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I bought my copy of Doom 3 on 28 May and haven't been able to play it since. I went into my account, clicked on Serial Keys but I keep getting the message "Serial Keys Depleted" Today is 17 June and there's no answer. I'ts so frustrating that something so simple became so complicated. If there's no solution to this in the next days I will ask for a refund.
Consider this if you want to buy the game.
This is a great game (original played), providing exciting atmospheric shooter gameplay, it immersed me in the isolation of mars base where the classical doom stuffs are happening. Unlike the previous titles from the series this is not a frenzy crush-em-all experience, but what it offers it executes in good manners. It has the enemies that jumps on you, it has the enemies that surround you and you have the bullets or chain to escape the graps of death. Also, enjoy the voice and text that will explain you, that the fear is in place (and also the interconnection of the actions that are going in the background while you're smashing your enemies.
This game changed Doom from a pure FPS to a survival horror game but after a while it ceases to be scary and delves more into a blend of horror and action with a greater emphasis on the action aspect. I give the game props for trying to be different but I couldn't help but feel that it tried to do too many things halfway instead of doing one thing really well.
When you first start the game you'll notice an impressive amount of polish right away. The movement is fluid and free like you would expect from a Doom game and the graphics are very impressive. It's obvious from the start that this is a pure AAA game with a lot of heart and soul poured into it. The atmosphere is on point right away and pretty much everything is inter actable. You can even shoot friendlies right away with no consequence and I love that. There's no "failure" screen or anything like that, the game just continues like nothing happened. This first impression is very positive and even purists who might feel like this isn't a true Doom game can't help but be impressed by it. You can even interact with computer monitors and push buttons that have no purpose. This is the type of polish that impresses me in a game.
The game is slow to start but as you play there is no question: this is a Doom game. It plays almost as some sort of survival horror fps rpg. The lore never gets in the way of the action and I think they did a tremendous job of balancing the two. It almost feels like two separate games at times, scary and atmospheric in the beginning but you become so powerful later on that it becomes hard to scare you anymore except for the occasional jump scare. This blend is refreshing and interesting and I feel this was the right direction to go for the modern version of the series even though it would have been interesting to see what it could have been had they gone full survival horror.
Games old but pure gold.
However the game always asks for the activation key and the key-files generated by GOG on the games installation are either gone or only halfway existant. I had to log into the GOG homepage and screenshot the keys linked to my account (For some reason it's impossible to show the keys on their own launcher). The automatic key activation by GOG does NOT work reliably. You still have to do it manually if you're unlucky.
Haven't tested it with the BFG-Edition yet. Can only confirm this issue for the original for now.
Back to the game now...
If you tweak the doomconfig file, you can actually get it to run decently on fullHD or higher. Quick-tutorials are available online. Aside from that, the original DOOM 3 is running surprisingly well on newer hardware.
To address the elephant in the room first: BFG edition isn't terrible. It's still Doom 3, it doesn't suffer from any technical blunders that would make it impossible to play, and it introduces some welcome QOL features that were absent from the original. The differences between it and the original aren't a deal breaker, but I can't say that all of them were for the better. Personally, I think you should play the original first to see how the game was intended to be played. And then, maybe if you're in for achievements or couch gaming, that's where BFG edition becomes your friend.
The original is simply more PC-centric, with more detailed configuration options, fantastic mods, and gameplay that was meticulously optimised to match the original vision. The game is tougher, the flashlight mechanic is very much deliberate for building tension (even if it feels arbitrary in principle - "no duct tape on Mars?") and the ammo count and overall combat balance make the experience much more tense and frantic in places.
BFG Edition, on the other hand, was clearly a console-first release. Pad support, auto aim, redesigned lighting, shoulder-mounted flashlight, rebalanced gameplay that shifts the odds in the player's favor (likely to accommodate gamepad play), very limited configuration options in menus... honestly, the most advantageous feature of this release for me is that it includes the expansion, bonus campaign, and the original Doom 1 and 2 all in one package. Plus the fact that I can kick back on the couch with a controller and give my spine a break from sitting at the computer desk all day.
I understand why some players may prefer these changes since they streamline the gameplay, especially for gamepad controls. But, at the same time, I feel like they were informed by feedback from players who misunderstood why Doom 3 was designed that way to begin with. It's frustrating that you can't choose between the original play style and the modernised one because - contrived as they may be in real-world logic sort of sense - those design choices were deliberate and the entire game was built around them. Messing around with combat balancing or core mechanics simply makes BFG Edition an inferior way to play the single player campaign and you're kinda robbing yourself of that experience by choosing it for your first-time playthrough. Also, the updated sound effects on some of the guns are a lot less impactful, which is a hard thing to swallow for me.
Anyway, all these comparisons aside, Doom 3 was already a somewhat divisive entry in the series, and it feels like every time I try to form an opinion about it, I need to include half a dozen asterisks about the direction it has taken or some of the questionable, immersion-breaking ideas. It's different if the whole tone of the game is as over the top as possible, like in the more recent Doom reboots. It's easier to suspend your disbelief about why are there jump pads everywhere when the entire tone of the game feels like you're in a fantasy world straight out of hair metal album cover. But when you try to make a serious and grounded horror game, then having monsters leap from random wall crevices that serve no purpose inevitably attracts ridicule and causes the immersion to fall apart, if only just a little bit. In spite of this, it's a game that I replayed countless times over the years and it's not because of some brand loyalty or technical gimmicks, but because it's just a really enjoyable and highly polished horror shooter. It grabbed me from the first time I saw it, and over time became one of my favorite games. Hate it or love it, the developers set out to create this particular experience, and the quality of craftsmanship on display is unparalleled for its time. It has great art direction and it leverages its impressive engine tech to create some truly stand out moments and memorable visuals. It also offers fantastic level and combat design, the campaign is expertly paced in how it steadily ramps up the intensity of enemy encounters and set pieces, the weapon roster is versatile and satisfying (god, how I love reloading the plasma gun), fantastic sound design does a lot of the heavy lifting for building an oppressive atmosphere, and there's just a bunch of fun little details in the environments that make the whole campaign a very immersive and memorable experience.
No matter how many times you'll hear the same old jokes about this game, at the end of the day, it's still fun to revisit in spite of some of its perceived flaws.