DOOM 4 is coming. Repent while you can (also 60Hz)
- Thread starter Richard
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DeadlyNinja
Veteran
Somebody should tell them that people hated Doom 3 not because of the graphics, but because of crappy gameplay.
Interesting, considering how Doom3 is id's best selling game to date (PC+Xbox sales combined).
aaronspink
Veteran
Which brings to mind various quotes from famous Mencken...
Doom3 represents my most scariest experience (the first 3 or 4 hours) in gaming. It didn't help that I lived alone, played it at night with every light in the house off and with surround sound.
I remember saying "there is no point in getting the whole experience of Doom if its going to give you nightmares involving Pinhead".
I had to stop and never bother finishing it as I question the fun in being that unsettled. Turned me off to the whole genre.
And I was the 5 year old kid who saw Friday the 13th 4 times. Never had a fear of the dark and only phobia as a child was of Salacious B. Crumb because I had Star Wars printed mattresses and box springs with him and Jabba plastered all over them for my bunk beds.
I remember saying "there is no point in getting the whole experience of Doom if its going to give you nightmares involving Pinhead".
I had to stop and never bother finishing it as I question the fun in being that unsettled. Turned me off to the whole genre.
And I was the 5 year old kid who saw Friday the 13th 4 times. Never had a fear of the dark and only phobia as a child was of Salacious B. Crumb because I had Star Wars printed mattresses and box springs with him and Jabba plastered all over them for my bunk beds.
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DeadlyNinja
Veteran
Since when did sales equals great gameplay?
RancidLunchmeat
Veteran
What metric would you prefer to use to judge 'hate'?
Who said Doom 3 bashing was so 2004? If so, then let's kick it old school!
I can't say I entirely hated Doom 3, that would be a lie but it was nowhere near the "masterpiece" the early reviews sold us
It was a cookie cutter shooter (too slow paced, though), without many redeeming features other than the fact that it was streched on for what seemed forever. No exploration, it's linear, no originality in the battles, close quarter gunfights only and globally no surprises whatsoever.
id folks made a good choice when they decided to go the horror route with Doom 3, it fits the environment and the mood of the franchise quite fine. What they completely missed was that they only relied on shock and surprise to scare you. Well, we can mention the audio logs email things à la System Shock, but these were hardly worth reading and hardly related to the horror side of the story.
I think the main reason behind the Doom 3 backlash is the game length. Strangely enough, the fact that the game gives you a long ride for your money is playing against it in the end. The game is so derivative and repetitive that by the end of the game you had more than enough time thinking about the game mechanics, and more than one gamer reached the conclusion that... well, they were not fun at such a high dose.
Simply put, as far as I'm concerned, Doom 4's gameplay needs either more variety or a more intense gunplay to be of any interest to me. And yes, it took me 5 paragraphs to start talking about Doom 4.
Imagine 20 more hours of the same labs, darkness, monsters spwaning behind you in hidden closets (those are convenient to have in a in lab I guess, when you don't think about it), darkness, a quick level in hell, some more monsters spawning behind you when you grab an item, more darkness, and 10 minutes of gameplay in a ruins-like setting at the end.
I can't say I entirely hated Doom 3, that would be a lie but it was nowhere near the "masterpiece" the early reviews sold us
(not that I ever agree with reviews... especially when they're hunanimous. It sets off my BS-alarm to full effect. And I'm somewhat a contrarian to boot, so it doesn't help.)
id folks made a good choice when they decided to go the horror route with Doom 3, it fits the environment and the mood of the franchise quite fine. What they completely missed was that they only relied on shock and surprise to scare you. Well, we can mention the audio logs email things à la System Shock, but these were hardly worth reading and hardly related to the horror side of the story.
I think the main reason behind the Doom 3 backlash is the game length. Strangely enough, the fact that the game gives you a long ride for your money is playing against it in the end. The game is so derivative and repetitive that by the end of the game you had more than enough time thinking about the game mechanics, and more than one gamer reached the conclusion that... well, they were not fun at such a high dose.
Simply put, as far as I'm concerned, Doom 4's gameplay needs either more variety or a more intense gunplay to be of any interest to me. And yes, it took me 5 paragraphs to start talking about Doom 4.
Doom 3 was wat over hyped, and not that good of a game, imo. All the perfect/almost perfect scores were not deserved.
Not very excited about this next Doom, unless its something new'ish and has better gameplay. Sadly, I wasted $50 on this, because they waited to put out a demo for months after the game came out, and all reviews said it was good. Wont happen again.. Ill just download it if they try that again.
Not very excited about this next Doom, unless its something new'ish and has better gameplay. Sadly, I wasted $50 on this, because they waited to put out a demo for months after the game came out, and all reviews said it was good. Wont happen again.. Ill just download it if they try that again.
I don't know, i somewhat agree with farid that Id took a really "careful" approach with doom's gameplay. They didn't do anything too extreme, or abstract and kept the no frill approach which resulted in the same old same old throughout the game. Compare that to the original doom which had all sorts of nasties like demonic symbols, demons and such which back then was something unheard of, which threw alot of religious organizations off, and had the media go wild. (work places was going wild, with net traffic being clogged up with doom deathmatches 
)
But having said that (and having to reading the making of doom3 sometime ago which includes alot of original ideas/plots etc), i dont know why they withdrew almost all the original ideas
that could have made doom3 even better. Whether or not its because of lack of experience when it comes to producing a plot intensive game i dont know.
However, doom3 is still one of more memorable games ive played so far. Who cannot the forget the first 4~5 hours of hell breaking loose in the mars base? first encounter with pinky? start of delta labs? the encounter with the guardian (ok this one i DID NOT expect) etc. Its just that the repetitiveness to reach those events of the game left quite a sour after taste.
Anyway on Doom4. This is something really unexpected. I thought doom4 was something on the bottom of the list on Id's schedule. hopefully using their experiences learnt from doom3, they can produce a game creative in gameplay whiel maintaining that horror theme with compelling plot. What ever it turns out to be, there will always be space in my heart for another doom game.
)But having said that (and having to reading the making of doom3 sometime ago which includes alot of original ideas/plots etc), i dont know why they withdrew almost all the original ideas
(such as general hayden, seeing visions of soul cube's history for every teleportation you make in the delta labs, a small chapel during the first parts of the game, zombies resurrecting, reflective surfaces, blood squirting out in different angles depending on where you hit them, etc etc)
However, doom3 is still one of more memorable games ive played so far. Who cannot the forget the first 4~5 hours of hell breaking loose in the mars base? first encounter with pinky? start of delta labs? the encounter with the guardian (ok this one i DID NOT expect) etc. Its just that the repetitiveness to reach those events of the game left quite a sour after taste.
Anyway on Doom4. This is something really unexpected. I thought doom4 was something on the bottom of the list on Id's schedule. hopefully using their experiences learnt from doom3, they can produce a game creative in gameplay whiel maintaining that horror theme with compelling plot. What ever it turns out to be, there will always be space in my heart for another doom game.
There were a few very cool sequences though, like the one where you've had to follow the service robot through some dark tunnels, with imps coming out of everywhere, fireballs and gunshots from you and the bot illuminating the darkness in quick bursts. The engine's capabilities were used pretty well, it was spectacular and very intense. Repeating it with the scientist holding a lamp was derivative indeed, although he didn't shoot enemies like the bot so it was even harder to survive.
Hell levels were cool as well with all the big monsters IMHO, just as the excavation site at the end. And there were some nice scripted events, like when the first pinkie attacked you and broke into that room through the window. Utterly scary, movie-like direction and nice execution again.
Finally, there were some very good looking enviroments as well, that were only surpassed by Gears of War quite some time later. Reactor core, underground mines, the whole realtime intro sequence, all very cool stuff.
I do agree that it isn't a top game though, and the spawning monsters that were always behind you were a stupid idea.
And yes, selling about 3 million copies altogether is a very good metric of how the general public has not hated the game. It did not please the hardcore internet audience as much, I'll give you that, but id has made a lot of money from the game, probably somewhere in the 50-100 million range.
Now about Doom 4... with today's technology I'd expect them to get back to the other defining feature of the original: hordes and hordes of enemies...
Hell levels were cool as well with all the big monsters IMHO, just as the excavation site at the end. And there were some nice scripted events, like when the first pinkie attacked you and broke into that room through the window. Utterly scary, movie-like direction and nice execution again.
Finally, there were some very good looking enviroments as well, that were only surpassed by Gears of War quite some time later. Reactor core, underground mines, the whole realtime intro sequence, all very cool stuff.
I do agree that it isn't a top game though, and the spawning monsters that were always behind you were a stupid idea.
And yes, selling about 3 million copies altogether is a very good metric of how the general public has not hated the game. It did not please the hardcore internet audience as much, I'll give you that, but id has made a lot of money from the game, probably somewhere in the 50-100 million range.
Now about Doom 4... with today's technology I'd expect them to get back to the other defining feature of the original: hordes and hordes of enemies...
How do you know people didn`t start to hate the game after they bought it ?
In fact most of the people who hated it , have logically played it first...
The game sold well because it was a new Doom, had pretty graphics and lots of hype.
the problem with doom3 was at the time the hardware could not handle the required ~20monsters onscreen (like doom1/2) with all the lighting/shadowing
thus gameplaywise, it was a monster here + a couple there + then once those were taken care of, respawn a couple more, also the flashlight issue was due to lack of available hardware power.
if doom3 was made now im sure theres no reason that doom3 as it was conceptalled? can be realized
thus gameplaywise, it was a monster here + a couple there + then once those were taken care of, respawn a couple more, also the flashlight issue was due to lack of available hardware power.
if doom3 was made now im sure theres no reason that doom3 as it was conceptalled? can be realized
