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Saturday 9 February, 2008
Gameplay
I progressed through a few more levels. I was pleasantly reminded of how amazing the music in this game is. Several of the songs are actually covers of popular metal songs, and some are just fittingly awesome--both the fast paced adrenaline pumping tracks, and the eerie tense ones.
Graced with the Rocket Launcher during this session, I was also pleasantly reminded of the joy of fragging. That satisfying flesh obliterating sound effect, and the grotesque explosion that reduces your enemies to a red blob. Of course this weapon is nowhere near as useful as the shotgun or the chaingun when it comes to standard combat, for the obvious reason that it damages you as well, and it's outclassed when it comes to heavy duty tasks by the later acquired plasma gun, and, naturally, the BFG. Also, conserving your rockets mean those few occasions when you really need them (the final boss battle of E1 for example).
The awesome scene at the end of E1, wherein, having just vanquished the big baddies, you enter the portal to what you presume to be home, only to be torn to shreds by a horde of monsters, has always been one of my favorites. An excellent segue into the E2.
Design
As I mentioned, DOOM is a game of simple, fast paced action. Though not the first FPS, it was the first to make use of a Z axis (though without the ability to directly manipulate your position on said axis, save dropping down.) The player progresses through increasingly difficult levels, each one reflecting a different portion of the Phobos-Diemos stations (and, climactically, Hell itself, each level representing a circle of Dante's Inferno.)
The player never has a chance to lose interest, because while each level is simply a matter of reaching the final switch of the level (which is usually behind any number of sectioned off rooms, accessed through keys and switches) at every turn you're simultaneously trying to survive the horde of demons infesting the place.
The AI is pretty amazing, relatively speaking. The monsters can interact with the gameworld in every way you can (with the exception of hitting switches or unlocking doors), which is to say, they can move, shoot, and open unlocked doors. They're also fairly vicious, seeking you out even if you move out of visual range. A quirk of the AI (and it can be argued whether this is a bug or an intentional mechanic to be manipulated by the strategically minded) is that monsters, if by chance they happen to damage each other while aiming at you, will immediately turn on each other. If executed properly, you can get an entire room full of monsters to eliminate each other, reducing the amount of work you have to do.
All in all, every mechanic of this game is executed in spades. From the suitably creepy music and sound effects, to the tight controls and brutally paced action. Even the graphics are impressive for a simple sprite based game, and they succeed very well at establishing the atmosphere.
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