OXM Demo: Doom 3

[YoshiM]

All I gotta say is: wow! The Doom 3 demo is totally killer. Great graphics, awesome lighting and the control is pretty dang tight. My biggest beef is the flashlight on the PC version. On Xbox, just tap the white button to whip the flashlight out and tap it again to pull the last weapon you were using. As for atmosphere: turn the lights off and you get it in spades. I was very surprised on how good of a port this is. If you don't subscribe and are on the fence on Doom 3, get the magazine NOW! Oh, and you can also play multiplayer on Live as well with the demo. Id has been very kind....

Also on the disc (but I haven't played yet): Psychonaughts, Pariah and another game that escapes my memory (disc is put away downstairs, otherwise I'd look).

Excellent demo disc this month.

[GrayFox]

You know, for the PC version, you just tap F for the flashlight, then tap F again for your last gun.

Not that much different from tapping a white button ya know :)

[Jasoco]

Demo? Buy the real thing.

[Joelius]

Pay the money for the full version. More than well worth it.

[Jasoco]

BTW, how much does the Demo cover? Like how many levels? It would need to cover a good portion of the actual attack to make people want the game as the first couple levels are slow and no enemies. Just preparing.

[XxMe2NiKxX]

The game gets much faster once you reach Monorail, and it really starts to get hard around the level titled Hell. I just cleaned off the expansion pack for Doom 3. It's gur-reat.

[YoshiM]

You know, for the PC version, you just tap F for the flashlight, then tap F again for your last gun.

Not that much different from tapping a white button ya know :)

Actually, when you are used to using arrow keys for moving/strafing and not WASD, it's very different :P


BTW, how much does the Demo cover? Like how many levels? It would need to cover a good portion of the actual attack to make people want the game as the first couple levels are slow and no enemies. Just preparing.

Sorry my description was short and that it probably read like an excited teenager wrote it. I was on my way to the shower and bed after playing the demo and just wanted to post about the disc while I was still thinking about it (after doing all my computer-related chores like balance the checkbook and pay bills).


I've never played the actual game, just the PC Demo to see if my rig can handle it, but I'm assuming it all takes place in the very beginning of the game. The demo starts out explaining the plot and you get deposited right at the security station where you pick up your armor, pistol and flashlight. You meander your way through some rooms (not sure what they are called, one had a couple guys working on some power problem and they were bickering. I think the first PDA file is found here along with a med kit in a secured locker). You have to make your way to the communications section via an elevator to the garage level. However, the elevator will take you directly to the communications room (instead of the garage where you have to exit to walk on the surface of Mars to get to another complex) where "all Hell breaks loose".

After the demons are released, you have fight your way back. The demo takes you past the security checkpoint and continues until you reach another elevator where the panel states "Exit Xbox Demo".

It took me maybe, oh, thirty minutes to get through on normal. I think it was just a taste of what the full game offers. You get opportunities to have to switch between weapon and flashlight (which gets pretty harrowing), to battle hellknights (I think that's what they are called: demons you lob fireballs at you with lovely smoke trails), to trying out a few weapons (pistol, shotgun, machine gun) and seeing how the PDA system works (which also ties into your Live account should you have one. When you activate the PDA it lists your gamertag as the ID)

Graphically the demo is stunning, which I'm sure the actual game is as well. Some non-interactive control panels look a bit washed out close up but otherwise everything looks about as good a Riddick was but with the awesome lighting and shadow effects. No slowdown, no stuttering. Control, as I said last night, is tight. I'm not sure if it's a setting but it would have been nice if the D pad could be used to cycle through weapons rather than having it mapped to certain guns (up is pistol, left is etc., so on).

I didn't explore the multiplayer mode too much but I'm assuming only one map is available. It's freakin' huge, especially if you only found one person to play against. Here you get a large arsenal to play with: pistol, machine gun, chain gun, chainsaw, grenades and rocket launcher. The rocket launcher is definitely not the big "blow'em all to hell" weapon as it was in the original games. It seems to be more of a precision weapon and doesn't seem to have that big of an explosion radius. On the map there was a "power up station" where it will create a glowing orb that jacks your life up to 200. When I found my target it was pretty furious. Only downside in the demo is that the game seems very touchy with network connections. My target, who was also hosting, would sometimes "warp" a few steps every so often and the game would have a short hitch every once in a while. Not sure if that's the same in the real game.

Hopefully tonight I'll get a chance to play Psychonauts and I'll pass on my impressions later.

[Neil Koch]

to battle hellknights (I think that's what they are called: demons you lob fireballs at you with lovely smoke trails),

Those are Imps (the new version of the green guy in the original Doom).

It sounds like the demo is just the first level -- the game get better as you go on. And I noticed the touchiness of the Live multiplayer as well -- some games have been really smooth, while others I've had to disconnected because the lag was so bad.

[Jasoco]

The Imps are the plentiful ones you see first. (After the zombie people of course.)

Hell Knights aren't encountered until before you enter Hell. They be big guys who shoot plasma at you. Blue plasma I believe. Maybe green. Maybe both. One could be a Knight. One's a Baron. I dunno..