Graphics:
Having gushed about the visuals in my original Doom 3 review, it probably comes as no surprise that I still love them in this sequel. In the eight months since I have played the original, I have seen nothing that even comes close to the quality of the rendered indoor environments depicted in this franchise. The high-tech post-modern industrial settings, filled with unworldly machines, continue to be beautiful and fascinating. In this release the new foes you face are if anything more exquisitely rendered than those in its predecessor, with more realistic and frightening appearance and movement; some are just so ominous and so exquisitely animated that you just cannot keep yourself from jumping back from the computer screen when they lunge at you. Whether you appreciate its powers or not, the image of the pulsating artifact is downright unnerving. The settings continue to be dark, though not quite so much as in the original, and in the dim light what you see is just awesome. The doors and portals are particularly noteworthy, both in their appearance and in the way they open and close.

The special visual effects include real-time dynamic lighting and shadows, which are still the best there is and truly have to be seen to be believed; bump-mapping on every surface of the realistic environments and characters; multiple levels of anti-aliasing; and a complex skeletal animation system. There are, however, fewer cinematic cut scenes and PDA videos than in the original, and that is a shortcoming. It is nice nonetheless that the minimum system requirements are identical to those in the original Doom 3, and that the fluidity of the animation is just as high as before.

Interface: The controls in Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil continue to be both totally intuitive and highly responsive. A completely customizable version of the standard FPS mouse-keyboard combination is available for use. You still have to make a choice between a flashlight and a weapon in pitch-dark areas, but as with the original Doom 3 I feel that this not only helps the horror element but also facilitates interesting tactical choices.

This title has a clear and no-frills menu interface just like its predecessor. Anytime you locate something you need to operate within the game environment, it is very easy to figure out how to make it do what you want to.

As before, you may save and load wherever you wish. The only downside is that, when I installed this sequel on my computer, because it contains a newer version of the engine (1.2) than I had installed in the original Doom 3, all of my saves for that release were wiped out, replaced by simple beginning-of-level retrieval points.

Gameplay:
The gameplay in Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil is clearly in the exact same vein as its predecessor, and does not deviate at all from the spirit of this illustrious franchise. The scariness continues, even though you do not experience jump-out-of-your-seat horror. While there is a graphic depiction of carnage, you never feel that the inclusion of the blood-and-guts element is simply gratuitous. This is a straight action shooter, and if anything there are even fewer puzzles than in its predecessor (the principal enigmas focus on discovering security access codes). You may, however, still interact usefully with numerous computer screens you encounter along the way. No injection of team management (although the nearly-invulnerable sentry droid helps at times) or vehicle antics interferes with the pure simplicity of the challenges.

However, some key limitations are present. Most of the time your progression is quite linear (although there are a few spots where you have at least a couple of paths available); the triggers for monsters appearing are relatively predictable; and the Personal Data Assistant, while still highly enjoyable and informative, does not play as large or intriguing a role in the skimpier story progression.

For an expansion pack, you get more than your money’s worth in terms of the time it takes to get from beginning to end. If you carefully examine everything and read all the PDA logs, this title could absorb around 15 hours of your time. So although this is considerably shorter than the original release, it is more than acceptable for an expansion pack.

Multiplayer: Although Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil emphasizes the single-player campaign (a focus I wholeheartedly support), five multiplayer modes are available over a LAN or the Internet: deathmatch, team deathmatch, last man standing, tournament (a one-on-one battle), and capture the flag. This last mode (developed by Threewave) is brand-new, involves two teams of up to four players, and it is really fun. Without introducing any major innovations, the multiplayer levels are well designed and reasonably complicated and multifaceted, affording players a decent challenge that really serves to extend the play value of the release. Now there is support for up to eight players instead of four, and even with this increase little lag is evident.

Sound FX:
Once again the sound effects in this latest installment in the Doom series match the incredible quality of the graphics. Aside from the omnipresent terrifying groans from monsters, you hear machinery, steam, mysterious clicks and whirring noises, and other mechanical sounds that are quite jolting. The weapons blasts are both distinctive and impressive, particularly the boom of the double-barreled shotgun. The vocal effects are uniformly convincing, with the narrator of the PDA Union Aerospace Corporation videos once again an absolute standout, and well-scripted without having to resort to foul language for emotional impact. Sometimes it is hard to hear the human audio transmissions with all the other noises in the background, but that is a very minor issue. The real-time 5.1 surround sound is simply the best I have ever heard in a computer game, giving you clear audio clues about the direction of the next attack against you.

Musical Score: The minimalist musical soundtrack in Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil is designed to set the background mood and does not play a major role in the gameplay. The score behind the title screen, while not of epic quality, is highly appropriate and is identical to that in the original Doom 3. You generally hear just a few notes at key points during the action. In this case, however, less is more.

Intelligence & Difficulty: As with its predecessor, Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil has four levels of difficulty — Recruit, Marine, Veteran, and Nightmare (this last level is not open at the outset). Regardless of what level you choose, the difficulty in ramps up dramatically in the course of the gameplay, despite the frequent availability of health, armor, and ammunition pickups. By the time you reach the play segments near the end, the challenge is much higher than at any place in the original Doom 3. The mechanism for this increased challenge is the introduction of scores of creatures attacking you at once, almost as overwhelming as the swarms in the Serious Sam series, forcing you to resort to very clever and versatile use of the artifact and the grabber. Novices may not be able to make it to the end, and even the most seasoned FPS aficionado would not be able to get through the most troubling levels on the first pass.

The Doom series has never been known for the most sophisticated artificial intelligence of the computer-controlled enemies, for creatures are not supposed to be tactical geniuses. As it happens, though, the AI in this latest release is not shabby, as for example when you use the grabber to throw fireballs back at monsters, they often duck or jump around to avoid being hit. At one point a Hellknight even knows enough to destroy specifically a nearby body so you cannot draw power from it for your heart-shaped artifact. So while you do not see any real subtlety in the attack patterns of your foes, they do differ markedly across creatures, and what you experience is quite satisfying for a title of this sort.

Overall: While never deviating from the established norms of the Doom franchise, Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil is decidedly better than most first-person shooter expansion packs and incorporates many improvements over the original release. For example, the addition of the double-barreled shotgun, grabber, and artifact, the introduction of the ominous Hunter bosses, and the injection of a multiplayer capture-the-flag mode all significantly enhance the gameplay in this title. Although this installment is shorter than its predecessor and equally predictable, there is a lot to like here. Of course, if you did not enjoy the original Doom 3, you will find little here to change your mind. But if you (as I did) had a blast before, you cannot miss this new release.