“I’m a space marine. I’m the best of the soldiers out there. Yet I literally just shat my pants when a demon jumped in front of me!”

This, my friends, is just one of the thoughts that will probably cross your mind while playing through Id's new xbox game Doom 3, and there is plenty more where that came from.

Doom 3 takes place on Mars and is basically a retelling of the first Doom. You’re a space marine that has been assigned duty on the research station on Mars and it’s your first day on the job. What begins as a normal operation of trying to locate a scientist turns into your first step into hell!

Doom 3 has the atmosphere to back up this hellish nightmare. Walls explode, creatures run on the walls, noises can be heard from every direction; things go bump in the night. Picture any tense and nerve wracking horror movie you can think of and then basically replace the main character with you. That is the feeling that Doom 3 will get you with its incredibly atmosphere. Looking out a window into a desolate barren Mars has never seemed so dreadful in games before. You’d like to just leave the confines of the base but you can't. Instead you’ll make your track through the various labs and quarters of the base trying to figure out what the hell is going on.

Now bringing this atmospheric package together is a combination of both graphics and sound. You can't really have great atmosphere in a game without excellent sounds and visuals. Doom 3 definitely doesn’t disappoint in that department.

Visually, Doom 3 is one of the best looking games on the Xbox. Everything is bumped-mapped and just looks fantastic. The enemies come at you fast and deadly all while the frame rate maintains. For all you naysayers out there that proclaimed the Xbox couldn’t do Doom 3 justice, well, you're wrong. Now, the game obviously doesn’t look nearly as good as a high-end PC on a high resolution setting on a computer monitor BUT the game still looks damn good and again awesome for an Xbox title. Good job. Now the game is dark at times but that’s also what gives the game its scare factor (with a number of other reasons as well) and this is where your handy dandy flashlight comes in. Now a major gripe with the game with some is the fact that you can't hold a gun and point you flashlight out at the same time but others say that would take some of the thrill of the game away as well. Honestly it’s a preference and some will enjoy it while others won't.

Now in regards to the sound, the game's sound and music will get your heart thumping. I can't tell you how many times me just grabbing some armor scared the pants of me (due to the sound it makes when acquiring it). I can't count how many times I’d be walking down a corridor and hear something and just stop dead in my tracks to whip out my flashlight, search for the noise for a bit and then continue on my way. The game's soundtrack will just freak you out and it’s a big factor with the scariness.

Control-wise, the game seems to play like any other typical first person shooter. No real new variations to the controls and nothing even a novice FPS person can't handle.

Which brings us to the reason why the controls aren’t that complicated. In all honesty, Doom 3 adds nothing new to the FPS genre. Nothing. Its still the same old "find your way through the areas and shoot the crap out of anything that moves". Same old formula but the way the atmosphere flows and the scares keep coming will keep you glued to your seat till your finished.

Overall Doom 3 is a pleasure to horror and first person shooting gamers. It has just enough to keep you until you finish the game and then add on the online battle mode and the co-op and you’ve got more then enough reasons to come back. If they had simply added some more story elements and gameplay ideas, this game would have been almost perfect for FPS and horror aficionados, but as it stands the game is just really good.

Doom 3 was a long time in the making and for some it’s been a mixed bag. Some people love it for its creepy and intense atmosphere and others hate it for its stale game play.

Just play it and decide what side of the spectrum you fall in.

- - Justin Celani