Picking up where I left off...
Monsters: Overall, the model work was well done, as well as the texturing. I didn't notice the texture seams present in the Doom 3 models. Animations seemed fluid and fitting.
Possessed Civvies/Unwilling: They looked strange and were noisy. Threat-wise they were a non-factor. I found that they pretty much existed for two purposes: Glory kills to get health and armor (or ammo, depending on rune usage), and for weapon mastery challenges.
Possessed Soldiers: A lot more dangerous than I expected. The spammy nature of their guns and a relatively high health for such a low monster made them a problem early in the game when ammo is sparse and you have no runes. On Ultra-nightmare (I played just The UAC to get the achievement), I found 90% of the death markers from other players were from these guys, with an occasional imp thrown in. In later levels they're still a nuisance as their projectile spam invariably finds a way of chewing your armor. I used explosive shells or rockets on these guys whenever possible.
Possessed Security: Serious pain in the ass, and thank God they're rare. It takes an insane amount of damage to knock their shields down, and it takes half a second for them to reboot the shield - pretty BS on that part. If more than one closes in on you then you're toast. The Gauss Cannon was my favorite tool for killing these guys... otherwise you have to try to get a grenade or rocket behind them.
Possessed Engineers: Easy frags, and useful for blowing up other Possessed. Unless you're an idiot they'll never get close enough to do any damage. Pistol is great for taking them down, or just lob a frag grenade and they'll pop.
Imps: Individually weak, and easy to kill. Much more mobile than I expected, and their fireballs fly pretty quick. They're not much trouble alone, but they have a tendency to flank and attack from multiple directions. They can be very good at sucker hits when fighting larger monsters, whittling down your armor. If you know where one is it's not dangerous. They tend to attack from where you don't expect at times, which is where they become more of a threat. I'd say they have the best AI of any of the monsters.
Hell Knights: I wasn't expecting these guys to be so fast at first, or melee-only since they look like the ones from Doom 3. Once you know how they attack they're not difficult to put down, so long as you don't get cornered. I liked the fact that they'd always come to you instead of hanging back and spamming projectiles. They really help to mix the action up and keep you moving - either to get away so you can make a clean shot, or to get in close and chainsaw them. Health-wise they felt about right for toughness.
Hell Razers: Visually intimidating, but beyond that, they really were not much of a threat unless you stood still and let them target you. I think these guys should have been more dangerous. Great concept but poor execution, especially next to the AI for the Imps.
Pinkies/Spectres: Noisy, ugly, and only dangerous if you let one run into you. The main problem with these guys is only being vulnerable from behind, and tending to charge at you while you're dealing with another demon. Alone, they're not hard to sidestep. I've seen other monsters in other games with the weak spot on the back - Minotaurs in Legendary, and Berserkers in Shadow Warrior - and I think the Pinkies rank at the bottom for threat level compared to those guys. Spectres were far too easy to see as well. I expected them to be more invis than they were.
Revenants: This has to be the most overhyped of the monsters. In the multiplayer beta I'd get wasted by whoever was the Revenant pretty much constantly. I expected them to be extremely dangerous. I found the reality to be that the monster versions can't hit anything, their damage is weak, and they go down pretty easily. The Revs in Doom 3 were more dangerous even though they were much slower.
Lost Souls: I think they took our LSOV and ran with it. They die easy, though getting hit by one hurts. I really didn't like what they did with these visually or behavior wise. The Lost Souls in Doom 1/2 were the best by far.
Cacodemons: I'd say these top the list for nostalgia. They behave as close to an original Doom monster as possible, actually make some noises when hurt, visually look the part, and do exactly what you'd expect a Cacodemon to do. SSG'ing these felt like Doom. I just miss the "bliblubrrbloblibble!" sound when they die. The first time I heard that playing Doom I cackled for several minutes before I could continue.
Mancubus: Damage sponges, but surprisingly not very dangerous unless you got in flamethrower range and stood still like a dolt. The Doom 2 Mancs would spam fireballs like mad, which made them dangerous. Doom 3/4 Mancs just don't have the damage saturation of the originals. I was actually disappointed in how non-dangerous these were.
Cybermancubus: When I saw this, I was expecting more than one type of monster to get cybernetic upgrades. I thought... Ok, cyber Imps, cyber Hell Knights... what else might they have? Nope, only the Mancs got it. The acid puddles they shot were actually dangerous, but other than that, just a Manc with more health.
Baron of Hell: Hell Knight Mark II, with some nostalgic appearance and some classic green fireball action. I don't think one ever killed me as their size and threat level made them a primary target, but they definitely were dangerous.
Summoner: This seemed to have replaced the Archvile as an enemy. Why they changed the appearance and made it floaty I'm not sure, but its behavior screamed Archvile. Not too tough, and I don't remember taking damage from one, but they were slippery to corner. I found the Stun Bomb from the Plasma Rifle followed by some point-blank SSG dealt with them better than anything else. I think aesthetically they should have stuck with the Archvile and made him run around fast again like in Doom 2.
To be continued again...
