Customer Reviews

Doom 3

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

If you're willing to ratchet down the settings to low, you CAN play this game on a newer eMac (1.25 Ghz G4), iBook and possibly the new Mac Mini. I've been playing this on my eMac and aside from having to knock the visuals down a bit (bump mapping can be enabled for better visuals with little overall sacrfice to the frame rate), the game plays very well with an acceptable frame rate and no odd crashes or problems.

An excellent, tense, first person shooter for those who like to take their time and think their way through games. Rather than enduring constant frantic firefights, the player is forced to take a slow approach. The environment and sound effects all serve to heighten the overall sense of tension and dread, and it's not uncommon to become startled at the sight of movement in the shadows or some loud noise. Excellent atmosphere with plenty here to keep you playing for weeks!

In 1994 I played a seminal piece of shareware that did something no game before had. It scared the heebie-jeebies out of me! The game was, of course, Doom. I remember backing up against walls only to hear the unearthly growl of a monster on the other side that sent a shiver up my spine. Fast-forward ten years and iD Software is doing it again!

Despite the number in the title, Doom 3 is really a reinterpretation of the original. Under the much-touted graphical improvements is a serious fleshing-out of the story. In short, the Union Aerospace Corporation's (UAC) research outpost on Mars mistakenly opens a gateway to Hell during a teleportation experiment and a single Marine is left to repel a demonic invasion.

Though embracing spiritual elements, iD has created a plausible future world with sufficient detail to maintain a suspension of disbelief once you're immersed in the game. The story is worthy of attention but even more interesting are the variety of well-implemented devices used to carry it.

In addition to conventional cut-scenes, supplemental plot information can be picked up by overhearing the conversations of non-player characters and by using an in-game personal digital assistant. On the PDA you can watch videos that describe facilities and weapons, read the emails of UAC employees, and listen to well-acted audio logs that explain the decline of Mars City.

Since those plot layers are optional, the story unfolds only as far as the player desires, allowing gamers to adjust the balance between story and action to their liking.

Obviously the graphics are great. The system requirements are high, but they make Doom 3 the unmatched visual leader on the Mac. Under those good looks is fairly traditional first-person gameplay with a large arsenal of familiar Doom weapons, lots of running and shooting, and some clever (yet easy) puzzles.

One way that Doom stands out is interaction with the environment. Mars City is full of interactive computer displays that are accessed without leaving the first-person game view as touch-screens, keeping the player immersed in the world. Such displays are common and used to access supply lockers, control equipment, and download data to the PDA.

It's the superb emphasis on suspense and horror that really makes the game fun though. If played in the dark, with the volume up, there is no reason this game shouldn't make you jump a few times.

Critical to the atmosphere of fear is the combination of eerie sound effects, purposeful lighting, and great cinematic timing. All this wizardry is so essential that the gameplay is molded around it. For example, you aren't allowed to hold your flashlight and a weapon at the same time. You have to choose between lighting your way or keeping your guard up with no idea what might lie ahead.

Unfortunately those elements don't make the multiplayer games special because everything boils down to a Quake-like run, jump, shoot scenario. Online play is also less forgiving of a system on the low end of the requirements. Still, the maps are beautifully derived from the solo campaign, some elements (such as light switches) are still interactive, and the in-game menus are both accessible and useful - a welcome improvement over games that use a text-based console for things like voting.

When played properly and alone, this game is a thrilling ride and a nice contrast to plotless shoot 'em ups. Doom 3 distills the best parts of a haunted house, a horror film, and a shooting gallery into a single satisfying package.

If you want a scarier story than what's been in the theaters lately or if you're a serious gamer, Doom 3 is well worth it. Anyone else who meets the system requirements should at least download the demo.

This is a marvelous, cinematic, beautifully detailed, and deeply immersive game, but getting this up and running on an intel mac is like installing freeware from 5 years ago. If Aspyr is actually making money off the mac version, they should fix it. Otherwise, they should just retire it and save users needless frustration.

Here's what worked for me. Copy the doom3 folder from the dvd to wherever you want to install it (e.g., applications). Then go to the aspyr patches page and click doom3 -- link:

http://support.aspyr.com/index.php?x=&mod_id=2&root=47&id=390

Download DOOM 3 1.3.1 RevA then install it. IMPORTANT: install it JUST AFTER copying the game from the CD to your hard drive. If you attempt to start the game first, the patch installation will just hang indefinitely.

Next: plug in headphones. Do this BEFORE starting the game, otherwise you'll have no sound at all. If you don't want to use headphones, you MIGHT still have sound if you unplug them after the game has started.

Good luck!

Despite the suggestion by another reviewer (whose "review" seems more like an ad for how great his computer is as he doesn't reveal his opinion of the game) that I shouldn't bother wasting anybody's time by reviewing the game because I'm running it on an older system, here goes:
I played the game on a dual 1.25 GHz G4 Power Mac with 1.25 GB of RAM and the new Radeon 9600 Pro with 256 MB VRAM. I got the best performance setting up the game to run 640x480 with bump mapping set to ON, FSAA at 2x, and all other advanced features set to OFF. The frame rate wasn't spectacular, but it was acceptable. Given the low resolution and lack of visual enhancements, I was seriously surprised to see how good the game looked. Obviously, the game will be much better on a G5 with one of the new graphics cards, but fans with older and less powerful systems can still play and have the game look good. If you can get away with it at all, make sure you turn the bump mapping on. It makes a huge difference in how realistic people and creatures look.
The game itself is a lot of fun. The environment and the slightly hokey aspect that keeps you from being able to use your flashlight and a weapon at the same time keep the game scary and enjoyable. The use of the PDA to offer hints and access to new areas is a cool idea, similar to the system used in Metroid Prime for the GameCube. Gameplay will be pretty familiar for fans of the series. Although a remarkable technical achievement, Doom 3 doesn't offer much more than the last two installments in terms of game mechanics: shooting zombies and demons in tight, dark, spooky places is still the order of the day.
This is a great FPS that fans of the series will love. If you have a dual processor G5 with an X800 graphics card to play this game, I envy you. But if you have a reasonable G4 system, you should be able to join in the fun, too. I sure did.

Doom 3 is one of the most intense, scary, gory, horrific first-person-shooters in existence. It wastes no time getting right into the action and substantial, though not deep, plot. However, a good 65% of the way through the overall game, a glitch occured, apparently disabling me from making any more progress through the game. I stepped onto an elevator and pressed the up button. The elevator went up about a foot and stopped, even though the only walkthrough in existence clearly states that it is supposed to continue onto the next level. Despite this flaw disabling me from competing the game, I did thoroughly enjoy what I did get to play. I strongly recommend this game.

Game runs very well on my intel based MacBook Pro. Install the Doom 3 1.3.1 Rev A update (I found it through the Apple web page) before running this game on OSX 10.5. My OS version required me to open Audio MIDI setup, & change the Audio Output from 2ch-24 bit to 2ch-16 bit, otherwise audio would not work.
I encountered one freeze up during the early portion of the game, however the remainder of the game ran flawlessly. An immersing game, however a bit short IMHO.

And neither could I. I got the video game bug recently and so I set out to play some of my old favorites, as I usually prefer classics to the overly complicated new video games. So I started playing DOOM because it is rather quick to play and you can play for small periods of time without getting too sucked in. However, then I heard that during all the years of ignoring video games a new game in the DOOM series, DOOM 3, had been released. So, I got this and became completely engrossed! For the next several days it was just hours and hours and hours of non-stop, terrifying action. They've perfected something that I enjoyed about the Resident Evil series, which was that sense of terror that builds as lights go out or you hear guttural noises behind you, etc. If played in the dark, it is easy to get a little spooked! I liked that you're given a flashlight, I think this not only provided for better game play, but also enhanced the scariness, because you can't attack with your flashlight out, but without it, sometimes you can't see where the enemies are, so you're constantly switching between them. At first I was disappointed that there wasn't automatic vertical targeting, as I was playing this on my laptop and not a controller; but, I finally got to where I was able to fire and aim rather successfully. The story line is a sort-of reworking of the original DOOM story, but way more in-depth. I liked how this seemingly normal mission that you set out on just keeps spiraling and spiraling bigger and bigger. The monsters just keep getting tougher and tougher, and something I liked about this that the old games never had was that you need to use certain weapons to defeat certain enemies more easily. In the old games, I just always used what I had, and maybe saved some big stuff for episode ending bosses. However, in this game, there is more strategy in spray patterns, fire rate, etc. and the speed/size/strength of the enemy you're taking on. Also, the addition of the PDA was a nice touch, allowing you to delve deeper into characters and search for clues. So, check this one out, pretty great game!

The combat engine and AI are quite nice, and vast improvements over their predecessors. Gameplay stays fairly engaging throughout, though it feels a bit repetitive if played for more than an hour at a time. I think D3 has its biggest impact with the atmosphere it creates, which is effectively (if a bit unsubtly) creepy. Despite being a bit dated already, and a bit simpler than the most recent shooters, its worth the money for those who like action games.

I am running Doom 3 quite well (with a tweaked CFG- check out http://www.tweakguides.com/Doom3_1.html for the best Doom 3 tweaking guide I've come across, some tweaks are heavily beneficial!) on the following setup:
MDD G4 1GHz/1GB RAM/OS X 10.3.8/Radeon9800Pro GPU- the gameplay's more than acceptable in speed and absolutely gorgeous. [From what I've been reading and based on my experience] the GPU plays a major role in the performance of Doom 3 so I would definitely not have attempted this with a lesser graphics card.

If you're okay with getting creeped out (well you wouldn't be interested in this game otherwise, right?) I'd highly suggest playing this game with the lights out and a pair of headphones on (the sense of immersion given via the audio in this game is hair-raising!). Doom 3 plays audio and visual tricks on the player that'll make even the most hardcore horror movie buff spasming in reaction at least a handful of times- it's one thing to watch... it's another to get the sense of "being" there... and no 'scary' movie that I've seen in the last few years has made me jerk in reaction as much as Doom 3 has in the last week I've been playing it.

The visuals are stunning... even tweaked a bit extra for performance- some options (like bump mapping) which add/retain realism simply MUST be left on to avoid the game looking cartoon-like.

All in all... if you're running a setup with (at least) a similar configuration to mine I'd highly recommend Doom 3- IF it's your cup of tea.

NOTE: This game does not utilize multiple processors- so don't think a dual 867MHz G4 would perform as well as my 1GHz G4. :P

This is one of the best games ever. I used to play the original Doom on the PC years ago, so when I saw this I had to grab it. Game play is excellent. The graphics are out of this world. The online multiplayer game play is great as well. This game runs wonderful on my Power Mac G5. My system specs are as follows:

Power Mac G5 1.8ghz single processor
3gb of RAM
256mb ATI graphics card