Doom Eternal leagues ahead of the competition
2016’S Doom was a lovingly crafted tribute and reboot of the beloved Doom franchise, but 2020’s Doom Eternal is a masterful reimagining of the Doom universe, forging an entirely new and exciting experience while still retaining the unmistakable charm and attraction of the venerable series.
One thing that Doom excels at is consistently bringing you to the very brink of death and back again, something that happens with such absurd regularity throughout the fifteen grueling hours of Doom Eternal’s single player mode that you may begin to wonder if the developers possess some sort of supernatural prescience or clairvoyance that we don’t know about.
It would certainly go a long way towards explaining why this game is, mechanically, leagues ahead of any first person shooter on the market.
This consistency presents itself in virtually every facet of Doom Eternal. The breathtaking visuals, the mind-bending soundtrack, even the story is told with a grace that makes you wonder if the game will ever miss a step. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t.
Upgrade mechanics take a much more pronounced position in Doom Eternal. Collectible Runes grant passive bonuses and Sentinel Crystals give new abilities, while Praetor Suit tokens allow you to choose from over a dozen skills to augment.
The expansive suite of upgrade options seem chaotic at first, but like everything in Doom Eternal, muscle memory will eventually take over and you will be upgrading with the same cold swiftness that you employ to down your foes.
Battles in Doom are truly a sight to behold. Whether you are going down the controller or mouse and keyboard route, you will be astounded at how quickly this game will hone your accuracy. New and improved platforming mechanics mean that every fight truly takes place in all three dimensions. Your arsenal of weapons and traversal mechanics will be utterly exhausted by the time you reach the final encounter.
Just like its predecessor, once you peel away the many, many levels of gore and bloodshed, there is actually a respectable plot underneath.
Doom Eternal’s story is surprisingly fleshed out, though much of it is ‘ hidden’ in text logs and collectibles, which is a tad disappointing, if not unexpected.
Overall, Doom Eternal is a masterpiece of game design and well worth your consideration.