Doom Eternal Game Review

By: Justin Hopkins

This is a game I have been waiting for for quite some time. Deeply saddened by the short delay after it was supposed to drop in November. Desperately needing to remove the stench that was Doom: Annihilation. Doom has a long history of just great, adrenaline rushing fun times, and was excited to know end for this to finally drop, and now that I have played through. Lets jump into the world of the Doom Slayer and discuss shall we.

The game starts out with voices screaming and Earth turning red from the Demonic invasion, and Doom Guy in the Fortress of Doom. With him on a mission to target the Hell Priests running the Invasion along with Sentinel Leader, Khan Maykr. Along the way we find out more about who the Doom Slayer is and how he got his amazing abilities and that his fight with the Demons have been raging for quite some time. I was worried about how they would work him into the cut scenes. As a silent character, how would he act along other people and loved the results and did so without diminishing what makes him a hardcore, demon killing hoss that we all know and love.

The aesthetics and sceneries were gorgeous.  Loved the fact that the places always felt different depending on where you were.  Loved the horrific, hellscapes of Earth. Especially the lava flow and the Tyrants and Sentinels in the background. They levels where you are inside the dead monster was gorgeous. The hardcore soundtrack and violent green flashes and ground shaking on the base of the BFG-10000 and the prestigious feeling that Taras Nabod.  Which really made a difference being that I spent a lot of time fleeing for my life in nearly all of the levels. Fact they felt different kept from getting stale to quick.

Now on to what brought me along for the ride. What Doom does best. Bring us some awesome demons and massive selection of weaponry at hand to kill them with, and they sure threw everything they had at this. At nearly every moment you are being swarmed by Imps and Gargoyles and Hell Knights and many, many others and it was fun and frustrating and an absolute blast. Loved the fact that they really ramped up the difficulty and added a bit of tactics to some, such as the Revenant, Mancubus, and Cacodemon and Arachnotron. Makes you really have to prioritize and think about how you are going to take down the swarm. Luckily, you get a ton of weapons and gadgets. Most of which I continued to forget about till I pushed the button by mistake, and all hail the mighty chaingun. Which bailed me out of nearly every bind, when I lacked the BFG ammo. Which between that and the sword,  I can’t remember the name of at the moment, because never seemed to be able to use it, outside of the big boss fights anyway. Wouldn’t be a bad thing, but with them sort of encouraging going back at playing old levels. Should have ammo be a little more readily available for the big guns once you beat the game.

Now as much fun as the gameplay was. It was fast paced and the jungle gyms you use to evade were excellent and fact it all felt smooth. The platforming at times made me want to curl up into a ball and begin to cry. I get they really wanted to use the double jumps and dashes, but some of them were worse than the boss fights. The fun mechanics to use during battles, but some of the leaps toward the end were pushing him to his limits and just beyond my patience.

While that is a minor gripe, this one bothers me much, much more, and that is in the form of the Marauder. I actually, love the Marauder. He had a great entrance. Calling the Slayer a fake and that he sees his lies. True challenging adversary that took timing and felt satisfying when you beat him, the first time. Around the eighth time though, was nothing more than an eye roll, and that is a real shame. Know the Marauder is kind of a unit according to the lore, but by using him more than once, did such an injustice to one of the best intros in the game’s history. To a point, the Doom Hunter kind of had the same issue, but not quite on poor Marauder’s level. Plus, small nitpick, The Summoner was much better than Archvile.

Since I don’t really do online gaming I can’t speak on Battlemode, and will go right into the wrap up. I love this game. Doom has always been a sheer thrill ride of a series, and Eternal is just another excellent, blood soaked, gory, hellacious entry. If you haven’t checked it out. Would strongly suggest giving it a play through. It’s the perfect way to kick back, and relieve some stress by unleash hell on countless demons. Final grade: A

I hope you enjoyed my kind of rambling thoughts, and as alway…

Thank you for reading and..

All Hail The Doom Slayer.