Doom

Voices of: N/A
Developer: id Software
Designer: John Romero, Tom Hall, Sandy Petersen
Rating: M
Genre: First-person shooter
System: PC
1993

Times Completed:
Tim: 1

Summary: A marine on Mars must fight for survival when a portal to Hell is opened.

Review:
Tim: Doom is a landmark game, one of the most influential first-person shooters and one of the greatest games of all time. I first played Doom 30 years after its initial release and the game absolutely holds up. The graphics are dated, but a masterpiece is a masterpiece, whenever you play it. I had an absolute blast playing this game.

The game is definitely geared towards more mature audiences, although the extreme pixelation renders even the more gory parts plain. I didn't let my kids actively watch me play, but when they wandered into the room, I was okay with a few seconds here and there. The premise is a cool one- a portal to Hell is opened on Mars and a space marine must fight a series of demons and creatures for survival. It adds a great combination of supernatural and science fiction. The graphics look dated today (obviously), but they were exceptional for 1993. I had no problems with how the game looked and the enemies are certainly frightening. Their movements, combined with the sound effects create a chilling playing experience. There were a few moments throughout the game where I was legitimately surprised by an enemy and yelled as I swung around to defend myself. The game keeps you on your toes, as you never know where enemies might come from. As you peer around corners and into doors, you're constantly on the alert for being ambushed and dismantled. The game presents a legitimately entertaining and nerveracking playing experience.

The story is light and there's no much character development, but that feels just fine. There's a nice mix of different monsters, and although the quantity of enemies is limited, the diversity of them ensures the game never feels repetitive. The zombie soldiers seem tame, but I found them to be incredibly annoying- the ones with a shotgun have accurate blasts can hurt from anywhere, so I always prioritized taking them out. The Imps were challenging when they arrive in numbers, although thankfully, their fireballs were slow enough that you can easily dodge them. The pink demon things weren't bad- eventually, I just chainsawed them to save ammunition. The nearly invisible ones did me in numerous times. The floating skulls were occasionally challenging, when multiple of them showed up at once. The Cacodemons were fun to kill, but their faster fireballs sometimes gave me trouble. The Barons of Hell were quite challenging foes- without high-powered weapons, they could give you a lot of trouble. One of the most frightening moments I had is when I was looking for a Baron of Hell behind a pillar and I didn't realize he shifted into my blind side. That was a rude awakening. The Cyberdemon was an incredible boss and one you really had to watch carefully, lest his rockets demolish you. The Spider Mastermind was a solid final boss, although luckily I was powered up enough to make short work of that monster. As a whole, each of these monsters were memorable and unique.

I was surprised by how much game there was here. The original game had three Chapters- Knee-Deep in the Dead, The Shores of Hell, and Inferno. Each of those was in-depth, exciting, and appropriately challenging. I had so much fun playing through each of the episodes. Note- I didn't bother with the secret levels. I loved playing this game, but the 24 regular levels felt like enough for me. I did complete Thy Flesh Consumed, an additional 8 levels that were released two years after the original. Some of those levels were stupid hard, but I'd refined my skills enough to make it through them. Another note- I played this on Hurt Me Plenty, the Normal setting. I love hearing about people who have the time/patience/skills to play games on harder settings, but given the immense time pressures in my life, I've chosen to play most games on the normal settings. I just don't have 80 hours to sink into a game like this. I had so much fun playing it on Normal and that's perfectly okay.

There were obviously first-person shooters before Doom, but there was nothing quite like this when it was released. It's a landmark masterpiece, a game that influenced nearly every FPS that came after it. To have to respect a game like this, that changes everything to follow. It helps that it's a brilliantly made game and I had a massive amount of fun playing it. It's certainly a stone cold classic.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: N/A



If You Enjoyed This Game, We Recommend: Wolfenstein 3D, Quake, Doom II