Watch our review of Doom Eternal – we’ll share everything you need to know before you play!
Transcript
Hello and welcome to our review of Doom Eternal. We’ll give you the lowdown on everything you need to know before you play but before we do, make sure to hit the subscribe button and notification bell to make sure you don’t miss a single video.
Doom 2016 remains one of my most replayed games to date, perfecting fluid, almost dance-like gameplay that works so well in creating a brutal yet graceful adventure. It’s violent, it’s over the top and if you distilled every heavy metal album into a video game, this is what you’d end up with.
That’s why hype for its sequel – Doom Eternal, has been downright hellacious. Haha hellacious, geddit!? Coz they’re from hell, ah you gotta laugh.
In Eternal, the legions of Hell have reached Earth using portals called Slipgates, reeking havoc on humanity’s home turf. As the Doom Slayer, it’s your job to mow your way through these hordes and save the day once again.
But does it live up to its predecessor, or did it disappoint more than the year 2020? Watch on to find out…
Starting with the gameplay, I’m happy to report that everything is still super frenetic, visceral and fun. This isn’t a game for camping or tactical stealth, rather blasting through swarms of enemies in close quarters. But that’s not to say there isn’t an element of tactics with Doom Eternal, in fact probably more so that what I remember from Doom 2016. Different enemies have unique weak spots for you to exploit, meaning you need to have pinpoint precision to take down the nastiest of the beasties. But who said taking down Satan’s spawn would be easy?
This combat is once again complimented perfectly by a brilliant musical score by composer Mick Gordon. Featuring crushing riffs and death metal choir vocals, all fused with electronic elements, it all mirrors the techno gore taking place on screen.
If all this wasn’t enough to whet your appetite, Doom Eternal also throws in new weapon customisation and upgrades, adding a RPG element to the overall experience. You also get a bunch of extra missions, like collecting toys, cheats and codex, making for plenty of replayability and many surprisingly funny moments.
With that being said, while it does have many of the same selling points as Doom 2016, it also shares some of the same criticisms. It does have a plot, and a good one at that, however it’s hidden away in page after page of written journal logs and menu lore dumps. I struggled having to pause to catch up the details of the world around me, and in a game as kinetic as Doom, it really does halt your momentum and I found myself not bothering to check after a while.
But honestly this is a minor gripe, as I doubt many people play Doom for the plot, but rather treat every story development as an excuse to move from area to area, finding new swarms of monsters to gun down. And to you sadistic bunch, we salute you.
To wrap up, Doom Eternal takes everything that made what came before so good, including the original 90s games, and builds upon it to make for the most refined, and in my opinion best game in the franchise to date. It balances mindless power fantasy with satisfying, rewarding gameplay in a way that no other game does, and I would urge anyone with even a passing interest in FPS games to give it a go.
And with everyone stuck inside for the foreseeable future, there’s never been a better time to sink your teeth into Doom Eternal. But in all seriousness, stay safe out there everyone, look after yourself and those around you and if you liked this video, make sure to subscribe for more video game content coming very soon.
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