Doom: The Dark Ages preview - Prepare to meet thy...

At a glance

• Expectations

• A more story-based experience

• Weapons

• Classic Doom

• Mechs!

• Dragons!

• Siege!

There are certain expectations when getting into a Doom game – the obvious, such as that it’s an FPS, and that you’ll gradually open up a startling array of ways to destroy your enemies. While Doom: The Dark Ages takes more of a dark fantasy tone than previous series entries, those two must-haves are certainly present and accounted for.

There’s also more reliance on exposition than we’re used to, with more cinematic interludes and a distinct story unfolding in this proudly single-player experience. What we did see was good at offering a little respite before once again heading headlong into the fray.

As it’s set before the Doom that we know, things are somewhat more medieval, with less reliance on impressive machinery and more on classic weapons of destruction. However, that’s not to say that your well-armoured Doom Slayer doesn’t have some rather wonderful toys.

Probably the highlight of these is the Shield Saw. Captain America can eat his heart out, for this is one serious bringer of destruction, a shield which, as the title suggests, also features a rotating saw blade that does its thing when the device is hurled. It’s not something that you want to be on the receiving end of, as many of the enemy corpses that we amassed would attest – well, if they were alive to do so.

It comes at a cost though, for it does slow you down, although it’s ability to deal serious damage both on its way out and upon its boomerang like return to your clutches is usually well worth the delay. It’s also brilliant at absorbing damage from enemy projectiles. We like.

More classic weaponry is of its time game setting-wise, with such devices gradually coming into play as a mace, gauntlet, and flail for melee. However, there are also more classic Doom weapons such as the Rail Spike Gun and the impressive Skull Crusher, which is self-explaining in that it ingests skulls and fires out their shards as bullets. Brutal, but cool.

We were privy to four distinct level types in our preview session, with the first your more traditional relatively linear Doom arena. There’s scarcely a down moment as assailants pop up left, right, and centre, while exploration pays dividends with hidden goodies as rewards for the more intrepid.

The next level that we encountered is quite the departure for Doom, wherein you climb into a massive mech suit – or “Atlan” - and let loose with the Hulk smash. Skyscraper high, it’s like a collision of Armored Core and arcade classic Rampage, as you trash your way through an outpost, unleashing mechanised fisticuffs upon opposing titans. It’s a tad basic, but that didn’t stop us grinning the entire time that we were playing it.

That’s not it for the new-to-Doom innovations though, for our next level experience saw us hopping onto the back of a rather highly manoeuvrable dragon. Zooming hither and yon on the back of this beastie takes a little getting used to, and may be smoother in the final cut, but once tamed it brings a whole new dimension to enemy encounters.

Our fourth, and sadly final, glimpse of Doom: The Dark Ages came in the form of a more open world experience, "Siege". By far the most challenging form of the game that we encountered, you can amble about freely, all while being assaulted all around from a variety of assailants.

Coming later in the game, we reckon a coherent playthrough may have seen us better equipped weapons-wise to face off against some of the overwhelming aggressors here – either that or we just need a lot more practice (or to tweak the myriad accessibility options).

So, what did we take away from our time with Doom: The Dark Ages? Even in pre-release form this is shaping up as a slick and satisfying shooter, with a solid story and just enough variation to keep things interesting. We look forward to the whole enchilada.