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| josh TX | May 15 2008, 07:00 PM |
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Review: Doom (PC, 1993) To say Doom took the PC gaming industry by storm would probably be an understatement. The brainchild of ID software's John Carmack, Doom was created using a new 3-D engine designed by Carmack himself and advanced greatly on the "FPS" style of play brought about by Carmack's own Wolfenstein 3-D. Released as shareware, Doom reached over 10 million homes and brought about the FPS phenomena that still rules gaming today. Needless to say, without Doom we probably wouldnt have Halo, Call Of Duty, or much any other first person shooters that gamers hold so dear today. Carmack's premise for Doom was quite simple. Basing his ideas off films such as Aliens, his team set out to create a 3-D gorefest of action and reckless splattering of hellish ghouls through the use of various weapons such as shotguns, chainsaws, gatling guns, and fictional ass-kickers such as the fan favorite BFG (Big F@#&in Gun) 9000. The gameplay is set through the eyes of the player, and involves exploring various maze-like Dungeons, all the while encountering the aforementioned ghouls, which come in a variety of zombified soldiers, floating one-eyed demon heads, and centaur-like horned beasts, to name a few. The goal was fairly simple: get from point A to point B of the maze without getting wasted by the enemy. In total the game included 10 different enemies, oftentimes appearing dozens at a time to throw players for a curve. The original Doom included a total of three episodes broken down into sets of nine levels apiece. Doom came heavy on gameplay, and understandably a lot lighter on story. The main protagonist, an unnamed Space Marine, was sent to Mars after disobeying his commanding officer and refusing to kill innocent civilians. While on Mars, a gate to Hell opens after an experimental mishap and the Base security on Mars fails to stop the onslaught of Hell's minions. Destroying everything in their path, the only man left alive is our unnamed hero. Simple but serviceable, the light story kept the emphasis on the gameplay and helped portray the protagonist as one hell of a kick-ass soldier. Playing Doom really gives you a feel for what was cool in the early 1990's...the indiscriminate riffs of hard metal music, exploding barrels and chunks of demon flying everywhere while the protagonist smiles on a below screen display. Doom was a pioneering title in more ways than one. If not the 3-D engine alone, the game was full of character and didnt hesitate to display the blood and gore which at the time was a surprising departure from the Nintendo dominated video game field, which never displayed blood or for that matter, much violence onscreen. Titles like Doom, and Mortal Kombat broke out of the "child's play" niche and became the controversial video games of the times, captivating gamers and pissing off Mother's everywhere. Besides the single player campaign, Doom included a very early multiplayer set. Networked computers could run a "deathmatch" mode (2-4 players against each other) or "co-op" (2-4 players vs. the hell demons). This simple bare bones multiplayer option has progressed into huge 32 and 64 player online battles in today's FPS games, and to many players has become an even greater experience than playing the regular game itself. Whether you like Doom or not, there is really no denying the innovations and accomplishments ID software achieved with this title. Few games have been as overwhelmingly popular as Doom and few games can claim the level of originality Doom can. The concept of the FPS itself started with Carmack's team and Doom had such an impact on the industry that similar title were simply dismissed as "Doomclones". Sequels, homebrew mods, and dozens of ports were released, landing Doom on just about every video game console, computer, and handheld gaming device known to man. The Doom engine remains popular today as a moddable tool for amateur developers, and the game itself will likely be remembered for years to come as the Father of FPS games. That's some legacy. My Score: 9/10    
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| Josh's Retro Reviews · Toggle Up-Video Gaming | |
10:29 PM Nov 27
