There was a certain way this game was sold to me. It was the return of DOOM. All action, no hoighty toighty story, just demons and buckshot. Of course, that's not really what this game is at all. There are multiple times your progression is locked by story gates, including one notable moment where you're permanently locked out of a part of the map that holds secrets by a three plus minute cutscene. Doom 2016 is stuck between two desires; be dismissive of the idea of story in games, and being Half-Life 2. Hell, level 8 has a tram ride intro followed by a walk and talk cutscene where your guns are removed from you.

Doom 2016 falls into much the same trap as the Rise of the Triad remake. In the hunt for visual fidelity it loses readability, hunting a single imp in the Mars / Hell environments is hunting for brown on brown. Most of the early enemies have the same silhouette and colour palette, it's hard to tell enemies apart at a glance during combat. Compared to DOOM, where combat flowed perfectly thanks to distinctive enemy design and consistent death animations (I've rocketed a lot of dead enemies in 2016 since they end up "physic"-ing forward after death) Doom 2016 reaches for a fidelity that only hurts the game in the end. This game is also very brown, very grey, very red. It's kind of exhausting to look at.

The combat in Doom doesn't start to flow until over half way into the game and all the offensive (and defensive) options become available to you. I really enjoyed the last four levels, though they were the ones where the game gave up the pretence of being anything other than a loose collection of arenas to battle in. There are some early levels that feel like filler (the retread that is Level 7) or far, far too long (the slog that is level 5) but when the game comes together it's incredibly fun to bounce through the halls and canyons of Mars. Though there is a decision that kills the momentum more often than not. Collectibles can be quick pickups (i.e. the Doomguy dolls) or momentum killing animations (i.e. Argent Energy or the Weapon Upgrades). The biggest crime in collectible format has to be the Secret Missions, ripped wholesale from Devil May Cry, which really kill all flow in a level when you have to deal with them.

So... this game won a lot of awards. And after finally playing it, I suppose I can see why. But while I can confidently say this is a good game, I can also say that I didn't really enjoy all my time with it. But hey, it's the best damn Serious Sam game I've ever played.