/VERDICT
A solid sequel to
the 2016 reboot,
Doom Eternal
ups the scale
and intensity, but
sacrifices pacing in
theprocess.OVERALL SCORE
80 %%
Forstarters,younowhavea shoulder-attached
flamethrowerthatignitesenemies,causingthemtodrop
armourwhenkilled.A secondshoulderattachmentis the
grenadelauncher,whichcanfirestandardfragmentation
grenades,oricegrenadesthatfreezeenemiesin place.
Alongsidethesenewabilities,mostenemiesalsohave
specificweaknesses.Forexample,youcantargetthe
Revenant’srocketlaunchersanddisablethem,forcingthemto
usemeleeattacks.Weaknessescanalsobespecifictocertain
weaponsorabilities.Firinga grenadeintoa cacodemon’s
mouthwillinstantlystaggerit, openingit upfora glory-kill.
Otherenemies,suchasthemancubus,arevulnerabletothe
BloodPunch,a new,superpoweredmeleeattackthatcan
staggereventhemostpowerfuldemon,aswellasstripping
amancubus of its armour.
Your range of abilities is much broader than those of Doom,
but they’re also more tightly regulated. You can only carry a
small amount of ammo for each weapon, so you need to think
carefully about which weapons suit which opponent and be
prepared to switch between them regularly.
Eternal also doubles down on mobility, adding a new
dodge mechanic that lets you quickly sidestep an encroaching
demon’s attack. Meanwhile, the Super Shotgun’s new ‘meat
hook’ lets you use enemies as grappling points, which can
be supremely powerful once you get the hang of it. And it’s
important that you do get the hang of it, because in full flow,
Eternal’s combat is ferocious. The game has roughly twice the
number of enemy types as 2016’s Doom, including a whole
new class of Super Heavy Demons, such as the robotic Doom
Hunter and the enormous Titan.
Often, you’ll be fighting several of these heavy enemies
at once, alongside a half-dozen smaller enemies that you
basically use as power-ups. It’s also stupendously violent. Not
only are the glory kills made messier due to the introduction of
the Slayer’s retractable arm blade, but demons now gradually
disintegrate while you shoot them, their skeletons and/or
robotic innards becoming exposed with every blast.
At its height, Doom’s combat is unprecedented in its
spectacle and intensity, but this comes at a cost. There are many
cogs in Doom’s infernal machine, and a couple of them do more
to hinder its operation than facilitate it. Chief among them are
enemies such as the Whiplash and the Marauder. The former
has an attack that interrupts your movement and makes you
very vulnerable, while the latter has to be killed in a specific way
that feels antithetical to the rest of the game’s design.
The new approach to level design also brings new problems.
The levels are much larger than before, with a new emphasis
on verticality that brings extensive platforming sections with
it. There are some wonderful highlights, such as trudging
through the fleshy pink maze of the Super Gore Nest, or leaping
between chunks of planet as you attempt to descend to the
surface of a semi-destroyed Mars. But for the most part, the
platforming feels arbitrary, bringing little to the table other than
the opportunity for sudden, cheap deaths.
The first-person platforming feels out of place in a Doom
game, and it isn’t alone. Some sections see you forced to
traverse through purple slime that slows your movement and
prevents you from jumping, which again makes little sense in a
game fundamentally about moving and jumping. What’s more,
the late game randomly introduces underwater swimming
puzzles, which add little other than bad memories of being
stuck in Tomb Raider games.
In the end, Doom Eternal suffers from a problem common
in AAA games – being overdesigned. It’s frequently a fantastic
game, but there’s a few too many moments where you get
stuck on a tricky jumping bit, sideswiped by a cut-scene or
wherethecomplexcombatengine stumbles over itself, for it
tobe considered a true great.
RICK LANE