3 ms·
It is not (only) nostalgia. I replayed Doom 1 & 2 a few years ago. To my big surprise, it is still a masterpiece. It did not age much, similarly to Terminator 2
by stared 5y ago
It is not (only) nostalgia. I replayed Doom 1 & 2 a few years ago. To my big surprise, it is still a masterpiece. It did not age much, similarly to Terminator 2, The Matrix, or The Lord of the Rings.
No talk, all action. Weapon and monster balance; each time you get plasma, you are happy; you muster all of your attention each time you encounter an archvile. Level design, mixing unsettling sceneries with mazes and puzzles. And you feel the frenzy of hell, with armies fighting with you and infighting each other.
For years the only remotely close thing to that was The Painkiller series. Recently we got Doom 2016 (which is beautiful, pace-wise, and atmosphere-wise) and Doom Eternal (mechanically faster, cartoony, and somewhat cheap story).
- debo_ 5y agoI thought Duke3D was also great this way, but it may be nostalgia talking.
- rythmshifter03 5y agoI felt the same way about Doom and Duke Nukem on Nintendo Switch (of all things.) They really were a labor of love and it shows in a way that you do not really see anymore with these vast teams of people working for a decade on one game.
- propertymagnate 5y agoI feel the balance in Duke Nukem is quite a bit different and less enjoyable from a pure game rhythm aspect - it feels more clunky and more about technical prowess then the game design excellence that Doom brings. For me, the weapon damage to enemy damage in Doom (and its comparison in Duke Nukem) is part of it - in Doom, the common level enemies take a single shotgun shot, or possibly two. It enables you to get in to kind of flow state and with good reflexes etc, avoid damage. In Duke Nukem, they introduce the pigs from pretty much the end of level 1, and there isn't a common weapon that can kill them before they can get at least a shot off. It's the same with most of the enemies they introduce after the pigs, as well. The fact that in Doom the common grunts and shotgunners are hitscanners but have a bit of delay to firing and the imps fire physical projectiles leads to more tactical choice and literal maneuvering during a firefight. I am sure there are arguments to be made about the increased complexity and breadth of Duke Nukems weapons, but both the damage they deal and the common enemies don't allow for the same flow.
- int_19h 5y agoI just wish the new Dooms didn't have quite so much platforming.