DOOMATHON entry #14/20
List: https://www.backloggd.com/u/Mariofan717/list/doom--quake-campaigns-ranked/
Where Quake 2 ended up living in the shadow of Half-Life, which was looming over the horizon, Doom 3 is more unabashedly influenced by it than any other shooter I've played. Combine that influence with the game's emphasis on pushing cutting edge graphics in a decidedly less timeless direction than Half-Life 2, released mere months later, and you have a recipe for a game that is unequivocally a product of its time - and I'm not complaining. It's no surprise that once the hype factor of the boundary-pushing dynamic lighting wore off, this became the black sheep of the franchise, largely derided as far as I've seen for abandoning the principles the series was built on in favor of chasing the success of a better game. What I found, however, is that Doom 3 is more than a mere imitation and is more in the spirit of the series than most would admit, succeeding at pretty much everything it sets out to do.
This game doesn't simply erase the core gameplay of the series - it emphasizes the resource management and horror elements of the classic games, more clearly separating exploration and combat and putting you in scenarios where you have to think more carefully about every shot, especially earlier on. The pace starts off slow then gradually picks up, making for a satisfying difficulty curve where you start off scrounging for every shotgun shell and end up with the full classic arsenal (with the somewhat redundant addition of the assault rifle) ready to mow down whatever demon teleports behind you at a moment's notice.
The carnage never reaches the same scale as the classic games, but it does approach the same intensity as the enemy counts rise - the slower, more methodical movement makes everything a greater threat, as does the excellent use of lighting (and lack thereof) to sometimes force a controversial decision upon you in the form of the flashlight. I personally love how it's implemented - switching between it and the last weapon used is quick enough to be seamless outside of combat, but slow enough to make you have to choose at times between the ability to see clearly and the ability to fight back. The lighting as a whole is implemented brilliantly; while certain aspects of the visuals, particularly the unsightly human faces and stilted cutscene direction, have not held up, the use of stark stencil shadows makes for a consistently striking contrast between light and dark that masks most shortcomings. The sight of an Imp's fireball illuminating a pitch-black hallway never gets old, and I don't think I've played a game in quite so time that so consistently utilizes darkness both to build atmosphere and as an obstacle to the player.
Doom 3 was genuinely shaping up to be my favorite game in the marathon so far, which I would have happily embraced as a connoisseur of controversial entries in highly regarded franchises, but it unfortunately overstays its welcome by quite a bit. This is the longest campaign so far by a decent margin, and with how similar the gameplay loop tends to be from area to area, it started wearing down my patience in the latter half. Things definitely pick up as all Hell begins to literally break loose, which also makes for some hilariously tryhard visual scares, and Hell itself has some really creative visuals and some intense combat. This momentum is once again cut short by an unnecessarily long return to Mars that's followed up by - you guessed it - another underwhelming final boss! Doom 3 is not the quintessential Doom experience, nor does it trample upon the legacy of the series - it's a uniquely "2004 technical powerhouse" experience that's a lot more fun than one might expect, and it deserves to be remembered as more than just the odd one out.
Cross-posted on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mariofan717/status/1757699258759934084
List: https://www.backloggd.com/u/Mariofan717/list/doom--quake-campaigns-ranked/
Where Quake 2 ended up living in the shadow of Half-Life, which was looming over the horizon, Doom 3 is more unabashedly influenced by it than any other shooter I've played. Combine that influence with the game's emphasis on pushing cutting edge graphics in a decidedly less timeless direction than Half-Life 2, released mere months later, and you have a recipe for a game that is unequivocally a product of its time - and I'm not complaining. It's no surprise that once the hype factor of the boundary-pushing dynamic lighting wore off, this became the black sheep of the franchise, largely derided as far as I've seen for abandoning the principles the series was built on in favor of chasing the success of a better game. What I found, however, is that Doom 3 is more than a mere imitation and is more in the spirit of the series than most would admit, succeeding at pretty much everything it sets out to do.
This game doesn't simply erase the core gameplay of the series - it emphasizes the resource management and horror elements of the classic games, more clearly separating exploration and combat and putting you in scenarios where you have to think more carefully about every shot, especially earlier on. The pace starts off slow then gradually picks up, making for a satisfying difficulty curve where you start off scrounging for every shotgun shell and end up with the full classic arsenal (with the somewhat redundant addition of the assault rifle) ready to mow down whatever demon teleports behind you at a moment's notice.
The carnage never reaches the same scale as the classic games, but it does approach the same intensity as the enemy counts rise - the slower, more methodical movement makes everything a greater threat, as does the excellent use of lighting (and lack thereof) to sometimes force a controversial decision upon you in the form of the flashlight. I personally love how it's implemented - switching between it and the last weapon used is quick enough to be seamless outside of combat, but slow enough to make you have to choose at times between the ability to see clearly and the ability to fight back. The lighting as a whole is implemented brilliantly; while certain aspects of the visuals, particularly the unsightly human faces and stilted cutscene direction, have not held up, the use of stark stencil shadows makes for a consistently striking contrast between light and dark that masks most shortcomings. The sight of an Imp's fireball illuminating a pitch-black hallway never gets old, and I don't think I've played a game in quite so time that so consistently utilizes darkness both to build atmosphere and as an obstacle to the player.
Doom 3 was genuinely shaping up to be my favorite game in the marathon so far, which I would have happily embraced as a connoisseur of controversial entries in highly regarded franchises, but it unfortunately overstays its welcome by quite a bit. This is the longest campaign so far by a decent margin, and with how similar the gameplay loop tends to be from area to area, it started wearing down my patience in the latter half. Things definitely pick up as all Hell begins to literally break loose, which also makes for some hilariously tryhard visual scares, and Hell itself has some really creative visuals and some intense combat. This momentum is once again cut short by an unnecessarily long return to Mars that's followed up by - you guessed it - another underwhelming final boss! Doom 3 is not the quintessential Doom experience, nor does it trample upon the legacy of the series - it's a uniquely "2004 technical powerhouse" experience that's a lot more fun than one might expect, and it deserves to be remembered as more than just the odd one out.
Cross-posted on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mariofan717/status/1757699258759934084