DOOM Eternal Review (Xbox One)

DOOM Eternal takes place two years after the events of 2016’s DOOM as Earth has been overrun by demonic forces under the now-corrupted Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC) which has managed to wipe out 60% of the planet’s population. It’s once again up to the iconic Doom Slayer to save Earth with the help of his trusty arsenal of weapons and his satellite fortress controlled by former UAC A.I. VEGA.

DOOM Eternal is a fast-paced and crazy first-person shooter where players, as the aptly named Doom Slayer, have to make their way to hell and back and killing every demonic creation on the way. On that aspect, it’s similar to DOOM (2016) (dUh!), but id Software has slightly improved the already solid formula. Along with their vast array of firepower (from a shotgun all the way up to the BFG), the developers have given the Flame Belch ability to the Doom Slayer to shoot grenades from his left shoulder; standard or freeze grenades adding a bit of additional carnage to the chaos. Additionally the protagonist so they shoot fire from the character’s shoulder. This attack has an added perk as setting enemies on fire rewards the player with armor. No matter the size of the enemy, they will drop armor for a few seconds; quite useful when in a pickle. And yes, the chainsaw is still here. It, too, plays a fun role here besides slicing smaller enemies up close. Cut up enemies will drop ammo for all weapons, minus the BFG and Crucible. Another great way to get players out of a jam.

One thing the game has going for it is the sheer amount of secrets and collectibles the game has. Every level has a bevy of challenges and secrets to find. Some of them are simply tracks from Mick Gordon’s awesome score, toy enemies while others will be crystals or runes which allow you to upgrade your health/ammo and get additional skills such as having enemies in a longer stagger state period. Additionally, players can also find and use cheat codes. Cheat codes won’t hinder your progress and can be used to help find missing secrets. A fun mechanic too is the introduction of 1-up in the genre. Amidst the secret items are 1-ups which players can find to help them through the game. Once you died, instead of being thrown back to a checkpoint, you’re revived on the spot giving players a chance to find on without having to restart a rough section. And trust me, you’ll need them as the game is brutal. I did the review on Easy and it felt like the game’s Normal difficulty.

So you must be asking yourself: “Sounds pretty simple and intense! Sign me up!” Hold on there cowboy. While the general premise of shooting demons and making them explode sounds fun, id Software has added platforming sections. A lot. Of. Them. Unfortunately, as I’ve always said, platforming is cumbersome and annoying in FPS games as it’s never simple trying to figure where to land next; sometimes the game requires you to guess where to go mid-jump or mid-dash which will lead you down to your death. And falling in a platforming section will throw you back at the start of it. Granted, most of them aren’t that long, but it’s still annoying. At one point, I was asking myself if I was just playing an ultra-violent FPS spinoff of Tomb Raider. Besides, in a specific chapter, I was starting to ask myself if I wasn’t Mario Bros in a Bowser castle from Super Mario Bros due to the similarity of certain obstacles and environments.

The platforming also breaks the game’s otherwise fantastic and frantic pace where you have to keep moving while trying to kill everything that moves; it’s not easy, but it’s a hell of an adrenaline rush and no other games come close from delivering this type of unique DOOM action. So from going to shooting like crazy to roaming around, trying to find your path, do a few platforming sequences really breaks the flow of the game. To help find your way, at least, you’ll see green lights here and there to help guide you, but oftentimes, you have to second guess if that’s the right way because you can’t even be sure to make it with a double jump and dashing. And a lot of those jumps require precise jumping and timing and even then you’ll barely make it.

While the level design is pretty awesome, well thought out most of the time, some shooting sequences can be frustrating due to the level design. Often times, mostly towards the end where things can get really hectic, you can get stuck and bounced around like a ping pong ball between enemies. As I tried to get away from enemies and shooting them from afar, I’d be pushed from behind by another enemy onto the flock of incoming baddies making it impossible to escape thus leading to a cheap death. Keep in mind, it didn’t happen often, but dying meant having to restart the whole fight.

Unlike DOOM 2016’s excellent multiplayer selection, DOOM Eternal includes a brand new multiplayer mode called Battle Mode. Battlemode is a 1 vs 2 player mode where a player, as the Slayer, faces off against two-player demons. The first to win 3 rounds wins the match. Players as demons can summon minions and steal the replenishment items that come from a Doom Slayer kill. The player who performs the steal cannot (obviously) steal the items he drops. If a demon player dies, he will respawn 20 seconds later if the other demon player is still alive. However, they’ll do so at half health. Thankfully, demons can spawn regenerative health shields. As the Doom Slayer, players need to survive and eliminate both threats. It’s a fun diversion to the campaign, but it’s not as fun or crazy as DOOM 2016’s addictive multiplayer.

As you’d expect this late in this gen, DOOM Eternal looks great, even slightly better than its predecessor. The environments are highly detailed for the most part; earlier on. Late in the game, while chasing “something”, you’re running and jumping through bland and lifeless buildings. The latter is obvious as hell literally walked on Earth, but the grey-ish bland settings are a vast step down from the visuals of the overall game. On the soundtrack of things, Mick Gordon is back for another go providing another excellent heavy metal score to get you ripping and tearing, although it feels less impressive and somewhat near iconic than the DOOM 2016 soundtrack; mostly because we didn’t know what to expect with the predecessor, but it’s still a great soundtrack you’ll want to carry with you.

As much as I loved DOOM (2016) (minus one hair pulling section that I remember vividly), DOOM Eternal falls short of its predecessor. Maybe it’s because it was overhyped and saw it almost every 30 minutes on Twitter, but I had to push myself through the game. It does amazingly well what DOOM is: fast faced and frantic shooting, great soundtrack, and really cool demon design, but the platforming sections absolutely kills the game’s fast and energetic pace. DOOM Eternal is overall fun and frantic shooter to be experienced, unfortunately, the platforming drags down an otherwise intense run n’ gun shooter.

*This Review Code was so generously provided by the publisher for review*

Developer:id Software, Panic Button Games  Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Release date:  March 20, 2020
Platforms:  PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PC, Google Stadia
Platform Reviewed on: Xbox One