Doom 3: Worlds on Fire (Bk. 1)

Comment: I'll admit that i haven't read this book, the movie sucked for sure. But i remember the 1st time i read knee-deep in the dead, that book is still one of my top 3 favorite books i've ever read, Hell on earth wasn't as good but still great! Even if Doom 3 is good...the stories already been told, more than a decade ago and it was perfect in my opinion. The whole Doom storyline was originally laid out w/ those novels in the mid 90's, i hated the movie because i couldn't relate w/ the story or the lame characters. Maybe if i'd never read the 4 books back then i would of given this a shot, but its almost like a really crappy remake of an old movie that was perfect to begin with. Well thats all i had to say, not intending to bash this book, but then again i guess i am a little, hope i'm not the only one who remembers how awesome it was running down the hallways, and going through the teleport gates w/ old Fly, chasing A.S.

Comment: I couldn't put this book down (well, until I had to; gotta sleep.) I read it through in two days.

He likes his breaks between scenes. This is okay when we switch to another character's POV, but often the action picks up where the previous paragraph left off, and that makes these breaks a little annoying.

That's my only criticism. He does a great job with the story, developing the characters, and leading right into the action of the game. It's a good read, plain and simple.

Comment: First, I loved the video game, even so much that I bought RoE and was very excited about finding the book. Secondly, I know it's a book based on a video game.

I had high expectation on the book because of the close-ties of the author to Id software, but the book did not enlighten me on the any of the missing details or relevant concepts that I wanted to know about the Doom 3 universe.

The book is a good quick read with, I think, too much about Kane's earth back-story and without a lot of expected Mars action & information. Finally, I know there has to be a better way to end a book. I do not mind a good cliffhanger with resolution, but one that necessitates the purchase of the next installment is just too commercial.

Yes, I will buy the next book in the series and hope for more "raw meat & dark corridors" and SF concepts.

Comment: To start, no this book is nothing like the other Doom books written by Dafydd ab Hugh (aka David Friedman) & Brad Linaweaver. In fact, it has nothing to do with those books at all, but is actually a more fleshed out version of the origins of the Doom 3 video game. Matt Costello, the story script writer for the game, takes the idea of the game and details the beginnings of Mars City up until the demons come through the portal and the origins of Kane - the marine you play as in the PC/X-Box sci-fi smash hit.

Ill admit, this title starts off a tad slow with a lot of scientific talk about stuff happening on Mars City, with a dabble of action here and there that shows how Kane was actually sent to Mars because of an order he disregarded to save the lives of some 30 marines trapped in a city under siege by Russian forces. And I'll admit again, the story doesn't have much action in it except when Dr. Betruger opens up the teleporter and lets the demons through and Kane fights his way from Dr Ishii (the scientist you meet in the very beginning of Doom 3 the game) up to the Administration building.

However, Kane does fight a Pinkie at one point which was cool =)

This book is pretty interesting though because it introduces you to characters that didn't make the cut into the game such as Maria or (I don't remember if he was in the game but) Campbell, gives them some details, as well as shows basically the beginning of Doom 3, the tension and secrets on Mars, and fleshes out who Kane really is.

Matt Costello's writing style is very descriptive, and breathes life into all the characters that he introduced into the story as well as into the environment. He even makes the part with science talk pretty interesting.

Once the action picks up though, the book gets real cool. Kane fights civilian zombies, marine zombies, and a Pinkie... but I think the second book will be a lot better since it'll be (basically) the actual novel adaption to the game. Fans of sci-fi will enjoy this book.

...I know this isn't my best review, but what ya gonna do?

Comment: I saw this in the Wal-Mart for much less of a price than it deserves - but nonetheless, this was an awesome book.
Let me elaborate.
I always wanted a DooM 3 novel, and never thought they would ever make one; I was stuck with the Daffyd ab Hugh books, which, honestly people, weren't that bad. Come on, at least they were funny at some parts.
Anyway, I couldn't believe they'd made a DooM 3 novel, and, having always wanted to hear the backstory of this particular iteration of the franchise, I got what I wanted: something that would detail everything leading up to the events of that great game.
The amount of detail it goes into about just what happened to the characters gives you a linear sense of attachment to them, and it also does the one thing I ALWAYS wanted to see done: the Doom(3)guy was finally given a name. I never did think 'Player' would be too practical for a space marine, but John Kane is just awesome.
Unfortunately, it only goes up to the release of Hell upon Mars City in the UAC facility, and about 25% of Kane's journey, all the way to Administration - and an abrupt end. This means the next book will pick up RIGHT where this one left off - leaving readers of the first volume having to refresh their memory or even reread parts of the first book to get an understanding of sequence. It's for this reason that I hope the second installment comes SOON.
I'm also curious as to, since the entire DooM 3 game takes place during an event that lasts maybe a day at most, how this is going to be a trilogy? Hopefully, the second book will detail Kane's trek through the UAC facility, and the third novel will cover the events of Ressurection of Evil. That would be simply genius.
But anyway, this book is well-written, a realistic tale that covers the Mars tragedy of 2145 and is a fine example of how game-to-book novelizations should be done.