DOOM Eternal The Metal AF Review


DOOM has been apart of my vocabulary from way back in 1994 when I got my hands on the first DOOM, a game that changed the way games were played and solidified the first person shooter as a genre to last the ages. 

DOOM 2016 was an incredible reboot to the series, I don't think anyone thought it would reach the heights that it did. No one would have worried if DOOM Eternal had just continued on from 2016's outing but instead Eternal builds on all the gory goodness that DOOM 2016 laid out and turns it up to 11. Blending fast paced action, fluid action and a familiar arsenal with some game play mechanics new to DOOM familiars. 

Of course with change comes questions on whether it was necessary and just how well is it integrated into the game we know and love.  Some of the new features thrown into the mix are a new extended dash feature, the ability to climb walls, swing from bars and lift up onto overhangs and the blood punch meter which gives you an enhanced melee attack that is filled by performing glory kills, exploding enemies in a mess of blood and guts. 


Your suit can be upgraded to enhance your game play by adding runes best suited to your style of play or perks to give you more ammo, health and armour or improve your weapons with alternative fire. Some upgrades are found throughout the levels, others are earned or found in well hidden secret areas. 

The suit upgrades not only make you more deadly but can effect the way you approach each encounter. Prefer long range, you can slow time to perfect your shot, or if you're like me, glory kills can give you a speed burst getting you up close and personal with the filthy demon horde. 

The DOOM Slayer has always made you feel like a badass, and pummeling your way through enemies in levels has always been someone satisfying if not a little sadistic. It in non more evident then now with DOOM Eternal. The Enemies are harder and smarter, they will horde you and use each of their unique abilities to effectively kill you, well someone effectively. DOOM Eternal wants you to keep moving, keep chaining your movements together and not relying too much on one particular style of play. Ammo is scarce to pick up in the world, but your chainsaw will gut even the sturdiest of demons to refill your ammo stocks. Glory kills make a return and are a good way to keep your health levels up. You're forced to plan out each of your encounters, running in and swinging doesn't work any more. Specific weapons are more effective against different demons. 


The Super Shotgun alternate fire / grenade launcher helps dispatch the Cacodemon, the plasma rifle is fast and overloads energy shields, the heavy cannon is good for taking out weak points, all you can forget all that and swap and change as you run out of ammo.   

DOOM Eternal feels like a fitting chapter to the DOOM franchise and ties a lot of the history together. The story is played out through lore and little bits of information around the worlds you explore and can be a little hard to follow unless you know what you're looking at or hearing. It ties together beautifully so push on through it. 

And I do mean push through it. Now this is the part of the review that I am re-writing. Having released originally with a glowing appraisal of the level design and the new ways in which you get around. That has now changed the more time I have put into DOOM Eternal and playing through the campaign for a second time. 
I still stand by my earlier statement. The new ways in which you traverse each level are a breath of fresh air for the series and for FPS in general, but that comes with a down side. Given each DOOM is about movement and flow almost a dance of fluid motion, when you come up to these area's of "platforming"that slow you down and cause more deaths than the demons do the frustration levels begin to rise. 
For my second playthrough I turned up the difficulty and yet again the only thing that I am re-spawning from are miss timed jumps. Yes I admit I have never been good at this type of game play but the repetitive and often frustrating sections have caused me to rage on more than one occasion. 


Overall DOOM Eternal is an absolute blast, well a demon slaying glory blast through the universe, to hell and back again. The only places it falls down are the sometimes frustrating platforming sections but with all the good there is little to stop us going back for more. 

DOOM Eternal is out now on PS4, Xbox & PC  


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