I think I am part of a small minority that actually enjoyed Doom 3. The cool thing to do, as typical Internet message board discussion suggests, is to bash it for what it obviously was not. The developers had many important decisions to make during development, and because it returns in many ways to “classic” Doom gameplay, it turned many people off, who insist that it wasn’t nearly innovative enough to be a 21st century game.

I disagree, and found Doom 3 to be a great deal of fun. It was a truly creepy experience my first time through. It wasn’t perfect, but I had a good time and submit that it had a bigger influence than we perhaps realize.

But enough about Doom 3. That isn’t the reason I am writing this. A few days ago, I picked up a copy of Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil. I promised myself I would check it out and was therefore pretty excited at the chance to finally play it. What follows is a short (and I mean short) account of what I thought of Nerve‘s heralded expansion pack.

What I expected from Doom 3:Resurrection of Evil was more of the same gameplay that Doom 3 delivered, refined to be more action-packed and more frightening. I believe that is exactly what Nerve offers, with perhaps a little more emphasis on action than horror.

I am not going to spoil the plot, so I will just say that Doom 3: RoE takes place two years after the events of the original game. You play a marine that packs more in the muscle department than looks and accompany Dr. McNeil, a character whose empty office you run across in Doom 3, on an excavation mission to locate an artifact buried somewhere on Mars. (Boy, I hope that doesn’t spoil anything!)

The second this expansion pack was announced, there were Half-Life 2 fanboys preaching about how the “Grabber” weapon added for this expansion was a cheap knock-off of Valve’s gravity gun. Truthfully, they really are unique to their respective games. While the Grabber does share some characteristics of the gravity gun, they are different enough to not accuse Nerve of stealing anyone’s ideas. The Grabber allows the player to capture enemies’ fireballs and launch them back, perhaps a bit more satisfying than ripping a radiator off the wall and flinging it at an oncoming Combine soldier. A few times I even grabbed Revenants’ rockets with it, causing them to reverse course and attack the Revenant. It’s good stuff.

As I mentioned earlier, there is more emphasis on action this time around. The player is outfitted with a double-barreled shotgun, which is quite satisfying to use as a deterrant to those larger enemies that like to get up close and personal with you. Combined with the artifact you recover (more on that below), you are an unstoppable killing machine.

The artifact is the main attraction of RoE, as it grants you several special abilities in your crusade against Hell’s onslaught of baddies determined to pry that artifact from your cold, dead fingers. By far the most impressive ability is called Hell Time, a bullet-time style mode where everything goes into slow motion around you and you can dodge just about anything headed in your direction. Nerve put a lot of effort into making it work inside the game, and you can use it just about anywhere. Activating Hell Time and whipping out the double-barreled shotgun to take down baddies in slow motion is so, so sweet.

Props to id and Nerve for making what is a fulfilling and worthy expansion to Doom 3. Since it is an expansion pack, one should only expect to get 6-10 hours of gameplay. The production value is exceptional, and not just meets the standard of Doom 3, but in some places even exceeds it. In any case, it is a must-have for anyone who belongs to the “I liked Doom 3” club. Don’t let the fact that there is no official club named that prevent you from picking this up.