i've been playing doom since i was four years old in 1994 when my brother showed me the shareware version that came with our new computer. i've been hooked ever since.

at first, i was very cynical of this game, pre-release. why wouldn't i be? doom has had a hellish (heh) dev cycle with multiple versions canned for a variety of reasons, numerous instances of staff leaving id and overall a super bad scene from all evidence that was given. the e3 demo helped a lot to dissuade me from writing this off, but even then i felt uneasy. what if it's super rote? what if there is no soul?

i'm not sure how they did it, but id was able to bring back doom in the best way possible. this is a game that oozes confidence and knows exactly what it wants to be. it's not as groundbreaking for FPS as doom was back in 1993, but as it stands, this is my favorite FPS of 2016. now, it's important to note that this review is based entirely on the singleplayer campaign. i touched snapmap briefly and was left disappointed and the multiplayer felt very...standard and I wasen't impressed. so if you are comfortable with spending $60 on an extremely good single player campaign that lasts for around 10 hours, read on!

now, why is a remake of doom in 2016 possibly my FPS GOTY? let me count the ways:

1. the combat: while a fair chunk of the combat is regulated to closed-off arenas, the gameplay never feels anything less then super good and empowering as hell. doom approaches platinium games-level of fluidity and mobility, and the guns are super satisfying to use and have a, frankly astonishing, level of depth to them. i finished the game not even touching the rocket launcher, for example, only for a friend to tell me how much they used it and the scenarios it was super helpful in, and other friends have told me about other combat strategies they employ and each one of them is super different.

2. the personality and story: if you had told me that doom in 2016 would have lore and story that was legitmately interesting, i would have laughed in your face. but, again, i was proven wrong. while the story is nowhere near as good as something like The New Order was, it's an extremely entertaining and goofy story. i won't spoil anything, but there were moments where i caught myself laughing out loud at how bizarre, terrifying and ludicrous the UAC facility gets the deeper you go. also, the doomguy himself has an astonishing amount of personality just in the way he performs certain actions in the game. he never speaks, but we get a very clear sense of who he is and what he stands for, which is something that i never thought would be an element of a doom game.

3. the music and sound design: mick gordon returns from TNO and Killer Instinct to compose the soundtrack from doom and it is amazing. atmospheric and unsettling during quiet moments, loud and violent during not-so-quiet moments. the moment the soundtrack is released, i'll be getting it immediately. the sound design is also very well done, with super satisfying weapon discharges, grotesque demonic noises and the disturbing ambient hum of the UAC facility itself.

there is also an astonishing amount of replay value, with my 10 hour campaign not even scratching the surface of all the challenges, unlockables and secrets hidden in the game. this is absolutely a game to play through more then once!

this is a game that is worth every penny.

also, this was played on a i5 4670k with a GTX 970 4GB card and 8GB of ram and it was silky smooth on ultra settings except for the occasional hiccup every now and then from the crappy mechanical drive i had it installed on. i encountered very few issues, except for some annoying silent CTD's in Titan's Realm that I'm sure will be patched sooner rather then later.

it brings me great pleasure to tell you that doom in 2016 is extremely good.

i've been playing doom since i was four years old in 1994 when my brother showed me the shareware version that came with our new computer. i've been hooked ever since. at first, i was very cynical of this game, pre-release. why wouldn't i be? doom has had a hellish (heh) dev cycle with multiple versions canned for a variety of reasons, numerous instances of staff leaving id and overall a super bad scene from all evidence that was given. the e3 demo helped a lot to dissuade me from writing this off, but even then i felt uneasy. what if it's super rote? what if there is no soul? i'm not sure how they did it, but id was able to bring back doom in the best way possible. this is a game that oozes confidence and knows exactly what it wants to be. it's not as groundbreaking for FPS as doom was back in 1993, but as it stands, this is my favorite FPS of 2016. now, it's important to note that this review is based entirely on the singleplayer campaign. i touched snapmap briefly and was left disappointed and the multiplayer felt very...standard and I wasen't impressed. so if you are comfortable with spending $60 on an extremely good single player campaign that lasts for around 10 hours, read on! now, why is a remake of doom in 2016 possibly my FPS GOTY? let me count the ways: 1. the combat: while a fair chunk of the combat is regulated to closed-off arenas, the gameplay never feels anything less then super good and empowering as hell. doom approaches platinium games-level of fluidity and mobility, and the guns are super satisfying to use and have a, frankly astonishing, level of depth to them. i finished the game not even touching the rocket launcher, for example, only for a friend to tell me how much they used it and the scenarios it was super helpful in, and other friends have told me about other combat strategies they employ and each one of them is super different. 2. the personality and story: if you had told me that doom in 2016 would have lore and story that was legitmately interesting, i would have laughed in your face. but, again, i was proven wrong. while the story is nowhere near as good as something like The New Order was, it's an extremely entertaining and goofy story. i won't spoil anything, but there were moments where i caught myself laughing out loud at how bizarre, terrifying and ludicrous the UAC facility gets the deeper you go. also, the doomguy himself has an astonishing amount of personality just in the way he performs certain actions in the game. he never speaks, but we get a very clear sense of who he is and what he stands for, which is something that i never thought would be an element of a doom game. 3. the music and sound design: mick gordon returns from TNO and Killer Instinct to compose the soundtrack from doom and it is amazing. atmospheric and unsettling during quiet moments, loud and violent during not-so-quiet moments. the moment the soundtrack is released, i'll be getting it immediately. the sound design is also very well done, with super satisfying weapon discharges, grotesque demonic noises and the disturbing ambient hum of the UAC facility itself. there is also an astonishing amount of replay value, with my 10 hour campaign not even scratching the surface of all the challenges, unlockables and secrets hidden in the game. this is absolutely a game to play through more then once! this is a game that is worth every penny. also, this was played on a i5 4670k with a GTX 970 4GB card and 8GB of ram and it was silky smooth on ultra settings except for the occasional hiccup every now and then from the crappy mechanical drive i had it installed on. i encountered very few issues, except for some annoying silent CTD's in Titan's Realm that I'm sure will be patched sooner rather then later. it brings me great pleasure to tell you that doom in 2016 is extremely good.