series, Quake. Nonetheless, there's no excuse for what we got here, given all the "this isn't Call of Duty; this is Doom!" hype we were given leading up to its release. While that statement was mostly true, there's one glaring elephant in the room that makes the game resemble COD; load-outs. People did tell Id that they didn't like that functionality, but someone didn't listen and it made it to the final product. So instead of having to grab weapons in the level as you compete against others, you can now start with two weapons of your choice at the expense of getting others as you play. By resorting to this method they've actually created, inadvertently, massive weapon balancing issues. Because of this damn near everyone equipped only certain weapons, making it another missed opportunity. And that game narrator just sounds uninterested. Where's the deep, booming voice we heard in Quake 3 Arena? Unreal: Tournament?

SnapMap is another major feature of the game and while the potential for greatness was there, there were a number of issues at hand. The limitations are those issues. You can only play with up to 4 players in your creations, you can only use pre-made tilesets in your designs, and the maps tend to be rather small because of the limits. Some very creative, sometimes hilarious results have come from the community because of this mode, sure, but unless Id/Bethesda commissions some major overhauls to this mode, it won't have lasting power.

But like many who are enjoying Doom 4, I mostly judge a game by its single-player experience. And in that regard, Doom 4 succeeds admirably. Doom is relevant again, and I'm fucking happy about it. Let's just hope those guys who made the multiplayer suite don't come back in the event that we get a sequel. And can it be set on Earth, this time?

B+

The Good:

+ Fast-paced, brutal combat
+ Enemies are fun to fight again.
+ All of the weapons are useful, and they're all a blast to shoot with.
+ Much better level design than Doom 3. Why? Because it's not a corridor shooter, now!
+ Even zombies pose a threat, unlike in the aforementioned game.
+ Levels are made for you to explore, promoting growth in the process
+ Many upgrades, boosts (runes), and the like open up more gameplay options
+ The Hell levels are worth the time to experience.
+ That fist-bump sequence.
+ That opening sequence. Holy shit!
+ Doomguy doesn't give a shit anymore, and would probably give Duke Nukem a brutal Glory Kill if he ever ran into him. You've been warned, Duke.
+ Generally nice to look at
+ SnapMap is great, in theory.
+ So too, could have been the case for the Multiplayer suite...

The Bad:

 - Texture pop-in issues
-  SnapMap ends up being a disappointment.
- The Multiplayer was an even bigger disappointment.
- Classic levels (these are secrets found in each level) were translated quite strangely in this game. They do bring nostalgia factor, but they don't function the same and it's awkward to play in them.
- It eventually ends.
- It may remind you a bit too much of Brutal Doom, which is a starkly overrated mod for the classic games.
 

Resident Evil 6 Review (PS3, Xbox 360, PC, 2012/2013, Capcom)

Talk about a divisive game.

The last few Resident Evil titles are not without their critics, let alone those who are outright dismissive of them. However, in spite of the very vocal bandwagon that derides this game at every turn and all that they say this game is guilty of, there are some things you can consider positive about this outing.

What we have here is pretty much a cash cow franchise. Almost two dozen games have been released with the name, with very few of them considered non-canon (Gaiden comes to mind). Three of them managed to sell upwards of five million or more copies, it has spawned a lacklustre but financially reliable film series, a bunch of shitty novelizations have since been written, and it has become a focal point of the survival horror genre. 

Then again, Resident Evil 6 is not considered survival horror anymore. Would that be a correct assertion? Overwhelmingly in the face of all odds; yes, this is not a survival horror title. Survival elements are at a minimum, and frankly there's too much shit going on at almost any one time for it to be considered horror; it's not visceral, it doesn't play on your fears, and it's just not scary. But is that really so much of a detriment? Has this series ever been all that scary, considering that only the first game (and it's startlingly good remake) actually managed to be so?

This is an action game, through and through. It has very light horror elements, namely in Leon & Helena's campaign, but you won't leave scared. The tension is very low, as well, only ever coming to fruition during a frustrating sequence (typically quick-time events, though this game is more forgiving than most in that regard) or a halfway challenging boss battle. Otherwise, this is a straight up action shooter, and it doesn't suffer from that. If you just stop looking at it as an entry in a "scary" game series, which the series has almost never been (again, take note of the one exception), then you may be able to look at it with less unfair scrutiny.

The amount of effort put into this game is quite evident: a sprawling, if not overstuffed story, large cast of characters, up to six hours of gameplay per chapter (and there are four of them), possibly the best Mercenaries incarnation yet, and a fantastic roster of enemies means that Capcom didn't quite skimp on anything here. The old favorite zombies return, nastier than ever, almost acting as a foil to the Ganados/Majini-like J'avo. The difficulty is downright brutal at times, which doesn't include the ridiculously over-used quick-time mechanic. And each character has their own movesets and playstyles, setting them apart from the rest.

Yet there are many problems present. One is in the sheer length of the story mode, and just how inconsequential it ends up feeling. Too much crap is piled into the story and it just doesn't end up working all that well after what feels like thirty hours into the game. Most of the time, each character storyline simply meshes into the overall narrative shared between them, so it means that you're only really taking on a different perspective of the same incidents depicted in the plotline. Only Ada's campaign comes off as meaningful, because the rest are burdened by red herrings: Leon & Helena are hell-bent on killing the guy who jumpstarted the viral infection, at least in their starting location; Chris & Piers are hell-bent on capturing/killing Carla who thinks she's pulling all the strings; Jake & Sherry are just trying to get the hell out of dodge pretty much. While all of that crap is going on, Ada is unraveling every villain's plans & giving everyone cover at one point or another, effectively curbing the apocalypse just about all on her own. If any character is the real main character in this drawn out story, it is Ada, because she has the most far-reaching effects on the entire plot. Which is a neat touch considering how much of an enigma she is in the other games, but this really could have been just her game and it wouldn't have suffered for it. The other character storylines would have been better used as shorter bonus chapters, but then people would mostly have ignored them anyway.

And then those fucking quick time events come into play. And how often they do!

Do I need to haunt myself with the knowledge that these things exist in such an abundant supply in Resident Evil 6? This game contains more of them in just the tutorial than half of any of the previous games combined. And they often occur as part of what should be normal gameplay, usually as a dodge mechanic or simply because Capcom tried, and failed miserably, at cramming too many controls into the game. I'll get into that last bit later but this game is brought down by the sheer number of button prompts, big-time. The only upside at all is that they aren't buggy (at least from my experience) and they are a bit more forgivable than most. That's not much of a defense, though; this mechanic will be seen as an anachronism quite quickly, if games don't fucking drop them soon enough.

Another plague, perhaps a plantar's wart on the foot of this game if you will, is the camera. It is hands-down, the single-worst camera system in the series' history. No other game comes close. When I played the demo, I had no idea just how nauseating the camera can be. Just the act of running (a neat but long overdue gameplay mechanic) forces the camera into conniption fits, with it bouncing wildly with each stride. It gets caught in the scenery often, and the angles that it defaults to are horrendous, requiring constant readjustment from the user. Sometimes it's a battle against the camera that leads to the player getting killed, and that alone makes this a huge negative for the game.

Of additional note is both the interface and more importantly, the controls. The interface isn't entirely bad, but it requires understanding just what the fuck it all means. There are symbols for each option and while it is mostly common-sense, you're often too busy fighting against the real-time nature of the pause menu to figure out what each option does without clicking on the quit button. But what is worse yet is the control system. It's just as bloated as the storyline, if not moreso. There are so many commands to pull off in this game that I don't even think the game itself lists all of them. 

Often is the case where you have to pull of multiple combinations of each & every button, sometimes just to pull off rather arbitrary moves. Want to dodge an incoming attack? Hold the attack button and press the run button. Want to perform a dive-roll? Hold the attack button while moving forward and press the run button, too. Want to, almost pointlessly at that, switch your orientation from the default left side of the screen to the other? Well, learn yet another combination of buttons. Get used to it, and try to remember it. This is excessive and unneeded. Less is definitely more here, and I hope Capcom learned something in this regard.

In spite of these flaws, and there are certainly more, this game does have its strengths. It can be legitimately fun, there are a number of mechanics that were long overdue such as the ability to sprint and free-standing melee attacks (limited by your energy gauge), and like I mentioned, the enemies are great. And about the only good thing about Jake & Sherry's campaign is also one of the most badass things in the series; the Ustanak, who is the successor in virtually every regard to Nemesis. You may or may not come to embrace the eventual final exit of this juggernaut, which is something of an accomplishment in this bloated story. And this game does challenge you at times, legitimately outside of those dastardly quick-time events. Often it is because the game conceals easily missed but simple ways of moving the game forward, or taking down a boss, clearly because most players come to expect something much more out of these situations. And the game has a skill system that adds some depth to how you play, allowing for all sorts of combinations each time. 

The Mercenaries, as mentioned previously, makes a marvelous return. And while it may turn off some players because of its difficulty, for seasoned players such as myself it is a welcome evolution. Couple the game's new controls (which is certainly a good & very bad thing at the same time) with that which has been established in the last couple of games, and you have a clear winner. There are many stages to tackle, there are unique challenges in each, the enemy progressively gets nastier over time with each successive kill, and you get a feeling of accomplishment through it all.

And while it certainly does recycle a lot of the functional foundations of the gameplay (many animations and moves, even some sounds and mechanics, are noticeable to a seasoned player such as myself), it doesn't have a shortage of newly-created assets. If anything, the game has a lot to offer, but it all feels so fragmented so as to lose cohesion between it all. And if the storyline didn't suffer from excess and from one frustrating forced cinematic sequence after another after another after another, it wouldn't hurt so bad. I don't live in a bubble where I truly believe that this series was ever, with the exception of the original game, scary. And I don't clamor for the days where we had fixed camera angles, tank controls, and sometimes superfluous item management in the classic games. Not to say they were bad, but they were wearing thin to a point.

Here's to another title, addressing all of its legitimate issues and paying heed to none of the obsessive bullshit from bandwagon-riding detractors.

The Rundown:

Positives

+ The Mercenaries returns, delightfully.

+ Has overall the best graphics in the series yet.

+ In spite of the overlong storyline, it has its engaging parts.

+ New character Jake opens up new gameplay styles.

+ Ada's chapter shines among the mostly "meh" ventures preceding it.

+ Adds an actual sprint function, actual dodge ability, and free-standing melee (perform it at any time), among other things.

+ Almost all of the enemies are a blast to, well, blast away or boot in the face. 

+ Zombies make a return, and they're nastier than ever.

Negatives

- The story mode feels way too long for its own good, and overstays its welcome.

- In spite of Leon's short-lived atmospheric appeal, and Jake's hybrid of survival & high-octane action, Ada's campaign is the only one really worth playing.

- Complicated and overpopulated controls.

- The most quicktime events ever witnessed in a single Resident Evil title yet. Just the tutorial section had about a dozen of them, all amounting to about five minutes of gameplay!

- A few bugs affecting play, most noticeable in the Mercenaries.

- That fucking camera is about as bad as watching any Michael Bay film. In other words, it stricken with attention deficit disorder AND an extreme case of Parkinson's disease.

- Zombies all over the place, with dynamite, at every turn is more frustrating than anything else (The Mercenaries: No Mercy mode)

- No one plays the multiplayer anymore.

- Somewhat poorly conceived UI.

- Inconsequential story conclusion and a misguided primary villain.

C+