Blogs Games I Own: Doom 3

http://www.bit-tech.net/blog/2009/04/15/games-i-own-doom-3/

 

OK so I have to agree with you in that I don't like the game, just for the simple reason though that it is called Doom 3. If in fact someone else made it and it was called something else as well then I wouldn't mind it. I think the real reason I don't like the game stems from it being Doom 3 made by id. You know it is all that hype behind it, and even if it wasn't hyped it is still called Doom 3 so it has to live up to 1 and 2. I believe that id is in a tough spot though because what do they do now with the Doom franchise. I hope they leave it alone. Have you played the mod for Doom 3 that is Doom 1? I would be interested in your thoughts on the mods and such for Doom 3 or the engine.

 

I agree totally. Why do any players on earth return to a hell w/o any rewards, any upgrades, any fun, any character customizations?! This game has Hollywood grade art in visual and sound, only to make the hell become a nightmare. I don't hate darkness and I don't feel it is repetitive, but I hate an all day nightmare!

 

It's a foregone conclusion I was going to comment on this, but here's the slightly suprising bit: I actually agree with you. To be honest, I realised from about half an hour in exactly just how repetitive D3 was going to be, and given I'm a complete unashamed Doom fanboy, I thought "right, I'm not going to let the shoddy game design spoil my experience!", and promptly set about obeying eight simple rules for playing it, rules I recommend any first time players follow:

Rule 1: Only play at night.
Rule 2: Only play alone and with the lights off.
Rule 3: Allow yourself to get absorbed into the game.
Rule 4: Play for no more than 1 hour at a time.
Rule 5: Put in no more than 4 hours a week.
Rule 6: Play on the hard difficulty setting.
Rule 7: Play it slowly: explore as much as possible
Rule 8: Don't ask questions of the game

These are totally contrived, true, and are indicative of actually how weak the game as a whole is, but if you are able to stick to them, it actually makes the game very rewarding. The horror is allowed to blossom, the story actually appears quite good and the action doesn't become too samey. Whilst it's true Doom 3 could have been soooo good it's cringworthy, if played with a bit of discipline and a lot of good faith, the actual game can be a hell of a lot of fun, which is why I rank it right up there in the "games that took over my life" list.

 

I'm the same, although I never actually completed the game - I really enjoyed the first half-hour to an hour. I was playing late at night with the 5.1 sound and all that and the tension and atmosphere were spot on. It all went to hell (so to speak) soon after we started having bad guys to deal with - I very quickly got bored with the "scary" stuff jumping out of a cupboard behind me trick that was used to death.

All in all I doubt I got more than a third of the way through the game before giving up and I've never been tempted to go back and finish it.

 

I enjoyed Doom and Doom 2 - which will probably explain my liking of Serious Sam, as that maintains the recipe of 'lots of guns, lots of ammo, thousands of enemies'...

...but Doom 3 left me unimpressed. It lacked the charm the earlier games had. I didn't have so much of an issue with the lack of 'duct tape' (although the mechanic of needing to wonder around with just a torch, then switching to a weapon grated after about five zombies...) so much as the monumentally unimaginative level design and walk-through-door-have-demons-spawn-behind-you that was old in games long before Doom 3 was released. I tried the game again with Resurrection of Evil when I found it for £2 in an HMV sale once, but even that wasn't amazing. I did enjoy it a little more than the original game, though, and it kept me amused for a couple of days.

I've come to the conclusion that, starting with Quake, iD are good at engines... but not that good at games.

I hope Rage or Doom 4 prove that to be incorrect.

 

Same here ;-)