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Doom 3 - Definitely Worth The Wait?
Thanks to 1UP for their borderline-gonzo article discussing how the extended wait for Doom 3 is affecting opinions of it. The naysaying author of the piece argues that id's FPS sequel "...possesses many appreciable graphical highlights, [but] much of its beauty comes from techniques that are rapidly becoming standards. Normal mapping and dynamic lighting are nothing new, and companies like Ion Storm Austin and Crytek are proving that anyone can do it." He goes on to stake out his position clearly: "I am certain Doom will be great fun for what it is, but I just don't know if fans of the original and its Serious [Sam] inspiring style will dig something paced so radically different. I am also unsure of whether or not action gamers... will buy into a title that seems to lack the excessive fiction, approachability and interactivity that drive practically all of today's modern games." Update: 11/27 17:18 GMT by S : There's also a new mini-interview with John Carmack regarding Doom 3 over at CGW.
I'm all for it!
I'm fed up with games that 'feature' horrible acting, crappy FMV and hackneyed, generic stories.
Bring on the frag-fest!
for great justice
I am also unsure of whether or not action gamers... will buy into a title that seems to lack the excessive fiction, approachability and interactivity that drive practically all of today's modern games.
While these 'fictional' shooters are indeed fun, I've found myself quite taken with games like Call of Duty, and Battlefield 1942 whereas i used to be into Half Life, Gore, Doom, etc.. I seem play these types of games to put myself in the shoes (boots) of those that actually went to war, and less and less about just killing things.
Maybe it's just me getting a little older...who knows..
I was a fan of the original Doom series, but hadn't played many FPS games since then (except a bit of Quake). I'm eagerly awaiting Doom3, which will finally force me into upgrading my 1999 Rage Pro video card!
that the the retail version of Doom 3 will include a playable mini-game version of Daikatana?
All kidding aside, the games been in development for too long. It will allmost be impossible to live up to the expectations that only grow as the game sits in development for what seem like forever.
When people tell me doom3 is going to suck, or rock I tell them the same thing I tell them when they try and convince me that Halo2 is the best game ever made: Wait until you play it. If I went by only the opinions of people who are rating games and movies on their hype alone I would be convinced that the last two StarWars films were the best in the series.
I am thinking that at this point, writing a negative opinion of doom3 is just a quick cheap way of getting your article read and talked about, rather than a thoughtful well written article if I talk smack people will swarm; the cynic in me continues to get a thorough workout daily.
On Wall Street they say "buy low, sell high" On the pad we say, "buy high, sell high" Isn't that somehow better?
I played the leaked alpha, and I loved it. It scared the crap out of me, and half the monsters weren't even 'activated', and didn't attack.
no one who has played the alpha would bicker about it. those of us who have, know how good it can potentially be.
I'm waiting for the game, not for the lastest post-pixel shader rendered, anisoaliased particulate-scatter, a-b-c-x-y-z buffered with quantum-fog-table correlated, hyperradiused bump-mapped picocanvased effects.
All of the latest greatest effects don't mean diddly if you don't have a game and a story behind it.
Otherwise all you have is lipstick and makeup on a pig. Usually, with bad voice-acting to boot.
I would much rather see Doom 3 and Half Life 2 be released as polished accomplishments, not as graphic effect demos.
Because the pleasure i discovered with doom was not it's frantic action. This existed already with many old arcade games. I don't expect frantic multiplayer action either, because i have plenty of that available already.
What really differenciated doom was the intense fear i felt when I had to turn a corner and was hearing those breathing sounds.
Then multiplayer was brought to the games. Now, i expect doom3 to bring that creepy feeling into multiplayer games and i believe "no splash damage" are the right guys to do it. Gimme multiplayer in the dark baby!
I'm waiting for it to be released so the engine can be licensed. Not a knock on Doom or Quake, but it usually turns out a licensee makes a better 'game' than the original game.
The article is right most of the features that made Doom 3 look "unique" will be almost standard by the time it comes out (pixel lighting) , deus ex 2, halo 2 use visual effects that make doom look a bit.. not so impressive anymore.
However if you had the chance to play and/or see the demos at the quakecon (or the E3 if you were so lucky) I have to tell you this: DOOM 3 still stands from the competition as one of the best Horror games ever seen. The ambience of dread can only be matched by games like "silent hill" and still is not close to the fps experience.
Doom 3 is not about shooting wave after wave of enemies though, is more like being scared to death of demons that pop out of the dark to (literally) rip your insides out! and no, non believers this is not RE, RE looks like "Mario Sunnyland" compared to this. We are talking demons that each other entrails as you watch, satanic posesions that make peoples eyes explode in their sockets, giant invisible ghosts capable of tearing you limb by limb, guns that leave bullet holes the size of an orange , shotguns that spray walls and ceilings in red with photorealistic quality, we are talking psych trauma material here! if there has ever been truly deserving the AO rating is probably this one. (parents keep you kids as FAR as possible!
Like in all cases I recommend you wait for the actual game before drawing conclussions imo you wont be dissapointed, you will be scared (and probably regreetful) but you wont be dissapointed.
btw. You probably didnt knew but doom 3 features an incredible physics engine (which includes fluids for the gruel animations and doors that can be broken by demons among other things), rumor is after seing the half life 2 "demo" the guys at ID went and added more interactions with it so it could be at pair with their competition. Expect doom3 to be amazing in this department (and it already was)
The important part is that it will still be out before Duke Nukem: Forever.
"Max, come over here. French-Canadian bean soup. I want to pay. Let them leave me alone." - Dutch Schultz
I really like to think of most Id games as something that really attracts a large cult following. If you think about nearly every game they have released, you will see that all of them have had very major staying power. People still play Quake3, people still play RTCW.. do you really think this time will be any different?
Another point I feel is relatively important is that these games are not just games. They are built of beautifully and portably crafted game engines that put a lot of power into the hands of modders and other game developers which license it.
One reason that I can say I will definitely buy this is that it will run on my system. Unlike some, I don't have that second hard drive with WinXP on it to pop in and use at will to play Deus Ex 2 and whatever other DirectX 9 game hits the market. I'm very intent on supporting people like John Carmack to decide to use published, open standards for their products and for thinking of the small guy (who else releases high quality completely free games like Enemy Territory?)
You're just mad because the voices in your head talk to me.
I'm still playing Q3A mods like Xtreme Arena with my friends - to show how popular id games still are. Sure, it doesn't have as much eye candy as UT2003, but unlike UT2003 all I have to do to install a Q3A mod in Linux is to just unzip it. Now I'm just waiting for ATI to fix the bug in their 3.2.8 driver that keeps crashing my 9200 in Q3A, UT2003, and NWN. I'm using the DRI r200 driver, and tada! no crashing.
I hear you. And there are still plenty of great old games that I still haven't played, but which will run perfectly on a nice 486 or low-end pentium, which you can pretty much find in a dumpster these days. How sad... It goes with my theory that old hardware software never become obsolete, but are merely overlooked for the sake of novelty.
:)
I'm sure there are still plenty of ideas to be exploited that are implementable on a 486-based system, especially in the adventure game genre. The graphics of that age were a style that, when done well, will never age. Just look at Doom, Lemmings, many of Sierra's adventure games... their graphics were all elegantly crafted to make maximum use of the resources available to them, but still look good, stylistically. It's certainly worth the time to check out these old games.
Jesus, I'm only 20 and I'm reminiscing about the "days of old." Technology is great.
DosBox.
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
Cracker: We can start by agreeing that DOOM is the prettiest and most robust engine on the market. We'd be lucky if every game used it.
Ivan: We can start by agreeing that you are an idiot.
Cracker: Nice. Perhaps you'd care to elaborate on your jabbing witticism, you ass?
Oh my god! thats quality journalism for you guys out there.
Next on slashdot: two guys outside my apt discuss heavily about the GBA vs the PSP and weither they are "faggots" or not! exciting AND educational!
"Quick doom3 normal mapping demo in Blitz3d"
I don't now what's up with you, but I just can't wait for the power gaming bundle of Doom 3 and Duke Nukem Forever! I'm holding my breath in anticipation.
How ya like dat?