What did I think? Well, it looks pretty great (maybe not as great as Wolfenstein: The New Order), but it’s not what I expected. For the record, I’m not sure what I expected.
Remember the eyewitness reports coming out of the private QuakeCon viewing? I knew not to trust them, knew not to get my hopes up, but there were two things I kept hearing: one, that it was a lot brighter and more colorful and, two, it was a lot faster than a modern game. Those just seem like some pretty objective things people couldn’t be wrong about, right?
What I saw Sunday was not the kind of colors I was looking for, nor was it “a lot faster.” It’s certainly brighter than DOOM 3, though, so it’s got that going for it (keep in mind, I’m one of the people who loved part 3—it was and still is a beautiful game). The glimpse of hell we got, however, seems a lot less moody than the vision in earlier games. Where are the pentagrams and the mutilated bodies? I’m hoping all that classic stuff will show up when you get a little deeper into the underworld, but I’m not holding my breath.
To say I’m disappointed would be too strong a word. Even if it just DOOM 3 Part 2, I’m going to enjoy the hell out of this game. Like I said, I didn’t trust what early viewers were saying about it (there’s a certain amount of mass hysteria involved when you permit a group of enthusiastic people to a special screening), but I’d be interested to know how much the E3 footage differed from what they saw.
I have to say, the multiplayer looks cool. The guns look good enough. The chainsaw stuff was nothing short of awesome. I think the executions are going to be pretty bad ass, too, if they don’t become repetitive.
What really surprised me about Bethesda’s showcase, other than the fact it wasn’t as hopelessly cheesy as most E3 events, was this: I’m more excited about Fallout 4 than I thought possible.
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