Doom 3
Encyclopedia
Doom 3 is a science fiction
horror
video game developed by id Software
and published by Activision
. An example of the first-person shooter
genre, 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 Visions
ported the game to the Xbox
console, 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 the 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 develop 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 demon
s. The player, an anonymous space marine
, must fight through the base and find a way to stop demons from Hell 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
, an expansion 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. The franchise is to continue with Doom 4
.
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 3s 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 grenade
s, 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 zombie
s or demon
s. 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.
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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, 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
(PDA
). 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.
oriented. 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.
As of April 15, 2010, online multiplayer for original Xbox games and downloadable content is no longer supported.
. 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
. Due to the facility's position 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.
corporal
who has just arrived on the UAC's Mars base. The player's non-comissioned 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. Taking an antagonistic role in the story is Doctor 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.
s, audio logs and video files found throughout the game. The game opens with Elliott Swann and 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 have a heated conference meeting with Malcolm Betruger as the first part of investigating the incidents and complaints about the facility, 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, transforming most of the base's personnel into zombie
s as the forces of Hell
invade through the teleporter's portal.
Now forced to fend off attacks from zombified base personnel and the demon
s 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 a dragon
-like demon.
game engine designer John Carmack posted an internal company plan announcing a remake of Doom using next generation technology. This plan revealed controversy had been growing within id Software over remaking Doom. Kevin Cloud
and Adrian Carmack
, two of id Software's owners, were always strongly opposed to remaking Doom, believing that id was going back to the same formulas and properties too often. However, after the positive reception to Return to Castle Wolfenstein
and the latest improvements in rendering technology, most of the employees agreed that a remake was the right idea and presented the two owners with an ultimatum: allow them to remake Doom or fire them. After the reasonably amicable confrontation (although artist Paul Steed
, one of the instigators, was fired in retaliation), the agreement to work on Doom 3 was made. id Software began development on Doom 3 in late 2000, immediately after finishing Quake III: Team Arena. In 2001, it was first shown to the public at Macworld Conference & Expo
in Tokyo
and was later demonstrated at E3 2002, where a fifteen-minute gameplay demo was shown. It won five awards at E3 that year.
Early in Doom 3s development, Trent Reznor
of the band Nine Inch Nails
, a fan of the Doom games, was set to compose the music and sound effects to Doom 3. However, due to "time, money and bad management", none of Trent Reznor's sound effects or music made the final product. Eventually, Nine Inch Nails' former drummer, Chris Vrenna, composed and performed the game's theme song. Doom 3 was also intended to be more storyline focused than previous id titles, as was demonstrated by the developers' conscious effort to have more professional voice acting. Late in 2002, two employees at ATI Technologies
leaked a development version of Doom 3 onto the Internet. One year later, a new trailer was shown at E3 2003 and soon afterwards id Software's website was updated to showcase Doom 3 as an upcoming project, although it was also announced that Doom 3 would not be ready for the 2003 holiday season. According to John Carmack, the development took longer than expected; originally, the game was planned for release in Christmas 2003.
Doom 3 achieved gold status on July 14, 2004 and a Mac OS X
release was confirmed the next day. Doom 3 was released in the United States
on August 3, 2004 and to the rest of the world on August 13. Due to high demand, the game was made available at select outlets at midnight on the date of release. Additionally, a Linux
version was released on October 4, 2004 by Timothee Besset
. The Mac OS X version was released on March 14, 2005 and on February 20, 2006 the patch 1.3 Rev A included a universal binary
, adding support for Mac OS X on the x86 architecture
. Finally, the modified Xbox conversion was released on April 3, 2005.
A week before the game's release, it became known that an agreement to include EAX
audio technology in Doom 3 reached by id Software and Creative Labs was heavily influenced by a software patent
owned by the latter company. The patent dealt with a technique for rendering shadows called Carmack's Reverse, which was developed independently by both John Carmack and programmers at Creative Labs. id Software would have placed themselves under legal liability for using the technique in the finished game, so to defuse the issue, id Software agreed to license Creative Labs sound technologies in exchange for indemnification against lawsuits.
According to John Carmack, the lead graphics engine developer at id Software, the technology of Doom 3 was supported by three primary features: unified lighting and shadowing
, complex animations and scripting that showed real-time with fully dynamic per-pixel lighting and stencil shadowing, and GUI
surfaces that add extra interactivity to the game. The key advance of the id Tech 4 graphics engine developed for Doom 3 is the unified lighting and shadowing. Rather than computing or rendering lightmaps during map creation and saving that information in the map data, most light sources are computed in real-time. This allows lights to cast shadows even on non-static objects such as monsters and machinery, which was impossible with static lightmaps. A shortcoming of this approach is the engine's inability to render soft shadows and global illumination
.
To increase the interactivity with the game-world, id Software designed hundreds of high-resolution animated screens for in-game computers. Rather than using a simple "use key" to operate these computers, the crosshair acts as a mouse cursor over the screens allowing the player to use a computer in the game world. This allows for in-game computer terminal to perform more than one function, from operating security door codes, activating machinery, toggling lights or unlocking weapons lockers. According to the Doom 3 manual, GUI designer Patrick Duffy wrote over 500,000 lines of script code, and generated more than 25,000 image files to create all of the graphical interfaces, computer screens, and displays throughout Doom 3. Other important features of the game engine are normal mapping
and specular highlighting of textures, realistic handling of object physics, dynamic, ambient soundtrack, and multi-channel sound. Doom 3 on Xbox
supports 480p
widescreen video display resolution and Dolby Digital 5.1
surround sound.
During the keynote address at QuakeCon 2011, John Carmack announced that the source code for Doom 3 would be released. The source code was open sourced under the GPL on November 22, 2011. It contains minor tweaks to the shadow rendering code to avoid potential patent infringement with a patent held by Creative Labs. Art assets such as 3D models, music, sound effects etc. remain subject to the EULA.
. 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 the Xbox
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 Evils reception was not as positive as it had been for Doom 3, but still received generally favorable reviews from the industry's critics.
; by the beginning of 2007, over 3.5 million copies of Doom 3 had been sold, making it the most successful project by id Software to date. The game engine for Doom 3, id Tech 4, has been successful enough to be licensed out for the use of other developers, such as in Human Head Studios
' Prey
, Raven Software
's Quake 4
, Splash Damage
's Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
, Raven Software
's Wolfenstein and Splash Damage
's Brink
.
Doom 3 received a favorable reception from critics, with the PC version of the game holding an 87 percent score and an 88 percent score at the review compilation sites Metacritic
and GameRankings respectively. Much praise was given to the quality of Doom 3s graphics and presentation; GameSpot
described the game's environments as "convincingly lifelike, densely atmospheric, and surprisingly expansive", while PC Gamer UK described the graphics and non-player character
modeling and animation as simply "flawless". IGN's
Dan Adams noted that the game's presentation comprised a remarkably high proportion of the game, stating that "without the atmosphere, Doom 3 is a plain shooter that hearkens back to those of the '90s." In addition, several reviewers praised id Software for making the game still look surprisingly good even on lower graphics levels. A number of reviewers also praised the attention paid to the game's premise and setting; GameSpot's Greg Kasavin described getting "the impression that Doom 3 takes place in a fully realized world" while IGN noted that "the UAC base also has a very worn and lived-in feel that adds to the realism." Eurogamer
in particular pointed out that the game's opening sequence "feels like a fitting tribute to the excellent ideas" of Valve Software
's genre-defining Half-Life.
Many reviewers noted that Doom 3 stuck with a similar "run and gun" gameplay style that was successful with its predecessors, and the game was alternately praised and criticized for this element. Several reviews were critical of a perceived repetitiveness in gameplay after a while. In addition, the game's artificial intelligence
was not regarded as particularly challenging, with GameSpot noting that "enemies follow the same sorts of predictable patterns that [players] may remember from previous Doom games" while GameSpy
stated the way enemies would spawn
to attack the player was "gimmicky"; the reviewer noted that players would realize that picking up a lone armor vest would cause a variety of zombies to emerge from hidden compartments in the dark. In addition, several reviewers noted that the game's methods of conveying the story were "ineffectual", compounded by the lack of an identity for the player character
. Finally, the game's multiplayer was seen as lacking in innovation, with its low player limits and small number of game modes, particularly in contrast to id Software's influential Quake III Arena
.
The Xbox version of Doom 3 received a similar level of critical support, holding a score of 88 percent on Metacritic and an 87.7 percent score on GameRankings. The game was praised and faulted on many of the same issues as the PC version, although the game was praised for maintaining smooth and user-friendly controls on a gamepad, as well as for including a two player co-operative multiplayer mode, which IGN described as "worth the price of admission alone." However, some criticism was directed towards slow-downs in play due to the game engine, despite being scaled down for the Xbox, still being demanding on the Xbox hardware.
from Nerve Software
, further developing the rebooted storyline and enhancing Doom 3s multiplayer. A Doom film
, loosely based on the franchise, followed soon after and was released on October 21, 2005 in the United States
and in the United Kingdom
on December 2, 2005. It was directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak
and starred Karl Urban
, Rosamund Pike
, and The Rock. The film did not fare well and received a poor critical response, with ticket sales for the opening weekend totalling more than US$
15.3 million, but promptly dropping to $4.2 million in its second weekend. In early 2008, the Doom novels were restarted by Matthew J. Costello
, a professional author who had worked on the story and scripts for Doom 3 and Resurrection of Evil. The series of books aim to novelize the story of Doom 3, with the first installment, Worlds on Fire
, published on February 26, 2008. The second book in the series, Maelstrom
, was released in March 2009. A further Doom game developed by id Software on their new id Tech 5
game engine, Doom 4
, was announced in May 2008, although the game is not going to continue the story of Doom 3. On November 22, 2011, the source code of the Doom 3 engine was released under the GPL, but its content is still remained under the EULA.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
video game developed by id Software
Id Software
Id Software is an American video game development company with its headquarters in Richardson, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack...
and published by Activision
Activision
Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
. An example of the first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
genre, Doom 3 was first released for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
on August 3, 2004. The game was later adapted for Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
, as well as being ported
Porting
In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
by Aspyr Media
Aspyr Media
Aspyr Media, Inc. is an Austin, Texas based company that specializes in porting Windows games to Mac OS. It has been in business since 1996, and as of 2003 owns 60 percent of the Mac entertainment market...
for Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
. Developer Vicarious Visions
Vicarious Visions
Vicarious Visions is an American video game developer founded by the high school brothers Karthik and Guha Bala in 1990, which developed some PC and Game Boy Color games in late 90's and 2000. They later developed Terminus, which won two Independent Games Festival Awards in 1999...
ported the game to the Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
console, releasing it on April 3, 2005. British developers Splash Damage
Splash Damage
Splash Damage is an independently-owned British game development company that specializes in multiplayer first-person shooter games. The studio is best known as the creator of the Enemy Territory franchise for id Software.-History:...
also assisted in design for the multiplayer elements of the game.
The game is a reboot of the Doom franchise
Doom (series)
Doom is a series of first-person shooter video games developed by id Software. The series focuses on the exploits of an unnamed space marine operating under the UAC , who fights hordes of undead and demons in order to survive...
, disregarding the storylines of the previous Doom video games. Doom 3 is set in 2145 on Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
, where a military-industrial conglomerate has set up a scientific research facility to develop fields such as teleportation
Teleportation
Teleportation is the fictional or imagined process by which matter is instantaneously transferred from one place to another.Teleportation may also refer to:*Quantum teleportation, a method of transmitting quantum data...
, biological research and advanced weapons design. However, the teleportation experiments inadvertently open a gateway to Hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
, resulting in a catastrophic invasion by demon
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
s. The player, an anonymous space marine
Space marine
The space marine, an archetype of science fiction, is a soldier that operates in outer space or on alien worlds. Historical marines fulfill amphibious roles: ship defence, landing parties, and general high-mobility deployments...
, must fight through the base and find a way to stop demons from Hell attacking Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
. 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
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
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
Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil
Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil is a first-person shooter video game developed by Nerve Software and id Software. It was released for the PC on April 3, 2005, as an expansion pack for Doom 3 and on October 5, 2005, for the Xbox video game console...
, an expansion pack
Expansion pack
An expansion pack, expansion set, or supplement is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game or video game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, and/or an extended storyline to a complete and already released game...
developed by Nerve Software
Nerve Software
Nerve Software is an American video game developer that was co-founded by ex-id Software employee Brandon James. Many of the original employees at Nerve were previously employed by Rogue Entertainment, another U.S...
in April 2005, while a Doom film
Doom (film)
Doom is a 2005 science fiction horror film, loosely based on the Doom series of video games created by id Software. It was directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak....
loosely based on the series was released in October 2005. A series of novelizations of Doom 3, written by Matthew J. Costello
Matthew J. Costello
Matthew J. Costello is the author or coauthor of numerous novels and nonfiction works. His articles have appeared in publications including the Los Angeles Times and Sports Illustrated. He scripted Trilobyte's bestselling CD-ROM interactive dramas The 7th Guest and its sequel The 11th Hour, as...
, debuted in February 2008. The franchise is to continue with Doom 4
Doom 4
Doom 4 is the upcoming multi-platform installment of the Doom series by id Software. The game will use the company's new id Tech 5 engine and is slated for simultaneous release on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360...
.
Single-player
Doom 3 is a story-driven action game played from a first-personFirst-person narrative
First-person point of view is a narrative mode where a story is narrated by one character at a time, speaking for and about themselves. First-person narrative may be singular, plural or multiple as well as being an authoritative, reliable or deceptive "voice" and represents point of view in the...
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
Player character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
. Doom 3s 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
Submachine gun
A submachine gun is an automatic carbine, designed to fire pistol cartridges. It combines the automatic fire of a machine gun with the cartridge of a pistol. The submachine gun was invented during World War I , but the apex of its use was during World War II when millions of the weapon type were...
, shotgun
Shotgun
A shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...
and grenade
Grenade
A grenade is a small explosive device that is projected a safe distance away by its user. Soldiers called grenadiers specialize in the use of grenades. The term hand grenade refers any grenade designed to be hand thrown. Grenade Launchers are firearms designed to fire explosive projectile grenades...
s, experimental plasma
Plasma (physics)
In physics and chemistry, plasma is a state of matter similar to gas in which a certain portion of the particles are ionized. Heating a gas may ionize its molecules or atoms , thus turning it into a plasma, which contains charged particles: positive ions and negative electrons or ions...
weaponry, and the traditional BFG 9000
BFG 9000
The BFG 9000 is a futuristic weapon found in the video game series Doom. The BFG 9000 is a huge, solid metal gun that fires balls of green plasma. The most powerful weapon in the games, it is capable of destroying nearly any player or enemy in the vicinity with a single hit...
and chainsaw
Chainsaw
A chainsaw is a portable mechanical saw, powered by electricity, compressed air, hydraulic power, or most commonly a two-stroke engine...
weapons of the Doom franchise. Enemies come in multiple forms and with different abilities and tactics, but fall into two broad categories of either zombie
Zombie
Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...
s or demon
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
s. 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
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
, 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.
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
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, 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
Personal digital assistant
A personal digital assistant , also known as a palmtop computer, or personal data assistant, is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. Current PDAs often have the ability to connect to the Internet...
(PDA
Personal digital assistant
A personal digital assistant , also known as a palmtop computer, or personal data assistant, is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. Current PDAs often have the ability to connect to the Internet...
). 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 deathmatchDeathmatch (gaming)
Deathmatch or Player vs All is a widely-used gameplay mode integrated into many shooter and real-time strategy computer games...
oriented. 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.
As of April 15, 2010, online multiplayer for original Xbox games and downloadable content is no longer supported.
Setting
Doom 3 is set in the year 214522nd century
The 22nd century is a century of the Christian Era or Common Era in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. It is the upcoming century, beginning on January 1, 2101 and ending on December 31, 2200.-Events:...
. Much of the game's story and dialogue was created by author Matthew J. Costello
Matthew J. Costello
Matthew J. Costello is the author or coauthor of numerous novels and nonfiction works. His articles have appeared in publications including the Los Angeles Times and Sports Illustrated. He scripted Trilobyte's bestselling CD-ROM interactive dramas The 7th Guest and its sequel The 11th Hour, as...
. 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
Space exploration
Space exploration is the use of space technology to explore outer space. Physical exploration of space is conducted both by human spaceflights and by robotic spacecraft....
and teleportation
Teleportation
Teleportation is the fictional or imagined process by which matter is instantaneously transferred from one place to another.Teleportation may also refer to:*Quantum teleportation, a method of transmitting quantum data...
. Due to the facility's position 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
Paranoia
Paranoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...
and insanity
Insanity
Insanity, craziness or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity may manifest as violations of societal norms, including becoming a danger to themselves and others, though not all such acts are considered 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 marineSpace marine
The space marine, an archetype of science fiction, is a soldier that operates in outer space or on alien worlds. Historical marines fulfill amphibious roles: ship defence, landing parties, and general high-mobility deployments...
corporal
Corporal
Corporal is a rank in use in some form by most militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. It is usually equivalent to NATO Rank Code OR-4....
who has just arrived on the UAC's Mars base. The player's non-comissioned officer in-charge is Master Sergeant
Master Sergeant
A master sergeant is the military rank for a senior non-commissioned officer in some armed forces.-Israel Defense Forces:Rav samal rishoninsignia IDF...
Thomas Kelly, voiced by Neil Ross
Neil Ross
Theodoric Neilson "Neil" Ross is an English voice actor and announcer, born in London, England and now resident and working in Los Angeles, in the United States. He has provided voices for in many American cartoons, particularly those based on Hasbro products and Marvel Comics, and numerous...
, who gives the player objectives and advice over the player's radio for the first half of the game. Taking an antagonistic role in the story is Doctor 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
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
to cause the subjugation of humanity. Betruger's demonic voice, provided by Philip L. Clarke
Philip L. Clarke
Philip Lewis Clarke is an American voice actor. He has provided voices in various TV series, films, and video games, but is most notable for his leading role as Malcolm Betruger in Doom 3. He also voiced the villain Doctor Go in Challenge of the GoBots....
, 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
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
, 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
Whistleblower
A whistleblower is a person who tells the public or someone in authority about alleged dishonest or illegal activities occurring in a government department, a public or private organization, or a company...
. He is almost always accompanied by Campbell, another space marine who acts as Swann's bodyguard
Bodyguard
A bodyguard is a type of security operative or government agent who protects a person—usually a famous, wealthy, or politically important figure—from assault, kidnapping, assassination, stalking, loss of confidential information, terrorist attack or other threats.Most important public figures such...
and is armed with a BFG 9000
BFG 9000
The BFG 9000 is a futuristic weapon found in the video game series Doom. The BFG 9000 is a huge, solid metal gun that fires balls of green plasma. The most powerful weapon in the games, it is capable of destroying nearly any player or enemy in the vicinity with a single hit...
. Campbell is voiced by Andy Chanley
Andy Chanley
Andy Chanley is an American voice-over artist, actor, and radio personality.He is a native of Greenwood, IN, a small suburb SE of Indianapolis in Johnson Co. He attended Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN, where he wrote for and served as managing editor of the university newspaper, the...
. 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-mailE-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
s, audio logs and video files found throughout the game. The game opens with Elliott Swann and 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
Doomguy
The Doomguy is the protagonist of the Doom series of video games created by id Software, and its sequels and spin-off media.In all the games, he is a UN marine, wearing green combat armor, working with the Union Aerospace Corporation. He never speaks . In the games, he is never referred to by name...
just behind them. Swann and Campbell have a heated conference meeting with Malcolm Betruger as the first part of investigating the incidents and complaints about the facility, 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
Teleportation
Teleportation is the fictional or imagined process by which matter is instantaneously transferred from one place to another.Teleportation may also refer to:*Quantum teleportation, a method of transmitting quantum data...
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, transforming most of the base's personnel into zombie
Zombie
Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...
s as the forces of Hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
invade through the teleporter's portal.
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
s 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
Xenoarchaeology
Xenoarchaeology is a hypothetical form of archaeology that exists mainly in science fiction works concerned with the physical remains of past alien life and cultures...
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
Hellmouth
Hellmouth is the entrance to Hell envisaged as the gaping mouth of a huge monster, an image which first appears in Anglo-Saxon art, and then spread all over Europe, remaining very common in depictions of the Last Judgment and Harrowing of Hell until the end of the Middle Ages, and still sometimes...
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
BFG 9000
The BFG 9000 is a futuristic weapon found in the video game series Doom. The BFG 9000 is a huge, solid metal gun that fires balls of green plasma. The most powerful weapon in the games, it is capable of destroying nearly any player or enemy in the vicinity with a single hit...
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 a dragon
Dragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
-like demon.
Production
In June 2000, id Software'sId Software
Id Software is an American video game development company with its headquarters in Richardson, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack...
game engine designer John Carmack posted an internal company plan announcing a remake of Doom using next generation technology. This plan revealed controversy had been growing within id Software over remaking Doom. Kevin Cloud
Kevin Cloud
Kevin Cloud is a computer games graphic designer from Shreveport, LA. He was hired in 1992 by id Software to work as an assistant artist to the then lead artist, Adrian Carmack. Prior to that, he was employed by Softdisk, where several other id founders worked. During part of his employment at...
and Adrian Carmack
Adrian Carmack
Adrian Carmack is one of the four founders of id Software, along with Tom Hall, John Romero, and John D. Carmack . He had worked there as an artist. He was a major stock owner of id Software until he left the company....
, two of id Software's owners, were always strongly opposed to remaking Doom, believing that id was going back to the same formulas and properties too often. However, after the positive reception to Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Return to Castle Wolfenstein is a first person shooter video game published by Activision and originally released on November 19, 2001 for Microsoft Windows. It was made available on Steam on August 3, 2007. The single player game was developed by Gray Matter Interactive and Nerve Software...
and the latest improvements in rendering technology, most of the employees agreed that a remake was the right idea and presented the two owners with an ultimatum: allow them to remake Doom or fire them. After the reasonably amicable confrontation (although artist Paul Steed
Paul Steed
Paul Howard Steed, Jr is a video game modeller and artist. He has worked for Origin Systems, Electronic Arts, id Software, Wild Tangent, Microsoft's Xbox, Atari, and now Exigent. He created artwork or models for several prominent game series including Wing Commander and Quake...
, one of the instigators, was fired in retaliation), the agreement to work on Doom 3 was made. id Software began development on Doom 3 in late 2000, immediately after finishing Quake III: Team Arena. In 2001, it was first shown to the public at Macworld Conference & Expo
Macworld Conference & Expo
Produced by Boston-based IDG World Expo, Macworld | iWorld is a trade-show with conference tracks dedicated to the Apple Macintosh platform. It is held annually in the United States, usually during the second week of January...
in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
and was later demonstrated at E3 2002, where a fifteen-minute gameplay demo was shown. It won five awards at E3 that year.
Early in Doom 3s development, Trent Reznor
Trent Reznor
Michael Trent Reznor is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, record producer, and leader of industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. Reznor is also a member of How to Destroy Angels alongside his wife, Mariqueen Maandig, and Atticus Ross. He was previously associated with bands Option 30,...
of the band Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
, a fan of the Doom games, was set to compose the music and sound effects to Doom 3. However, due to "time, money and bad management", none of Trent Reznor's sound effects or music made the final product. Eventually, Nine Inch Nails' former drummer, Chris Vrenna, composed and performed the game's theme song. Doom 3 was also intended to be more storyline focused than previous id titles, as was demonstrated by the developers' conscious effort to have more professional voice acting. Late in 2002, two employees at ATI Technologies
ATI Technologies
ATI Technologies Inc. was a semiconductor technology corporation based in Markham, Ontario, Canada, that specialized in the development of graphics processing units and chipsets. Founded in 1985 as Array Technologies Inc., the company was listed publicly in 1993 and was acquired by Advanced Micro...
leaked a development version of Doom 3 onto the Internet. One year later, a new trailer was shown at E3 2003 and soon afterwards id Software's website was updated to showcase Doom 3 as an upcoming project, although it was also announced that Doom 3 would not be ready for the 2003 holiday season. According to John Carmack, the development took longer than expected; originally, the game was planned for release in Christmas 2003.
Doom 3 achieved gold status on July 14, 2004 and a Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
release was confirmed the next day. Doom 3 was released in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on August 3, 2004 and to the rest of the world on August 13. Due to high demand, the game was made available at select outlets at midnight on the date of release. Additionally, a Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
version was released on October 4, 2004 by Timothee Besset
Timothee Besset
Timothee Besset is a software programmer currently employed by id Software who is most well known for creating and supporting Linux, as well as some Macintosh, ports of id Software's products. He has been involved with the game ports of various id properties over the past ten years, starting with...
. The Mac OS X version was released on March 14, 2005 and on February 20, 2006 the patch 1.3 Rev A included a universal binary
Universal binary
A universal binary is, in Apple parlance, an executable file or application bundle that runs natively on either PowerPC or Intel-manufactured IA-32 or Intel 64-based Macintosh computers; it is an implementation of the concept more generally known as a fat binary.With the release of Mac OS X Snow...
, adding support for Mac OS X on the x86 architecture
X86 architecture
The term x86 refers to a family of instruction set architectures based on the Intel 8086 CPU. The 8086 was launched in 1978 as a fully 16-bit extension of Intel's 8-bit based 8080 microprocessor and also introduced segmentation to overcome the 16-bit addressing barrier of such designs...
. Finally, the modified Xbox conversion was released on April 3, 2005.
A week before the game's release, it became known that an agreement to include EAX
Environmental audio extensions
The environmental audio extensions are a number of digital signal processing presets for audio, present in Creative Technology's later Sound Blaster sound cards and the Creative NOMAD/Creative ZEN product lines...
audio technology in Doom 3 reached by id Software and Creative Labs was heavily influenced by a software patent
Software patent
Software patent does not have a universally accepted definition. One definition suggested by the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure is that a software patent is a "patent on any performance of a computer realised by means of a computer program".In 2005, the European Patent Office...
owned by the latter company. The patent dealt with a technique for rendering shadows called Carmack's Reverse, which was developed independently by both John Carmack and programmers at Creative Labs. id Software would have placed themselves under legal liability for using the technique in the finished game, so to defuse the issue, id Software agreed to license Creative Labs sound technologies in exchange for indemnification against lawsuits.
Technology
Unified lighting and shadowing
Unified shadow and lighting is the lighting model used in the Doom 3 game developed by id Software.Previous 3D games like Quake III Arena, used separate lighting models for determining how a light would illuminate a character or a map...
, complex animations and scripting that showed real-time with fully dynamic per-pixel lighting and stencil shadowing, and GUI
Gui
Gui or guee is a generic term to refer to grilled dishes in Korean cuisine. These most commonly have meat or fish as their primary ingredient, but may in some cases also comprise grilled vegetables or other vegetarian ingredients. The term derives from the verb, "gupda" in Korean, which literally...
surfaces that add extra interactivity to the game. The key advance of the id Tech 4 graphics engine developed for Doom 3 is the unified lighting and shadowing. Rather than computing or rendering lightmaps during map creation and saving that information in the map data, most light sources are computed in real-time. This allows lights to cast shadows even on non-static objects such as monsters and machinery, which was impossible with static lightmaps. A shortcoming of this approach is the engine's inability to render soft shadows and global illumination
Global illumination
Global illumination is a general name for a group of algorithms used in 3D computer graphics that are meant to add more realistic lighting to 3D scenes...
.
To increase the interactivity with the game-world, id Software designed hundreds of high-resolution animated screens for in-game computers. Rather than using a simple "use key" to operate these computers, the crosshair acts as a mouse cursor over the screens allowing the player to use a computer in the game world. This allows for in-game computer terminal to perform more than one function, from operating security door codes, activating machinery, toggling lights or unlocking weapons lockers. According to the Doom 3 manual, GUI designer Patrick Duffy wrote over 500,000 lines of script code, and generated more than 25,000 image files to create all of the graphical interfaces, computer screens, and displays throughout Doom 3. Other important features of the game engine are normal mapping
Normal mapping
In 3D computer graphics, normal mapping, or "Dot3 bump mapping", is a technique used for faking the lighting of bumps and dents. It is used to add details without using more polygons. A common use of this technique is to greatly enhance the appearance and details of a low polygon model by...
and specular highlighting of textures, realistic handling of object physics, dynamic, ambient soundtrack, and multi-channel sound. Doom 3 on Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
supports 480p
480p
480p is the shorthand name for a video display resolution. The p stands for progressive scan, i.e. non-interlaced. The 480 denotes a vertical resolution of 480 pixel high vertically scanning lines, usually with a horizontal resolution of 640 pixels and 4:3 aspect ratio or a horizontal resolution of...
widescreen video display resolution and Dolby Digital 5.1
Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital is the name for audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. It was originally called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1994. Except for Dolby TrueHD, the audio compression is lossy. The first use of Dolby Digital was to provide digital sound in cinemas from 35mm film prints...
surround sound.
During the keynote address at QuakeCon 2011, John Carmack announced that the source code for Doom 3 would be released. The source code was open sourced under the GPL on November 22, 2011. It contains minor tweaks to the shadow rendering code to avoid potential patent infringement with a patent held by Creative Labs. Art assets such as 3D models, music, sound effects etc. remain subject to the EULA.
Expansion
On April 3, 2005, id Software released an expansion for Doom 3 on WindowsMicrosoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
. The expansion, entitled Resurrection of Evil, was developed by Nerve Software
Nerve Software
Nerve Software is an American video game developer that was co-founded by ex-id Software employee Brandon James. Many of the original employees at Nerve were previously employed by Rogue Entertainment, another U.S...
, a company that had partnered with id Software on several other projects, including Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Return to Castle Wolfenstein is a first person shooter video game published by Activision and originally released on November 19, 2001 for Microsoft Windows. It was made available on Steam on August 3, 2007. The single player game was developed by Gray Matter Interactive and Nerve Software...
and the Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
conversion of Doom. Once again published by Activision
Activision
Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
, a Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
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
Game physics
Computer animation physics or game physics involves the introduction of the laws of physics into a simulation or game engine, particularly in 3D computer graphics, for the purpose of making the effects appear more real to the observer...
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
Capture the flag
Capture the Flag is a traditional outdoor sport generally played by children, where two teams each have a flag and the objective is to capture the other team's flag, located at the team's "base," and bring it safely back to their own base...
. Resurrection of Evils reception was not as positive as it had been for Doom 3, but still received generally favorable reviews from the industry's critics.
Critical reception
Doom 3 was a critical and commercial success for id SoftwareId Software
Id Software is an American video game development company with its headquarters in Richardson, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack...
; by the beginning of 2007, over 3.5 million copies of Doom 3 had been sold, making it the most successful project by id Software to date. The game engine for Doom 3, id Tech 4, has been successful enough to be licensed out for the use of other developers, such as in Human Head Studios
Human Head Studios
Human Head Studios is a computer game development company located in Madison, Wisconsin.It was founded in October 1997 by a group of six developers formerly from Raven Software: Chris Rhinehart, Paul MacArthur, Shane Gurno, Ben Gokey, James Sumwalt, and Ted Halsted—later joined by game producer Tim...
' Prey
Prey (video game)
Prey is a first-person shooter video game developed by Human Head Studios , and published by 2K Games. The Xbox 360 version was ported by Venom Games. The game was initially released in North America and Europe on 11 July 2006...
, Raven Software
Raven Software
Raven Software is an American video game developer. The company was founded in 1990 by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel. In 1997, Raven made an exclusive publishing deal with Activision and was subsequently acquired by them...
's Quake 4
Quake 4
Quake 4 is the fourth title in the series of Quake first-person shooter computer games. The game was developed by Raven Software and published by Activision. Raven Software has collaborated with id Software, the creators and historical developers of preceding Quake games...
, Splash Damage
Splash Damage
Splash Damage is an independently-owned British game development company that specializes in multiplayer first-person shooter games. The studio is best known as the creator of the Enemy Territory franchise for id Software.-History:...
's Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is a first-person shooter video game, and is the follow-up to the 2005 title Quake 4. It is also the first game in the series to be rated T by the ESRB...
, Raven Software
Raven Software
Raven Software is an American video game developer. The company was founded in 1990 by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel. In 1997, Raven made an exclusive publishing deal with Activision and was subsequently acquired by them...
's Wolfenstein and Splash Damage
Splash Damage
Splash Damage is an independently-owned British game development company that specializes in multiplayer first-person shooter games. The studio is best known as the creator of the Enemy Territory franchise for id Software.-History:...
's Brink
Brink (video game)
Brink is a first-person shooter video game developed by Splash Damage for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360...
.
Doom 3 received a favorable reception from critics, with the PC version of the game holding an 87 percent score and an 88 percent score at the review compilation sites Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
and GameRankings respectively. Much praise was given to the quality of Doom 3s graphics and presentation; GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
described the game's environments as "convincingly lifelike, densely atmospheric, and surprisingly expansive", while PC Gamer UK described the graphics and non-player character
Non-player character
A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...
modeling and animation as simply "flawless". IGN's
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
Dan Adams noted that the game's presentation comprised a remarkably high proportion of the game, stating that "without the atmosphere, Doom 3 is a plain shooter that hearkens back to those of the '90s." In addition, several reviewers praised id Software for making the game still look surprisingly good even on lower graphics levels. A number of reviewers also praised the attention paid to the game's premise and setting; GameSpot's Greg Kasavin described getting "the impression that Doom 3 takes place in a fully realized world" while IGN noted that "the UAC base also has a very worn and lived-in feel that adds to the realism." Eurogamer
Eurogamer
Eurogamer is a Brighton-based website focused on video games news, reviews, previews and interviews. It is operated by Eurogamer Network Ltd., which was formed in 1999 by brothers Rupert and Nick Loman. Eurogamer has grown to become one of the most important European-based websites focused on...
in particular pointed out that the game's opening sequence "feels like a fitting tribute to the excellent ideas" of Valve Software
Valve Corporation
Valve Corporation is an American video game development and digital distribution company based in Bellevue, Washington, United States...
's genre-defining Half-Life.
Many reviewers noted that Doom 3 stuck with a similar "run and gun" gameplay style that was successful with its predecessors, and the game was alternately praised and criticized for this element. Several reviews were critical of a perceived repetitiveness in gameplay after a while. In addition, the game's artificial intelligence
Game artificial intelligence
Game artificial intelligence refers to techniques used in computer and video games to produce the illusion of intelligence in the behavior of non-player characters . The techniques used typically draw upon existing methods from the field of artificial intelligence...
was not regarded as particularly challenging, with GameSpot noting that "enemies follow the same sorts of predictable patterns that [players] may remember from previous Doom games" while GameSpy
GameSpy
GameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...
stated the way enemies would spawn
Spawning (computer gaming)
In video games, spawning is the live creation of a character or item. Respawning is the recreation of an entity after its death or destruction....
to attack the player was "gimmicky"; the reviewer noted that players would realize that picking up a lone armor vest would cause a variety of zombies to emerge from hidden compartments in the dark. In addition, several reviewers noted that the game's methods of conveying the story were "ineffectual", compounded by the lack of an identity for the player character
Player character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
. Finally, the game's multiplayer was seen as lacking in innovation, with its low player limits and small number of game modes, particularly in contrast to id Software's influential Quake III Arena
Quake III Arena
Quake III Arena , is a multiplayer first-person shooter video game released on December 2, 1999. The game was developed by id Software and featured music composed by Sonic Mayhem and Front Line Assembly...
.
The Xbox version of Doom 3 received a similar level of critical support, holding a score of 88 percent on Metacritic and an 87.7 percent score on GameRankings. The game was praised and faulted on many of the same issues as the PC version, although the game was praised for maintaining smooth and user-friendly controls on a gamepad, as well as for including a two player co-operative multiplayer mode, which IGN described as "worth the price of admission alone." However, some criticism was directed towards slow-downs in play due to the game engine, despite being scaled down for the Xbox, still being demanding on the Xbox hardware.
Legacy
Doom 3 signalled the return of the Doom franchise to the forefront of the computer and video game industry, eleven years after the release of the original Doom. Eight months after the release of Doom 3, the game received the expansion pack Resurrection of EvilDoom 3: Resurrection of Evil
Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil is a first-person shooter video game developed by Nerve Software and id Software. It was released for the PC on April 3, 2005, as an expansion pack for Doom 3 and on October 5, 2005, for the Xbox video game console...
from Nerve Software
Nerve Software
Nerve Software is an American video game developer that was co-founded by ex-id Software employee Brandon James. Many of the original employees at Nerve were previously employed by Rogue Entertainment, another U.S...
, further developing the rebooted storyline and enhancing Doom 3s multiplayer. A Doom film
Doom (film)
Doom is a 2005 science fiction horror film, loosely based on the Doom series of video games created by id Software. It was directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak....
, loosely based on the franchise, followed soon after and was released on October 21, 2005 in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
on December 2, 2005. It was directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak
Andrzej Bartkowiak
Andrzej Bartkowiak, A.S.C. is a Polish cinematographer and director.In the early 1980s, Bartkowiak was cinematographer on three films that received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture: The Verdict, Terms of Endearment, and Prizzi's Honor.As cinematographer he has collaborated with several...
and starred Karl Urban
Karl Urban
Karl-Heinz Urban is a New Zealand actor.He is known for playing Éomer in the second and third installments of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy in the 2009 film Star Trek and Julius Caesar on Xena: Warrior Princess...
, Rosamund Pike
Rosamund Pike
Rosamund Mary Elizabeth Pike is a British actress. Her film roles include villainous Bond girl Miranda Frost in Die Another Day, Jane Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, Helen in An Education, Lisa in Made in Dagenham, Miriam Grant-Panofsky in Barney's Version and Kate Sumner in Johnny English...
, and The Rock. The film did not fare well and received a poor critical response, with ticket sales for the opening weekend totalling more than US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
15.3 million, but promptly dropping to $4.2 million in its second weekend. In early 2008, the Doom novels were restarted by Matthew J. Costello
Matthew J. Costello
Matthew J. Costello is the author or coauthor of numerous novels and nonfiction works. His articles have appeared in publications including the Los Angeles Times and Sports Illustrated. He scripted Trilobyte's bestselling CD-ROM interactive dramas The 7th Guest and its sequel The 11th Hour, as...
, a professional author who had worked on the story and scripts for Doom 3 and Resurrection of Evil. The series of books aim to novelize the story of Doom 3, with the first installment, Worlds on Fire
Doom 3: Worlds on Fire
Doom 3: Worlds on Fire is the first book in a planned series of three novels. Before writing the book, its author Matthew Costello, wrote the scripts for Doom 3 and Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil.-Synopsis:...
, published on February 26, 2008. The second book in the series, Maelstrom
Doom 3: Maelstrom
Doom 3: Maelstrom is the second book in a series of three novels regarding Doom 3. The book was released in March 2009. Before writing the book, its author Matthew J...
, was released in March 2009. A further Doom game developed by id Software on their new id Tech 5
Id Tech 5
id Tech 5 is the latest proprietary game engine being developed by id Software, currently still being actively upgraded, and follows its predecessors, id Tech 1, 2, 3 and 4. It is a major advancement over id Tech 4. The engine was first demonstrated at the WWDC 2007 by John D...
game engine, Doom 4
Doom 4
Doom 4 is the upcoming multi-platform installment of the Doom series by id Software. The game will use the company's new id Tech 5 engine and is slated for simultaneous release on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360...
, was announced in May 2008, although the game is not going to continue the story of Doom 3. On November 22, 2011, the source code of the Doom 3 engine was released under the GPL, but its content is still remained under the EULA.
External links
- Doom 3 official website, retrieved from archived version of January 4, 2008
- id Software official company website
- Edge Magazine Remembering Doom 3
- Edge Magazine Time Extend: Doom 3
- Source code in GithubGithubGitHub is a web-based hosting service for software development projects that use the Git revision control system. GitHub offers both commercial plans and free accounts for open source projects...
under GPL license