Abandoned: Aug 29 2021
Time: 4 Hours
Platform: Xbox Series X
When I started this game, I loved it. I've always heard it's the "bad" Doom game, with neither the labyrinthian energy of the classic first two nor the rapturous arena battles of the reboots. Instead, this one's a much slower paced game. Very nearly a horror game, especially in the original version where you couldn't hold your flashlight and gun at the same time. It's got elements from the original games, sure, such as some still rather twisty level designs and just amazing feeling guns. Regardless, it's a much different game, with much different design goals than the games it was following.
Lucky for me, I've never been able to get too into the original Doom games. They're fun enough, but really the only time I've loved them was when playing the first one co-op with my best friend, about 10 years ago. Last week I gave the first one another try, got through the first episode, but just lost all my motivation afterwards. I found that surprising, since I'd played Quake for the first time pretty recently as well and I LOVED Quake. Quake, however, is a much more straightforward game than Doom. Sure it's still got that lock and key level design, but you can feel the hand of the developers guiding you much more in Quake.
Doom 3's level design feels a lot like Quake's. Sometimes it's confusing, sometimes it's very straightforward, but it's never as much of a maze as its forebears. That, along with how much I liked the way the arsenal felt, got me really excited. An experimental Doom game? Even if it reached too high, at least it'd be interesting!!
And it really was, right up until the point where I didn't want to pick it up again. You see, a few hours into the game, there hadn't been a change in environment or mode of play. There were some new enemy types sure, and a new gun every once in a while, but the rhythm of combat never changed, the places you did combat never changed, and it really started to grate on me. Especially once I realized that I was less than halfway through the game.
So at that point I dropped it. Not a bad game per se, just an overly repetitive one. The gunplay is great and the horror is even pretty good, but it's one note, and the game stays on that one note for far too long, with not enough in there to break it up.
It's definitely worth a shot, but just know that the atmosphere it so dutifully curates might start grating on you after hours with no sign of letting up.
Time: 4 Hours
Platform: Xbox Series X
When I started this game, I loved it. I've always heard it's the "bad" Doom game, with neither the labyrinthian energy of the classic first two nor the rapturous arena battles of the reboots. Instead, this one's a much slower paced game. Very nearly a horror game, especially in the original version where you couldn't hold your flashlight and gun at the same time. It's got elements from the original games, sure, such as some still rather twisty level designs and just amazing feeling guns. Regardless, it's a much different game, with much different design goals than the games it was following.
Lucky for me, I've never been able to get too into the original Doom games. They're fun enough, but really the only time I've loved them was when playing the first one co-op with my best friend, about 10 years ago. Last week I gave the first one another try, got through the first episode, but just lost all my motivation afterwards. I found that surprising, since I'd played Quake for the first time pretty recently as well and I LOVED Quake. Quake, however, is a much more straightforward game than Doom. Sure it's still got that lock and key level design, but you can feel the hand of the developers guiding you much more in Quake.
Doom 3's level design feels a lot like Quake's. Sometimes it's confusing, sometimes it's very straightforward, but it's never as much of a maze as its forebears. That, along with how much I liked the way the arsenal felt, got me really excited. An experimental Doom game? Even if it reached too high, at least it'd be interesting!!
And it really was, right up until the point where I didn't want to pick it up again. You see, a few hours into the game, there hadn't been a change in environment or mode of play. There were some new enemy types sure, and a new gun every once in a while, but the rhythm of combat never changed, the places you did combat never changed, and it really started to grate on me. Especially once I realized that I was less than halfway through the game.
So at that point I dropped it. Not a bad game per se, just an overly repetitive one. The gunplay is great and the horror is even pretty good, but it's one note, and the game stays on that one note for far too long, with not enough in there to break it up.
It's definitely worth a shot, but just know that the atmosphere it so dutifully curates might start grating on you after hours with no sign of letting up.