DOOM ETERNAL
Developer: id Software
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC
Reviewed On: PS4
Release Date: 20/04/2020
Price: £54.99/$59.99
Reviewed By: Felix Kennedy
Review Rush was kindly supplied with a review code.
[ Introduction ]

[ Gameplay ]

[ Visual and Perfomance ]
2016’s DOOM, the game that preceded Eternal, was such a great reboot of the franchise not only because of its gameplay but also its subtle reimagining of the demons you love to slaughter. In DOOM Eternal, they’ve somewhat gone back to their roots and modified the demons to subtly look more like the original designs. Of course, this is something that you may or may not notice but it’s littles things like this that make you smile while you’re chopping their bodies in half with the chainsaw. Graphically, Eternal maintains the high standard set by its previous iteration and to some extent bypasses it. The level designs are absolutely gorgeous, if your aesthetic is a hellish apocalypse. And oddly enough, that’s what DOOM Eternal was looking for. Right from the start, you can see the work and effort the devs at id Software have put into making you feel like you’re in the middle of a nightmarish hellscape. The hulking titans carrying a huge part of what looks like a skyscraper and just seamlessly walking along your horizon in the background while you’re moving along to kill its smaller brethren is a sight to behold.
The aftermath of a devastating fight between a sentinel and a titan becomes your playground, which then becomes a way for you to get through the level, after a bit of puzzle solving, is truly next level stuff. There are some texture loading issues that I’ve noticed in my playthrough, but not enough for it to become a problem and diminish the experience. Performance-wise, the game runs very smoothly. The platforming mechanic, apart from the jumping sections, feel nice and robust to play. There’s a nice feeling to the wall climbing mechanic, almost as if every movement you do while wall climbing carries weight. Load times for levels are pretty quick and almost instantaneous when you die and have to respawn back to a checkpoint.

[ Sound ]
Review sound design and Mick Gordon returns as the games composer and once again the game is filled with heavy metal riffs and death metal screams. And it is glorious. Music always plays a big part in tension building, something that is in abundance in DOOM Eternal. The atmospheric hums and subtle riffs slowly creeps into your ear-hole to give you just a little sense of dread. Once the action ramps up though, you are treated to adrenaline pumping heavy riffs that almost makes you want to headbang if you weren’t so busy killing what’s on screen. Funnily enough, for such heavy use of the genre of music, it’s not intrusive to the gameplay.
They’ve manage to blend it well with the sound effects. The sound effect design is top-notch. You can really feel the sound of you chainsaw, from its engine roar to the squelching gore when you use it on your enemies. The voice acting is pretty solid from the support cast, since our protagonist Doomguy doesn’t actually have any dialogue. There are some funny snippets within the ARC announcements when you activate them.

[ Conclusion ]
Bethesda must be breathing a sigh of relief that id Software have once again come up with the goods and produced a superb title. They’ve taken their much loved 2016 DOOM, given it some more love, made some changes and ramped up the action to make this title a must have. I highly recommend this title even more so with the current state that the world is in. Bashing demons, chopping them in half, goring their brains out with your blade, smashing their head in never, ever gets old. The only negative aspect of the game I’ve found is that some portions of the platforming can get frustrating and doesn’t really fit into the movement mechanics; which can diminish a little bit of the experience. Overall, though, DOOM Eternal is everything you want in a sequel and more. It’s so good that I can’t wait for it to come out for the Switch as the guys at Panic Button are back to do the port. I’m running out of superlatives to pile on this game so I’m going to finish up by doffing my hat to id Software. You guys have made a banger! Long live the DOOMSLAYER!
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