Evil has been Resurrected! ** This is a review for Resurrection of Evil **

Resurrection of Evil is set two years after the end of Doom III when a UAC satellite detects a faint signal from Mars. Now of course this means that YOU (the typical big hero type guy will be sent on a mission by your UAC masters to find out more about the ancient civilisation that had at one time setup the comforts of home on Earths big red neighbour in the sky.

Ok so this is not terribly complicated stuff and you would perhaps think that after the all the problems with demons and other foul tempered nasties a couple of years ago that the idea of returning to the planet would be off the agenda. But after setting foot on the planet you are in for at least another ten hours of Doom-tastic action and any thoughts that you might of had about the story being a right load of old codswallop are soon just a distant memory.

The game takes little time before it starts introducing you to the residents from hell and your first anti Satan spawn toy is the Ionized Plasma Levitator. It's basically a gravity gun and I'm not saying it's blatant plagiarism but it works just like the Gravity Gun belonging to Mr Freeman in Half Life 2. It allows you to pick up objects and fire them at the nasties you encounter and even to return the hell spawn fireballs and plasma back to sender. For the most part I found this to be just a novelty toy but did find it occasionally useful for the 'obtain armour' or 'health pack' from a spot I can't quite reach scenario.

One of the best weapons in the game and one with a nod back to Doom II is the Double Barrelled Shotgun (it's ultra powerful but quite slow to reload) however the vital weapon for your adventure is The Artefact. Visually it looks like a beating heart and it seems that it was this that convinced the greedy suited types at UAC to send you to Mars. Problem is they failed to mention the demons requiring some serious attitude adjustment in the job spec though.

Anyway it just so turns out that this gruesome looking beating heart thing enables the lucky owner to go all Max Payne on Hell Spawns ass. So what you actually get is Bullet Time in Doom! Yes it's cool and yes it's implemented very well and feels like it's always been a feature.

So with your organ in hand you can slow down time for around 15 seconds allowing you to zip, zip about and cap everything in the immediate vicinity that threatens to end your career with the UAC. Your powerful organ will be invaluable to you when you meet the really big and very grumpy boss types as the game progresses. Later on you will be able to go 'Berserk' allowing you to punch Satan’s cousins to death with one hit which can be quite a handy trick to do sometimes. Organ replenishment is actually done by consuming the souls of UAC employees with no further need for pension options or profit related pay. You will trip over these poor fellows quite frequently so it's easy to top up before the next big battle.

Visually Resurrection of Evil has a dark and grimy look very much like the Doom III game. Wandering around the now abandoned facility will require you to switch between weapon and torch and it should be no surprise that creatures will jump out at you and usually from behind you. It's not as scary as your first adventure on Mars because by now you should be used to the creatures from hell jumping out of the dark at you and you are of course able to whip out your organ and give them a good going over in slow motion. However despite this there are quite a few times when you will be caught by surprise and find yourself frantically dodging (well more like running away from) the attentions of a demon whilst switching from your torch to weapons.

The sound is consistent with the original too. The weapons make decent bang noises, those nasty hell fiends make (errmm hell fiend type noises) ambient sounds from the environment are also polished and appropriate. It's not a revolution in gaming by any means and it doesn't really stray from the proven Doom formula but if you have enjoyed a Doom game in the past you will certainly have a lot of fun with RoE.