Hot on the heels of Wolfenstein 3D was a new id Software first-person shooter called Doom. This 1993 FPS saw players take control of a nameless space marine whose mission was to quash a demon assault on the moons of Mars. Certain scientists on Mars’ moons had been experimenting with teleportation and gateways, and demons from hell managed to crash their party. It’s up to you to send the demons back to the depths of hell.
OK, the premise isn’t all that original, and we’ve seen it done many times since, but is Doom still fun to play? If you’re a FPS fan, the answer is yes. Unlike id’s previous game, Doom has aged fairly well, and I’m not stating this from a fanboy’s perspective. I have very few warm-and-fuzzy memories of Doom, since I didn’t have a PC when it came out. I briefly watched a friend playing Doom 2 on his Mac, but I wasn’t really enamored with a FPS until I played Star Wars: Dark Forces, which was likely because I’m a huge Star Wars fan.
Doom has aged gracefully for a variety of reasons. It featured a host of gameplay improvements over Wolfenstein 3D. Your character moves faster than B.J. and is quite agile. Even though you can’t aim vertically, you can pick off enemies camping on cliffs by pointing your gun in their general direction. Clearly, it’s got some autoaiming, but the controls feel much more precise than in previous FPS games.
Besides having improved controls, you also have access to an arsenal that would make Dick Cheney proud. So you obviously have a shotgun, but you also have a chain saw, brass knuckles, a chain gun, and the almighty BFG 9000 (aka the Big F****** Gun). These are just a few of the great weapons that you’ll find in Doom, and you can switch between them on the fly.
Doom upped the ante with a massive stockpile of weapons, but did it break other FPS conventions? Well, sadly, the old medpack system remains. This was an FPS staple at the time of Doom’s release, so it’s not surprising that it remained a part of the game. Even though I prefer Halo’s recharging shields, I didn’t really mind returning to a medpack system. A limited amount of health is a blessing in some ways, because it forces you to plan ahead when encountering enemies and to search for additional health packs.
Thankfully, id decided not to include Nazis for once, providing the trigger-happy gamer with demon fodder. The games has a variety of demons, so the types of enemies that you face don’t really get old until the fourth and final episode (which is somewhat of an extra bonus, anyway). You find yourself up against standard soldiers packing shotguns and pistols; you battle fireball-spewing demons, run from vicious floating heads, and battle other monstrosities that you won’t even find in your nightmares. The bosses are the most deadly foes that you encounter, but there has to be a reason to bust out your BFG 9000, right? Your enemies aren’t astronauts, but they’re clearly a step up from the enemies in Wolfenstein and have better aiming capabilities. A skilled player is also better able to dodge enemy projectiles due to Doom’s improved controls, so you rarely get killed by cheap, random headshots.
What are Doom’s other advancements? It has significantly more atmosphere. Doom’s environments are quite varied and really give you a feeling that you’re on alien worlds. Travelling through the depths of hell feels quite horrifying. You still can’t jump or climb, so there isn’t a complete sense of immersion, but each of Doom’s levels at least feels distinct. Like Wolfenstein 3D, you still have to search for keycards, but the levels are no longer mazes that frustrate you to no end. You occasionally have to solve a puzzle or find certain equipment to help you cross a previously impassable area, but most of Doom sticks to its greatest strength: fast-paced shooting action.
Besides having detailed 3D environments, Doom also features a rockin’ soundtrack. The music is very electronic, but it makes you feel like you’re goin’ into hell and smashing Satan’s windpipe. You know id did something right when Doom’s great tunes made a pacifist like me feel like a hardened veteran who could beat any demon to a pulp faster than the Regginator could beat Cammie Dunaway in a Wii sword fight.
Doom has a lengthy single-player experience with multiple difficulty levels—typical fare, really, but were there any notable additions made to the XBLA port? Well, id tacked on an online multiplayer mode. Doom has been out for at least two years now, so the online community has dried up, but I was able to find a few matches. Unfortunately, these multiplayer deathmatches didn’t impress me. For one thing, Doom’s online interface felt disorganized, and you can’t really tell how long matches are, so the game trudges on far longer than you will likely want to play. As for the gameplay, the maps are well designed, but they’re far too big to navigate without radar. I often had trouble finding other players when I could manage to get a game, and we’d usually frag one another by surprise. When you do actually have a legitimate encounter, the fights usually boil down to who has the best weapon. I know that all FPS games are like this to some degree, but in Halo, I was actually able to take out foes with rudimentary weapons. This was not the case with Doom. My recommendation: Don’t go into a fight unless you have a shotgun or better.
I came away quite impressed with this 16-year-old game and would normally give it an 8, but I can’t due to one major problem: Doom frequently freezes. Unlike many other XBLA FPS games, I had to save regularly, because Doom would often freeze when I completed a level or even when I tried to exit a game. Fortunately, I rarely had to go too far back, but this kind of problem is inexcusable, considering that Doom was a major XBLA release. I’m surprised that id never provided a patch.
If you have an interest in seeing the roots of the FPS genre, I highly recommend Doom. Even with its technical issues, Doom is still fun to play, unlike its predecessor. Doom’s weapons are varied, the environments are impressive, the enemies are horrifying, and the game features a rockin’ soundtrack. What more could you ask for?
Score: 7
Pros:
- It has great controls.
- It features fast-paced gameplay.
- It has a rockin’ soundtrack.
- The levels are easy to navigate without a map (with the possible exception of Episode 4).
- It’s got a variety of weapons with excellent animations and sound effects.
- You get a great sense of atmosphere.
- It’s the perfect length for a $5 game.
Cons:
- Game freezes are a pain.
- Episode IV needs more enemies.
- The final episode might be too difficult for some players.
- Good luck finding people for online multiplayer.
- Doom is a boring online experience.