Product Description

The Doom 3 Collector's Editioncontinues the incredible shooter action of the first Doom games! The Mars Research Facility has been invaded by demons from Doom, leaving only chaos and horror in their wake. You're one of the only survivors - to stay alive you'll have to fight your way to Hell and back.Special Collector's Edition features the classic Doom and Doom 2, plus a special G4 show, art gallery, developer interviews and more.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3412 in Video Games
• Brand: ACTIVISION
• Model: 81073
• Released on: 2005-03-28
• ESRB Rating: Mature
• Platform: Xbox
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds

Features

• Intensely realistic and stunning visuals - advanced graphics immerse you in the feel of all-out combat against deadly killing machines
• The action doesn't stop or slow down for a second - collect ammo and health as you plow through all-new levels, each one filled with terror
• Battle new monsters with all-new weapons
• Frightening visual design and murderous intent - ever-changing levels of fear and uncertainty will test your limits
• Vicious multiplayer action within a totally dynamic game world

Customer Reviews

Like to get scared? Go to Hell!
This is definitely one of the moodiest, best-orchestrated games I've ever played. It gives many nods to the kind of immersion (and outright steals a number of elements) popularized by Half-Life. This is pure DOOM though - demons, possessed humans, flying skulls, creepy voices, etc. And of course, the two things you truly need for happiness while descending to Hell: a shotgun and a chainsaw.

If you like games that suck you in with powerful environments, DOOM 3 is the best you will ever find. The graphics are superb, dark, and downright freaky at times. Even better than the visuals, though, is the sound. Slithering sounds from nearby enemies, demonic laughter echoing down the hallway as monsters descend on you, etc. It all adds up to a powerful experience that can really tug at your claustrophobic strings.

Here's a low-down on the collector's edition.

THE GOOD:
* It's scary, it's visceral, it frays your nerves, and it's absolutely a ton of fun.
* Production values are outstanding, although the plot is paper-thin. But it's DOOM, so what do you expect? A Shakespearean play?
* Ultimate DOOM and DOOM II are included and very playable on the Xbox. Sure, they're outdated and clunky compared to this beautiful masterpiece. They're a walk down memory lane for those of us who remember the original games, and a good history lesson for those who don't.
* G4 "Icons" video with background info on the making of DOOM 3.
* Collector's Edition case is very cool.

THE BAD:
* No split-screen co-op mode! You can only play co-op if you use Xbox Live or system link. Lame!

THE UGLY:
* The interviews in the collector's edition are pretty lame. It's basically a handful of the top guys at Id Software talking for a couple minutes each about some aspect of the game or other. Even when John Carmack himself was talking, I quickly got bored with how pedestrian the whole thing was.

THE SUMMARY:
Don't mind those folks who whine about how you can't use the flashlight at the same time as you use a weapon - deal with it! The game is still a blast, and it gives all new meaning to the phrase... GO TO HELL! Highly, highly, HIGHLY recommended.

All spectacle, no substance... but damn fun.
If one thing can be said about Doom 3, it's that the game merges new school and old school seamlessly. The visuals in this Xbox port are nearly perfect when being compared to the breathtaking atmosphere of the PC version. Basically this means that the cutting-edge visuals are still cutting edge, especially for a console, while they are becoming more accessible for a wider audience who may not have PCs beefy enough to run the game at full specs. As for the Doom legacy, everything a fan could want is here. The simple run-and-gun action from the socially taboo games I played as a child is mirrored perfectly in this remake.

However, once you strip away all of the gritty realism of the environments and the nostalgia of classic Doom, you are left with an extremely rudimentary corridor-crawler that is firmly based on derivative shooting and cheap scares for entertainment. At its core, the gameplay is absolutely repetitive, but masked by convincing character animations a bone-chilling scenery. The plot is also quite thin. Half of the time, it will feel like you are going somewhere simply because you haven't been there yet. At several points in the game, I actually had to check my PDA (which was a very cool feature, by the way) to see what my "objective" was supposed to be. Lastly, the feeling of dread and unease you get from not knowing exactly what's around the corner is somewhat reduced by the "QuickSave" anywhere function.

Close-quarters combat is used for 90% of your encounters, and while this helps add to the claustrophobic feeling that Doom 3 conveys so well, it also severely limits tactical decisions for you AND your enemy. In fact, while the AI is better described as "tenacious" rather than "stupid," there are very few moments in the game where the enemy will use clever tactics instead of rushing straight for you. Add that to the seemingly innocuous "monster closets" that demons will jump out of for a quick jump-out-and-go-boo scare (Jeeze, did the guys that designed this base actually make a conscious effort to give demons and zombies a place to hide?!) and you are left with a single, repetitive outcome to nearly every battle: a zombie/imp/soldier jumps out of a shadowy era, and you blast them away with your shotgun. Rinse and repeat. The game does have interesting events every now and then, such as gunplay in total pitch-black darkness or bizarre visions that will make you wonder if what you saw really happened, but these treats are few and far between. Derivative shooting ultimately drags Doom 3 down a few notches.

It should also be noted that, for whatever reason, headshots DO NOT do anymore damage than say... a shot to the foot. As a cardinal rule of FPSs, even on consoles, I have no clue as to why the designers decided to omit headshot damage. This was extremely disappointing.

What Doom 3 DOES do well, however, is atmosphere. The dingy, mechanical walls and flickering lights of the Mars base make you feel like you are in a living and breathing (sometimes literally) industrial environment. The level of detail is simply astonishing. Everything, from a giant, gyrating energy reactor to an insignificant ruptured pipe, looks REAL. Shadows are intense and lighting is generally clever; the game designers never let you see TOO much without the aid of your flashlight. Speaking of that wacky flashlight, it seems like it's almost become a fad to talk about how silly it is to not be able to attach a light to your gun. Well, this is one leap of logic that I'm actually willing to overlook. Having guns and light separate adds to the tension. End of story. What kind of tension, you ask? How about "the dirty feeling of isolation and claustrophobia resulting from maneuvering your nameless, voiceless marine through a dark, ominous air vent smeared in the blood of your fallen comrades, making it seem like you are actually there" kind of tension. Enemy designs aid the intensity of Doom 3's macabre scenery; it's really too bad that you really won't see many of them until the last quarter of the game. For the majority of time you spend playing, you'll be fighting the aforementioned zombies, soldiers, or Imps. Needless to say, this gets predictable (and rather boring) after a while. It really is a shame that every few levels or so, you may be introduced to an interesting new enemy (like, for example, the Maggot, Wraith, and Lost Soul), but you will most likely never see that enemy again until hours and hours later in the game. Once you advance far enough into the game, the balance of demons evens out, but Imps will still be your most common threat. Still, waves of identical enemies can't take away from an excellently crafted industrial atmosphere, which becomes so creepy that the latter half of Doom 3 that it looks like something straight out of Silent Hill (in a good way).

Oh, and just on a side note... I don't care if the Revenant was in the earlier Doom game. That enemy looks totally ridiculous. It's a skeleton with awkward rocket launchers grafted to its shoulders. Stupid. Really, really stupid.

Sound is great. It was an exceedingly wise move to use music very sparingly. The naturally grating, echoing, metallic sounds of the Mars base mixed with footsteps, demonic growls, and maniacal laughter is more than enough to convey a feeling of unease.

Although the multiplayer is abysmal (not even worth playing, in my opinion), the Co-op is probably one of the most interesting additions to Doom 3. You can't Co-op on split screen (boo!), but it's not hard at all to find someone via Xbox Live (or even System Link if you get desperate). The game has been altered to accommodate two marines instead of one, power ups and multiple demons have been added, and cut scenes have been removed. The result is an extremely fluid and addictive experience.

Well, after this long, wordy, and somewhat negative critique, I bet you're wondering why I gave Doom 3 four stars. There answer is simple: this game is fun. In an age where the Xbox's FPS games are becoming more and more innovative (take Splinter Cell: CT and Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath... both excellent games), it's almost, dare I say, "refreshing" to play a game that's actually easier to learn than Halo 2. It's an extremely cathartic experience. Sit back, relax, and let yourself become scared of the dark again as you blast through hordes of Hell's minions. It's the perfect stress reliever.

With the added features (including retro Doom games, as I'm sure you already know), the Doom 3 Collector's Edition for the Xbox is the perfect addition to any FPS and/or Survival Horror fan's library... repetitive gameplay and all.

Finally
Folks all i can say is it was well worth the wait. Ive heard people cry that its dark. Yes it is in more ways than one. Its just dark enough to keep you nervous about what is around a corner or behind you. These graphics are without a doubt the best ever produced on any console. The nay sayers are dead wrong. I play (other than an occasional platformer) nothing but first person shooters and while i enjoyed the Halo games as well as Metroid Prime and many others they are well behind the design and gameplay of this masterpiece. This is not a "run and gun" game. If you play it as such, you will die and die often. Take your time and look around there is lots to see and find. Believe the hype folks! I did not think these graphics could be produced on any console. Play it in the dark and enjoy.