Doom : The Dark Ages, Review
The revitalised “Doom” games from Id Software are one of those real touchstones of “how to revisit” an old I.P right.
Id proved in 2016 that they knew how bring gruesome life to a long past I.P, and make it a smash hit again. Doom (2016) and Doom: Eternal are some of the best shooters of the last 10 years and now we have got Doom: The Dark Ages to dig into!
As with my previous Doom reviews at the Cottage, I will get this out of the way first up. Doom: The Dark Ages has excellent cutscenes, great character designs and voice acting. But as to what the story is exactly, I couldn’t say….and frankly I don’t care. This is Doom, the minions of Hell are doing bad stuff, so give be a shotgun and demons to blow-away, and that’s all the context I need.
With the previous refreshed-Dooms, Id has introduced new combat mechanics. Dark Ages is no different. This time round Id have introduced some bullet-hell mechanics and a parry system for the Doom Slayer to make use of.
Parry Mechanics…in a Doom game?! Say Whaaaaat!?!
To dig into the parry system, I need to first get the bullet-hell side of things explained. As they play off each other. So, Hell’s demons are still the fodder of choice for the Doom-Slayer-meat-grinder, but instead of the push and pull of combat being a dance of setting up finishers with pure gunplay like 2016 and Eternal. Id have introduced projectiles to be managed. Think Returnal or Ikaruga.
So like a bullet hell game, glowing orbs and lazers target the Slayer and they have to be dodged and parried to build damage and stun, particularly with majors and bosses. It’s not a must though, as lower difficulties can still be brute-forced with firepower. But as the game progresses and especially on high difficulties, parrying these glowing attacks is a must.
How does the Slayer “Parry”, I hear you ask? Well, with a chainsaw shield of course…what else would it be!?
It felt kind of like a first-person God of War shield parry, with plenty of time to hit it just right, followed by a satisfying “slow-down” on a perfect parry. The shield can also be thrown, God of War axe-styles, to one-shot ads or stun lock more powerful enemies.
The Doom Guy armoury returns with a trusty shotgun, plasma rifles, rockets, machine guns and even a gun that crashes human skulls and fire bone fragments in a swath of destruction infront of the slayer. Look, I could go on, but the core elements of Doom: The Dark Ages are awesome. The combat arenas, push and pull battles with awesome gameplay and interesting mechanics to keep players engaged. Great fun all at a buttery smooth 60 frames per second.
Out with the old, in with the new.
Id has seen fit to introduce some new gameplay sections. Akin to the old “turret” sections which was standard in every Xbox 360 shooter back in the day. Two of note come to mind, one being the piloting of a massive Doom Slayer Mech. A towering beast of robot, like Evangelion in size, that can go toe-to-toe with Hell’s massive demons.
And Dragon riding sections, which are a core gameplay element to clearing “air protection” on maps, to allow the Doom Slayer to be inserted into sections of the map for a ground assault. These Dragon sections are flashy, use the parry mechanics (in their own way) and fits with the Dark Ages, “Knights and Dragons” type identity of this title. But I did not enjoy them at all. Every time I boarded the dragon, I rolled my eyes and tried to get them out of the way as fast as I could. It felt like to much of a departure of what I wanted from a Doom game. Gimme guns and a horde to mow down….don’t get all “fancy” with it.
The only other issue, and this pains me to say. The music is nowhere close to the bone shatteringly good Heavy Metal tunes which were in the two previous games.
The drama around the previous music director is well thrashed out. But I gotta say, the man was a genius, and Dark Ages has suffered from not having him in the mix.Sounds good, but not, “I’m gonna add that to my Spotify playlist good”, the way that Doom 2016 banged.
Overall, Doom: The Dark Ages is excellent. Fun, frenetic and brutal. With just the right amount of challenge and stunning game design at almost every turn. And enough player options and difficulty settings, to make the game fun for everyone. I honestly think it hasn’t hit the sublime level of combat mechanics that Doom (2016) and Doom: Eternal achieved, but its pretty damn close.
That said, this is a solid trip back into Hell!
