The Doom Marine goes back to Hell in the newest version of this franchise game

Editor's note: This review deals with a graphic, mature-rated game. Some of the imagery in the video above and the GIFs below reflect the violent nature of the game.

The newest game in the "Doom" franchise, named just "Doom" despite coming after "Doom 3," was released May 13 to great fanfare, and it's a solid throwback to the shoot-em-up, arcade feel of the original "Doom" games.

Fans of "Doom 3" may be disappointed that Bethesda moved the series away from the survival horror genre, but players of the earliest games in the franchise will love just how overpowered the Doom Marine feels in most situations, shooting his way through dozens of enemies.

The game opens with the Doom Marine chained naked to a table during a demonic ritual. His first move is to smash a hellspawn to death against said table before breaking out.

The combat that follows is loosely wrapped around a story, but it's hard to follow in-game because you're far too busy ripping apart demons to pay attention to any sort of plot.

The broad strokes version is that a brilliant scientist found a way to send energy across the solar system and, instead of beaming geothermal energy collected from volcanic vents on other planets, electromagnetic energy harnessed in planetary fields, or solar energy absorbed from the sun, the scientist decided to open portals to Hell from Mars and use Hell's energy because ... reasons.

This plan goes predictably wrong.

One of the scientists at the station, influenced by all of the Hell energy, has decided that a literal Hell-on-Mars might not be such a bad idea and unleashes destruction on the Mars facility. (Guess whose job it is to fix it.)

While the story is a bit weak and there are a few head-scratching moments, they're all an excuse to mow down demons, which is what we all came here to do. And there are no human survivors to worry about.

This leaves the Doom Marine free to attack the hordes with no qualms about collateral damage, so the player can fire everything from the plasma rifle to the super shotgun to the beloved BFG with abandon and without remorse. For players unfamiliar with the BFG, it's name is an acronym for "Big F-cking Gun," and it delivers.

These high-powered weapons can be upgraded and modified. This is necessary since classic monsters like the Hell Knights, the Revenant, and others are back to ruin the rest of the Doom Marine's life.

To help players take down the soldiers of Hell, the game also offers "Rune Challenges" that allow for character upgrades that last between battles. These upgrades make it much easier to survive and smash through enemies and can be combined with temporary power-ups that grant special abilities.

Players who combine rune upgrades and power-ups can become devastating weapons of war, capable of single-handedly bringing down entire legions.

Rampaging across the maps is pretty fun, but can get repetitive. Players who want a real challenge can select "Nightmare" difficulty. This makes the game significantly tougher but doesn't fix the "been there, done that" feeling of fighting a room full of demons after fighting a room full of demons after fighting a room full of demons.

To break up the campaign, "Doom" also offers a multiplayer mode with a few new twists on standard fare. The most significant addition to all game types is the ability to play as one of your favorite demons after grabbing a pentagram power-up - players start out with the rocket-wielding Revenant unlocked. There's also a new version of King of the Hill called "Warpath" with a capture point that rotates around the map on a set circuit, and a new game type called Freeze Tag where, unsurprisingly, instead of dying you freeze in a block of ice until your teammates thaw you out.

Players who want something new with great graphics and plenty of opportunities to massacre bad guys should definitely pick up the newest "Doom." Gamers who are looking for something new from first-person shooters might think about sitting this one out.