There are too many versions of Doom that I don't know where to start. But as always, let's start with a little history. I got to know the franchise thanks to Doom RPG in Java a decade ago, and I was pleasantly surprised that a little cell phone had such a great game, however, as I explored subsequent versions, the chronological order and distinct variations left me a bit strange... Several years passed and I decided to try the PS1 version, which by the way I loved it, then I saw one of their games on the Internet (I think it was an emulated Super Nintendo), then I decided to try the MS DOS version when I started to get interested in that platform. The point is that I was very confused, since the order of levels and certain differences made each version of Doom almost its own game despite being basically the same. And now that I have more experience... Where can I start? Do I start with the original version? Do I start with the PS1 one? What do I start with? It's one of the challenges I face when having thousands of versions of the same game. And it doesn't help that for a long time i actually played the MS DOS version more in Source Ports, which greatly polished the formula, although they also differentiated it from its 1993 version. So I said screw it, I'll play all the versions of Doom. So now I'll talk about the original and a little about the PS1 one, which are by far the best ones.
Some modernists may say: Duh, its a FPS of the 90s, it is worse than the newer Doom games or Call Of Duty or whatever other generic trash game!!! But the truth is that it is surprising how well it has aged in many aspects. There are some things, however, that, even though the fanbase does not want to admit it, could have been solved, especially in its release version. I wouldnt want to say obvious things, especially for how many reviews there are from this game, so i would just try to be direct here.
Obviously, Doom is the inspiration and evolution from previous FPS like Wolfenstein 3d, and although at first glance it may seen like a direct improvement, the fun fact is that i feel Doom is less adrenalinic and challenging than Wolf 3d. I may argue though that they did it for the best, since in that game you could die very easily, 99% of the attacks were hitscan and the levels were just a bunch of mazes paste together which drag the game by a mile, but when the game decides to throw you tons of enemies, the fast pace action gameplay actually works better than Doom imo, especially how the character moves there. In Doom you still move very quickly but not as quick as Wolf 3d. Is funny how with each FPS we move forwards in everything but speed. Speed always got lower and lower and thats something i really miss. However Doom thanks to making enemies with hitscan not longer the norm, that means movement and level design is very important, and sometimes this can turn into a kind of bullet hell, depending of the difficult level and map of course. And the controls in Doom are fantastic, Doomguy is one of the best videogame characters to control especially in the Source Ports where he seems to go in roller skates. Yeah, you cannot look up and down and thats clearly for technical limitations and whatever design choice they come up with it, and that can throw away some modern people, and it really can ruin some aspects of the gameplay that i would talk later, but if you can get use to it you would find an FPS that you never played. Its so fast, the level design is amazing with a near perfect difficult curve, there are a tons of enemies and satisfying weapons to use and the soundtrack puts you up to eleven. Doomguy is just so badass.
The enemies are also a kind of "limitations works on the game favour", since they may have a very simple AI, but they have such a meticulous zombie like programming that makes them very dangerous. Sometimes they continue to crash into walls, but they do that to "figure out" the map limits. And they can also fight each other. A good solution i guess to not program a better AI that again, it works on the game favour. Everything on Doom seems to be so meticulous programmed that you couldnt teorically take something out of the game without the entire experience suffering. Is a 1993 FPS that is more meticulous programmed that most modern games and thats saying a lot! This may as well being one of the oldest games i ever played that pass the test of time for how well made it is.
Im also surprise how Doom manages the difficulty. There are 5 difficulties in this game and each one makes a huge difference, and it makes the game accessible for everyone! Thats seriously impressive. Though i would argue the Nightmare difficulty is really unfair though... oh man, if you can complete it you are a better man than me!
The graphics are also amazing for the time, and they managed to cram so many textures and detail in a 2mb file and 35 fps with tons of enemies in screen at once. A technical marvel.
And this is the part where fanboys would start chasing me with dislikes, but im more than used to it. The flaws. First of all, whats wrong with the aiming? The autoaim is really trash in this game. Since you cannot look up and down that means all of the shots would redirect above where your gun is, but the gun isnt perfectly place where the aiming is, so while at close encounters is ok, at longer distances, especially when the enemy is above you, it can be tricky to shoot at them. There are a lot of purist in this regard where they think about autoaim being part of the game "esence", but it is clearly that it was just for the time. I mean, yeah, bosses like the Icon Of Sin in its sequel require the autoaim or the battle would be broken, but designing the game on a gameplay limitation, doesnt mean those limitations arent still annoying.
There is also the infamous "infinite height behavior", where your character is infinite taller. What does that mean? That you cannot pass below or above and enemy. That probably made someone to think about that Doom isnt 3d, something as fake as a 2 dollar bill...... I dont have a fake 2 dollar bill, dont look at me.
The problem with this is that when you go to an area where it has stairs, you could get stuck with the enemies below you, or also with the lost souls flying over the level and is so annoying. It makes the gameplay feel more like camping in a position than actually shooting and dodging fast that it was suppose to it from the beginning. Fortunately this isnt as bad as Doom 2 where the levels are compose of entire buildings.... Oh man... dont expect me to talk well about Doom 2...
The controls like i said before are near perfect, but there is a problem with the Doomguy speed in places where you have to be so precise about your movements. Its clearly that Doom wasnt designed to be a platformer.
Most of these flaws seems to be more about the experimentation and the relatively new state of that genre in the 90s, and thats ok, but what i cant forgive about Doom is.... the pistol start mechanic.
This is something that needs explanation. Supposedly the developers when designing the game, made each level intended to be beatable just starting each level with the basic equipment (a pistol and your fists), and the idea was that in each level you should obtain your weapons again, without them being carried onto the next level. And that would be fine, if it werent for two things. First of all.... How damn they FORGET to program it! You dont lose the weapons after beating a level! In fact, none of the versions had this feature unless you cheat, so this makes me thing they really got repented or they just lie to excuse its second thing... The final boss its an absolute joke without pistol start. One of the easiest final bosses in history. So why did i said excuse it? Well, because the pistol start thing both in Doom 1 and 2 makes the difficulty very unbalanced. Some levels are easier and others are harder, but there is no proper curve. May been an incomplete feature? Idk.
Even if some fanboys think this is the "true" way to play Doom, i disagree, even if that was the intended way by the devs, they never program it not even in the modern releases, and when the game launch it launches. A lot of people wouldnt care about the history of development of a videogame (and a lot of people wouldnt care about my history either, lol). I shouldnt cheat in a videogame to get the "intended" experience, especially when that experience is inferior. Its so weird all of this pistol start situation that it actually ruins the game a bit i think............ Shut up.
But other than that.... this is as close as the genre achieved perfection and yet is one of the earliest games. Surprised? Well, if you didnt had enough with this game, what about the PS1 version? OMG, i actually prefer this version over the original! I love how it mixes Doom 1 and 2 together to make it a more seamless experience, and the graphics and soundtrack are just superb. The only thing i can criticize is the lack of split screen, a shame i guess.
Or what about mods? Doom came out in the perfect time, and the source code was released in the 90s actually, so that means some of the most varied and best mods ever made for a videogame. I dont tend to install mods, but Doom is an exception. And Doom probably is the epitome of preservation, and i wish more companies made at least half of the effort Doom has. Im talking about tons of source ports and decompilation proyects, prototypes, early releases, etc.
Doom is not just a game, but is also like a DOS museum that is waiting for you to discover.
Some modernists may say: Duh, its a FPS of the 90s, it is worse than the newer Doom games or Call Of Duty or whatever other generic trash game!!! But the truth is that it is surprising how well it has aged in many aspects. There are some things, however, that, even though the fanbase does not want to admit it, could have been solved, especially in its release version. I wouldnt want to say obvious things, especially for how many reviews there are from this game, so i would just try to be direct here.
Obviously, Doom is the inspiration and evolution from previous FPS like Wolfenstein 3d, and although at first glance it may seen like a direct improvement, the fun fact is that i feel Doom is less adrenalinic and challenging than Wolf 3d. I may argue though that they did it for the best, since in that game you could die very easily, 99% of the attacks were hitscan and the levels were just a bunch of mazes paste together which drag the game by a mile, but when the game decides to throw you tons of enemies, the fast pace action gameplay actually works better than Doom imo, especially how the character moves there. In Doom you still move very quickly but not as quick as Wolf 3d. Is funny how with each FPS we move forwards in everything but speed. Speed always got lower and lower and thats something i really miss. However Doom thanks to making enemies with hitscan not longer the norm, that means movement and level design is very important, and sometimes this can turn into a kind of bullet hell, depending of the difficult level and map of course. And the controls in Doom are fantastic, Doomguy is one of the best videogame characters to control especially in the Source Ports where he seems to go in roller skates. Yeah, you cannot look up and down and thats clearly for technical limitations and whatever design choice they come up with it, and that can throw away some modern people, and it really can ruin some aspects of the gameplay that i would talk later, but if you can get use to it you would find an FPS that you never played. Its so fast, the level design is amazing with a near perfect difficult curve, there are a tons of enemies and satisfying weapons to use and the soundtrack puts you up to eleven. Doomguy is just so badass.
The enemies are also a kind of "limitations works on the game favour", since they may have a very simple AI, but they have such a meticulous zombie like programming that makes them very dangerous. Sometimes they continue to crash into walls, but they do that to "figure out" the map limits. And they can also fight each other. A good solution i guess to not program a better AI that again, it works on the game favour. Everything on Doom seems to be so meticulous programmed that you couldnt teorically take something out of the game without the entire experience suffering. Is a 1993 FPS that is more meticulous programmed that most modern games and thats saying a lot! This may as well being one of the oldest games i ever played that pass the test of time for how well made it is.
Im also surprise how Doom manages the difficulty. There are 5 difficulties in this game and each one makes a huge difference, and it makes the game accessible for everyone! Thats seriously impressive. Though i would argue the Nightmare difficulty is really unfair though... oh man, if you can complete it you are a better man than me!
The graphics are also amazing for the time, and they managed to cram so many textures and detail in a 2mb file and 35 fps with tons of enemies in screen at once. A technical marvel.
And this is the part where fanboys would start chasing me with dislikes, but im more than used to it. The flaws. First of all, whats wrong with the aiming? The autoaim is really trash in this game. Since you cannot look up and down that means all of the shots would redirect above where your gun is, but the gun isnt perfectly place where the aiming is, so while at close encounters is ok, at longer distances, especially when the enemy is above you, it can be tricky to shoot at them. There are a lot of purist in this regard where they think about autoaim being part of the game "esence", but it is clearly that it was just for the time. I mean, yeah, bosses like the Icon Of Sin in its sequel require the autoaim or the battle would be broken, but designing the game on a gameplay limitation, doesnt mean those limitations arent still annoying.
There is also the infamous "infinite height behavior", where your character is infinite taller. What does that mean? That you cannot pass below or above and enemy. That probably made someone to think about that Doom isnt 3d, something as fake as a 2 dollar bill...... I dont have a fake 2 dollar bill, dont look at me.
The problem with this is that when you go to an area where it has stairs, you could get stuck with the enemies below you, or also with the lost souls flying over the level and is so annoying. It makes the gameplay feel more like camping in a position than actually shooting and dodging fast that it was suppose to it from the beginning. Fortunately this isnt as bad as Doom 2 where the levels are compose of entire buildings.... Oh man... dont expect me to talk well about Doom 2...
The controls like i said before are near perfect, but there is a problem with the Doomguy speed in places where you have to be so precise about your movements. Its clearly that Doom wasnt designed to be a platformer.
Most of these flaws seems to be more about the experimentation and the relatively new state of that genre in the 90s, and thats ok, but what i cant forgive about Doom is.... the pistol start mechanic.
This is something that needs explanation. Supposedly the developers when designing the game, made each level intended to be beatable just starting each level with the basic equipment (a pistol and your fists), and the idea was that in each level you should obtain your weapons again, without them being carried onto the next level. And that would be fine, if it werent for two things. First of all.... How damn they FORGET to program it! You dont lose the weapons after beating a level! In fact, none of the versions had this feature unless you cheat, so this makes me thing they really got repented or they just lie to excuse its second thing... The final boss its an absolute joke without pistol start. One of the easiest final bosses in history. So why did i said excuse it? Well, because the pistol start thing both in Doom 1 and 2 makes the difficulty very unbalanced. Some levels are easier and others are harder, but there is no proper curve. May been an incomplete feature? Idk.
Even if some fanboys think this is the "true" way to play Doom, i disagree, even if that was the intended way by the devs, they never program it not even in the modern releases, and when the game launch it launches. A lot of people wouldnt care about the history of development of a videogame (and a lot of people wouldnt care about my history either, lol). I shouldnt cheat in a videogame to get the "intended" experience, especially when that experience is inferior. Its so weird all of this pistol start situation that it actually ruins the game a bit i think............ Shut up.
But other than that.... this is as close as the genre achieved perfection and yet is one of the earliest games. Surprised? Well, if you didnt had enough with this game, what about the PS1 version? OMG, i actually prefer this version over the original! I love how it mixes Doom 1 and 2 together to make it a more seamless experience, and the graphics and soundtrack are just superb. The only thing i can criticize is the lack of split screen, a shame i guess.
Or what about mods? Doom came out in the perfect time, and the source code was released in the 90s actually, so that means some of the most varied and best mods ever made for a videogame. I dont tend to install mods, but Doom is an exception. And Doom probably is the epitome of preservation, and i wish more companies made at least half of the effort Doom has. Im talking about tons of source ports and decompilation proyects, prototypes, early releases, etc.
Doom is not just a game, but is also like a DOS museum that is waiting for you to discover.