DOOM 3

PN Review continued... Sound The use of sound in Doom 3 is only slightly less impressive than the graphics. The game supports a full surround-sound speaker setup, but I played the entire game with stereo headphones plugged into a separate amplifier - partly to block out the noise of my PC's fans, but mostly because I find headphone sound to be more immersive when playing a game (in combination with a totally dark room, late at night). Obviously, "immersion" is one of the keywords when it comes to what Doom 3 is all about - and I found just what a difference a good soundtrack can make when I adjusted the game's audio level: the more I turned up the volume, the more creeped out I felt. More than the visuals, I think the sound effects are what really sets and maintains the mood in Doom 3. From the opening title screen with its eerie electric guitar riff, to the creepy in-game sounds and back to the save screen's moody musical theme: the soundtrack and audio effects throughout the game are top-notch and utterly compelling in their effectiveness. Listening & looking for lurking danger... I'd go so far as to say that just listening to Doom 3 being played would probably be a scarier experience than seeing the visuals with muted sound. Of course, sound has the advantage that it can suggest so much without having to show everything in graphic detail. And as every horror film fan should know, suggestion can be much more effective in creating mood & anticipation than springing actual surprises on the viewer. This even works in written fiction: let the reader imagine something terrible rather than describing it for him in detail. The sound in Doom 3 works in a similar way: there are plenty of aural effects that are never associated with any specific on-screen character or event. Creaking metal, spooky echoes, mangled moaning, distant cries, a devilish chorus of voices - all pretty unnerving to hear, without ever seeing the actual sources... Of course, critics also had their say about this aspect of Doom 3: some felt that the lack of a proper music soundtrack was detrimental to the game, while many contended that the weapons sounded "weak" etc. At least, most agreed that the voice acting was very good, with a convincing variety in the actors that were used (both for on-screen characters as well as the many audio logs and video clips). I wholeheartedly agree with the latter view, but cannot support the first two points of contention. First off, music as such is a matter of taste and it's debatable whether all games really need it to enhance the mood, set a theme or otherwise complement the gameplay. If a game could do without a music score, it would be a title like Doom 3: its audio effects are so dense and prominent that music would simply sound out of place, if not even intrusive - I've certainly played games where I felt this happened, e.g. Call of Duty. In Doom 3 the sounds are actually interwoven in such a way that they at times begin to sound like a minimalist (if abstract) musical composition. A full-on music backtrack would add absolutely nothing to this game - on the contrary. As for weak-sounding weapons, I felt that the assortment of armaments sounded fine and also quite distinctive. In addition, most guns emit really satisfying clicks while reloading, adding just that extra bit of confidence when facing a closed door or dark corridor that might conceal a lurking demon. Some monsters are scarier than others. If there's one thing I could criticize about the sound effects, it would have to be the monsters' screams and growls: only a few of these actually came across as terrifying, while some didn't sound very scary to me at all (including Betruger's supposedly menacing laughter). By comparison, the original Doom has several monster sounds that still raise the hairs on the back of my neck - while Doom 3, sadly, hardly had one that produced the same effect... This is quite surprising, considering the technological advances PC gaming has made since 1993 (when Doom was first released). Maybe the design team for the original game simply got lucky in concocting a few sounds that just happened to have a kind of visceral impact not found in today's Doom 3. It could also be that the low sampling rate used in the old Doom produced an added "graininess" in the sounds that enhanced their impact. Either way, Doom 3's scariest audio implies some ominous off-screen presence that is never shown - at least compensating a bit for the visible demons that end up sounding quite unimposing at times. Next Page >

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