Kaiine
New Member
gl hf...
Dooooooom
- Thread starter Shagz
- Start date
I was playing it and forgot to post how it is, so here goes:
At first, I was kind of bummed, because the windows icon for the game is a pentagram (inverted 5-pointed star inscribed in a circle). Also, the startup menu features a neo-paganism symbol in the background (just like a pentagram, but with a right-side-up star), and any references, even implied references, to pagan or satanic religions don't score any points with me.
Then, I played it, and noted an absence of any such references or symbols. Except for the gore, which I was expecting, it was great. There wasn't even much swearing (Although the violence is one level higher than even games like Soldier of Fortune).
Until about 3 hours into the game. Then, the game's content starts going downhill, with pentagrams appearing about every ten minutes (so far). I'll post more as I get further.
At first, I was kind of bummed, because the windows icon for the game is a pentagram (inverted 5-pointed star inscribed in a circle). Also, the startup menu features a neo-paganism symbol in the background (just like a pentagram, but with a right-side-up star), and any references, even implied references, to pagan or satanic religions don't score any points with me.
Then, I played it, and noted an absence of any such references or symbols. Except for the gore, which I was expecting, it was great. There wasn't even much swearing (Although the violence is one level higher than even games like Soldier of Fortune).
Until about 3 hours into the game. Then, the game's content starts going downhill, with pentagrams appearing about every ten minutes (so far). I'll post more as I get further.
Kaiine
New Member
I do believe the premise of the game is that "hell" literally breaks loose. I remember playing Doom on my Playstation, but don't remember too much about the storyline.
Shagz
New Member
Yea, the "storyline" has something to do with a portal to hell opening on Mars...or something like that. From the official site:
At any rate, if memory serves, the original Doom had plenty of pentagrams as well, so you could say it's built into the heritage of the game: it's always been about mixing the sci-fi with the gothic.
re: community and multiplayer...I've been thinking about it, and I think Id's finally dropping the ball here. With Quake 3, what did we get? A great new graphics engine that went on to be the star feature of several other successful games...but Quake 3 itself was just a deathmatch game: no story, no "interaction", just DM. Granted, Quake 3 represented the pinnacle of fast-paced DM at it's time. At it's highest levels, it surpassed any other DM-type game out there. It was pure DM, the definitive experience. But just DM, TDM, 1-on-1 and CTF (and only 5 CTF levels at that)? Quake 3 survived because it had a great graphics engine, the Id and Quake brand names and a fine tuned, beautiful DM experience.
Unreal Tournament on the other hand, gave us TONS of content and lots of gametypes, and kept on giving it after launch, something that they've continued with their new series.
And Valve raised the bar when it comes to dramatic, interactive story-driven FPS's. HL and its various mods are still being played today.
I'm wondering if anybody except the Id faithful can look at this game (Doom 3) and think "wow, Id's a company that cares about it's community" when other companies are doing a much better job at keeping their players happy. Does Doom 3 have a striking story or interactive features like we've seen previewed in HL2? Does Doom 3 provide the diversity and variety of gameplay that UT2004 provides? No, it just gives us a really pretty graphics engine and some scarey creatures to blow up.
I think Id's leaning too much on the community with this one, expecting them to fill in the holes - for free - that they left in their product. We shall see if the community responds...
PS - to be fair, Id had a smaller development team, compared to Epic/DE and Valve, but still...if you want to compete....
Enough ranting...
Eagerly awaiting more info from Kraniac - dude, is it scarey or what? How's the multiplayer? Oh man, are there even bots?!?!
[b said:
At any rate, if memory serves, the original Doom had plenty of pentagrams as well, so you could say it's built into the heritage of the game: it's always been about mixing the sci-fi with the gothic.
re: community and multiplayer...I've been thinking about it, and I think Id's finally dropping the ball here. With Quake 3, what did we get? A great new graphics engine that went on to be the star feature of several other successful games...but Quake 3 itself was just a deathmatch game: no story, no "interaction", just DM. Granted, Quake 3 represented the pinnacle of fast-paced DM at it's time. At it's highest levels, it surpassed any other DM-type game out there. It was pure DM, the definitive experience. But just DM, TDM, 1-on-1 and CTF (and only 5 CTF levels at that)? Quake 3 survived because it had a great graphics engine, the Id and Quake brand names and a fine tuned, beautiful DM experience.
Unreal Tournament on the other hand, gave us TONS of content and lots of gametypes, and kept on giving it after launch, something that they've continued with their new series.
And Valve raised the bar when it comes to dramatic, interactive story-driven FPS's. HL and its various mods are still being played today.
I'm wondering if anybody except the Id faithful can look at this game (Doom 3) and think "wow, Id's a company that cares about it's community" when other companies are doing a much better job at keeping their players happy. Does Doom 3 have a striking story or interactive features like we've seen previewed in HL2? Does Doom 3 provide the diversity and variety of gameplay that UT2004 provides? No, it just gives us a really pretty graphics engine and some scarey creatures to blow up.
I think Id's leaning too much on the community with this one, expecting them to fill in the holes - for free - that they left in their product. We shall see if the community responds...
PS - to be fair, Id had a smaller development team, compared to Epic/DE and Valve, but still...if you want to compete....
Enough ranting...
Eagerly awaiting more info from Kraniac - dude, is it scarey or what? How's the multiplayer? Oh man, are there even bots?!?!
Really? I don't remember any pentagrams in the original Doom or in Doom II. I know Quake and Quake III had them, but the space marine games like the Dooms and Quake II didn't have any that I remember. (Of course, I was young when the first doom came out, so my memory is not the clearest).
Anyway, to answer your questions:
Yeah, it's scary, but not in a disturbing, psychological way. There are some moments in which an imp or something will lunge at you from a dark corner where you weren't expecting, and you'll be so startled you can't see straight. But it's not scary in a way that will give you nightmares or something, or at least, it hasn't given me any yet. I would say the scariness is about equal with Half-Life. The main reason for fright comes from the parts of the game that are almost totally in darkness-- You have a flashlight, but you can't use it and use your gun at the same time. So it makes for tense moments: zombies coming at you from all sides; you frantically swapping between shotgun and flashlight and hoping your aim is good enough to keep them from eating you. And sometimes, you'll turn around just in time to see a flaming skull flying straight for your head.
Multiplayer's cool, but it depends largely on the map. Since you're limited to 4 people, some maps are too large. Sorry, no bots either. But at it's best, the MP is more fun than single player. Some maps have innovative mechanics. For instance, one level I enjoy has a switch that turns nearly all the lights off in the whole level, until someone else flips the switch back. This means that you have to use the same flashlight-weapon swapping mechanic for DM as you would in the single player.
Also, I can't help but feel warmly nostalgic when I'm using the chainsaw.
The pentagrams tend to be kind of obtrusive-- A red glowing one appears on the floor whenever a portal opens and lets a couple of imps through, and burn marks of it remain after it's closed. It's the real downside to the game. As long as I play it sparingly though, I don't feel affected. Use your own judgment.
Anyway, to answer your questions:
Yeah, it's scary, but not in a disturbing, psychological way. There are some moments in which an imp or something will lunge at you from a dark corner where you weren't expecting, and you'll be so startled you can't see straight. But it's not scary in a way that will give you nightmares or something, or at least, it hasn't given me any yet. I would say the scariness is about equal with Half-Life. The main reason for fright comes from the parts of the game that are almost totally in darkness-- You have a flashlight, but you can't use it and use your gun at the same time. So it makes for tense moments: zombies coming at you from all sides; you frantically swapping between shotgun and flashlight and hoping your aim is good enough to keep them from eating you. And sometimes, you'll turn around just in time to see a flaming skull flying straight for your head.
Multiplayer's cool, but it depends largely on the map. Since you're limited to 4 people, some maps are too large. Sorry, no bots either. But at it's best, the MP is more fun than single player. Some maps have innovative mechanics. For instance, one level I enjoy has a switch that turns nearly all the lights off in the whole level, until someone else flips the switch back. This means that you have to use the same flashlight-weapon swapping mechanic for DM as you would in the single player.
Also, I can't help but feel warmly nostalgic when I'm using the chainsaw.
The pentagrams tend to be kind of obtrusive-- A red glowing one appears on the floor whenever a portal opens and lets a couple of imps through, and burn marks of it remain after it's closed. It's the real downside to the game. As long as I play it sparingly though, I don't feel affected. Use your own judgment.