Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil

Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil (commonly abbreviated to as RoE) is an expansion pack for Doom 3 developed by Nerve Software and id Software and released on April 4, 2005. The PC version was sold as an expansion pack, requiring Doom 3 to install. The Xbox version was sold as a stand-alone game, with Ultimate Doom, Doom II, and the Doom II Master Levels as bonuses on the disc.

The expansion pack included several new monsters, as well as three new weapons.

Plot
On Monday November 15, 2145, the UAC Mars Research Base was invaded by the forces of Hell after an experiment with the teleportation technology went wrong.

The invasion led to the total destruction of the facility, with all personnel killed. Five days later, on Saturday November 20, 2145, the Recon Zulu marine team found only one survivor, a Marine Corporal. Important UAC personnel such the company's lawyer and counselor Elliot Swann and his bodyguard Jack Campbell, who arrived hours before the outbreak to make an assessment of the whole Mars operation and enact damage control if necessary, were found dead. Master Sergeant Thomas Kelly and other Delta Labs scientists were also found dead. The marine team had no information regarding the fate of Dr. Malcolm Betruger, the chief scientist of Delta Labs who - unknown to them - had become the demon Maledict.

On Sunday May 1, 2146, an orbital probe recorded a faint unidentified signal broadcast from the abandoned Mars Site 1 complex. Months later, on Monday August 8, 2146, the UAC board of directors announced the renewal of the Mars program, now led by Dr. Elizabeth McNeil, a ex-colleague of Betruger, who had transferred off Mars days before the outbreak and was the original one who requested Councilor Swann's presence on Mars. McNeil's main objective was to continue the experiments on Mars and discover what Betruger unleashed.

Once more, strange occurrences haunt the facility. The player now takes control of a combat engineer marine, he is older than the original Doom 3's protagonist.

On Friday March 17, 2147, the Marine and his team were sent by the archeologist scientist Viktor Kharkov to investigate a hidden chamber deep within Mars, beneath the Erebus Labs complex, with the supervision of McNeil. The search team breaks into the chamber, finding a strange heart shaped artifact — which the Martians sealed away millenia ago. The Marine, upon touching the Artifact, awakens it and unleashes a blast energy wave, killing his team. The wave reaches into a old Martian portal (probably, the original one who brought the demons on Mars centuries ago) and activates it. Meanwhile in Hell, the Maledict realizes that the Artifact was touched, claiming that "they have arrived, my children... as I promised." (hinting that he was probably the one responsible of somehow sending the signal to orbital probe a year ago). The Maledict sends the three Hell Hunters to retrieve the Artifact for him. As the Martian chambers falls apart, Hell begins to invade Mars once again.

McNeil, after discovering the Artifact is linked to the invasion, orders the Marine to bring the Artifact back to her on Phobos Labs. As he escapes the excavation site, he encounters a dying marine with the possession of the Ionized Plasma Levitator, also known as the Grabber. Later, the Marine uses it to defeat the Helltime Hunter. With the demon's death, the Artifact gains the ability to slow time, and the Marine learns that the only way to feed his new weapon is with humans souls, which the Artifact consumes after approaching it close to human bodies.

As the Marine goes through the Erebus Labs, he encounters new enemies such as the Vulgars, Forgotten Ones and zombies using Hazmat suits. He also visits Sergeant Kelly's old office, where he gets Sarge's double-barreled shotgun. After delivering a piece of the Artifact's stone tablet to Dr. Cloud and McNeil, the scientists begin to study its power. When he finally reaches the monorail station, the Marine confronts the Berserk Hunter and gains the power to kill any demon with his fists after killing the demon.

On Phobos Labs, the Marine finally reaches McNeil, who discovered that the Artifact is, in fact, the Heart of Hell - a weapon made by the demons themselves to aid them in their war against the Martians. She also reveals that the Artifact also works as portal device, so the only way to stop the invasion is to return the Artifact to Hell, and the only to way to gain access to Hell is to use the old main gateway at Delta Labs - Level 4, which is sealed since the Mars outbreak two years ago. McNeil then orders the Marine to shut down all four core systems of Mars to power up the old teleporter on Phobos Labs, which is the only way to reach the sealed Delta Complex. As he goes to many sections of the base, he encounters the Bruiser demons and defeats the last Hell Hunter, the Invulnerability Hunter, by using electric shockwaves. With his death, the Artifact is finally overpowered. After all systems of Phobos Labs were shut down, the Marine uses the teleport to reach the old Delta Labs Complex.

On Delta, the Marine discovers that some parts of Delta and Administration complex were corrupted by Hell, since these parts are in constant dimensional flux with Hell, showing a horrifying alternate versions of the areas every few seconds and warps the Marine's vision. Bloody skeletons also appear when in flux with Hell until the flux stops. After passing from these areas, the Marine reaches the main gateway which finally sends him into Hell.

Battling his way through the demon forces, the Marine eventually reaches the Maledict. After a fierce battle, the Marine fires a rocket at the Maledict, only to miss and end up in the Maledict's jaws, passing out. When he awakens, Betruger's head pops out and demands the Artifact. With his last strength, the Marine obliges by shoving the Artifact down Betruger's throat, causing an explosion which destroys both the Maledict and the Artifact, leaving only Betruger's skull behind.

As the screen fades to white, Dr. McNeil's voice can be heard saying,'' “Marine? Marine...Welcome home...”''

Interpretations towards the ending
Since Resurrection of Evil's ending was made deliberately vague and open to interpretation, some fans created some theories about it.

The most accepted theory implies that the Marine survived after killing the Maledict, perhaps being expelled from Hell via a portal just after the Maledict was destroyed in somewhat the same manner as the Doom 3 Marine was brought back after killing the Guardian, or else brought back to Delta Labs while unconscious by another team sent through the Delta Labs teleporter by McNeil to retrieve him. With the Maledict dead and the Artifact destroyed, the demonic invasion of Mars would presumably have ended, making Delta Labs once more safe for entry by humans. He would then return or be brought back to Mars (like the original Doom 3's marine ended up on Delta Labs after closing the Hell Hole). McNeil would have brought him to an infirmary on Mars or Earth, awakening him to his home. The white-out may be interpreted as the Marine's having been unconscious the whole time he was being brought back, and waking up in the infirmary, but just before he opens his eyes.

Another commonly accepted theory implies that both McNeil and the Marine died and then went to a better place than Hell - possibly Heaven - since they sacrificed themselves for humanity. McNeil may be dead because the life-support system in the base had to be turned off so that the portal could be powered, and the Marine may be dead from his wounds at the end of the battle with the Maledict. Other evidence to this theory is that there was no way for the Marine to escape from Hell, since the Artifact closed the portal.

Other darker, more radical theories claim that Elizabeth McNeil is evil and actually worked with Betruger all along, being a "failsafe" if the original invasion failed. That would explain why she wanted Swann to go to Mars so badly in Doom 3, since his death would trigger Earth reinforcements on Mars, leading to a full scale Earth invasion. After the invasion failed, she needed to reactivate a portal to Hell using the Artifact and later power it up to continue Betruger's plans. Since the Marine grew too powerful, she entrapped him on Hell and took Betruger's role for herself as the one to bring Hell to Earth. Now, Hell would be the Marine's home. From this theory above, some argue that the Marine also had became a demon. Since the Artifact had shown the Marine's hand corrupting, and his anti-hero personality seemed to like consuming living souls, it's possible that he became fully possessed by his powers, turning into McNeil's mightiest warrior - thus leading to a possible sequel that involves Doom 3 ' s original protagonist. (However, this theory is unable to explain why McNeil wants the Artifact returned to Hell and destroyed, rather than, say, getting the Marine to hand it over to her. Also, she and the Marine use the pre-existing Delta Labs portal to deliver the Artifact to Hell rather than use the Artifact to create one.)

It must be noted that the third book from Doom 3 novels would possibly have been the novelization of Resurrection of Evil, explaining the end and other points of the storyline. Since the book was cancelled, and no other expansion neither official information were released since the publication of the game, the ending continued to be open to the player's interpretation.

Changes from Doom 3
Resurrection of Evil introduces new weapons and monsters that were not featured in Doom 3. It also addresses gameplay concerns that were raised after Doom 3 was released. Most notably, the degree of darkness and the frequency of surprise attacks by monsters have been considerably dialed down.

Weapons
The new weapons introduced in the expansion are:
 * Double-barreled shotgun
 * Grabber Gun
 * The Artifact
 * On the Xbox version you no longer have a flashlight. You are equipped with a pistol with a flashlight on it.

All other weapons from Doom 3 make an appearance in the expansion, except the Chainsaw which is now replaced by the Grabber, and the Soul Cube which is replaced by the Artifact.

Monsters
The new monsters introduced in the expansion are:
 * Bio-Suit Zombie
 * Bruiser
 * Maledict
 * Vulgar
 * Forgotten One
 * Hell Hunter

Except for the boss monsters, the Lost Souls and minor variants of the Zombies that appeared in Doom 3, all other monsters in Doom 3 make an appearance in the expansion.

In addition to these differences, the PC and Xbox ports are also slightly different in that the Xbox port features health bars for all boss monsters.

Legal issues in Germany
The game was put on the Index of the Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Schriften (Medien) on 31 May 2005 (date of official announcement). This means that the game can not be advertised, sold, rented, or otherwise given to minors.

Doom 3 BFG Edition
Doom 3 BFG Edition was released with RoE already built in, so it can be played by accessing the campaign screen.

Several levels have been modified and some features have been removed, most notably the toxic maze & enviro-suit sequence in Erebus Research, the dimensional shift in Delta Labs, as well as a room with numerous monsters in Hell.

Read more...

Levels

 * 1) Erebus - Level 1: Main Excavation
 * 2) Erebus - Level 2: Erebus Dig Site
 * 3) Erebus - Level 3: Erebus Labs
 * 4) Erebus - Level 4: Erebus Control
 * 5) Erebus - Level 5: Erebus Research
 * 6) Erebus - Level 6: Erebus Station
 * 7) Phobos Labs - Sector 1: Teleportation
 * 8) Phobos Labs - Sector 2: Molecular Research
 * 9) Phobos Labs - Sector 3: Main Reactor
 * 10) Phobos Labs - Revisited: Teleportation
 * 11) Delta Labs - Unknown: Union Aerospace Research Division
 * 12) Hell