The Gamer's Quarter

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

So, I had a pretty terrible day today. Needless to say that there is no other day that Doom could have come out more fittingly and ripe for my purchase than today. So, the first thing that I did when I got home was download it on the 360. Then I played it.

Doom has aged amazingly well. This is also a very, very good port of the game. Picking carefully I ended up picking Ministy to listen to while blowing shit away. Then I started chatting up Toups on live.

Then we realised that we were idiots because we were playing the same part of the same game at the same time but not playing co-op. Yes, Doom made me open my live arcade subscription card to play. We then teamed up and went through the entire Shores of Hell chapter.

Man this game aged really, really well. It was like a flood of nostalga, but not in the same as games normally do. Not in the: man I remember what it was like playing this, it felt like I was 12 years old again playing the living shit out of this game and loving every second of it.

Your not almost dead at 1% health, your just begining to really live.
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

Lackey · . Joined: 11 Jul 2005 Posts: 1107 Location: Canada

With all sincerity; I'm very happy for you.
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TOLLMASTER · nippon ichi PR man Joined: 15 Feb 2005 Posts: 187

I always talk about replaying Doom, but never do.

I never really liked it much in the first place. I played it quite a bit, but only until I got a memory upgrade and started playing Mechwarrior 2 with a Sidewinder joystick. While my friends were all talking about spider demons with machine guns, I was trying to impress upon them (with some success; later a friend would use Mechwarrior 2 to get into Gundam anime and from his own words, "ruin his life") the abject fear of staring down a Dire Wolf in a Firemoth.

One boring weekend I finished the first and third chapters, just to see the end bosses. It was fun, I suppose, but it didn't seem quite like I was playing a "legendary" game. In fact, I pretty much ignored FPSes after that, with the notable exceptions of Tribes and Thief: The Dark Project.

There's something about the first person view that eliminates a good deal of the adrenaline factor for me. I've always blamed the controls; they seem too unresponsive, even later with mouselook, to do it for me. If I want to do something in, say, Devil May Cry 3, I just push a few buttons at most, and boom, it's happening. Something, I believe, gets lost in the FPS when you have to go "okay, let's start circle-strafing this guy."

I've always wanted to go back and play System Shock 2, but I always put it off.

GSL · Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 3:17 am Post subject:

There's something really strange about Doom in that it is one of the very, very few games that I can sit down and play at almost any time of the day or night. The game never seems to get old for me. I've always thought of the game as the pinnacle of the 'arcade'-type of title, meant to be played fast and for the viceral thrill of blowing everything up. The dated soundtrack still gets my blood pumping to this day, and the bass tones of the weapons feel oh-so-satisfying when your speakers are turned up to Loud.

What really helps bring the game out is one of the modern source ports; my favorite happens to be Doomsday, which works with not only Doom/Doom 2/Ultimate Doom, but with Hexen and Heretic as well. There's something gleefully anachronistic about adding things like lens flares to a game whose 'light sources' are all 2D bitmapped sprites, but the real thing that amps up the fun is the addition of the mouse look, enabling you to play Doom like any modern FPS. Also included are fun tools to help you create co-op or deathmatch games over real live internets and not archaic modem interfaces like DWANGO. Of course, I get all my kicks in the single player mode, but that's just me.

Lestrade · Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 7:13 am Post subject:

Goddamn you straight to hell, Shaper. To the Shores of Hell.

kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227

It's the magic of sprites, man. I can't think of many other FPS games that both
A. throw a TON of baddies at you
B. can leave corpses of baddies around to act like your breadcrumb trail.
It's amazing how some of the early levels have imprinted on my brain.

Tablesaw · . Joined: 29 Jun 2005 Posts: 303 Location: LACAUSA

I'll just say it. I don't like the game very much without infinite health.
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kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227

TheRumblefish · . Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 258 Location: Florida

I will never forget the first time I saw the Double Barreled Shotgun animation. I must have flipped out on my Cousin's computer.
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Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227

Mr. Mechanical · Friendly Stranger Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 1276

Ultra-Violence is manageable because you can actually kill all the enemies in a level, whereas with Nightmare they just keep spawning until you find the exit.

Good times, good times.

I'm playing my sister's Xbox version and it's still a great game that holds up well after thirteen years or however long it's been.

Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Lestrade · Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2006 1:12 am Post subject:

Oh god it's so good it's so goooood!

Lackey · . Joined: 11 Jul 2005 Posts: 1107 Location: Canada

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Am I a pariah for preferring Doom II? I mean, how can you say no to a sawed-off?
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

Oh, Dracko, you were a pariah long before that Smile

I haven't ever played a Doom game, but William Faulkner wrote an appendix to The Sound and the Fury about 17 years after he published it originally that introduced into the history of Yoknapatawpha County a Native American whose name was shortened to "Doom" by the French and English settlers. It's a hilariously overwrought and overwritten piece, especially compared to the brilliance of the novel onto which he tacked it. So that's my favorite Doom.
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Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

So, who here has read the Doom novels? They give the marine a name, and tentatively a heart, the demons aren't demons at all, and I hear it's all messy business.

They probably pale in comparison to this sequential classic.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

Mr. Mechanical · Friendly Stranger Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 1276

I read the first Doom novel. They named the marine Flynn Taggert, which just sounds dumb, they called the pink demons Pigs, the Cacodemons Pumpkins, and a whole slew of other things that I can't remember anymore. On top of that, it was a series of books so you just know how bad it really got.

Though, thinking back on it, it was a good book in a sort of pulpy sense.

Lestrade · Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2006 7:28 pm Post subject:

Mr Mech: I have all four of these. The first two are the best, and that ain't sayin' much.

kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227

I thought DOOM II was widely superior. Good level design and interesting new bad guys.

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Would it be accurate to say Doom stole Marathon's thunder? They were released practically at the same time, yet Marathon was far innovative on a design and story-telling level (Though far from perfect). I don't feel it to be wholly accurate mainly because by putting it on Mac, Bungie ostracised themselves from further exposition.

And for what it's worth, Prey was what Doom 3 should have been, though I don't think that's saying all that much either way.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

Mr. Mechanical · Friendly Stranger Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 1276

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Wolfenstein 3D was surprisingly not all that gung-ho.

I still think Bungie need to sort out their level design.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

Mr. Mechanical · Friendly Stranger Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 1276

DonMarco · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 349 Location: 33903

I propose you change the name of the thread. I thought you all were talking about Doom House 2000, but instead I am disappointed and perhaps upset.

Alas, I bought the game. Co-op is fun.
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Collector of over 1,538 strategy guides. That's weird, right?

Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

Mr Mech pretty much stated exactly what I think when comparing Marathon to Doom, two of my favourite series. They did similar things but took them in very different directions. I'm actually working on articles covering both of these series, so I won't bother discussing it much more here.

Anyway, DooM came out almost exactly a year before Marathon, however Marathon was released on the Mac before DooM was ported over. You could probably say it like this. Wolf 3D stole Ultima Underworlds thunder (which came out before Wolf). Doom stole Marathons thunder (which came out after DooM) . Marathon stole System Shocks thunder (which came out on PC before Marathon and on Mac after Marathon). Well, something along those lines.

Lestrade · Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2006 10:19 am Post subject:

I was playing Doom on the weekend and I had this moment where I thought, "If Quake comes to XBLA next I am going to shit my pants."

I realized while playing Doom that I'm not too shabby at it, because its style of gameplay is what I'm used to. I can't run-n-gun like I can in Doom in, say, Half-Life. But I cleared Episode 01 (including the hidden level) in a pretty respectable time. I just ran and ran and strafed and shot and spun and... it was a thrill-a-minute. I loved it!

ApM · Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2006 10:44 am Post subject:

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

It was silly in that prepubescent way, yes, but I actually found myself being sneaky in the earlier levels.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

kirkjerk · . Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227

Lestrade · Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2006 11:23 am Post subject:

Don't forget that Bobby Prince unashamedly ripped off some choice Pantera songs for a few of the Doom/Doom II tracks. Extra rockage!

Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

Don't forget Alice In Chains, Slayer, Metallica and Megadeth!

I really loved the craziness of Wolf 3D, it was just so ridiculous. I was really dissapointed when the new Wolf lacked the imagination featured very generic monstrosities to fight. I want frickin' reanimated soldiers with frickin' knives for hands and frickin' guns sprouting out of their chests!

It was also originally planned as a bit of a stealthy game, hence why it's still possible to sneak around in some of the earlier, less enemy infested levels, but not when I play it (on the hardest difficulty).

Lestrade · Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 9:07 pm Post subject:

So it appears I am incapable of playing Doom online—which is, you know, a pretty big fucking reason I got the Xbox in the first place. I can't find anything online that might help. I can connect to Live just fine, and I've played Halo 2 with no issues. I tried a random deathmatch against someone and it was fine for a few minutes; then it started chopping and I got kicked.

Any ideas?

I will probably have to call Microsoft, as Toups suggested, but will they even take tech calls for XBLA games?

TheRumblefish · . Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 258 Location: Florida

Tablesaw · . Joined: 29 Jun 2005 Posts: 303 Location: LACAUSA

Let me also say that the the board game of Doom is pretty fun, once you get into it.
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It's the saw of the table!

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Irrational Games' Ken Levine discusses Bioshock.

This article is particularly relevant because of his dissection of what it means to be a first-person shooter, a term he ascribes to Bioshock, as he doesn't like such terms as first-person RPG.

Yeah, this is pretty much the most exciting game since Half-Life 2 and co. for me.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"