Posts tagged PC

Let’s all be honest with each other here. Wolfenstein 3-D is the first FSP that you can remember. In all honesty though, Doom is the first one that mattered. Where would all other FPS’s be with out the tracks that this game laid down first? Think of all the little things that Doom did, that just about every other first person shooter has copied since. Granted not the one that started it all, but definitely the one that everyone cares the most about. 

I can remember the first time I played Doom. It was on a really crappy PC way back in the day. Though only a shareware version of the game a friend had given to me, it was enough to get me hooked, even back then. Once I got my hands on the full version, I realized that this game would become an obsession. I would play it for hours and hours and each time I played it, I got a little farther, or discovered a new section. This was the drug for my fix.

Later another friend would go on to get Doom for his SEGA 32X. Though it wasn’t a huge step forward for graphics or power, it introduced me to a much easier way (for me) to play Doom.  Just as a little aside here, there has always been debate between PC and Console players over which is better, mouse and keyboard, or controller. I will just go ahead and reveal my allegiance to controllers. For me, it is the only way to play a game. Moving on… After I played Doom for countless hours yet again on a different format with a new control scheme, I couldn’t wait to get my own version at my house to play again. I wouldn’t have to wait very long because soon after that the PSX would release the first Doom that I could purchase for a home system other than PC. I played that version almost non-stop until the game disc literally wouldn’t work anymore in my system (probably from the shitty boxes they used to keep PSX games in). 

At this point I knew I was hooked. I knew that if a new game were to come out that had the Doom name on it, I would purchase it, no questions asked. Yes, at that age, I was one of “those people”. The ones that buy every iteration of a game simply because it had a certain name on it. Sorry. I was an addict and had a lot of disposable income at the time. Anyway, again, the PSX wouldn’t make me wait long. They released “Final Doom” for the PSX around ’96, which i quickly snatched up. This game however was not you run of the mill Doom. It was much, much harder than the original Doom and Doom 2. In fact, I am pretty sure that I never actually finished “Final Doom”. 

Rosie O'Donnell attacks... oh wait

Doom could probably be credited with creating more than a few of the staples in FPSs that still are used today. I would be willing to say that Doom is probably the first game to allow you to use a chainsaw to kill the minions from hell, or anywhere for that matter. Doom II created the phenomenon of the double barrel shotgun in games. Also the character that you play is the personification of “Me against the world”.  You were a nameless “super marine” that could carry twelve different weapons, eleventy billion round of ammunition and literally, single handedly take down the population of hell, AND live to tell the story. It was what every kid wishes they could do, be an almost Totally Unstoppable Badass.

Years would pass before Doom 2 would have a proper sequel. That’s not to say that the time in between wasn’t filled with at least SOME sort of Doom game. I can remember purchasing Doom 2 for my Game Boy Advance. Who could pass up Doom on the go? I feel like there is another version in there somewhere that I owned… but I can’t recall at the moment. Oh well.

Doom 3 would be announced from Id software in 2000, sort of, when John Carmack posted internally about remaking Doom with “next generation” technology. There was some opposition to the idea, being that Id kept going back to the well for it’s ideas and some wanted to get away from that. This was eventually put to rest and they went ahead and started development on the game. It was shown first at Macworld in 2001 and later demoed at E3 in 2002. To say that the game was well received would be an understatement. Computer owners everywhere immediately started beefing up their existing PCs and Macs in order to handle the HUGE processing power needed to handle Doom3. 

When it was released the game caught a LOT of flack for the fact that you had to make the choice between using your flashlight or using your gun. However eventually PC users managed to “mod” the game so that you could use both the light and the gun at the same time (even a “Hello Kitty” flashlight if you wanted!). During all this I was forced to sit on the sidelines and just watch others play. I didn’t have as much money as I used to, and I couldn’t get a PC rig together in order to play it. Once again though, time was on my side. Microsoft would release a version of Doom3 for their first Xbox in 2005. Day one, I once again had Doom in my hot little hands, and was ready to take on the hordes of hell again.

Doom3, A very slight improvement over Doom II

Doom3 wasn’t so much of a sequal to the others before it, but more of a retelling of the original story. Done with amazing graphical technology, it was well above and beyond what other FPSers were doing at the time. I didn’t care so much that I couldn’t use my light with my gun, in fact, I saw it from the perspective of the developers. It really did create a more tangible feeling of fear. Walking around claustraphobic corridors waiting for the next “Monster Closet” to pop open. Making the choice between walking in the dark with you gun out ready to shoot anything that moves, or walking around seeing everything and knowing you would have to be quick to switch to get a shot off in time.

After finishing Doom3 I knew it would be years before I would be able to get back into the fight against hell’s minions. Xbox Live would help to fill the void slightly by releasing their version of Doom for the XBL Arcade. Just another format for me to purchase the same game from back in then day again. Doom also became a motion picture starring(?) The Rock in October of 2005. Now i am kinda biased when it comes to video game based movies. I think they are all good (barring Uwe Boll’s) in their own special way. No I don’t think they are “Oscar worthy” nor do I think they deserve really ANY award. I just enjoy seeing the games that I have liked for years turned into full fledged movies. It’s a sickness. 

Is Doom over and done with… HA! Not likely. Doom 4 was announced to be in production in May of ’08. Not very much information exists about the new version. Id software is developing the game, it will have the Doom name attached, and will be powered by Id Tech5, that is also powering Rage for Id. Nothing has been told weather it will be a sequel, prequel or simply a retelling of Doom II (much like Doom3 was for Doom I). Rest assured though, however this game is released, I will own at the very least one version of the game. 

Doom, like I said, stands to this day as one of the most recognizable games ever created. Much like Tetris, or Mario Brothers, you could probably ask  just about anyone out there if they have heard of it, and they will say yes for one reason or another. Doom started a LOT of controversy back in the day for being to violent, and portraying evil and demonic images. True gamers know it was just the icing on the cake, fluff and sparkles, on an already great game. I for one am sure that this game sits firmly as part of  the foundation of my video game history. With out Doom, I probably would have been more into RTSs or Point and Click adventure games most of my life, and then where would I be?  If you have never played all the way through at least ONE of these games, you owe it to yourself to find one of the many formats and try. It may just change your perception of FPSs and become your favorite way to kill demons.