Maybe Doom: The Dark Ages didn’t need mechs and dragons after all

Doom: The Dark Ages gets a lot right with its gameplay. The shield parrying is a welcome addition to the FPS space, and each of its weapons — a personal favorite being the evergreen shotgun — is both useful and fun. The Dark Ages is extremely my thing, too. What’s not working for me, however, are the few sections where the Doom Slayer pilots a giant mech or rides on the back of a dragon-like creature with mechanical, neon wings. Though these sections hit and miss for different reasons, they both don’t seem to fit well alongside the rest of the game’s parry-focused or FPS gameplay.

Piloting the Atlan will make you feel like you’re playing a Pacific Rim game. The Gundam-sized mech lumbers about the battlefield, destroying bridges and buildings in its way. You mostly use its fists to deal damage, with the occasional stomp attack thrown in. Not giving the mech a chainsaw shield is a curious choice; surely the Doom Slayer’s parry abilities could have worked for the mech’s fisticuffs against skyscraper-sized demons. Instead, the Atlan just scoots out of the way of demon attacks, leading to lackluster melee brawls that don’t capture the kinetic energy of the on-the-ground gameplay.

At certain points, the Atlan will pick up a giant-ass gun, and this is where the Atlan sections shine. Blowing demons to bits is the name of the game in Doom, and doing so as a mech works well. Oddly, though, the gun charges up when you perfectly dodge enemy attacks, which doesn’t quite make sense as a way for a gun to gain ammo. The Atlan will discard the gun once the arena is cleared, and I was disappointed each time. Let me keep shooting giant demons in the face!

Ultimately, the Atlan sections end up being very barebones; they have welcome ideas, but the execution lacks. And the dragon levels aren’t any better.

Piloting the mechanized dragon is where the shoehorning in of The Dark Ages’ melee combat falls apart. On the surface, riding a dragon with laser wings should be dope as all hell. For The Dark Ages, though, much of the gameplay in these sections involves the dragon strafing in place, waiting for an enemy to attack, and dodging out of the way to, once again, charge up its guns. Who knew playing as a freakin’ mecha dragon in a game could feel so… dull? Waiting for a perfect dodge so you can actually deal damage to turrets — of all possible enemies, turrets, really? — is a choice that falls flat, and it sucks the fun out of what should otherwise be an explosive section.

I did enjoy the parts where your dragon would zoom through the levels shooting at demon aircrafts, though. They felt like pared-down attempts to mimic the core gameplay of space shooters, and an expanded version of these almost-dogfights — that ditched the dodge mechanic — would have been better served as the main focus of the mecha dragon levels.

Doom: The Dark Ages has plenty of elements that work. Its techno-medieval setting is a win and each weapon in the Doom Slayer’s arsenal is a joy to use — especially the chainsaw shield. Those gameplay highs only further spotlight how the Atlan and dragon sections misfired. They have good ideas in them, but they’re underserved by some puzzling mechanic choices. Next time we get a dragon in a Doom game, let’s hope it feels as powerful — and fun — as the Doom Slayer himself.