Doom 3

'You owe it to yourself as a gamer', enthuses Sam Gibson...

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The graphics are, frankly incredible. I searched high and low and while I did manage to spy a few oddities and the very occasional glitch in my opinion the engine is more a work of art rather than science. The level design is second to none, with each area tweaked to near perfection. Each area is filled with the sort of equipment and personal effects that you would expect to see and the architecture is most convincing. The lighting effects are out of this world and add so much to the sense of apprehension and fear that quickly becomes DOOM 3's calling card. Saying that, there are some instances where things are not quite as they should be. For example some of the blackest areas don't light up correctly under the flashlight, and the glow from weapons like the plasma gun behaves erratically on surfaces. The flashlight doesn't register on reflective surfaces like toilet mirrors. There is a lot of fun to be had just observing the way different objects interact with each other and the way the light sources cast all the correct shadows. The starkness of the shadows is less than desirable, but we will have to wait another generation of engine before that obstacle is overcome. DOOM 3 uses this limitation cleverly and incorporates the pitch black lines and shapes into its overall artistic flavour.

The animation is superb as well, so good that you don't really notice it. With all other games the first time you see an enemy walk, or even worse run, the unnaturalness of their movements can temporarily break the illusion. There's none of this in DOOM 3 and it was only after I had gotten a bit further into the game that I took the time to appreciate the way each human and monster moved. This really is marvellous stuff and you can tell that this is yet another area which received a lot of attention during the development process.

As did the sounds in the game. They are also something rather special. The everyday noises of a scientific facility at work are all well and good, and accurately modelled in three dimensions if you have the proper set-up. But it's the tortured wails and moans, the cackling laughter and the sounds of a dimension being ripped apart that will really get the hairs on your entire body standing to attention. A simple clanking sound behind you will quickly raise the pulse, especially when the health bar is pulsing red. The death sounds of the Revenants are a particular favourite, and the sound of the pulse gun made me laugh with joy the first time I fired it. The voice acting throughout is also of a uniformly high quality. Although some of the personal recordings seem a little detached. The panicked radio chatter of marines during the first initial onslaught of the minions from Hell is ripped straight from the Marines first encounter with the xenomorphs in Aliens, a homage which is both fitting and a thrill to be a part of. The music is used very sparingly, barely making a peep outside of the intro music. Most of the time the only soundtrack comes from the shriek of Imps and Cacodemons (the compiler of Word's spellchecker must have been a DOOM fan) but some incidental music will sometimes be employed to raise the tension levels just that extra notch.

The plot, graphics, animation and sound have all been integrated so well together that DOOM 3 wins my award for the most professionally designed and built game I have had the pleasure to play. I can't really make any genuine complaint about any of these four elements, neither on their own or when they are all working together so effectively to immerse and scare the bejesus out of the player.

There are some great firefights where the odds are so heavily stacked against you that victory, when it comes, is an emotional event. There are plenty of instances where I found myself inhaling deeply after a big fight, cycling through my arsenal and noticing that every weapon was down to a few spare rounds. What a glorious struggle! These fights take most of their cues from the area in which they are fought rather than from the creature AI, which is basic, to say the least. It could be said that this is one area where DOOM 3 really looks weak compared to its modern competitors. Enemies will come right at you, with some marines taking cover behind walls and barrels only to pop out at regular intervals, and some of the more hellish monsters will jump to the side of your fire. But this doesn't matter, the spirit of DOOM is not about outwitting a clever opponent, it is about taking the fight to them and blasting the hell out of anything that stands in your way. And that works just fine.

The pacing in DOOM 3 is also worthy of some superlatives. More than just sticking in an occasional quiet area after a big encounter id have worked hard to use all of the elements at their disposal to keep the player guessing. After a few imps have leaped out at you from a freshly opened door you begin to expect it each time you approach a doorway. So nothing will come out at you for an age, until you have been lulled into a false sense of security, then BAM! This misdirection is implemented throughout the game, with areas you normally expect to come under attack remaining peaceful while the seemingly safe areas will explode in a burst of hellfire and damnation. The pacing is worthy of the tautest Hollywood thriller or novel and successfully stops the admittedly repetitive nature of the combat from becoming stale and predictable. In today's world of hundred strong development teams, for such a small group of people to have such mastery over all these disparate elements is a most impressive feat.