Doom Eternal Review: Brutality, savagery, and other synonyms for violence
By Byron Smith
The Multiplayer
This review was not originally going to include a section on the multiplayer, with the majority of review time spent on the single player sections. The game highlights and emphasizes the multiplayer section of the game, however, and peaked a little curiosity in Doom Eternal’s Battlemode. That still would not have warranted a section in the review, had it not been for battlemode being unquestionably the worst multiplayer experience in modern gaming.
In “Battlemode” the player gets matched up with two other players, and the three players are split into teams of two demons and one slayer. Then the players are dropped in an arena, where the goal is to eliminate the opponent. The Doomslayer has to destroy the demons, with all of his weapons at his disposal, and the demons have to eliminate the Doomslayer with the utilization of their demons and their abilities.
This would be pretty balanced if it stopped here, the demons have two players and quite a bit more health yet limited offensive options, and the Doomslayer is faster with more offensive options, yet less health and no teammates.
The problem: these are not the only variables.
The demons also have an insane army of demons partnering with them to kill the doom slayer, with almost every demon type at their advantage. This means the Doomslayer has to deal with the two player demons as well as wave after wave of AI demons that are actively launching rockets and bullets at the Slayer while he is sprinting for his life. Maybe they could be used to help replenish health or ammo when the resources get scarce, except, NO,because the demon players can choose to block the loot drops from the slayer for a limited time, which keeps them from replenishing health and dooms them to die.
The campaign is not 100 hours long, it is barely 15 to 20 (100% completion in less then 30 hours), so the multiplayer should serve as a way for players who enjoyed the game to experience more of it. The problem is that this multiplayer should be experienced by no one, ever.
With a game that highlights and emphasizes it’s multiplayer mode, it is unacceptable for that game mode to be this bad. The game even has massive Quake and Unreal Tournament inspirations, both of which are known for their groundbreaking and legendary multiplayer experiences. A Quake-esque multiplayer experience in the Doom Eternal engine would most certainly have a huge impact on gaming and most definitely would have made for a fantastic addition to the E-sports community which makes the decisions that led to Battlemode even more baffling.
9. The Doom series has once again sat upon the throne and been crowned as the best FPS series in history. With extremely fast pace, adrenaline pumping, warcry inspiring gameplay, gorgeous yet gruesome visuals, and a story that makes the player feel like a god, Doom Eternal sets the bar extremely high for any developer looking to compete for the crown of “Best FPS game in history.” But that multiplayer emphasis makes the atrocities of Battlemode even worse then they would have been otherwise and may keep Doom Eternal from achieving immortality.. id Software. . Doom Eternal
A copy of this game was provided to App Trigger for the purpose of this review. All scores are ranked out of 10, with .5 increments. Click here to learn more about our Review Policy.