My Thoughts On Doom: E3 2015

So it's been a number of years but finally another installment of Doom has arrived in the incarnation of another remake. But before we delve into my thoughts of the gameplay, lets have a look at a very brief history of Doom.

Doom

Shortly after Spear of Destiny, id Software were looking to improve on their newly developed FPS genre with a game based on the Aliens license, however, at the last minute they decided to pull out so that they could have total creative control, which was very unlikely to happen with that licensed property. During the research for Doom, John Carmack produced an engine that featured variable heights and sloping floors. This was later given to Raven Software who used it to craft a lesser known title called ShadowCaster. It was after this research that work on Doom started.

Doom 2: Hell on Earth

Less than a year later, Doom 2 came to pass and unlike its predecessor, did not have a shareware release. As a result of this the episodes were split by an in-game text based intermission screen rather than having to restart the game at a new episode. The game itself wasn't updated but relied on the advantages in computer hardware advances since the last release which meant that larger and more intricate levels could be produced.

Final Doom

This game consisted of two separate episodes, TNT: Evilution and The Plutonia Experiment and was written by TeamTNT, a group of WAD-making hobbyists who were on the advanced Doom editing mailing lists. Just before it was completed id Software acquired the project. The Plutonia Experiment was also assigned to them after an eight-level WAD they created was sent to American McGee, which impressed him and the rest of the id team.

Doom 3

After constructing the id Tech 4 engine John Carmack, and some of the other members of id Software, wanted to remake Doom. However, this was strongly opposed by Adrian Carmack and Kevin Cloud, who felt that id Software were reusing old formulas and properties too often. With the warm reception of Return to Castle Wolfenstein it was agreed to start work on Doom 3 but without Paul Steed as he was fired in retaliation for him and other members of the id team giving an ultimatum to Kevin and Adrian to let them remake Doom or to fire them.

Fast forward to now and with the recent gameplay trailer from E3 for the new Doom game, which seems to have been in development hell for a while. There were rumours that Doom 4 was supposed to take place on Earth, possibly as a remake of Doom 2 (which would have been nice). But it appears that they are just going to do another remake. The gameplay itself felt a little fake and uninspiring. They have included QTE-style melee moves which, to be honest, is going to get old very quickly. Some of the landscapes in hell feel a little too much like Doom 3 and the monster design.....leaves a lot to be desired. But that's just my opinion - have a look and decide for yourself:

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