Resurrection of Evil is the first expansion pack that was added in for Doom 3. And in some fans eyes it may be considered the only expansion pack if you don't count 2012's Lost Mission, which came packed in as a part of the Doom 3 re-release in the BFG Edition, which some Doom 3 fans have basically repudiated. After my lukewarm reception to the base game -- which would not have been swayed regardless of which version of Doom 3 I was playing -- I wasn't very excited to hop into this expansion, and that lack of excitement was mostly due to my concern that it was going to be more of the same linear game. I ended up enjoying it more than I expected though.
The base game ends on a bit of a cliff-hanger, and that's where Resurrection of Evil steps in, to tie up the loose ends in the story, which I imagine was somewhat of a treat for those who were able to get invested in the narrative of this game. I for one was not one of those people though, and I was really just here for the gameplay. Fortunately, the developers decided to spice things up a bit on that front, offering a sprinkle of variety into the moment-to-moment gameplay, which helps the game from feeling like more of the same.
Not soon after you gain control of Doom Guy, you're presented with a new weapon - the Grabber Gun. If anyone has ever played Half-Life 2, it's effectively the Gravity Gun, which the devs clearly drew inspiration from. I use the term 'inspiration' loosely, because it was obviously just a complete rip-off, no doubt largely due to the success of Half-Life 2 less than a year prior to the original release of this expansion. It's something that almost feels shoe-horned in because the devs felt like, 'if it worked for Half-Life, it will work for us.' Because of this, I mostly scoffed at the idea of having that type of gun in this game, especially because I couldn't imagine it being useful considering Doom 3 wasn't really developed with the idea of utilizing pieces of the environment as projectiles -- and really, it's not. I still think it's a superfluous addition to the Doom 3 experience, but I have to admit I had decent fun with it. While you are given the option to use the gun to grab various boxes and barrels around the levels, to utilize as projectiles, the best use of the weapon is to grab enemy projectiles and turn them around back on them, which is especially useful against the Vulgar and Hell Knight demons that like to throw plasma balls in your direction. Grabbing those plasma balls and redirecting it back at them was pretty darn fun, not to mention super effective, given the amount of damage they do in return. It's a useful tool for adding in some fun mechanics during the boss fights as well, utilizing their projectiles to solve minor puzzles in the encounter which will either cause damage or reveal a boss's vulnerability. The most important aspect here is that it adds in just enough variety to your arsenal to keep things mildly spicy, as opposed to the sometimes tiresome linearity of the original game.
Another item that has been added into this expansion is The Artifact. It's basically an enhanced version of the Soul Cube that you obtained in the base game, though it differs due to the fact that it is no longer used as a weapon. Instead it's intended to provide a beneficial status to the player. It's a mechanical heart of sorts that bestows your choice of one of three different powers on you, all of which will be put on cooldown after use and must be recharged by gathering 'human souls', which can be absorbed off the various human corpses that are scattered throughout the level, highlighted by an orange glow. The powers you can utilize are 'Helltime' (this game's version of Bullet Time), 'Berserk' (the classic Doom power-up that allows you to slay basic enemies with a single punch), and 'Invulnerability', which is exactly what it sounds like. When the game first starts, you only have access to 'Helltime', but as you progress, you'll unlock the other two. I personally only ever used the 'Helltime' ability, and I could count on one hand the number of times I used it, mostly forgetting that it was even an option. And I'll be honest, it wasn't until I finished the game that I discovered that there were two other power-up options available from The Artifact. But I think that really highlights the unimportance of it as a tool -- it just doesn't feel like a key part of the gameplay. Unless perhaps you were playing on the maximum difficulty, these power-ups never really feel like something you need to utilize to progress. Regardless, it's there for your disposal, and it was still another attempt at adding in some more variety to the gameplay, which I can appreciate.
The last major addition to your arsenal is the return of the famous Doom double-barreled 'Super Shotgun'. This is probably my favorite addition into the expansion. Not only is it an iconic Doom weapon, it also rectifies the wet-noodle feeling that the main shotgun seems to be plagued with in this game. The 'Super Shotgun' is certainly super, as it not only packs a punch, dealing great damage from a reasonable distance, but it feels super-satisfying to use as well, returning the satisfying gunplay that I mentioned felt severely lacking in the base game. It was without a doubt the gun I used most in my trek through this expansion, and it certainly helped benefit the gameplay flow for me.
Other than the weaponry, there are a couple spots where the expansion tries to break things up a bit with some platforming-puzzle sections, which are pretty underwhelming, if not downright frustrating due to the super-precise timing that they require to maneuver through, resulting in instant death if your timing is even slightly off. Fortunately, there were only a couple of these, and they only appear in the first third of the game or so. Afterward, the game follows the familiar objective-based loop that you'd expect from the base game, but they definitely ramp up the difficulty a bit in terms of the types of demons that they throw at you. While you'll still encounter various weaker-tiered demons on occasion, the game does start to throw some of the most imposing demons at you on a pretty consistent basis, often in tighter quarters, which I found to actually be pretty effective in increasing the tensity of the game, while also not feeling completely cheap or unfair, especially considering the options you have at your disposal to deal with them.
Considering the effort that went into this expansion to help spice up the gameplay, it's a shame that my biggest criticism is considering the length of the game, which I was able to complete in under 4-hours. Those 4-hours are arguably the most fun you will have with Doom 3, at least in my opinion, but it still feels over all too quick. Had I purchased this as a full-priced expansion back in 2005 -- which I can only imagine was $30 - $40 at the time -- I would not have been very pleased, especially because there's not a ton of replay value here. But as a pack-in with the BFG Edition, I guess I can't really complain too much.
Ultimately, Resurrection of Evil was the most fun I had with Doom 3, and the only reason it gets the same star-rating that I gave the base game is because of how incredibly short it is. I wasn't looking for another full-fledged campaign, but I would have appreciated at least another hour of gameplay. Still, I'm happy I decided to give it a chance, and if anyone decides to play Doom 3 in the future, definitely do not skip out on this expansion, even if you find the base game to be mediocre like I did.
