If you afraid of the dark, you get the willies from sounds that go bump in the night, or have nightmares after scary movies don’t play this game! Not even the bathroom is safe, so make sure you have on absorbent underwear if you have any of these maladies. Every corner, every door opened and every dark shadowed place can be a haven for the evil demons that lurk in Mars station.

You enter Mars station as an elite soldier, to find the source of the station’s disruption and eliminate all threats to mankind within. As a soldier your orders are to kill or be killed, there is no running away or calling for backup. The only backup I can think of is backing up into another zombie that has snuck up behind you from an unexpected or unsearched spot.

You will enjoy this overload that Doom 3 will bring to the senses it doesn’t destroy. Loud, dark, eerie, dank, suspenseful – this game requires all your senses need to be at their peak. If you think you have what it takes to be one with the world, this game will make you the only one in the world. Personally, I have to make sure my sanity is intact at the end of each gaming session. “Going Postal” is the best description of the action you encounter in this game. Making sure you always have a full load in every one of your weapons at all times is an absolute must! Every part of this game is designed to keep you on the edge of you seat or leave you crying in frustration after getting a butt whoopin’.

There are many different kinds of evil that lurk in the station. Evil can be in the form of an infected worker, infected animals and the big boss demons. Every type of evil demon being has a weakness to a certain weapon. You will need to master all the weapons - even the head bash from the flashlight when you are surprised while strolling about. Fighting with the flashlight leaves you wanting to find some duct tape, so you can tape it to your BFG or any other weapon you may be using at the time. If you don’t have a BFG, then you better find one, because you are going to need it. Head shooting may work on humans, but the human population here isn’t human any more. One-shot kills are few and far between. The shotgun close up gives you the best opportunity for the one-shot spray-the-walls-with-body-parts kills. The trick is, can you survive up close and personal with these creatures? Sometimes you may meet the evil demons mano a mano, but most of the time they are in a group. Some groups contain the weaker infected humans and a flame throwing zombie from hell who never misses. The tougher groups often have a plethora of all types of demons. You then need to pick them off as you can, while backing out of the situation and letting them come to you. Running backwards and shooting is a challenge, but get used to it. Occasionally you run into the pit bulls on steroids, which are a real challenge to your constitution. Stealth plays a minimal role in the game. Street smarts and wise choices will keep you alive longer. When opening a door and seeing the demons, strategically tossing in a grenade then backing out makes for a longer life span. Even testing the dark corners is not a waste of grenades. Running into places hell bent on destruction will be your demise. Play smart, be aware of your surroundings and the nature of the beasts, and you can survive the holocaust that has taken over the Mars station and complete the game.

I was trying to think of a downside to the game; only having the flashlight in your hand and no other weapon, and having to switch to the weapon needed to take out the demons that are after you, is the hardest part to master. After thinking about it, I think it adds to the difficulty and the challenge of the game itself. There is no downside!

I have had the chance to play through the game, and I will replay it again and again till my thumbs fall off. I hope that doesn’t mean I am being infected by the Mars station curse! Having the virus developed or even stolen, and slipping into other colonized planets could add to more Doom gaming. Even letting the infectious virus slip through the portals back to Earth, so you are saving your own world from mass destruction, and giving you a team to fight with, and not just saving your own butt but saving your whole race from extermination, could give more challenges to this already legendary fight for survival.