Disclaimer: I have done exactly one piece of research on Doom prior to playing this game and that involved looking up the quote at the end of episode one that I accidentally skipped, in that process I unintentionally learned that the main character is often referred to as Doomguy, but I don't like that name so I'm not gonna use it.
Wow.
Doom is quite good.
It took a while and a lot of it hasn't aged well but even playing on one of the easier difficulties and going in with a bit of an attitude about this game I have really liked it so far. I'm either two thirds or halfway through the game, the menu shows four chapters but the 'story' claims that I am on the verge of the final set of levels.
I downloaded it for free from CNET on my laptop but couldn't bring myself to even try launching it, then today I sat down in front of my Xbox and used 400 spare Microsoft points on the XBLA version of Doom, (22 mb -- how things change) then I sat down and played the first set of missions.
When I started playing I only knew a little bit about the infamous classic, FPS with left and right aiming, and a faint inkling that hell was involved somehow. As I got into the game I was surprised by a bunch of things, people talk about games being dumbed down or simplified now but this is something else; there might as well not be a story, you never have to reload, your character doesn't even seem to have a name. At first I found the lack of direction frustrating but as I played it more the gameplay really started to grow on me and the graphics or at least aspects of the art design still have a certain charm. The hand and weapon in the first person camera as well as all of the enemies have a such an odd look to them, I honestly have no idea if they're modeled or just sprites, they look totally different from anything I've played before. There are aspects of them that look better to me than a lot of games now. I love the hairless minotaur demon thing that just runs at you, it feels really novel and exciting, its distinct from most of the other enemies I've encountered so far which are pretty familiar zombies and standard demons, they have a fleshy and infernal look to them, like something that definitely should have a bunch of fur and is in no way happy that it doesn't.
The gameplay surprised me, I had thought that there was more of a focus on narrative and I had no idea that it had the arcade aspects it does, kills collected items and found secrets percentages as well as how long it took you to complete a level versus a par time supplied by the developer. The controller input is pretty minimal, look left and right, walk forward and back, strafe left and strafe right, bang bang shoot the guns, and change weapons. There is no reloading or crouching, no iron sights, you carry as many guns as you can find, and there isn't even a jump button. At first this all felt extremely foreign to me, even though I'm not a huge FPS fan I do have some definite preconceptions of what's expected of me and how they play. Doom shatters all of those, the lack of a real cover system or reload mechanic and its simple aiming mechanics jack up the pace and your incredible speed when sprinting turn it into a real break neck shooter once you get a hang of it.
I'm gonna play more then write it up 'tomorrow' or Saturday, thinking I might play Doom 2 once I'm done but I've got some other embarrassments in my steam library to take care of first.
Wow.
Doom is quite good.
It took a while and a lot of it hasn't aged well but even playing on one of the easier difficulties and going in with a bit of an attitude about this game I have really liked it so far. I'm either two thirds or halfway through the game, the menu shows four chapters but the 'story' claims that I am on the verge of the final set of levels.
I downloaded it for free from CNET on my laptop but couldn't bring myself to even try launching it, then today I sat down in front of my Xbox and used 400 spare Microsoft points on the XBLA version of Doom, (22 mb -- how things change) then I sat down and played the first set of missions.
When I started playing I only knew a little bit about the infamous classic, FPS with left and right aiming, and a faint inkling that hell was involved somehow. As I got into the game I was surprised by a bunch of things, people talk about games being dumbed down or simplified now but this is something else; there might as well not be a story, you never have to reload, your character doesn't even seem to have a name. At first I found the lack of direction frustrating but as I played it more the gameplay really started to grow on me and the graphics or at least aspects of the art design still have a certain charm. The hand and weapon in the first person camera as well as all of the enemies have a such an odd look to them, I honestly have no idea if they're modeled or just sprites, they look totally different from anything I've played before. There are aspects of them that look better to me than a lot of games now. I love the hairless minotaur demon thing that just runs at you, it feels really novel and exciting, its distinct from most of the other enemies I've encountered so far which are pretty familiar zombies and standard demons, they have a fleshy and infernal look to them, like something that definitely should have a bunch of fur and is in no way happy that it doesn't.
The gameplay surprised me, I had thought that there was more of a focus on narrative and I had no idea that it had the arcade aspects it does, kills collected items and found secrets percentages as well as how long it took you to complete a level versus a par time supplied by the developer. The controller input is pretty minimal, look left and right, walk forward and back, strafe left and strafe right, bang bang shoot the guns, and change weapons. There is no reloading or crouching, no iron sights, you carry as many guns as you can find, and there isn't even a jump button. At first this all felt extremely foreign to me, even though I'm not a huge FPS fan I do have some definite preconceptions of what's expected of me and how they play. Doom shatters all of those, the lack of a real cover system or reload mechanic and its simple aiming mechanics jack up the pace and your incredible speed when sprinting turn it into a real break neck shooter once you get a hang of it.
I'm gonna play more then write it up 'tomorrow' or Saturday, thinking I might play Doom 2 once I'm done but I've got some other embarrassments in my steam library to take care of first.
