This past weekend was when the Doom Open Beta took place on PS4, Xbox One and PC. It gave players a chance to sample the online experience and a few of its multiplayer modes, Team Deathmatch and Warpath. Having spent hours and hours with the beta, I'm thoroughly excited about Warpath and the direction Doom's online experience is headed in.
During the Open Beta, gamers were able to level up to a hefty Level 15 and had exposure to three customizable loadouts, Hack Modules and many unique weapons. Additionally, players could customize their character's look as well as their taunts, which total over 125, according to Bethesda.
I spent the vast majority of my time playing the interesting multiplayer mode Warpath. This mode is an intriguing take on Hardpoint in that the two teams playing must battle over control of the point, which is floating around the game map. Arrows guide you along to where the point is and you try to hold it for as long as you can. This design produces furious and explosive gameplay moments that I thoroughly enjoyed.
In Doom's online experience, players are not able to sprint and unless they are using something like the sniper rifle, there is no aiming. It's simple hipfire and gamers must control their aim that way. The fact that players aren't able to sprint around the environment makes the experience a bit more level, though I'm a bit surprised id Software didn't implement the feature.
Gamers can double jump around and there are power weapons or bonuses that spawn around the map throughout each match. Some of the power-ups can be a massive rifle, the Gauss Cannon, that is a one-shot kill on enemies, while another is an item that allows you to become the Revenant with triple health and explosive rockets.
These boosts and power-ups make the gameplay more interesting and force players to be somewhat tactical with how they choose to pursue them. I have to say that even though playing as the demon is fun, the Gauss Cannon is absolutely a blast to play with and feels extremely rewarding to use.
One thing I did notice when using the Gauss Cannon was that there was a bigger hit area when I shot at another player. Sometimes my aim would be clearly off-target and I would still kill the player. Hopefully Bethesda will tighten up the accuracy before the game launches in a few weeks.
Additionally, it'll be interesting to see how many total weapons are in the game at launch and whether or not gamers can more specifically customize their guns. I ended up using the shotgun the most as it was one of the most rewarding weapons.
Items placed around the map are things such as ammo and health, and players can find them in most places. The maps themselves are Heatwave and Infernal, both of which were enjoyable from a design standpoint and when you learned where items were around the map, that added another element of strategy to in-game decisions.
Hack Modules were also interesting benefits players could equip and use during any moment in a match. Some had a duration of 30 seconds, 60 seconds, 90 seconds or 120 seconds, and how these were implemented gave players different things to think about when they used them.
Each of them was different and gave gamers benefits such as being able to see an enemy's health, increased armor when they spawned, the location and countdown timer of a power-up, additional XP for killing another player and more. These modules were earned randomly after each match and for leveling up.
While Doom will have a lot more maps and modes at launch, the mode Warpath was a favorite as it provided some of the most crazed action of the two modes that were playable. A particular match I had ended up being 250-249 loss, but was such a wild ending to the game.
Warpath was responsible for a slew of amazing gameplay moments and I'm extremely excited to see how this mode and others help shape Doom. Doom launches on PS4, Xbox One and PC this coming May 13.
