It probably deserves it's own thread but it's not really Bay12's cup of tea, even though it should be.
I was completely shocked by Doom 2016. A reboot of a classic franchise with
piss christ looking cover art that's so generic you can put any title on it and it wouldn't look out of place? Great, this is gonna be your standard linear shooter with a female voice holding your hand and telling you what to do and lots of canned animations and some stupid storyline, right?
Nope. Surprise! I'm sure the trvest of the kvlt will find a reason to disagree, but if you gave the original Doom team a crash course on all the game design lessons of the next 23 years and then let them make a game with modern technology, this is what they'd make. It knows it's a 2016 game but it bleeds 90s. Wide, non-linear levels with big 3d arenas, powerups, secrets that give you early weapons and shit instead of useless collectibles (A few collectibles, I'll admit), and the best video game storytelling in history. Fuck The Last of Us.
The full lore is too stupid to describe but that's a good thing. Unlike Doom 3 which tried to be a horror game and had a lot of tension and slow buildup this one starts like a cannon and totally reverses the power dynamic between player and enemy. You're not trapped in hell with the demons, the demons are trapped in hell with you. You're so bad
they had to seal
you away.
The game starts with you waking up in a sarcophagus and immediately declaring war on all motherfuckers, and that pretty much describes the entire game. It's pure mindless action and no matter how difficult the game gets you never actually feel outmatched. It's fast and crazy and you're constantly switching weapons to respond to different threats, bouncing around the map, blowing shit up. The canned-animation executions are done very well, the repetitiveness blunted by the fact that there's a tactical purpose to them when you get extra health but sometimes have to jump right into the middle of the demons to get it, not to mention the animations are fucking great. Beating a possessed soldier to death with his own leg never gets old.
As a bonus, berserk packs also give you special animations and they're even more ridiculous. Punch straight through an imp's chest like it's Mortal Kombat. Kneecap a hell knight and then just pull his fucking head off.
Put it all together and the game's playable sugar, as Penny Arcade put it. No lengthy intro, no long exposition sequences, no cutscenes, no story to speak of, just good-ass game. Within two minutes of starting the game you're killing demons.
Despite playing like it came out in 1995, and despite having literally the most generic cover art possible, it's a much fresher and more innovative experience than anything triple-A I've seen come out this year.