My Love/Hate Game - Doom 3 Review

Doom 3 has long been a game that I've wanted to fall in love with. It has an amazing atmosphere, beautiful visuals, and a darker tone that I kind of enjoy. However something has always held this game back for me, and for the longest time I've never been able to put my finger on what. Today, I'm finally sitting down and diving into what may be Id's most polarizing game. Come join me for my Doom 3 Review
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/ bunkerdweller
00:00 - Intro
02:40 - Setup + BFG Edition
08:08 - Premise and Opening Levels
11:56 - Beautiful Dark Shadows
17:40 - Point and shoot
26:22 - Cramped Corridors
34:52 - It's Literally Half Life
38:58 - A Multiverse Plot
1:00:09 - More to Horror than Monster Closets
1:08:40 - End of an Era
1:12:09 - My love/hate game

[@BunkerDweller]

Sorry this took so long to finish up. I just had a lot of stuff going on, but I'm happy to finally get this video out there. I may cover Doom 2016 soon, but it probably won't be my next immediate video after this. But yeah, I'm curious to see what the reaction will be. I know Doom 3 still has it's defenders but I'd like to hear what they think. Also pro-tip for the video, I always render in 1440p because for some reason, KZbin renders it a lot better at that resolution even if your monitor doesn't support that. For games with a lot of darkness that KZbin compression usually hates, I highly recommend setting the video to that resolution if your internet can handle it.

[@nxmx6ix]

That comparison of Doom 3 and Crysis was very clever. Great video!

[@billybobbob3003]

lol doom2016 and rage are idsoftwares graves. the company went to hell after bethesda purchased them. no more mod tools no true pc games anymore. doom3 was the last true idsoftware game.

[@onojioboardwalk9748]

.. Your needlessly hard on this game as much as DOOM 3's mindless detractors were - Who usually just ran off and played something awful like 'Metro.' +

[@Abszilla51]

You know what... I LIKE THE DOOM 3 SHOTGUN. I LIKE THE FLASHLIGHT. I'm TIRED of pretending that I'M NOT A FREAK.

[@nxmx6ix]

Ok

[@Abszilla51]

@@nxmx6ix No. Not "ok". I don't think you heard me. I SAID I THINK THE FLASHLIGHT IMPROVES THE MECHANICAL DEPTH OF THE GAMEPLAY.

[@nxmx6ix]

@@Abszilla51 Oh, I see it now. I agree. I kinda like it too.

[@Abszilla51]

@@nxmx6ix I'm glad we could sort that out like gentlemen.

[@Mixxo6]

@@Abszilla51SAME! I LIKE THAT THE SHOTGUN ISN’T THAT STRONG! IT MAKES ME FEEL HOPELESS!

[@loke801]

The Shotgun wouldnt be so bad if the pellet spread didnt mean theres a 50/50 chance for an actual one hit kill on an imp or taking unneeded damage.

[@pRopaaNS]

The shotgun is a great melee weapon!

[@SuperFriendBFG]

This is why I modify the shotgun. You can find guides online on how to tweak the game's weapons, and from that you can find where to tweak the Shotgun. In my games I reduce the spread by about 20% at most, then I make it so that it reloads 1 shell at a time, and does slightly less damage per pellet as compensation. It's a bit stronger modified this way, but that's kind of the point. You can get screwed by the longer reload if you're not careful though.

[@1thevm1]

Just like in good old times! My theory is that they couldn't figure out how to reimplement shotgun RNG we all know and love without damage ranges, so they just turned it into a pellet spread RNG instead. As a side effect, you now have to give everyone a hug if you want to shotgun them.

[@Hylonomus]

Git gud. Seriously, every complaint against the D3 shotgun is just people not understanding basic game mechanics. Shoot the wall, you can see the spread the buckshot leaves. It's a wide spread, the game is very close quarters..fucking play the game with the tools they give you and you'll actually enjoy it.

[@1thevm1]

@@Hylonomus You know, D3 shotgun is kinda cursed no matter how you slice it. You'll always have at least one instance of "kill confirm" moment as I call it, where the enemy is 1 pistol shot away from death. Then you think, okay, I'll just tighten the spread to 5 or something. And it STILL happens. You think okay, this time I'll buff the pellet damage and add a few more pellets. Guess what? Still happens. Even double barrel is not safe from it.

[@sekiko7183]

Seems unfair for Doom 3 to go against Halo 2 on the Xbox in 2004. Brutal.

[@loke801]

Not only that, but it had to go against Half Life 2 on the PC just a few months later.

[@rebelliouswitch1991]

Got to play both! And they're both my favorites in their respective series.

[@iansanchez331]

And GTA San Andreas. Not in the same genre but definitely ate up a lot of sales and would-be customers gaming time

[@waltermisery451]

Grown up barley touching Halo. The BFG Edition was my first go into the franchise I wanted so badly to play the vanilla Doom 3 to experience the flashlight. (Until I honourably bought it from steam) One of my favourite games of all time and one of the best game engines ever!

[@Snufflegrunt]

lol Halo was nothing to anyone with a decent PC at the time. Good for social gaming but that’s it.

[@mastuhyeet6422]

I wonder if id will ever go back to this horror fps style in the future with a new ip. That would be really cool.

[@user-zy6mj2hd6m]

Just not a main line doom game maby a spin off like a reguler uac marine during DOOM 2 hell on earth invashion while doom guy is takeing it head on the uac marine is stuck behinde the lines of hell and is fighting a battle he or she can't win so it ends with them dead

[@BasilOreganoo]

I really appreciate what you said about the opening hour of Doom 3. I would spend ages exploring the Mars City level, soaking in the atmosphere and talking to NPCs before everything went to hell. Also the shotgun is one of the weakest sounding in gaming.

[@ReachTea]

The camera movement makes this game satisfying to watch

[@TheTrueRandomGamer]

What about a hate hate game like Halo 5?

[@koyjosh94]

Halo 5s story was ass but I personally like it's multi-player (Not warzone)

[@ReachTea]

Man, the Xbox One was the reason I went to PC and never played Halo 5, I see people begging for it on PC, but that game deserves to die on the xbone with those loot boxes and atrocious art style

[@bosyogurtlight]

​@@ReachTea it would have the same destiny as gears 5 on PC: 300 active players

[@nagger8216]

A horse that's been beaten to death.

[@loltheno]

Been watching your stuff for a short while, mostly the Halo vids and whatnot. As a long-time D3 cult member I have to say you've made an excellent overview of it, even if I may disagree with how you word some things. Here's my wall of text talking abt. things you bring up: -I'm just going to go on a whim and say that most diehard fans of the game are either people who played it when it was fresh and found it more impressive than Far Cry or HL2, or newfangled Doom fans who played D3 to get a taste of it, only to grow attached to its peculiarities. Definitely has a weird fanbase, but I feel like the guys comparing it to 2016 & Eternal only do so out of spite -CSTDoom3 is the end all be all enhancement mod. Kind of wish modders stopped releasing so many overhaul mods for the game and just made stuff like custom maps. It's one of the big reasons why D3 fell off in relevance: it didn't have a big modding scene, and what it DID have ended up being lost to time (eg. Doom3World, a mod forum that died shortly after BFG Edition's release). Almost every big mod that was being developed in the 2000s switched to Quake 4 and died thereafter, or slowly faded away with no sign of a demo or release build. -Speaking of BFG Edition, it brought over some weird shader features from idTech5, a version DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSITE to 4, as it dumbed down the lighting engine in exchange for better megatextures. The brighter, contrast-ier lighting can be reproduced in the 2004 version by changing the mat_lightscale value, a setting that the game purposefully omitted from its options menu -The existence of the handheld flashlight mostly stemmed from performance concerns, as the engine has to draw and calculate 50% more stuff when the flashlight is pulled out. Strangely enough, the Xbox port of Resurrection of Evil would remove the flashlight and add a smaller one to the pistol as its replacement. I think id should've gone full-in on the tacticool stuff and made the flashlight gun-mounted on most weapons, maybe with the drawback of reloading taking the flashlight away from the crosshair. -Rage was a byproduct of Carmack wanting to focus on consoles by making Rage an ambitious, yet very RAM-efficient game. Studios couldn't work out idTech 4's kinks so the focus was shifted drastically. That, and the game's original publisher being EA, since at that point id had split ties with Activision. The Zenimax buyout meant that Rage wouldn't release for another entire year, since Bethesda wanted to meddle with the game a bit more. -It's worth noting that BFG Edition originally served as a warmup for the then-upcoming Doom 4, which by that point had just been put in limbo after multiple development setbacks. There were also plans to make it one of the first ever VR games, but Zenimax didn't care about the then-new Oculus Rift, so Carmack quit and all the VR technology was left unused for modders to then implement into fanmade conversions like Fully Possessed. -One of the biggest dilemmas I have about D3's campaign is its balance between horror and action. I personally view Recycling as the ideal of the former and CPU Labs as the example of the latter. After a certain point the game stops giving you enough enemies to fight, and it feels painfully boring watching the game send you the same Imp ambushes even with you being strapped head to toe with guns and ammo. Then the horror takes a backseat once you finish Hell and everything just derails from there. I still like some of the levels, but they're clearly less thought-out and polished. -Doom 3's art director, funnily enough, was the same person who 343i would later hire to redesign the Halo franchise for Halo 4. You can see a lot of the greebly, obtuse details set in to an otherwise nice artstyle, biggest example being the demon designs. Thankfully the game's engine is actually designed to accentuate those elements, and it makes for a good fit. -The flaws present in the combat are exasperated by the enemy placement. 99% of the time you enter a dark area, some ambient enemies are there, then the real enemies spawn, and then simultaneously a few more are placed in the room before you for the purposes of ambushing. Combine that with no Y axis, small rooms & square corridors, and it makes for a mediocre experience. It's one of the few times where I feel like the term "push-forward combat" can be used to describe what Doom 3 is SEVERELY LACKING in. -You can clearly see id ignoring the stamina mechanic or lessening its impact via stuff like adrenaline pickups and the Hell level. The gauge itself is already super-long, so all it means is that strafing is very weak and you have to bhop to get any sort of good acceleration. Wouldn't have minded a few more shots placed before arenas, even if it might be a bit cliche. -D3 in particular would add a new "feature" to reloading, which is forcing the player to complete a weapon's reload animation before holstering it. Kind of feels like an oversight seeing as auto-reload wasn't the norm at the time, but it's a mechanic that adds more tension to a firefight. -You're spot-on when it comes to levels not giving the enemies enough breathing room. Did you know that Imps can do their lunge attacks while in combat to close distance? Or that Archviles have a ground-emerging flame attack very similar to the one in Doom 2? Or that Chaingunners can sprint across distances to reposition themselves? Not even custom maps tend to do the enemy roster justice. -I always thought that, with id's past disregard for plot and the hiring of some well-acclaimed, albeit random sci-fi writer, the martian mural was simply a reference. It's something that is truly never expanded upon. However, new id have left hints of D3's universe perhaps being of some importance to the current timeline, or perhaps even coexisting, just like classic and modern Doom's universes do in the current lore. If there's ever a continuation to Eternal/TAG's storyline I wouldn't be surprised to find more D3 breadcrumbs in it. -Samuel Hayden, then known as General Hayden, was meant to be the original villain in Doom 3's plot. The leaked 2002 E3 demo build shows this clearly, with Betruger taking on a secondary, more hidden role to Hayden's seriousness as he chats with him over intercoms. Of course, Betruger would've been revealed as the main enemy over the course of the story, but Hayden was still going to be an important character. IIRC Hayden even appears in the semi-canon D3 novels -Soyjak Betruger? Soyjak Betruger. -D3 having to compete with the biggest motherload of shooters since the mid-90s certainly didn't do it any favors. It was a 2002/2003 game that had to release in 2004 due to severe understaffing from id's part and an engine that needed a LOT of time sank into it. Even the janky, broken, unfinished alpha build had basically every graphical feature the final game would offer, barring specular maps. Doom 3 arguably being released past its prime and in an industry uncaring about its faculties is its most souring trait. ... I salute anyone who actually read all this.👋

[@StupidJellyfish]

One thing you didn't bring up is how you never, EVER run out of armor in this game. You will never know what it is like to not have armor and be starving for it. That makes my head spin because... WHY HAVE ARMOR IN YOUR GAME?!

[@user-zy6mj2hd6m]

Like the armor dose any thing in doom 3

[@kvltizt]

armor will lose like 15 points and health will lose 90 lol makes no sense

[@ajaykumarsingh702]

​@@kvltizt It does make sense because Armor is there to majorly protect from kinetic strikes of bullets. How does any armor is suppose to protect you from an imp in the game that tears you apart in close combat ?

[@keganmemestar4465]

How did they mess up armor so badly? In most games, made before and after Doom 3, armor acts as an extension as your health, or reduces the amount of health lost. In both cases, your armor level decreases much faster than your health to balance out its benefits. Doom 3 might be the only game I’ve played where health decreases faster than armor. This essentially makes armor useless because it would be the same as not having it at all. I wonder if a programmer at Id accidentally switched the values for health and armor and nobody ever noticed.

[@richardbohacik2685]

I have also mild feeling toward Doom 3, but it had its moments. To this day, I remember the unsettling feelings I had when using teleports, I can totally understand why test subjects were freaked out by it. And also when Soulcube was charged and whispered “Use us”, it sent shivers down my spine. It had its moments :) Nice video!

[@monolith4653]

Good thing I saw this before I decided to play Doom 3 in my steam, I have both versions and I would have played bfg if I didn't check out this video first. Thanks man!

[@bulwarkz4868]

Eternal turned doomguy into a demi-god of sorts. like hes got inhuman speed, endurance, strength, a whole suit from another world. Doom 3 is just a human surviving.

[@gamingjunkie707]

Actually it's Doomslayer not the Doomguy anymore.

[@JohnDoe-ip3oq]

Doom 3 isn't better, but it's good. You DON'T play it how you want, you play it how IT wants. I'd add some graphics mods though. The shotgun sucks, but you must understand it's meant to be used point blank like a Melee weapon. But you can mod that, mod the keycodes, mod headshots, mod sound effects, mod reloading and mag size, mod the disappearing bodies, etc. set it how you like. Just don't abuse duct tape, the game literally is not meant to have duct tape, that's the bfg edition, so use sparingly. Also quake 4 is garbage, play prey instead, and the total conversion mods are a masterpiece.

[@ClarkKentai]

The best part of Doom 3 is that it ships with the same editor that was used to build the game. I always thought it deserved a way bigger modding scene, especially now that the engine itself is open-source.

[@NanoScream]

Is it my headphones or did you start sounding different around the 26 minute mark? lol

[@Phantom_Aspekt]

The biggest thing holding it back was the lighting, Bungie scrapped this style of lighting during Halo 2's development (Halo stencil engine) because it limited the level design far too much for the game to be fun long term. At the time hardware just wasn't up to having large open environments with dynamic shadows and lighting everywhere. This is why you never see any large open complex areas in Doom 3, it's always a series of rooms with a few lights sprinkled in here and there. I never liked the way Doom 3 looked tbh, it could have looked amazing but the way the texture shading is done makes everything look like clay, even the things that are supposed to be metal. There's just no shine to it.

[@Eksevis]

One of those people that 'praises' DOOM 3. I think it's a good game, but very dated. it's far from perfect, but there's really nothing like it, for better or for worse. Honestly, think you should've at least brought up Quake IV. I don't think one or the either would've existed without the other... and it's boring as fuck, so I can understand if you didn't or won't want to play or talk about it.

[@Romanian901]

despite the cod energy of quake 4 i still think it's an improvement over doom 3 and i regularly go back to replay the singleplayer

[@TaiidanOnslaught]

I don’t know what it is, but I really liked Doom 3. I’ve played it from start to finish a couple times.

[@TotallyBossDetective]

I've always seen DOOM3 as one of those 'love it or hate it.' Games.

[@evil1143]

It's no coincidence that when you started playing quake again you moved slowly but surely onto doom.

[@TGOwl]

This video has been the same stance I've had on the game ever since I got to play it, and under the same circumstance too since I went in with an open mind. Word for word. Would've loved to hear you talk about the dreadful shotgun but eh, the important points came across. Love your vids btw!

[@Snufflegrunt]

The key to understanding and possibly even enjoying Doom 3 is to know (and appreciate) that it was attempting to recreate the feeling of playing Doom 1993 at release. Doom 1993 was all about lighting, atmosphere and technology. It was genuinely scary at the time, when “gaming” to most people meant Mario and stuff like that. Doom 3 was also a way for id to implement elements of the original games that got thrown out, such as the interactive computer panels. The “rip n tear” fast-paced stuff is a relatively modern interpretation of Doom 1993 that only really emerged after people got used to the levels, and some of Doom II’s design leant more (but not entirely) in that direction. Doom II introduced the concept of those kinds of levels at least that we now see making up the entirety of nu Doom. 90s modders ran with it, which is why the “slaughtermap” became a thing. Oh, and regarding the engine/BFG Edition, the BFG Edition uses some parts of the id Tech 5 engine to ensure that it was optimised for consoles and could make use of multicore CPUs. id Tech 4 was originally not really made with consoles in mind at all. The BFG engine is essentially id Tech 4 in a 5 wrapper. BFG is also pretty much unfinished, which is why it’s crap - it was going to be yet another John Carmack tech demo concerning VR and also the 3D displays that were semi-popular at the time. It got… repurposed after Bethesda told Carmack that they didn’t care about VR, so he quit for a company where he could research VR technology. At release, I think BFG Edition was almost obviously also a way for Bethesda to gauge interest in the Doom IP, which was frankly limited. The faster nature of The Lost Mission expansion in BFG Edition I think was a bit of an experiment too, and when it wasn’t received well is when Doom 4 / the original internal version of what became Doom 2016 got cancelled.

[@AlphaZeroX96]

I hate it when people blame consoles for devs downgrading PC games. It's really unfair. The extra ammo wasn't added because of consoles. It was added to make the game more like Doom. However, id didn't balance the game around that change properly. Doom 64 is the real Doom 3. People tend to forget that fact sadly. Doom 3 is a tech demo. It's made with the tech, graphics, and lighting in mind with gameplay and level design almost being an afterthought which is a real shame. Graphics shouldn't matter. Also, Doom games aren't and shouldn't be about story, dude. You can play video games however you want. You don't have to play as the devs intended. You shouldn't restrict yourself. If you want to play the base game with the combat/double-barreled shotgun from RoE, go for it! If you want to play with a shoulder mounted flashlight, do it.

[@Kenshiro3rd]

My stance on D3 is similar to yours. I LOVED the more grounded dark & gritty setting, world building, & horror focus. The atmosphere of cosmic horror it created was just **chef's kiss**. I even learned to appreciate the damned flashlight, and the way it ratcheted up the tension by forcing you to choose between being able to defend yourself, or being able to see. That said I actually preferred the Xbox Port of Resurrection of Evil's solution. It gave you a pistol with a flashlight on it. So you had the choice between your pea shooter, or seeing. My problem with D3 however has always been that I just never could stand the gameplay. It was slow, extremely repetitive, overly simplistic, and unsatisfying to boot. The gunplay in this entry was just godawful. What's more, mechanically speaking, the game offered NOTHING else to make up for this deficiency in terms of gameplay. Hence my calling it overly simplistic. As a result, I just found it disappointing.

[@TwinTailThrust-K]

I see a Bunker Dweller upload - I hit like. Glad to see a new video from you. I'll watch this once I'm back home. Cheers!

[@josesosa3337]

I found the flinch when hit to be very fun on medium difficulty where I was punished for mistakes and letting enemies get close. I felt the difficulty was on a sweet spot.

[@sunky-rf9ut]

I kept listening to this video multiple times...you deserve the entire gaming community's respect

[@awesomecheese5324]

I had to play BFG edition. I remember that it was pretty ugly for the 360. Also the bosses threw me for a loop because the core gameplay is a methodical slow paced shooter then the game wanted you to play it like a doom game, which I didn't catch on to quickly. The worst thing was the game just kept going on and on in the same environments. I also remember that it bugged me that the demons disappeared after they died which kinda ruined the horror for me.

[@cburger4life144]

I really enjoyed Doom 3. It’s not perfect, and it’s very different from all other Doom titles, but it does atmosphere very well. It’s my favorite take on the Mars base in gaming. Also, that theme song by Tweaker is just… *chef’s kiss*

[@NorthKoreaUncovered]

You gotta give us that Halo 5 breakdown my guy. Your takes are a beacon of light for those of us who remember the Pre-343 fanfiction days.

[@AscalonFI77]

There's no defending that shotgun and I'm glad people finally admitted it

[@jonbourgoin182]

A bad shotgun in a DooM game is an unforgivable sin

[@007megaoof]

The first thing I do is mod the hell out of the shotgun, it’s that ass

[@jasperfox6821]

Bad? It's honestly really good if you use it properly, not like a sniper rifle 😂 Honestly, getting up close with the shotgun absolutely murders demon's in doom 3.

[@williampaabreeves]

BFG Edition was supposed to be a launch title for the Oculus Rift, but the Rift project was heavily delayed for about 4 years until true release. Many remnants of this VR related code have been exploited by modders to re-enable VR support on PC

[@Ducky-vl7mp]

I always loved and always will love Doom 3 even if it is a very flawed Doom game. Gameplay might be frustrating and repetitive at times but I have a yet to play a game that presents you such a Opressive and Sinister atmosphere such as this one.

[@rex23AB]

I played this game on my og xbox back in like 2018 or 2019 and I found it to be decent fun, though not amazing. However, I am also a person who plays FPS game more as palette cleansers than my main focus when it comes to gaming, so it is very likely that some of the shortcomings of Doom 3 went over my head. All this to say great video, greatly enjoyed it! Would say that you overall have made me more interested in FPS experiences and I've over the past year played more old FPS games (namely HL1 and 2 + all expansions). Keep up the good work!

[@sagenerd419]

So like, did you play this whole game never ducking the imps fireballs? Also, even by using your own understanding of how the mechanic of reloading works, there was clearly a design implementation of it trying to get you to choose when reloading or swapping or finding cover was the best option mid conbat Seeing this video, I can see root ideas for future Doom mechanics it's really cool to see Another good video 🤟🏽❤️

[@bandinopla]

doom 3 was the best doom game. A master piece.

[@indyliv3328]

FYI. The main protagonist of Doom 3 has a name. John Kane, and he isn’t known as “Doom guy”.

[@kvltizt]

You didn’t mention Escape From Butcher Bay as a 2004/2005 FPS but I think it merits mention.

[@agbrenv]

and Painkiller

[@StodgyAyatollah]

There is also a source port for the original called Dhewm3. It's a good way to play it as vanilla as possible with proper widescreen support. The exclusive bfg expansion has even been ported to it. Think that can be found on moddb. Doom 3 is a decent enough game but it was a disappointment compared to 1&2.

[@atomgrav6861]

Shotgun gave me such anxiety in this game. When it hit, it slapped harder than anything else.. however you could run right up to an enemy and still have all pellets scatter around them. Absolute dice roll

[@tsunderemerc2963]

At the very least, i love the look of the game and the vibes it brings, much like FEAR

[@TheLittleSpoon1982]

I have a special place in my gaming heart for doom 3. I’m old enough to have been playing ID’s games since the start. Like commander keen start. My dad was a PC gamer and my introduction. By the time doom 3 came out I had finally got on my own enough that I could afford a nice surround sound system and I’d have my brother over and we would play this late at night with the surround sound system scaring the shit out of us. That’s what I think of with doom 3, it was a fun change of pace from their normal shooters.

[@jamesquinn6662]

My autistic knitpick about games that take place on other planets like Mars is when they have earth like gravity. For all its flaws starfield got that right because jetpacking across a Mars with 0.3g is fun as fuck

[@SuperFriendBFG]

All of your critiques are spot on. Though personally and for my Best Friend, we both bought the game on launch and beat it around the same time, we both enjoyed it a lot despite its flaws. The tight levels were in part due to technical limitations at the time, the engine just couldn't do very wide open spaces very well.

[@baronvonslambert]

So on the BFG edition's lighting, Carmack's Reverse, the method used for Doom 3 and IdTech 4's real time lighting and shadows, was originally discovered and patented by Creative Labs a couple years before Carmack discovered it, so Id had to purchase a Creative Labs license and said Creative Labs license had long since expired by the time of the BFG edition. This is also why both Carmack's Reverse and IdTech 4 never saw widespread use in the industry, unlike the previous Id engines. It's also why some of the sound effects were changed a bit for BFG edition, as they used some audio processing stuff from Creative Labs. Also on console BFG edition is the way to go, while backwards compatible on all the Xboxes, you need a physical copy since they removed the digital version when BFG edition came out, and the OG D3 Xbox port is actually much harder than OG D3 on PC, switching constantly from the flashlight on a controller is a chore no matter how it adds to the atmosphere, and while you get plenty of ammo on PC, they removed a bunch of the side areas from the levels on Xbox, and consequently a bunch of ammo from the game, to the point it's more of a survival horror type experience than action horror, and it can make some areas a slog even on lower difficulties. Personally I think Doom 3 is a great game no matter how you play it, if you want an experience more in line with all the other Doom games, BFG edition delivers that, if you want a very atmospheric action horror game, the OG Doom 3 delivers.

[@zepoq2476]

In 2006, I could not stop playing it once I started and I was quite terrified by it. It was the scariest game on par with FEAR I had ever played. Now of course it is not. It is a very old game.

[@lampman8297]

Welcome back, you have been missed

[@keganmemestar4465]

I share a lot of the same feelings and opinions on Doom 3 as you do. Great start, boring middle, great end. As you said earlier in the video, I feel like this could have been remedied if the game gave you less ammo overall, and if the level design/environment was more interesting. Also, it’s interesting to see a Doom 3 video the shotgun wasn’t really talked about. As for the shotgun, what a travesty.

[@boogusscoogus614]

I'm stuck on the BFG edition because I'm too broke for a PC

[@nagger8216]

Yes, PLEASE make a Half Life video. A Quake 4 or Doom 2016 video would also be extremely awesome, keep up the great work.

[@Real-Yashame]

I understand and agree with most of what you said about doom 3. However I don't look at it like I'm playing DOOM GUY. I look at it like I'm playing a regular marine instead. With that mindset, the game is more enjoyable in that respect!

[@MrAdam802]

You should review Quake 4. Its an awesome standalone game and a way "better version" of Doom 3 imo.

[@plaguedoctorjamespainshe6009]

Doom 3 is by far my favorite alongside 2016 And i disagree with a lot of what you said But, you said you loved some aspects of the game And well, wanna play an game wich does all of that and doesn't suffer from the other problems ? Play Dead Space remake

[@gjtrue]

DOOM 2016 retroactively being linked to the universe of DOOM 3 is so awesome. I always theorized that possibility and glad I'm not the only one who found that rather obscure easter egg/reference you showed there in 2016's final level. Hell, you even see the Soul Cube in the Doom Slayer's fortress in Eternal. As well as Olivia Pierce's office in the previous game.

[@bennettfender9927]

He has returned!

[@kinganarkzie]

Not sure i agree with your first point, the games reception was mixed from the start, it reviewed really well but users were very divided. It was going up against games like Halflife that did what it did but better. The intro was over way to soon and then you were left in a game that ditched it's old gameplay of killing monsters in mazes but did not want to fully commit to telling a flushed out story with NPC'S, proper puzzles or missions. It just sat awkwardly between both styles, its attempts at horror never really landed for me, it was just the same two ideas repeated over and over Imps jumping out at you and dead bodies flying out of vents.

[@Gruntvc]

Doom 3 is the only Doom I've completed. Always been more of a Wolfenstein fan, especially Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Wolfenstein The New Order & Old Blood. I'd like to see another Doom or FPS take a crack at a more serious and atmospheric design of Doom 3. Really don't care for the more cartoony direction both recent Doom and Wolfenstein games went in. Oh well, guess I'll stick with Trepang 2 and Robocop Rogue City.

[@G--ll6em]

"Man, I sure would love an elaborate essay video to listen to where some guy rambles for a hour straight while I work about a certain piece of Media." *Notices Bunker Dweller upload, day saved*

[@paperclip6377]

Omg he uploaded again! Great video Andy! Though i heavily disagree with your opinion on the levels in hell. I think they look real good.

[@jasperfox6821]

I love doom 3, I love it's atmosphere, it's run and gun action horror (it's not survival horror) the unique artstyle, enemy designs, secrets, etc. Also, I love the shotgun, honestly... I think the problem is that it's not hitscan, and it's a shotgun, I love running up to enemies and watching them disintegrate infront of my eyes with the shotgun. It's op as hell when used properly. I will say, I feel like they've changed how the shotgun works on bfg edition, could be because I was on switch, but I swear it wasn't hitting how it should. 😅

[@shallowgod5539]

I have no recollection of subscribing to you nor do I recognise any of your videos. But I'll watch your hour long video about a game I've never played for sure

[@SirLordMasterSaverKangDrPaulAs]

Nice to see you again, man. Doom is the standard, but I would like to see some of that F.A.K.K 2 Heavy Metal good SHIIIIIIIIIIT

[@sunky-rf9ut]

Hey Andy,what do you think about Doom 3 classic

[@SR-388]

the one weapon I really enjoyed using in doom 3 where the frags, felt pretty satisfying to blow enemies up and watching their ridiculous rag dolls, I dont mind the levels so much as the main critique is that the game never uses em in an interesting way, and by the mid way point the game sort of becomes auto pilot besides a few puzzles.

[@josesosa3337]

I knew the devs intended for the flash light to be its own item so I would always click it on and off to try and get the original experience when I played on ps4.

[@austinblack7991]

This is my favorite doom game as it’s obviously inspired by the original half life played on my Xbox One and on my Nintendo switch

[@josesosa3337]

On the ps4 when I went to hell I moved on to other things but I can't wait for the next time i replay in the future. It was a great time.

[@chrispaul4985]

I first played this game around 2007 when I got a 360. Even though it ripped off Half Life, the Mars City level really intrigued me as a teenager along with the overall immersive ambience of the game (which I think is it’s true standout feature). The gameplay is just okay, it definitely has high and low points. The concept was great, but they could have done so much more than just “run, shoot, run shoot” ad naseum. If they wanted to go for the horror style, they should have completely leaned into that style. To this day, I still occasionally replay Doom 3. The game made a huge impression on me when I first played it was well, thus it will always have a special place for me despite its flaws.

[@shonen991]

I like Doom 3.

[@Mixxo6]

Finally. I am so f@&$ing confused as to why this game is so hated. I finally found someone who likes doom 3. I get it’s different and had tough competition but I adore the screens and how hopeless it makes you feel.

[@shonen991]

@@Mixxo6 Well. They compared doom 3 to other dooms. So it's a bad doom game. But the game itself isn't bad. Some people just prefer to look at it as part of the series instead of for it's own qualities. I like the horror atmosphere of doom 3. it's very unique.

[@2phonesbabyken]

I share a lot of thoughts with you about Doom 3- especially the combat & arena design, though I feel like it's still important to switch weapons- but man I couldn't disagree more about the story. I think what made it stand out for me _is_ the fact that the story happens around you rather than you being the catalyst for it. I think that's why Dead Space 1 resonated with me so much; it was everything Doom 3 set out to do but in a way that's actually tense/scary with significantly better combat.

[@daviddesrosiers1946]

I always loved this iteration of Doom the most.

[@flyingningahero5961]

48:49 POV you're a car driver and sandy from spongebob is in town

[@kyle2041990]

I enjoyed doom 3 personally. I think It did a good job as a horror game. It's by far a masterpiece but it has its charms.

[@rofibhoi9788]

Exactly the points I make PLUS the stupid "Enemies with guns". So underwhelming yet annoying to fight.

[@EternalDahaka]

I'm not sure where the idea that the BFG Edition's changes were because of consoles came from. The Xbox version was very well received, and arguably has less ammo than the PC version because of the shortened levels. You did hear handfuls of complaints from console players, but the majority of complaints about D3 needing armor/weapon flashlights and ammo had come from PC players since its launch.

[@peterlawson8040]

He's back

[@fernnie09]

I personally love Doom 3. I would love to see a full fledge remake with modern hardware but I don’t think that will happen unfortunately.

[@kinghoodofmousekind2906]

I admire the concept behind its different gameplay compared to Doom and Doom 2, but its execution was not the best. I am glad some mods help with the gameplay loop, plus there are unique ones that completely change the game style (yet, I must admit there's also a lot of garbage out there). Doom 3 feels like a great tech demo that cannot truly live up to what may have been.

[@andresavendano9266]

23:11 Disable auto reload, that way you'll be able to switch and keep shooting. Guns do have their strategy too and it's all tied to distance, movement and enemy type, the real sin here is the game giving you tons of ammo, but you do have reasons to switch weapons. 29:50 How is this even a complaint? You're supposed to dodge to the side, then rush straight to the imp and slam it with the shotgun. That's the "Shotgun dance", dodging and rushing in short bursts are the main uses sprint has, that's how you outsmart the slow enemies without circle-strafing. If you're lucky you can even trigger some enemies' melee attack and dodge it at a safe distance, like you'd do against Doom 1's Pinky demon or Quake's Shambler. I agree Doom 3 has it's shitty quirks and suffers A LOT from repetition, but these two points really are non-issues.

[@memo134]

I really enjoyed doom3 on my Xbox.

[@BlazingLee0610]

I love DooM 3. Got it for my birthday in 2005 on XBoX with the game guide and it scared me at the time. DooM 3 is in my rotation if games I'll play through at least once a year!

[@thatoneguy8146]

I don’t know why but I still love it

[@Devoted_Sentry]

Doom 3 would be a great game if it was an Aliens game.

[@Gruntvc]

The opening levels that are basically Aliens but with demons were the best parts of Doom 3.

[@agbrenv]

well, then pretend it is an Aliens game, problem solved....

[@myself8354]

Unfortunately, being a console player means bfg edition is my only option. Or at least the 2019 release of doom 3 to the modern xbox. Which is basically just bfg edition with a different name. I really wish I could play with the flashlight switching like the original. I also cranked the brightness down very much to make using the flashlight a requirement in any area that doesn't have a light source to compensate for the increased level brightness.

[@thatoneguy8146]

56:16 should have brought up fallout 4

[@MrWackywilson]

it's the only doom game ever to jump scare the shit out of me.... Relentlessly No other doom game has ever done that let's be honest !!!

[@HenryMyth]

I appreciated this game a little bit more after playing through Rage for the first time a couple years ago. That game was a depressing mess. At least Doom 3 feels like a finished game with ideas behind it.

[@artcrime2999]

It connects to doom 3 the same way it connects to quake 3 arena

[@ciscolopez3936]

Just finished the game afew days ago, good game, very frustrating and jumpscares everywhere. Music made Atmosphere very chilling but great if that's the feeling for want from a horror game

[@TechnoTron_]

Cool new video. no one talks about doom 3 so this new to me.

[@shadowninjazzx21]

Was this dead space before dead space?

[@shadowninjazzx21]

"Doom Space"?

[@optchurch1402]

I enjoy doom 3 for the nostalgia, I played it on the oh Xbox fell in love with it and was wowed by the tech, then I played the og games loved them and I was a fan, then played 2016 and thought yeah this is a continuation of the classics and well eternal is just holy s**t it’s great. Doom 3 is great to me. But to say it’s better than 2016 and eternal is erm a gigantic stretch. The new games feeel like a true continuation of the franchise while 3 is a check list for the style at the time which was influenced by half life

[@punishedblowstein1111]

The lore stuff in 3 was just easter eggs. I liked it that way. 2016 went stupid with the MCU tier stupidity.

[@Rokaize]

It’s not fair to say that id did doom 3 in response to half life. They said that the original dooms were supposed to be like doom 3. They wanted a slow and tense survival horror type of game. But technology at the time made it impossible. They said that doom 3 was the doom they actually wanted to make

[@EthanTheDinoNerd]

Okay I don't know if I'm play BFG edition or not. It's on Xbox one. I have a shoulder flashlight but the game isn't called BFG edition just Doom 3. Also it's dark as hell like the original. Like i have to turn on my light to see anything. Also it as a energy bar like Halo CE flashlight does.

[@InsaneEnergy]

Yes, that's BFG Edition, but it's a new version made by Panic Button which fixes some of the dynamic lighting that was missing from BFG, and removes Doom 1 and 2 along with the multiplayer mode.

[@Marandal]

Doom 3 is a great Horror game. DOOM 2016 is a great Action Shooter

[@Deimos_Fresh]

I always liked Doom 3. Even build my first PC to play it and Silent Hill 3 specifically. It felt like natural evolution for Doom franchise. And this is the game the franchise was ended for me. Don't care what came after it. There is too much stuff that I like and dislike so here's my short list. Because of Doom 3, shotguns became my go to weapon in FPS genre and I like Doom 3 shotgun A LOT and I like weapon selection in general. Plasma Gun anyone? I like atmospheric feel of locations, environmental storytelling, sound design, audio logs, lots of secrets and how intractable elements fits into game world. For dislikes I'd point how boring it is on replays, but this is no longer the case for me. And I disliked how certain elements of Doom 2 didn't migrate to Doom 3, but I no longer like Doom 2 so not a dislike anymore. I guess my biggest dislike goes toward it's expansion The Resurrection of Evil. Doom 3 was kinda like a re-imagining or reboot or remake of first Doom, but Doom 3 events could've happen at the same time as Doom 1 making a prequel to Doom 2, but then came RoE and said "nah-ha no hell on Earth for you". RoE is good expansion, but with each play through I like less and less. Second thing I dislike is difficulty and here's some my observation of it. Difficulty in Doom 3 is mostly noob friendly. I was still fairly new to PC's FPS games at the time and had limited experience with previous Doom games and Quakes and Half-Life at the time. The reason I felt it's not interesting to replay was because my first impression of it's puzzles and difficulty was that the game was extremely hard even on easier difficulties. I constantly had troubles getting more ammo and second half of the game started way harder that it should. Some platforming segments was hard as well. In general it still felt fair, but constant game overs was tiring. As your skills improoved so is game experience and now you are more cautious of traps and secrets, change weapons more often for various situations, even make pistol very useful and will be surprised how little ammo there is for it. Very satisfying experience. But then the game became mostly easy even on hardest available difficulty. You may try nightmare difficulty, but it feels like a joke. Overall I still think it's experience is great, but I wish nightmare was not a gimmick difficulty. Sadly original Doom 3 doesn't work good even on fairly aged modern computers. Dhewm3 source port is what I'm using for past 3 years. I does have its quirks, but in general it feels like enhanced vanilla experience.

[@brandonp5]

There’s a lot of cool things in D3 it a technical marvel but that being said it’s outweighed by bad design choices for the “times” sake.