Doom 2016 Notebook and Desktop Benchmarks

With the new version - or, more accurately, the reboot - of Doom, developer id Software gets rid of the controversial mega-textures the predecessor-engine id Tech 5 made use of. This engine powered games like Rage, Wolfenstein: The New Order and The Evil Within and caused plenty of resentment because of the high RAM usage and laggy textures. Although id Tech 6 also suffers from visible texture changes (fast camera panning, low object distance), it's not quite as noticeable as before.

One of the main plus points of the new engine is dynamic lighting. As far as light and shadows are concerned, Doom doesn't have to hide behind graphically more elaborate shooter-game colleagues like Star Wars Battlefront. Across the board, the id Tech 6 engine impresses with great effects - be it reflections, sparks, or other particles. Water, smoke, animation and textures are also (save for a few exception) up to the current standard.

In addition, the gaming universe appears to be very cohesive throughout, which isn't something we can say about all titles. The more brightly colored inside and outside environment might not universally appeal, however. While Doom 3 was predominantly gray, the successor makes use of yellow, brown and red hues, which make the game appear warmer. The new look is well-suited for the action-oriented gameplay. Instead of in-your-face fear and horror, the new Doom focuses on sweat-inducing gunfights with hordes of demons.

From an objective viewpoint, the game design definitely has some flaws. In addition to old-fashioned and uninspiring tasks (look for keycard x, activate generator y,...), the storyline itself fades completely into the background in the heat of the moment, so the user has to try to understand what's going on from the various entries. Speaking of entries: even though Doom appears to be "going back to the roots", there are many modern features which don't - at least in our opinion - mash well with the game and have a negative impact on the atmosphere, although they do invite the user to explore the sometimes massive levels. We could've done without the challenges and collectibles, for example. The weapons upgrades do make sense though, because the secondary mode allows the use of alternative tactics.

The core element of a shooter is gunplay - and this is where Doom excels. It doesn't matter if we are talking about the weapons design, camera, or the feedback when hitting the target: there are hardly any other games which feel so perfect. The controls are also top notch. Thanks to the extremely fast movement and close-quarters combat, the user sometimes gets sucked into a fighting frenzy, with the player character performing acrobatic feats. In other words: the "flow" is great. Because Doom comes across as a lighthearted game despite the inherent brutality, we find it easy to forgive the shortcomings. 

Back to the graphics. Unlike other engines, id Tech 6 isn't based on DirectX, but on the much rarer API OpenGL (id Software has promised a patch for the successor Vulkan, which is supposed to decrease the driver overhead just like Microsoft does with DirectX 12 and AMD with Mantle). We really like the fact that Doom can be adjusted in so many ways. Within the options menu, there are dozens of sliders which allow the user to adjust the game to their needs - and that without requiring a restart.