maledict adj : under a curse [syn: accursed, accurst] v : wish harm upon; invoke evil upon; "The bad witch cursed the child" [syn: curse, beshrew, damn, bedamn, anathemize, anathemise, imprecate] [ant: bless]

'' Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil is a first-person shooter expansion pack for the 2004 computer game, Doom 3. It was released on April 4, 2005 for Windows, May 24, 2005 for Linux, and on October 11, 2005 for the Microsoft Xbox.

The game features the return of the double-barreled shotgun from Doom II as well as support for up to eight people in multiplayer. Resurrection of Evil also features twelve new single player levels, three new monsters, and four new multiplayer maps.

Plot

Set in 2147, two years after the events of Doom 3, the UAC detects a strange signal from one of its Martian satellites, and consequently sends a team in to investigate. Finding the Hellstone in the process, the forces of Hell attempt to retake the object from the player, a marine combat engineer who is working for Dr. Elizabeth McNeil. McNeil, an unseen character in Doom 3, was the whistleblower who notified counselor Elliot Swann and Jack Campbell of Malcolm Betruger's mysterious activities at the beginning of Doom 3.

After fighting his way through the complex, the marine eventually meets up with McNeil in the Phobos Labs. She tells him that the only way to destroy the Hellstone is to return it to where it came from: Hell. The marine powers down the base to re-route power to one of the teleporters to reach the Delta Labs, where the main teleporter to Hell is located.

The marine arrives in Hell and battles his way to Betruger, who has become the Maledict. After some fighting, Betruger bites the marine, but before he can eat him, the marine shoves the Hellstone down Betruger's throat, killing him. The game ends with a bright white light, followed by McNeil's voice saying, "Welcome home, Marine."

The Hellstone

The Hellstone is a fictional artifact and weapon. It resembles a human heart with a mechanical device attached to its side.

History

Little is known about the history of the Hellstone. While the Soul Cube from Doom 3 was created by an ancient Martian civilization to defeat Hell, the Hellstone is a Hell-created object which offers the user a wide array of powers.

Both of these artifacts are powered by living souls. However, the Soul Cube uses souls that were willingly sacrificed to power it, while the Hellstone seems to pull unwilling souls into it. If careful attention is paid when the Hellstone is capturing a soul, one can see that the soul in question is clearly in anguish over the procedure.

The Hellstone seems to have been a loophole created by the forces of Hell as a way of bypassing the barrier created by the Soul Cube during the events of Doom 3. By touching the Hellstone, the forces of Hell had another way to invade the mortal realm.

Operation

Using the Hellstone is akin to using the Soul Cube. Floating inches from the user's hands, it beats regularly.

While the Hellstone was obviously designed to aid the forces of Hell, demons are not immune to the weapon's powers. The wielder acquires the powers of slowing down time, enhanced damage, and temporary invulnerability from the demons created to retrieve the Hellstone.

A user who activates the Hellstone cannot choose between the powers of slowing down time, enhanced damage, and temporary invulnerability. All available powers are activated at the same time.

To retrieve the abilities for the Hellstone, the player must defeat the three Hell Hunters (bosses): Helltime Hunter, Berserk Hunter, and Invulnerability Hunter.

Feature additions

Resurrection of Evil adds in two new main features to the gameplay that the player can use throughout the game. The first, is a tool that was originally developed for Doom 3; "the Grabber". The Grabber, like the "Gravity Gun" from the game Half-Life 2, is a physics-based weapon that allows the player to pick up and move certain items. It also allows the player to catch fireballs and throw them back at the enemy. Resurrection of Evil has come under some criticism about the use of the Grabber due to the prior popularity of the similar weapon in Half-Life 2. The developers have commented that the tool was originally in Doom 3 before Half-Life 2, and was used to create "damaged" rooms; instead of building a ruined room, they would build a pristine room and use the grabber to "damage" it realistically.

One major difference between the Grabber and the Gravity Gun is that the Grabber has a limited charge, and thus can only hold onto an object for several seconds. Additionally, the Grabber creates a distortion effect that can obscure the player's vision when in use.

The second additional feature is the Hellstone.

Another addition is the double-barreled shotgun. Essentially, it is the same as the regular shotgun, except it fires two shells at once, offering much greater stopping power, killing most enemies with one shot. The downside is that with every shot, the weapon must be reloaded in order to be used again. It thus resembles the double-barreled Super Shotgun from Doom II.

Also in the expansion was the inclusion of three new monsters, not counting boss creatures. The first new monster (also the first monster seen in the game) is the Forgotten, a Lost Soul-variant. It more closely resembles the Lost Souls from the original games, being a blazing horned skull without any cybernetic parts. The second addition is the Vulgar. It is closely related to the Imp, and behaves almost exactly like one. The model used for the Vulgar was the original Archvile model seen in early Doom 3 scans. The third new addition is the Bruiser. At about the same size as a Hellknight, it has a computer monitor mounted on its face that flashes one of several images onscreen, including an eye when it sees the player and a set of flashing, sharp-toothed jaws.

External links

• Official site
• GameTab reviews