a feeling of doom

i’m not a big fan of FPS games, but i thought i’d go back and play a classic of the genre, doom. i still haven’t gotten much into PC gaming since i stare at a computer screen all day at work, so instead i opted for the playstation version (the first of two actually) entitled ultimate doom which contains versions of the original doom as well as doom II.

i was surprised at how smoothly the game ran on the PSX, and i enjoyed zipping through the corridors. the graphics are serviceable, and although the gameplay is pretty basic by today’s standards (although not having to fiddle with aiming up and down is kind of nice actually), multiple weapons and having limited ammunition, some more-non-linear maps, and stats shown of kills, items found, and “secrets” found after each level kept me interested for a decent amount. but the game quickly got repetitive for me due to the lack of variety in the gameplay and enemies. the levels themselves had a decent amount of cosmetic differences, but the repetitive core gameplay overrode those slight variations. the game also walks a fine line between “try and die” gameplay versus actual skill, and the strobe-lighted and unlighted areas were more annoying than not. the “secrets” are somewhat pointless (the retrospective at 101 videogames puts it well: “I remember spending most of the game rubbing up against walls while fumbling with the ‘open’ button”, haha), but overall this was an enjoyable trip to the past, although i was happy to keep my visit short.

i feel … an impending sense of … doom links:
– entry at wikipedia, which includes a section on versions and ports. turns out there’s a GBA version. that might be fun to try out, although i suppose i should try out the SNES and N64 versions as well.
– page at doom.wikia.com
– classicdoom.com is a great site that includes images of all the maps and locations of all the secrets, as well as a comparison of all the different versions (not a small feat)
– endings of part 1 and part 2 on youtube

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