Doom 3

• First-person shooter
• Fight back against a demonic invasion of a Mars research facility
• Built with id Software's newest 3D graphics engine
• Cinema-quality visuals and 5.1 surround sound
• Single-player and online

A frantic call for help from a remote research station on Mars sends a team of mercenary Marines into action. Led by The Rock and Karl Urban, they descend into the Olduvai Research Station, where they find a legion of nightmarish creatures, lurking in the darkness, killing at will. Once there, the Marines must use an arsenal of firepower to carry out their mission: nothing gets out alive. Based on the hugely popular video game, Doom is an explosive action-packed thrill ride! Starring: Dwayne ''The Rock'' Johnson, Karl Urban, Rosamund Pike, Deobia Oparei, Ben Daniels, Raz Adoti, Richard Brake, Brian Steele, Doug Jones, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Directed b! y: Andrzej BartkowiakGrab your BFG and get ready to kick some Martian-demon butt in Doom, another entry in the increasingly crowded videogame-to-movie genre. The Rock plays Sarge, the commander of a squad of Marines sent to investigate a disturbance at a scientific research facility on Mars. Among the squad is John Grimm (Karl Urban, who played Eomer in The Lord of the Rings), who turns out to have had a previous relationship with Samantha (Rosamund Pike, Die Another Day), the scientist who's accompanying the Marines in order to retrieve some vital data from the facility. Based on id Software's legendary first-person shooter, Doom tries its best to look like a game, with dark, angled corridors, ferocious creatures appearing out of nowhere, and a variety of lethal weapons that will, like the aforementioned BFG, warm the cockles of a gamer's heart. There's also one memorable sequence that actually turns the movie into a first-person shooter; th! e good news is that in the context of the whole film, it's not! quite a s goofy as it might have been. And that's not a bad frame of reference for the film in general. Considering the game-to-movie field includes such duds as Wing Commander, if you go into Doom with low expectations, you'll probably find it a surprisingly respectable horror/sci-fi thriller in the Resident Evil vein (including its somewhat obligatory subplot of corporate wrongdoing). Also in its favor is that it's unabashedly R-rated, for the extreme gore that is a trademark of the game. After all, the purpose of the movie is to pack scares and thrills into a setting that gamers will quickly recognize. In that sense, it qualifies as a success. --David HoriuchiONE OF THE SCARIEST GAMES EVER MADE, RATED MThe wait is over. After five years of development, Lead Programmer John Carmack and the id Software team have put together a revolutionary visual experience. If your PC has the juice to set this game loose and you have a thirst for first-person shooter action, you're in for a treat. Although Doom 3 is not perfect, the 3D graphics engine upon which it is built sets a new, jaw-dropping standard that makes this game a must-have.

Hell on Mars
Your character is a low-ranking Marine on a routine rotation to the Mars Research Facility of the United Aerospace Corporation (UAC). That's pretty much all the backstory you need. Doom 3 is a bit skimpy in the storyline department, but rich plotting and character development have never been the focus of the Doom franchise. Action is the name of the game here, and we found plenty. After a few minutes of wandering through the facility, listening to rumors about impending catastrophe from the staff (rememb! er Half-Life?), it was time to start shooting. We fought our way through dark, lavishly detailed environments until finally doing battle with pure evil in the depths of hell. Although the game offers no opportunities to explore the Martian setting apart from the linear corridors of the research facility, good level design and well-crafted sound effects succeeded at scaring the living heck out of us all the way through.

Fearsome monsters. Dimly lit environments. The perfect recipe for horror.

Creature Discomforts
Groaning zombies and the sudden leaping attack of an eleven-eyed Imp are just the beginning of the horror and anxiety in Doom 3. Floating Cacodemons attack from above with a mouthful of teet! h... ethereal Revenants fire flesh-seeking missiles with deadl! y accura cy... a swarm of spider-like Trites skitter down the corridor, hungry for blood. Although the enemy AI in Doom 3 is less crafty than we would have liked, the incredible variety of enemies--each with a unique style of attack--outweighs this shortcoming somewhat.

Guns, Guns, Guns
While there are many powerful weapons in the game, they are designed to force players to anticipate and plan for firefights. For instance, we liked wielding the chaingun to shred enemies at longer ranges, but the weapon devours ammo and using it on close-range targets was a waste of bullets. We quickly learned to switch to the shotgun or the chainsaw to dispatch foes at close range.

One piece of hardware, the flashlight, was a point of both salvation and frustration for us. Doom 3 is a dark game and many enemies know how to take advantage of it. You'll often find yourself switching back and forth between your weapons and your flashlight just to see what's lurking ahe! ad. This problem might easily be solved by duct-taping the flashlight to your equipped weapon, but, alas, we found no duct tape on Mars.

Looking Good
Doom 3 looks incredible. Every room is exquisitely detailed, from the shimmer of the air near a heat source to the texture of a hamburger sitting on the counter of the company mess hall. Id obviously went all out designing every creature in the game and their realism makes them all the more horrifying. The eye candy does come at a price, though, and we were forced to play at fairly low resolution even on a Pentium IV 2.8 GHz and an ATI Radeon 9500. Even so, gameplay was smooth as silk. For higher resolutions (1024 x 768 and above) the latest generation of ATI or Nvidia cards is suggested. --Joshua Gunn

Pros

• Stunning display of graphics technology
• Strong level design with lots of spookiness
• Rich variety of enemies
• Plenty of hours of single-player gameplay

Cons

• Thin storyline
• Stiff system require! ments No headlamps or gun-mounted lighting in the 22nd century
• Fairly basic multiplayer options

A frantic call for help from a remote research station on Mars sends a team of mercenary Marines into action. Led by The Rock and Karl Urban, they descend into the Olduvai Research Station, where they find a legion of nightmarish creatures, lurking in the darkness, killing at will. Once there, the Marines must use an arsenal of firepower to carry out their mission: nothing gets out alive. Based on the hugely popular video game, DOOM is an explosive action-packed thrill ride!Doom 3 continues the incredible shooter action of the first two 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.The wait is over. After five years of development, Lead Programmer John Carmack and the id Software team have put togeth! er a revolutionary visual experience. Although Doom 3 is not perfect, the 3D graphics engine upon which it is built sets a new, jaw-dropping standard that makes this game a must-have. In addition to adding multi-player action via xBox live, or via networked consoles, the Xbox version of Doom 3 also adds a great two-player cooperative mode.

Hell on Mars
Your character is a low ranking Marine on a routine rotation to the United Aerospace Corporation's (UAC) Mars Research Facility. That's pretty much all the back-story you need. Doom 3 is a bit skimpy in the story-line department, but rich plotting and character development have never been the focus of the Doom franchise. Action is the name of the game here, and we found plenty. After a few minutes of wandering through the facility, listening to rumors about impending catastrophe from the staff (remember Half-Life?) it was time to start shooting. We fought our way through dark, lavis! hly detailed environments until finally doing battle with pure! evil in the depths of hell. Although the game offers no opportunities to explore the Martian setting apart from the linear corridors of the research facility, good level design and well crafted sound effects were successful at scaring the living heck out of us all the way through.

Fearsome monsters. Dimly-lit environments. The perfect recipe for horror.

Creature Discomforts
Groaning zombies and the sudden leaping attack of an eleven-eyed Imp are just the beginning of the horror and anxiety in Doom 3. Floating Cacodemons attack from above with a mouthful of teeth, ethereal Revenant fire flesh-seeking missiles with deadly accuracy, a swarm of spider-like Trites skitter down the corridor, hungry for blood. Although t! he enemy AI in Doom 3 is less crafty than we would have liked, the incredible variety of enemies--each with a unique style of attack--outweighs this shortcoming somewhat.

Guns, Guns, Guns
While there are many powerful weapons in the game, they are designed to force players to anticipate and plan for firefights. For instance, we liked wielding the chaingun to shred enemies at longer ranges, but the weapon devours ammo and using it on close-range targets was a waste of bullets. We quickly learned to switch to the shotgun or the chainsaw to dispatch foes at close range.

One piece of hardware, the flashlight, was a point of both salvation and frustration for us. Doom 3 is a dark game and many enemies know how to take advantage of it. You'll find yourself switching back and forth between your weapons and your flashlight often just to see what's lurking ahead. This problem might be easily solved by duct taping the flashlight to your equipped wea! pon, but, alas, we found no duct tape on Mars.

Multipla! yer< br> While Doom 3 is no Halo 2 when it comes to multi-player action, there are some respectable multi-player arenas and modes including death match, team death match, last man standing and tournament. Five maps serve to keep things interesting, and you'll want to look for special tricks in some arenas to give you a leg up on enemies. Cooperative multi-player proved to be a hoot as we teamed up with friends to try to make our way through the levels. The intensity of gameplay ramps up significantly in the cooperative mode, as the levels are designed to be harder. They're also designed to force players to work together, so you'll want to communicate with your partner as much as possible.

Looking Good
Doom 3 is incredible looking. Every room is exquisitely detailed, from the shimmer of the air near a heat source to the texture of a hamburger sitting on the counter of the company mess hall. Id obviously went all out designing every creature in the game and t! heir realism makes them all the more horrifying. Get ready to jump out of your couch cushions!--Joshua Gunn

Pros

• Stunning display of graphics technology
• Strong level design with lots of spookiness
• Great cooperative mode
• Plenty of hours of single-player gameplay

Cons

• Thin storyline
• No headlamps or gun-mounted lighting in the 22nd century
• Fairly basic multi-player options