Doom 3

***Doom 3*** (stylized as ***D00M3***) is a science fiction survival horror first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Activision. *Doom 3* was first released for Microsoft Windows on August 3, 2004. The game was later adapted for Linux, as well as being ported by Aspyr Media for Mac OS X. Developer Vicarious Vicious ported the game to the Xbox console (now backwards compatible to the Xbox 360), releasing it on April 3, 2005. British developers Splash Damage also assisted in design for the multiplayer elements of the game.

The game is a reboot of the *Doom* franchise, disregarding storylines of the previous *Doom* video games. *Doom 3* is set in 2145 on Mars, where a military-industrial conglomerate has set up a scientific research facility to research into fields such as teleportation, biological research and advanced weapons design. However, the teleportation experiments inadvertently open a gateway to Hell, resulting in a catastrophic invasion by demons. The player, an anonymous space marine, must fight through the base and find a way to stop the demons attacking Earth. *Doom 3* features an award-winning game engine, id Tech 4, which has since been licensed out to other developers, and later released under the GNU General Public License in November 2011.

The game was a critical and commercial success for id Software; with more than 3.5 million copies of the game sold, it is the most successful game by the developer to date. Critics praised the game's graphics and presentation,although reviewers were divided by how close the gameplay was to that of the original Doom, focusing primarily on simply fighting through large numbers of enemy characters. The game was followed by *Resurrection of Evil*, anexpansion pack developed by Nerve Software in April 2005, while a *Doom* film loosely based on the series was released in October 2005. A series of novelizations of *Doom 3*, written by Matthew J. Costello, debuted in February 2008. An expanded and improved *BFG Edition* was released in the fourth quarter of 2012. The franchise is set to continue with*Doom 4*.

## Gameplay

*Doom 3* is a story-driven action game played from a first-person perspective. As with previous *Doom* games, the main objective is to successfully pass through its levels, defeating a variety of enemy characters intent on killing the player's character. *Doom 3* '​s more story-centered approach, however, means that the player often encounters friendly non-player characters, who provide key plot information, objectives and inventory items. The game incorporates ten weapons for the player's use to survive, including conventional firearms and explosives such as a submachine gun, shotgun and grenades, experimental plasma weaponry, and the traditional BFG 9000 and chainsaw weapons of the *Doom* franchise. Enemies come in multiple forms and with different abilities and tactics, but fall into two broad categories of either zombies or demons. Zombies are humans possessed by demonic forces, who attack the player's character using their hands and melee weapons or a variety of firearms, while demons are creatures from Hell, most of which attack using claws and spines, or by summoning plasma-based fireballs. The corpses of demons are reduced to ashes after death, leaving no trace of their body behind.

The game's levels are fairly linear in nature and incorporate several horror elements, the most prominent of which is darkness. This design choice is not only intended to foster feelings of apprehension and fear within the player, but also to create a more threatening game environment in which the player is less likely to see attacking enemies. This aspect is further enhanced by the fact that the player must choose between holding a weapon and holding the flashlight (until the BFG editions released in 2012 made the "duct tape mod" a standard feature), forcing the player to choose between being able to see and having a readied weapon upon entering a room, which consequently leads to a more deliberate pace for the player.In addition, the levels are regularly strewn with corpses, dismembered body parts and blood, sometimes used in conjunction with the game's lighting to disorient the player.

Frequent radio transmissions through the player's communications device also add to the atmosphere, by broadcasting certain sounds and messages from non-player characters meant to unsettle the player. Early in the game, during and directly after the event that plunges the base into chaos, the player often hears the sounds of fighting, screaming and dying through their radio transmitter. The ambient sound is extended to the base itself through such things as hissing pipes, footsteps, and occasional jarringly loud noises from machinery or other sources. Often ambient sounds can be heard that resemble deep breathing, unexplained voices and demonic taunting from the game's antagonists.

Early in the game, the player is provided with a personal digital assistant. PDAs contain security clearance levels, allowing the player to access certain areas that are otherwise locked and off-limits. Additionally, the PDA can be used to read e-mails and play videos that the player's character acquires during the game. Whenever the player picks up any of the other PDAs found throughout the game, its contents are automatically downloaded to the player's own device. Other PDAs often contain e-mails and audio logs for other characters, which can provide useful information such as storage or door key codes, as well as significant plot details.

## Multiplayer

*Doom 3* was released with a four-player multiplayer element, featuring four game modes. However, the game's community created a modification to boost this to eight or sixteen players. The *Resurrection of Evil* expansion would later officially increase the player limit to eight. The four game modes are all deathmatches. The standard deathmatch game mode involves each player moving around a level, collecting weaponry and killing the other players, with the player with the highest kills when the time runs out winning. A team variation of this involves the same principle. The third game mode is "last man standing", in which each player has a limited amount of respawns, with players losing a life when they are killed. Eventually, all but one player will be eliminated from the game, leaving the survivor as the winner. The final game mode is "tournament", in which two players fight each other while the other players watch as spectators. The victor of the battle remains in the arena, facing each other player one at a time until the winner of previous rounds is defeated. The loser then moves to the spectators and the new winner remains to fight the next player. The Xbox version of *Doom 3* also incorporates an additional two-player co-operative mode for the main single-player game.

## Synopsis

Setting

*Doom 3* is set in the year 2145. Much of the game's story and dialogue was created by author Matthew J. Costello. According to the game's backstory, the Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC) has grown to become the largest corporate entity in existence, and has set up a research facility on Mars. At this base, the UAC are able to conduct research into several scientific areas, including advanced weapons development, biological research, space exploration and teleportation. On Mars, the UAC can perform its operations outside of legal and moral boundaries. As the player progresses through the game, they learn that the employees on the base are unsettled due to a large number of incidents involving hearing voices, unexplained sightings and increasing cases of paranoia and insanity, often leading to fatal accidents with the facility's machinery. Rumors regarding the nature of experiments in the UAC's Delta Labs division are especially prevalent among the base's employees.

Characters

There are five main characters in *Doom 3*. The player assumes the role of an anonymous space marine corporal who has just arrived on the UAC's Mars base. The player's non-commissioned officer in-charge is Master Sergeant Thomas Kelly, voiced by Neil Ross, who gives the player objectives and advice over the player's radio for the first half of the game. The antagonist in the story is Dr. Malcolm Betruger, head scientist of the UAC's enigmatic Delta Labs division, who is revealed to be working in collaboration with the forces of Hell to cause the subjugation of humanity. Betruger's demonic voice, provided by Philip L. Clarke, frequently taunts the player as the game progresses. The final two principal characters are Elliott Swann and Jack Campbell. Swann, voiced by Charles Dennis, is a representative of the UAC's board of directors, sent to check up on Betruger's research as well as investigate the rising number of accidents on the Mars base after a request for assistance from a whistleblower. He is almost always accompanied by Campbell, another space marine who acts as Swann's bodyguard and is armed with a BFG 9000. Campbell is voiced by Andy Chanley. Swann and Campbell are often shown in the game to be a few steps ahead of the player, but cannot be reached and directly communicated with until late in the game. The game also incorporates a large host of minor characters who add details to the story or assist the player in certain segments. The player encounters multiple scientists involved in the various research and development programs and archaeological digs through the UAC base, as well as fellow marines and security guards. Civilian employees engaged in bureaucratic work and maintenance workers are also seen.

Plot

The story of *Doom 3* is conveyed through in-game dialogue and cut scenes, as well as e-mails, audio logs and video files found throughout the game. The game opens with UAC board member Elliott Swann and his bodyguard Jack Campbell arriving at Mars City, the main access to the UAC's Mars base, disembarking from an Earth transport, with the player's anonymous marine just behind them. Swann and Campbell, here to investigate multiple incidents, have a heated conference meeting with the man in charge of the Mars laboratories, Dr. Malcolm Betruger while the marine heads to Master Sergeant Thomas Kelly for orders. Kelly gives the marine instructions to find a scientist from the Delta Labs who has gone missing. The marine finds the scientist in a nearby decommissioned communications facility, where he is frantically trying to send a warning to the UAC on Earth about Betruger's teleportation experiments. However, as he tries to explain the situation to the marine, another teleportation test takes place and loses containment, at which point the entire Mars base is swept with an unnatural shockwave. This transforms most of the base's personnel into zombies as the forces of Hell invade through the teleporter's portal.

Now forced to fend off attacks from zombified base personnel and the demons from Hell, the marine returns to Mars City, where Kelly remotely gives the marine orders to link up with another squad of marines (Bravo Team) and get a transmission card containing a distress call to the main communications facility to call for reinforcements. As the marine progresses through the base, he learns that Swann and Campbell have survived, and are also en route to the communications facility to prevent any messages being sent in hope of containing the situation on Mars. The marine squad is ambushed by demons and slaughtered in the EnPro Plant, and although the marine recovers the transmission card, he is too late to prevent the bulk of equipment at the communications facility being destroyed by Campbell. Kelly, however, directs the marine to a backup system, where the marine is given the choice of whether to obey Kelly's orders to send for reinforcements, or accept Swann's argument to keep Mars isolated until the exact nature of the invasion is understood, so as not to endanger Earth.The marine is told to go to the Delta Labs by Kelly or Swann, depending on whether the transmission is sent or not.

On the way to the Delta Labs, the marine is contacted by Betruger, who is now clearly shown to be working in cooperation with Hell in order to invade Earth. If the marine did not send the distress call to Earth, Betruger does so himself, hoping to use the ships bringing reinforcements to transport the demons to Earth. Betruger then unsuccessfully attempts to kill the marine using the toxic gases in the base's recycling facilities. Upon arriving at the Delta Labs, the marine learns of the details behind the teleportation experiments, expeditions into Hell to retrieve specimens and Betruger's increasing obsession with the tests, as well as of an archaeological dig under the surface of Mars. The dig is excavating the ruins of an ancient civilization discovered on Mars, and has produced a relic known as the Soul Cube. According to a scientist the marine finds alive in the labs, the Soul Cube is a weapon created by the ancient civilization to defend against the forces of Hell. The scientist also reveals that the invasion began when Betruger took the Soul Cube into the portal at the beginning of the game, depositing it in Hell. The marine pursues Betruger through the labs, but is pulled into the main teleportation portal after being lured into a trap by Betruger.

The portal takes the marine directly into Hell, where he proceeds to fight his way through the large number of demons to the Soul Cube, defeating its demonic guardian. The marine is then able to reinitialize the teleportation equipment left by research expeditions into Hell and return to the Delta Labs. Betruger, however, tells the marine that although the main UAC teleporter has been destroyed, Hell is opening a Hellmouth on Mars, capable of bringing millions of demons to Mars. Further in the Delta Labs, the marine encounters the injured Swann. Swann informs the marine that Kelly has been working with Hell for possibly the whole time, and has been transformed by the demons. Telling the marine that Campbell has gone after Kelly, Swann gives the marine his PDA containing information on the location on the Hellmouth under the surface of Mars and assures him that he will try to make his way out of the base alone.

However, when the marine catches up with Campbell in the central computer processing sector of the base, Campbell is mortally wounded and only has enough strength to say that Kelly has taken Campbell's BFG 9000 weapon before expiring. Kelly then begins to taunt the marine in a demonic voice. The marine eventually faces off with Kelly in the central computer core, revealing Kelly as a cybernetic human grafted onto a tank-like base. The marine is able to kill Kelly and takes the BFG 9000 before proceeding deeper under the Martian surface to Site 3, the archaeological dig site where the Soul Cube was unearthed. At the primary excavation site, the marine discovers the Hellmouth, defended by Hell's mightiest warrior, the Cyberdemon. Using the Soul Cube, the marine defeats the Cyberdemon in combat, and the Soul Cube then seals the Hellmouth. The ending cut scene shows the reinforcements from Earth arriving at the base to discover the carnage. They find the marine alive, but discover that Swann has died. They are, however, unable to locate Betruger, who in the final scene is shown in Hell, reincarnated as adragon-like demon.

## Expansions

On April 3, 2005, eight months after the release of *Doom 3*, id Software released an expansion pack for *Doom 3* on Windows. The expansion, entitled *Resurrection of Evil*, was developed by Nerve Software, a company that had partnered with id Software on several other projects, including *Return to Castle Wolfenstein* and theXbox conversion of *Doom*. Once again published by Activision, a Linux version was released on May 24, 2005, and an Xbox version followed on October 5, 2005.The expansion featured a new twelve-level single player campaign, set two years after the original storyline, as well as three new weapons, one of which is geared towards manipulating the physics in the game. Several new enemy characters were also introduced. Multiplayer gameplay was enhanced, officially increasing the player limit to eight and adding new game modes such as capture the flag. *Resurrection of Evil* '​s reception was not as positive as it had been for *Doom 3*, but still received generally favorable reviews from the industry's critics.

A re-release of *Doom 3* called *Doom 3: BFG Edition* was released on October 15, 2012, in Australia, October 16, 2012 in North America, October 19, 2012 in Europe and November 22, 2012 in Japan for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The *BFG Edition* features enhanced graphics, better sound with more horror effects, a checkpoint save system, and support for 3D displays and HMDs. The game also includes the previous expansion *Resurrection of Evil* and a new single-playerexpansion pack called *The Lost Mission*. Additionally, it includes copies of the original *Doom* (the *Ultimate Doom* edition with the add-on fourth episode, "Thy Flesh Consumed"), and *Doom II* with the expansion *No Rest for the Living*, previously available for the Xbox 360. The *BFG Edition* also features the ability to use the flashlight while holding a weapon, in the form of the so-called armor-mounted flashlight. The PC version of *Doom 3: BFG Edition* requires the Steam client and a valid Steam account for installation, play and achievements. The versions of Doom I and II released with BFG have been censored in some ways.