Doom
Single Player, PC (Windows, Linux Steam/ Proton), 2016
Are you a middle-aged gamer missing the fluidic pace of video games where monstrous guns tearing apart tough bosses used to put a smile on the face and you felt a sense of worthiness of your time? Do you long to play a game where gameplay is paramount and not entangled in a narrative? Do you have some good memories of brilliantly designed video games from the 90s – 2000s, which gave you much bang for your buck even with pixel graphics that you did not care? And are you also a Heavy Metal fan?
Well then there is Hell waiting for you (pun intended). Step into the Praetor Suit of the Doomguy, and unleash hell on Hell! Set aside your fears that modern money-grabbing game developers might have diluted the USP of one of the oldest and most famous video game franchises on earth. It is time for the demons to be afraid, not you.
The video game industry is going though an inflection point. On one hand we see sales at all time high (because of lockdown of course), on the other hand actual quality of games are racing each other to a bottomless pit. Every year we see shiny new tech promising the moon, and some franchises have undoubtedly created excellent immersive worlds to wander in. But somehow the worlds feel empty, and only 1-2% efforts are actually worthwhile. Some developers like Larian Studios have offered awesome role-playing worlds (Baldur’s Gate 3 is in good hands, we can safely say). But the plague of copy-pasting the same thing every year, from Activision to EA, have not let us experience the real gameplay we miss.
I Did
John Romero and John Carmack created Doom in 1993. Since then almost 30 years of “innovation” have passed, but the original appeal of such games still remain today. Back then it had low bit 3D pixel graphics (much worse than Minecraft), but who cared? Video games have always been about gameplay. If one does not have it, then it is not a proper “video game”, period. It can be a good movie perhaps, but a game has very specific requirements. Firewatch, Life is Strange, etc. are 3D novels with excellent narration but video games they ain’t. Companies have tried hard to make a perfect game, but the moment they compromised on the gameplay, there is no chance of success. Because we have changed the very definition of success, we often misunderstand it.
Gameplay is the soul of a video game, just like screenplay is of a movie. A weak screenplay cannot be overcome by talented actors or directors, because it cannot hold the audience for 3 hours. A video game is supposed to have the gamer engaged for 20-30 hours; it is impossible to do so if gameplay is weak. I feel sorry for the mobile game developers; they have no idea what a game is. They just think that an app with some fancy graphics, interactivity, and (eventual) cashgrab mechanics make it one. It is like insert-shiny-new-tech-jargon driven development; it can build software fast, but quality or innovation cannot come with it, because the focus is to make money at any cost, not innovation even as a by-product. This is why we dont have as much innovation in software today as we had 20 years ago.
But I digress. Most game developers trying to pull something new from their backyard, fail to grasp the basic things that make a game good – and they are gameplay (whatever genre it might be – FPS, RPG, RTS, Sim, does not matter), pace, and anything that helps keep the player engaged. So when Id Software released Doom in 2016 as the 4th title in the series, many were skeptical about whether it is just going to be a cashgrab milking the franchise – swing a carrot before the donkey and get the money. We were relieved to find that it was not. Id knew exactly what we wanted and missed, and gave us just the game Doom is meant to be.
In the first room you begin the campaign, you are very excited after 12 years since Doom 3. Suddenly you see lots of text in a monitor screen. You hold on the excitement, prepare yourself to read the lore. The Doomguy understands, and tears apart the monitor! You don’t have to read any more, and ready your weapon. Simple messages like this, that “Doom is back”, manifest the nostalgia and make the game so much better. Every time you pick a new weapon, it is more powerful, and the Doomguy takes a good look at it before readying it. “Bring ’em on”, as BJ (from Wolfenstein, another creation by Romero) would say.
Guns, Lots of Guns
Each gun is special, and upgrades branch out into parallel paths, depending on how you want to play. Gun switching is F.A.S.T., just like old school classical shooters. There are arenas you can unlock at each level to test out some guns against time limited trials, if playing the game also understandably reminds you of Quake in some occasions. There are also armor and health upgrades.
There is no reload in any gun. Why would there be? It is DOOM, not some p*$$y “military tactical” shooter that schoolkids play every day in the comfort of their momma’s basement, swearing at the next noob for getting pwned by a headshot, feeling proud that it makes them “at par” with a real soldier out there. They know more about a battlefield than the NATO soldiers or US Navy Seals I am sure. Some game I don’t remember the name, makes you waste the ammo in magazine if you reload prematurely. I mean how much time would a person have in the world, to “enjoy” such grind? What has the world done to them?
At Doom’s Gates
The game looks pretty on Mars. Lighting is excellent and textures are high quality. It has the most screenshots I clicked among titles in my Steam Library. Maps are large; the player is not restricted to corridors unlike Doom 3. It feels good too, running and jumping around the UAC facilities, flanking the bosses at each level to shoot them before they could turn around; emptying your guns at the summoners then using the chainsaw to refill the ammo (great design, that), or even just rip and tear them apart with your hands in an extremely satisfying melee animation. Yes, you are indeed the “villain” out there. The Hell maps are a little dark and parody of religious cultism, but do not take away the fun at all. It is a perfect dichotomy of scientific world of the UAC and the cultist world of Hell. Yin and Yang.
There are easter eggs, opening up additional areas from original Doom if you pull a lever subtly hidden. It encourages exploration. There are scale models of Doomguy in different outfits to be found, including in a Vault-tec suit since Id is now owned by Bethesda (it is unbelievable that publishers of Doom could also publish Fallout 76). The collectibles also unlock upgrades; they are not just for show. And there are user created “SnapMaps” that you can download and play. They are actually good, not some half-hearted map design. Some have also created maps from old titles, which evoke nostalgia if you play them. SnapMaps increase your playtime by few more hours. The only problem I found in some large, leveled maps was lack of checkpoint saves.
Enemy AI is also well-designed. The demons flank and try to out-number you. You have to think to use the right weapon against the right demon. Some bosses re-spawn after you empty the arsenal at them, so using the most powerful weapons at the start is imprudent. Maps often have 1-2 boosters scattered around, which increase your speed, damage, or stamina. Sometimes you want to hold on to them until the final bosses like Baron of Hell or Summoner appears. Some enemies like the shielded guards need you to flank them from behind and puff a grenade, as the shield is invincible. It is by no means a mindless shooter.
If Argent Energy had a tune, it would be Mick Gordon’s composition.
If you are a heavy metal fan, then even if you don’t play this game, do yourself a favor and play the Doom soundtrack list on Youtube. Not the first time in this review that I will say someone was made for something; it is providence. Mick was made for Doom and Doom was made for Mick. You won’t be alone if you feel as if the soundtrack includes the game, not the other way round! The BFG Division is best according to me, but Rip and Tear, and especially Vega Core, put you literally out of the world (pun intended). But the real deal is when music plays in the background as you shred the demons to pieces. When you defeat the 3 end-game bosses, the effect that the slowly rising volume of Mick’s composition has on you, is priceless. That experience needs a playthrough; not even watching walkthroughs can give the feeling. Towards the end, some UAC guards salute you after you defeat a boss; the Doomguy salutes Mick.
Vulkan, the BFG of rendering APIs
It is as if Doom was made for Vulkan. The framerates were so consistently locked at 60 FPS on Linux (Mint and Pop OS, when I played it), that often I felt as if I was on Windows. Absolutely no stutter on GTX 970 at high to very high settings in 1080p or even 1440p, on a game released 2+ years after the (arguably) “Video Card of the Decade”. (Though at 1440p, I did not tax the system with AA; it was not required.) The game also has excellent built-in frame stats; you won’t need MangoHud or other 3rd party tools. Sadly, it was the time when the dual fans of my 970 gave up, but with two DIY 120 mm fans strapped with zip ties to the heatsink, the monster was back in action. The only problem I had with graphics is the 3D map, somehow it felt not smooth when zooming or panning it.
Doom is an easier game to run on a 970, granted. But when several things (Linux, 970, Vulkan) come together to make your experience unforgettable, it increases respect for each.
A challenge I have for myself is to play Doom again, with a controller. It natively supports them, but the game was too old school for me to try that way. It feels good when a game invites you to try another playthrough; haven’t happened to me in a long time.
Thank you, Id Software.
Pros
- Nostalgic journey to the good old days of classical video games
- Excellent performance on Linux, thanks to Vulkan
- Fast paced, timeless gameplay design
- Extremely satisfying combat and variety of guns
- Enemy AI is good; not a mindless shooter
- RPG like upgrades to weapons, armor without getting in the way
- A benchmark in video game soundtrack
- Custom user created “SnapMaps”
Cons
- Panning/ zooming the 3D map not as much fluidic
- Only checkpoint saves, no quicksaves
- Platforming is a little off; can be frustrating
- Voice acting could be better
Hello, new world! 