This time, you play a combat engineer working under the command of Dr. Elizabeth McNeil, who worked alongside the nasty Dr. Betruger on Mars but was sent home as she began to suspect Betruger might be up to no good. [...] "She's actually the whistle blower -- she saw all the things Betruger was trying to do and called Swann and Campbell to come down. [...]

When you land on Mars, your team makes its way down to Site 1, the excavation site for the ancient civilization that you find towards the end of DOOM 3. When you do, you discover the beacon is coming from a strange artifact, but when you pick it up, it flashes and it soon becomes clear to the player that the gateway from Hell to Mars has once again been opened. Worse, the "new" Dr. Betruger (you'll understand if you've finished DOOM 3) will do anything to get that artifact back, and unleashes three special demons to that end, who track you throughout the expansion. You see, while DOOM 3's Soul Cube was the ancient civilization's ultimate weapon against the forces of Hell, this artifact was Hell's counterpart... and they want it back. Bad.

"Based on feedback and general comments about DOOM 3 people liked a lot of the later environments and ancient civilization areas that were a lot different from the base stuff, so we're starting the player off in these areas right away," explains Matt Hooper [...]

New demons make their first appearances to add more of a challenge and provide something new on which players to use both conventional weapons and artifact powers. "We made these enemies more difficult than some of the originals," explains Hooper. "They have projectiles this time around because you have the grabber to use against them and they also have great quickness. The first of them is a big hulking demon with two cannons on his arms called the Bruiser that fires really fast! The second is a Vulgar which is a little more imp-like but more difficult and quicker. It crawls around on all fours but also hurls a projectile."

Hunters aren't the only new enemies you'll meet. There's a quicker and tougher version of Doom 3's Imp called the Vulgar, a throwback to the original Doom's Lost Soul called a Forgotten, a Bruiser with giant rapid-fire cannons for arms, and lots of new zombies. "The zombies have set up shop on Mars again," Hooper explained. [...]

Doom veterans will be delighted to hear that the double-barreled shotgun, a favorite weapon of many players, will make an appearance in Resurrection -- in fact, from the sounds of things, players will be grabbing it from Sarge's trophy cabinet. Better hope you've made yourself scarce by the time he comes back.

One of the first things you'll notice is that your helmet now has a built-in flashlight. This will help you with your inability to cope with two things at the same time, namely the flashlight and the gun. [...]

Another unique feature of the Doom 3 expansion will be reflected in the game's approach to the new 'ultimately evil' artifact. The way you use the artifact will have an impact on your style of play, adding a somewhat non-linear dimension to an otherwise linear gameplay experience.

Will you be able to use more than one Demon power at a time?

Tim Willits: Sure, they basically stack on top of each other. You'll eventually acquire Hell Time, Berserk and Invulnerability, and you'll really have to use them together because you're going to be fighting your way through a real barrage of demons. But using the powers wisely is also important - when I'm playing and I hear some of our new enemies approaching, I always hop into Hell Time so I can get the drop on them. Some of the new enemies are so fast you'll really need to use Hell Time to dance around them. [...]

The first section of Doom 3 was quite slow and deliberate in the way it built up the tension. Will the pacing in Resurrection of Evil be equally creepy, or are you going for a more action-oriented experience?

Tim Willits: It's shorter, it's about half as long as Doom 3. I think it's a lot more intense. There's more of a focus on action and when you add in the powers you acquire from the Hunters and the extra possibilities of the Gravity Gun, we're definitely talking about a much more action-packed experience. That's not to say there won't be quieter, more moody moments too, but we really wanted to try and make it as much fun as we possibly could.