Co-developed by Nerve Software, Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil is an expansion pack to Doom 3 (review 91%), id Software's sci-fi/horror first person shooter. Two years after Doom 3's ending, Earth is receiving a strange signal from Site 1 on Mars, one of the UAC sites you don't visit in the first game. Dr. Elizabeth McNeil, who you might remember as Dr. Betruger's right-hand woman, is sent to investigate, and you're a Marine combat engineer sent along as escort. Again, you must fight for survival against an army of new demons and zombies, including Hell s own hunters.

It's not a surprise that the expansion plays almost exactly like the original Doom 3 - you'll enter a new area, clear it of enemies, and look for a key item or security upgrade that will let you meet your objective and move on to the next area. There are a total of 12 levels - the first levels you will explore the ancient Martian ruins (pretty dark levels) … and then you go back to more base-type architecture. All of the creatures from the original are present and a few new monsters (Vulgars - improved Imps, Bruiser - half mechanical monsters, The Forgotten - Identical to the lost souls from Doom and Doom II and Hell Hunters - floating, legless hellknights) have also joined the fight. As with the original, many of your enemies will use the shadows as cover although this is less frequent. The level design has been opened up a bit and you'll be fighting more enemies at a time now. Yeah, this expansion has a lot faster pacing and more hectic fire fights than original game. Monsters come at you in larger groups, and you'll need everything you have available to keep going.

Obviously, with the addition of a new expansion, the addition of new guns was also inevitable. One of the big weapons that reappeared from the Doom franchise is the classic double-barreled shotgun which holds a special place in the hearts of many old-school fans. It's every bit as destructive as you may hope, but the reloading is somewhat hampering. You use up lots of shells and have to reload after every shot. There's also a physics-based weapon called the Ionized Plasma Levitator (also known as "The Grabber"), a device that can move, catch and throw objects or small enemies, as you battle through the onslaught of evil sent to hunt you down. Its main difference from Half-Life 2's gravity gun is that it can capture and redirect large projectiles (like fireballs and plasma balls, as opposed to bullets and grenades).

The next important gadget is the artifact you find at the start of the game. Throughout the game, there are scattered battles against the three "hunter bosses", and each one charges the artifact with a new power. Each of the Hunters has its own special ability, and the artifact is able to "steal" these abilities once each Hunter is defeated, so you can add it to your own arsenal. The first is "Hell Time" (semi-Bullet Time trick), which allows you to slow down the world around you. This slows all of the creatures, sounds, and movement of everything except that you have complete freedom of movement. Defeating other Hunters will give you the ability to go berserker or invulnerable for periods of time, which will come in extremely handy as enemies get tougher later in the game.

In addition to the twelve-mission single-player campaign, Resurrection of Evil also improves the multiplayer component. They have added some new MP maps and official support for up to eight players. In addition to new maps, there's a new capture-the-flag mode created by the team at Threewave Software (including members who developed the original CTF for Quake). Here, the maps are well-designed, and the action is just like id multiplayer should be. However, if you're buying the expansion for multiplayer, then it isn't worth it. There's DM, TDM, Last Man Standing, Tournament, and CTF, but it's nothing special.

The original Doom 3 had split reviews by people, one half loved it and the other half hated it. This game is no different. If you liked Doom 3, you're gonna like this one. Just don't expect a beefy story or the gameplay to be much different from the original Doom 3. If you hated Doom 3 and are hoping that they made major improvements on it in this expansion then don't waste your time because it's more of the same.

related links: cheats, trainer +6, savegames, Creative Audigy 2 Drivers (Doom 3 EAX).

Minimum System Requirements: full version of Doom 3, Win2k/XP*, Pentium 4 1.5 GHz or Athlon XP 1500+ processor, 384MB RAM, 8x Speed CD-ROM drive (1200KB/sec sustained transfer rate) and latest drivers, 630MB of uncompressed free hard disk space (plus 400MB for Windows swap file), 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible 16-bit sound card and latest drivers, 100% Win2k/XP compatible mouse, keyboard and latest drivers, DirectX 9.0c (included), 3D hardware Accelerator Card Required** - 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible 64MB Hardware Accelerated video card and the latest drivers.

*Please note that Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil does not support Windows 95/98/ME/NT. However, installation is allowed in case of operating system upgrades, or dual booting configurations.
**Supported cards: ATI Radeon 8500, ATI Radeon 9000 or above, ATI Radeon X700, ATI Radeon X800, All Nvidia GeForce 3/Ti series, All Nvidia GeForce 4MX series, All Nvidia GeForce 4/Ti series, All Nvidia GeForce FX series, All Nvidia GeForce 6 series.

Multiplayer Requirements: Internet (TCP/IP) and LAN (TCP/IP) play supported, Internet play requires broadband connection and latest drivers, LAN play requires network interface card and latest drivers.

Note: I've captured all screenshots on Nvidia GeForce 6800GT ("high quality" graphics, 1024x768 8xAA)