Doom

So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.
-Corrax Entry 7:17

They are rage, brutal, without mercy. But you. You will be worse. Rip and tear, until it is done.

Welcome to hell.


Id Software, the originator of a genre, has returned. Doom wasn't the first FPS game but it was one of the genre definers, and to see it come back is welcome and a great return to form. Wonderfully paced, outstanding focus on gameplay, being both kinetic and impactful. Just what a wonderful return to form for both Doom and Id Software. It's so nice to be pleasantly surprised about a game, and it embraces the ideas of old without trying to be new and edgy, which would ruin the entire experience.

It's so refreshing to play a game that is solely focused on gameplay mechanics and amazing level design. Within 5 seconds of starting the game you are in control and shooting a demon in the head.

The game constantly shows it's supreme confidence. High action, incredibly brutal FPS, that has impeccable mechanics, excellent progression, great pacing, awesome level design, and gun play that is unmatched in single player FPS. The amount of mobility you have and how the combat flows is incredibly well put together. Very smooth, every movement flows into the next. It is a rare moment when the game actually stops you to force exposition on you. The game is 99% about ripping and tearing demons apart, and to me that is perfect.

Glory kills, which could have very well completely ruined the momentum of the combat, actually ended up doing the opposite. It keeps the action alive, refilling your health and supplies so you can keep ripping and tearing enemies apart. They're also very satisfying to do, for example, beating a demon with their own arm. There so incredibly quick and smooth, and so satisfying to do you go out of your way to see them on every enemy you encounter.

It indirectly encourages you to set a score. To find the secrets, and hidden areas, to find the weapons, to get all your weapons unlocked, to become as powerful as you can. Secrets are also fun and engaging to find, including special areas like this:


A hidden original Doom area within a level.

Performance is outstanding, video options has pretty much everything you can ask for. The game runs very well. I only once encountered a FPS lock bug that was fixed by toggling window/fullscreen on/off to return to unlocked FPS.

Probably the best thing about the game is how your character doesn't give a damn about anything, never talks. His only desire and priority in life is to rip and tear, and that's so refreshing. The absence of character development is this character's strength. He is just here to destroy, that is his only purpose. He's here to smash things, not to create a narrative.

Just look at the intro to the title of the game:


Even without speaking you know what he's thinking. "Our interest in their world was purely for the betterment of mankind" *Doom guy looks down at the dead corpse before him, then looks back up and destroys it.


It makes you feel like a god of death, here to defeat the hoards of hell.


I would give the single player experience of the game a 10/10. To me, the experience was so fun and rewarding that I see myself playing this game for a very long time. The multiplayer was handled by a third party, which you can tell because it doesn't have nearly the quality level that Id Software displayed with the single player campaign. Also, SnapMap and Classic maps are both underdeveloped and buggy.

Because of those flaws, I knock the overall game to a 9/10, with the single player portion of the game 10/10. It's not perfect, but I had fun the entire way through, and to me, it is an amazing game to play, even for someone like me who doesn't particularly enjoy FPS games.

Also, have a listen if you like great video game music:



Composer is Mick Gordon

Jeez, he put so much thought into his music.

The numbers 666 appear in DOOM's soundtrack in a spectrogram.


DOOM: Behind The Music Part 1


DOOM: Behind The Music Part 2

It still entertains me that Kali is really really into Doom. Hehe. Never woulda thought.

Hey, I can't speak for Kali, but for some of us Doom is, while not the true first, still the original FPS and in many ways none since has been able to compare. (edit: for me Quake was the apex, and the last time I truly enjoyed FPS PVP, but I still have really wonderful memories of Doom.)

That said, I really, really want to play this...but I can't justify $60 on it. But rest assured I'll snap it up the first time it dips below $40 on a Steam sale or some such.

One of my earliest PC gaming memories was watching my babysitter play Doom while I ate a jar of expired salsa and got super sick.

J.T-F.C.....how?

I mean, expired for how long, exactly? Was it at their house or yours?

Salsa has to be really expired to be get you sick. I mean, the amount of acid and other preservatives in jarred salsa is just like...I mean...I think I have a jar from a year and a half ago that doesn't even expire until 1/2017. And that's just the date on the jar; it's probably still safe for another few months at least.

So I mean, extrapolating a bit not knowing exactly how old you are, did your/their parents buy some Pace Picante back in the Reagan era that they forgot about, or what?

I was like.... 7 or 8? It was a HUGE jar, like Costco lifetime supply size, and I ate a LOT of it. I think it was more that I ate so much than the fact it was expired.

Right on. I gotcha.

Back to the IDKFA/IDDQD talk.

It's not that I'm into Doom exactly, I am (more now than before), but you have to understand the amount of passion and respect that went into this game. It's overflowing with it, that's what attracted me to it.

I took a risk and bought it, D thought I was crazy. You...like Doom?!

and I don't regret it one second. The game isn't perfect, there are definitely parts of the game that are underdeveloped like I mentioned, but it's level of respect for the original material is on a whole other level. I love game developers with passion, and this game has it every step you take.

I'll be looking forward to DLC/Doom II, I felt the story they showed was super interesting, and I want to know where they take it.

This is part of the reason The Witcher 3 is so amazing, too. The love and care that the devs had for the lore -- the (literally) awesome level of respect paid for Sapkowski's source material -- is just outstanding, and everything else great about the game radiates from that.

I've been hearing similar things about the Doom reboot and I'm very much looking forward to playing it.

http://aoh.patrgames.com/

MOBA style snapmap