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Doom
11 years ago
General
Just finished watching this:
http://youtu.be/h8j2zj-A5tE
...a speed run of Doom 2 and I thought it was great both for the inventiveness of the play through and for the (relatively) brief walk through of all the levels I remember so well from the game. As I watched I recalled a comment that one of the developers (John Romero?) had made about Doom that was so unique to the game and oddly not repeated in any of the modern sequels or really to an extent any "Doom clone" or FPS shooter at all; the crazy ninja-like ability to dance and weave through the carnage like you were dodging raindrops because of your movement. "Survival through agility" is so at odds to modern FPS games where "duck and cover" and cinematic set pieces coupled with storytelling pacing rules the moment. This agility wasn't a power up or cheat, it was something you had from the very second and while you may not have appreciated it as a beginner (and certainly not if you played in 1994 before every computer had a mouse) this video clearly shows just how thrilling and powerful movement could be in avoiding danger and reaching your goal.
But thinking again on that developer comment I wonder... is Doom 1 & 2 completely unique in this realm of survival-through-agility? Again this video clearly shows that no matter how ghost-like your speed and skill the game still stacks the odds heavily against you such that shootouts WILL happen, and really that's part of what makes the speed dancing aspect so exciting. You aren't facing five or ten opponents where you're expected to take damage during progression, you're facing dozens and DOZENS in a mob where your guided-missile-like speed is as much a key to your success as the amount of guns and ammunition you carry.
The only game that comes to mind that's a proper comparison to Doom 1 & 2 is Serious Sam, which completely replicates the run-and-gun you-against-overwhelming mobs, but I don't recall your player motion was quite so nimble in being able to literally run circles around your targets. I never played Serious Sam 2 or 3 (I should!) but I don't think those had the same motion capabilities either. For what it's worth I don't consider deathmatch shooters to be proper comparisons even though games like Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament gave you similar levels of mobility the experience of playing against other people is quite a bit different than a single player level that's been crafted to be punishingly hard through numbers while multiplayer games are hard because of the skill of the players.
Of course as I type this I'm now reminded of the new game mode in Titanfall called Frontier Defense which is rather Doom-like in the way it places you (and three other players) in defense of a central point where varied mobs all rush and your supreme mobility is one of the big assets you have to make full use of your weaponry against the stacked odds.
Can anyone else make other suggestions of games that fit this mold? Does anyone else get a wonderful sense of enjoyment at seeing all those Doom levels again even though they're quite primitive compared to today's AAA efforts?
http://youtu.be/h8j2zj-A5tE
...a speed run of Doom 2 and I thought it was great both for the inventiveness of the play through and for the (relatively) brief walk through of all the levels I remember so well from the game. As I watched I recalled a comment that one of the developers (John Romero?) had made about Doom that was so unique to the game and oddly not repeated in any of the modern sequels or really to an extent any "Doom clone" or FPS shooter at all; the crazy ninja-like ability to dance and weave through the carnage like you were dodging raindrops because of your movement. "Survival through agility" is so at odds to modern FPS games where "duck and cover" and cinematic set pieces coupled with storytelling pacing rules the moment. This agility wasn't a power up or cheat, it was something you had from the very second and while you may not have appreciated it as a beginner (and certainly not if you played in 1994 before every computer had a mouse) this video clearly shows just how thrilling and powerful movement could be in avoiding danger and reaching your goal.
But thinking again on that developer comment I wonder... is Doom 1 & 2 completely unique in this realm of survival-through-agility? Again this video clearly shows that no matter how ghost-like your speed and skill the game still stacks the odds heavily against you such that shootouts WILL happen, and really that's part of what makes the speed dancing aspect so exciting. You aren't facing five or ten opponents where you're expected to take damage during progression, you're facing dozens and DOZENS in a mob where your guided-missile-like speed is as much a key to your success as the amount of guns and ammunition you carry.
The only game that comes to mind that's a proper comparison to Doom 1 & 2 is Serious Sam, which completely replicates the run-and-gun you-against-overwhelming mobs, but I don't recall your player motion was quite so nimble in being able to literally run circles around your targets. I never played Serious Sam 2 or 3 (I should!) but I don't think those had the same motion capabilities either. For what it's worth I don't consider deathmatch shooters to be proper comparisons even though games like Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament gave you similar levels of mobility the experience of playing against other people is quite a bit different than a single player level that's been crafted to be punishingly hard through numbers while multiplayer games are hard because of the skill of the players.
Of course as I type this I'm now reminded of the new game mode in Titanfall called Frontier Defense which is rather Doom-like in the way it places you (and three other players) in defense of a central point where varied mobs all rush and your supreme mobility is one of the big assets you have to make full use of your weaponry against the stacked odds.
Can anyone else make other suggestions of games that fit this mold? Does anyone else get a wonderful sense of enjoyment at seeing all those Doom levels again even though they're quite primitive compared to today's AAA efforts?
I love games like Doom, Quake 3 Arena, UT04, Painkiller. that motion and tactics of the weapons you have. the map layout knowing to aim carefully. but To me, (kind of a tangent I know), the FPS we have now I feel have the same feelings but not Exactly like the 90s shooters and I dont say are a bad thing. and trying to claim the 90s shooters are way better just cause they are classic is not something to say because we grew up on them. I enjoy playing games like Titanfall, CoD, Battlefied, Rainbow Six. All brilliant in there own way as a shooter. there is more involved then just shoot. but in Quake there are more to manage, Aiming, Damage Radius, ammo, and map control. while most games Dont have "Map Control" down as much.
To get off that stupid tangent. the only games that use that fast pace games is ROTT (2013), Shadow Warrior, Hard Reset, all Serious Sam GAmes (HD and such), Painkiller, Warsaw, Xontic, There was some others that are coming out soon I cant remember there name. Its Early Access but Wickland seems great on that aspect as well. and thats all I can think of.
Hope this wasnt boring or non informal to you but its something I write :D have a great day
Also I forgot to list, Wrack is another one thats a good to look at on Steam.
From there, it was QuakeII, which is still one of my all-time favorites.
Borberlands also had some moments like this, but its a completely different approach to FPS (and a really good one, I find). But yeah, I guess, in hopes of trying to add realism to the games, ppl are making characters slower. And sometimes to the point of it being a huge pain in the arse (I'm looking at you, next gens) :V
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7HWk1QIWyA