DOOM - An LGR Retrospective LGR English English

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Gaming 795.9K views 17.1K likes 234 dislikes 13 May 2016 Show Contributors 1

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Spanish Lonely Tree

Click to Play Video

[keyboard clacks]

It was Christmas time, December of 1993,

and there I was, just about to turn seven years old,

and thoroughly transfixed by anything with a CPU inside it.

And luckily, the household my family was visiting

for a Christmas party had a shiny new 486 in their office.

The guy who owned the computer was browsing

and showing off the latest games he had downloaded

from a local BBS, like Halloween Harry

and other platformers.

Then something happened

that changed my entire perception of video games.

I specifically remember him opening the door,

shooting things until they collapsed in a bloody heap,

and looking around at the green vats of slime,

all in an environment that felt entirely believable.

It was textured, it had lighting, it was 3D,

and just then my dad walked into the room,

saw the gory carnage,

and thought "ehh maybe this game isn't made for little kids."

The dude on the computer apologized, shut it down,

and let me play Commander Kane 4 instead.

And while I was notably impressed by that as well,

I never forgot that other game

with the green vats of slime.

The guns, the demons, that feeling of doom.

I thought about it every so often for years,

those images burned into my brain.

It was not until many years later

in the days of peer-to-peer file sharing services

like Napster and Morpheus,

that I finally got to play it for myself.

I found some shady executable for Doom 95

and those memories came flooding back

as I played through E1M1 for the first time.

Yeah, I'd played games like Unreal and Thief at that point,

It was still able to get its hooks into me

with no problem at all.

The shooting, the music, the level design,

the way enemies consistently surprised me.

It felt shockingly fresh, even though the game

was eight years old at that point.

And now, with it approaching 23 years old

and a new Doom looming on the horizon,

it's finally time to discuss the one and only Doom,

And yes, sometime later, I repented of my file sharing sins.

Here's my personal copy of the game,

which came in this slim cardboard sleeve

directly from id Software.

Now, originally, Doom was a shareware game, meaning that

there was a sizable chunk of it made available for free,

including the level I saw as a seven year old.

If you wanted the whole thing, and who didn't,

you couldn't just go to a computer store and buy it,

you had to order it by phone or by mail.

And when you did, they'd send you this package.

That's why there's no barcode or anything like that on here,

it was never officially sold in stores,

at least not in the U.S.A.

You just got this little box, the game on some floppy disks,

and a stapled together manual,

which is of surprisingly decent quality.

However, that's not to say

that Doom was never, ever sold in American stores.

Now for one thing, the shareware version

got all sorts of retail releases, including this one

that was bundled alongside GT Software distributed games

like Wolfenstein 3D.

The box looks a little more substantial

than the official full version release,

but it's still just the shareware episode

that you could download for free.

It wasn't until 1995 with the release

of The Ultimate Doom, that store shelves were graced

with the full version's presence.

The box art may not be as impressive as the others,

but it included all the original episodes,

plus an additional fourth episode,

and the latest patches, which made it an attractive option

for old and new players alike.

There were also a slew of add-on packs for Doom

like the omni-present D!Zone series of packs,

which added all sorts of maps and custom content.

Also worth mentioning for collectors

is the Doom Collector's Edition, released in 2001.

This has some pretty metal box art,

and includes Final Doom, Ultimate Doom,

and the sequel, Doom II.

But yeah, for the rest of the video,

I'll just be taking a look at Doom

and The Ultimate Doom, because I mean, ugh.

They make me moist.

And I'll probably explode if I don't play them again soon.

Doom begins with this fantastic splash screen

and some appropriate mood setting MIDI music

by the magnificent, Maestro Bobby Prince.

[enemy screams]

While a demo plays in the background,

you're free to peruse the options,

look at registration information,

or start up a game and dive into the depths of Hell.

And since Hell is quite nice this time of year,

I recommend choosing your difficulty and doing that.

Heh, and I always loved that nightmare difficulty

is brutally honest with you.

No complaints if you play it, it's your fault.

Now I could very well talk about a hundred thousand topics

in regards to Doom from here forward.

The creation story of the game is fascinating,

the people behind its development are legendary,

the tale of how it played a huge part

in creating the SRB is interesting,

the idea that its level design and weapons selection

are the daddy of all FPS games,

and the fact that the technical feats

that this was pulling off in 1993

were like something from another world back then,

but because each of those topics

deserve a video of their own,

I just want to talk about the gameplay in general today

and how it makes me feel.

Namely, there are a few things about Doom

that make it distinctly Doom

and nothing else has since compared.

Well, other than Doom II, which is arguably the better game

even though its more or less an add-on to this one,

but that, too, is for another video another time.

Ugh, man, isn't Doom too great?

The new enemies, the phenomenal levels,

the super shotgun, ugh!

Okay I'm sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself.

So what is it that makes Doom Doom?

Well for me, it's a combination of controls,

level design, pacing, weapons, and atmosphere.

If any one of those were taken away,

it would be another thing entirely.

Much like if you're mixing drinks

and leave out a key ingredient in one of them,

sure it's still more or less the same drink,

but it's also different enough

that you may as well get another name entirely.

With Doom, that cocktail of control over your character,

the layout, the features of each map,

the expertly crafted speed and difficulty,

the enjoyable lethal array of guns,

and the overall feeling of exploring each level,

all of these come together in a way

that makes Doom distinct,

and in my opinion is where the so-called Doom clones

of the mid-90s frequently fell short.

When you're controlling Doom guy,

as he is so creatively called,

everything feels like it's in its place,

like it has a purpose and nothing is extraneous.

There's an intimate sense of connection

between your hands, the hardware,

and what's happening on screen.

It's like your keyboard and mouse transform

into a piece of finely tuned weaponry,

one that's more than capable of wiping out

the entirety of Hell's forces, if you're skilled enough.

And you know, just when you think you've got the hang of it,

repetition gives way to surprise,

as something you forgot was there catches you off guard,

or something you didn't know was there kills you.

This leads right into the level design

which seems kind of nonsensical at first glance.

I mean this is supposed to be a space military base

for the most part, and if that's the case,

they oughta fire their architect.

The number of dead ends, labyrinths, and secret doors

is downright bizarre in that respect.

But what it lacks in logical believability,

it makes up for in pure fun.

Over two decades later, and the levels hold up in ways

that surprised me even more on playing through it again.

It's a web of carefully constructed switches,

windows, doors, passageways,

secret areas, and floor toggles.

And while each one is placed with an explicit purpose,

not all of them are there

for every player on every play through.

Sometimes you want to do a speed run,

sometimes you want to take it slow,

other times you just want to search for secrets,

and beyond that you may want to go for a new record

in terms of items grabbed and enemies slaughtered.

100 percenting the game is something I've never done,

but the manner in which these levels are constructed

makes me long to pull it off someday.

And then seeing spots where Doom isn't afraid

to do something crazy to the player,

like tossing them into a strobe-lit dark room

or instantly dropping them into a pit of demons,

because they stepped on the wrong floor tile,

makes me yearn for more first person shooters like this

that didn't bother coddling you.

Speaking of which, the pacing of the game keeps you on edge

throughout the entire campaign.

From E1M1 onward, you're greeted with a game

that's simple to control, yet wickedly fast

and unafraid to dole out the pain.

Doom goes balls out in the way it tosses demons at you,

often from within areas that have since been termed

monster closets, and if you can't see them,

you can hear them, and that compels you to move forward.

To put it simply, if there's demons,

you're probably going the right way.

And each enemy is designed in such a way

that directly counters the moves and weapons

you've gained thus far.

Some feature hit-scan weapons, others utilize projectiles

that can be dodged.

Several will chew your face off if you're too close,

and others will compel you to use your most powerful weapons

even if you're running low on ammo

and probably should be saving up for later.

But man, how hard is it to save up

when the weapons are this good anyway?

Doom builds on the formula set forth

in Wolfenstein 3D in so many ways,

then bumps it up so many notches

that it's hard to even compare the two.

Yet it's easy to lose sight of how legendary it is,

seeing as practically first person shooter from here onward

has aped the basic Doom load-out to some degree.

Punching for basic melee, a chainsaw for ballsy risktakers,

a pistol for when you're low on everything else,

a shotgun because taking down multiple enemies is great,

a chain-gun that puts the pistol ammo to good use,

a rocket launcher for blowing things up including yourself,

a plasma gun for tearing through enemies at a rapid rate,

and the one and only BFG 9000,

the biggest [bleep] gun indeed!

Every one of these is a skillfully crafted tool

for dispatching violent justice on the Hell spawn

that roam the once hallowed halls

of wherever the hell this is.

Once you figure out how to best use each gun,

the fun never ends because you know

that there's a proper time and place for every one of them,

and usually that place is dark, horrific,

and downright delicious in its brooding sci-fi atmosphere.

The aesthetic of Doom is timeless if you ask me.

That happy little side effect of the game engine

where everything was dark in the distance,

it's arguably the single most important thing

for giving Doom its distinctive look.

Darkness is everywhere,

only a few steps away.

Even in what appeared to be brightly lit rooms.

There is no hiding from it

and it will probably tear your soul

from your mortal form in no time,

unless you've got your trusty boom stick on hand

and in that case, keep the finger on the trigger

and do not let go.

Whether you're scouting out science facilities

or meandering around the halls of the damned,

Doom's levels ooze style of the most dreadful variety.

Yet, it's not as dark as its software's next game, Quake,

it's still got that bright dash

of delightfully pixelated color here and there.

If only to remind you that what you're fighting for

is probably worth it, and it's the early 90s.

Bright colors are still cool in video games.

And every so often, you'll run into something

that the devout of the time took much offense to.

Upside down crosses, pentagrams,

images of demons and various other bits of Satanic imagery

that really nailed down the fact

that Doom is pretty freaking metal.

I'm not just talking about the design of things either,

I'm talking about that stellar soundtrack by Bobby Prince.

[carnage commences]

Sure, much of it mimics the songs of Metallica, Pantera,

Slayer, and Judas Priest, but I say bring it on!

This is a game that was clearly made by

100% all natural geeks fueled by copious metal albums,

soft drinks, leftover pizza, and D&D campaigns.

Doom is an interactive monument

to early 90s popular culture and more specifically,

the culture of dorks who just like the sound of hard rock

and the sight of blood and guts on a computer screen,

my kind of people.

But beyond how enjoyable it is to play,

how influential it was on gaming,

and how unique it was to stick in my mind

for all those years as a kid,

Doom is about much more than that.

Doom is all about its community.

The culture of creativity that this game inspired

is the stuff of legend.

And the crazy thing is

it wasn't even released with modding tools,

yet immediately after the release of the shareware episode,

players of the game got to work on creating utilities

that allowed users to mod the game

into practically whatever they wanted.

Chances are, If you've given much of your time

to Doom at all,

you've given some time to trying out

or making your own custom WAD.

Simpsons Doom, Star Wars Doom, Back to Saturn X,

Kill Barney, on and on and on and on,

and to this day, there are still tons of them being made.

Not only that, but source ports, total conversions,

and modding overhauls, have transformed Doom

into things that are absolutely mindblowing.

Not to mention met with mainstream success,

who hasn't heard of Brutal Doom at this point, you know?

And it's not just the excellent single-player

that got so many people modding the game either,

it was the included multiplayer modes.

These not only let several players

go through the entire campaign cooperatively,

but they could also compete

in what the game called deathmatch.

Yep, you've got Doom to thank for cementing the popularity

of this mode that is still incredibly popular

in multiplayer shooters to this day.

It's a testament to Doom's original gameplay

that got people that enthusiastic about it.

So much so, that their enthusiasm

turned into a rich creative outlet.

And seeing as that outlet has turned many a modder

into a professional game developer,

the influence Doom has had is, well it's hard to fathom.

And that's why I have to talk about it

and will be talking about it for years in the future.

However Doom 2016 turns out, well frankly I don't care.

I'll play it, I hope I enjoy it, but either way

it doesn't change how I'll feel about all I've just said

Regardless of where Doom's legacy ends up

in Bethesda's hands,

it's the original Doom games that still have my heart.

Or more aptly, my soul.

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