Doom 1, 2, and 64

[Alucard1191]

So awhile ago the Doom games were all on sale. These 3 were only 2.50 each, so for 7.50 you got 3 classic doom games in switch format.

These games all shine in this format. Twin joystick control, easy mapping, smooth frame rate, etc.

Now for the games individually.

Of all 3 I actually think the original game is the most balanced and approachable, with the most enjoyable atmosphere. They seemed to be actually trying to make something with a rough storyline. I loved the inbetween level maps, and the difficulty is good. It is never too easy or too hard. I really wish the rest of the games had the 'world maps' like the original game did. When it changed to narration only at the expansion campaign, I thought it would be for the expansion campaign only. But I was wrong.

The expansion to the first game makes the level design much harder, and preps you for Doom II. The levels have more 'platforming' and fall deaths. Small pathways to navigate while under fire. This formula would be used for Doom II.

Doom II, of the 3 is possibly the best? I don't like the level designs or the atmosphere as much as the original Doom, but the difficulty increase is welcome, and the new monsters are great. More human types, more demons, some of which are seriously tough, and a new super shotgun which is a nice powerful early weapon. Every so often you get a narration and the 'scenery' of the levels changes, but the simple artistic maps of the first game added a lot to that narration. I know it is a small detail, but it is a detail that is sorely missed.

Doom II has one of the best boss final boss fights though. A giant skull that spews infinite demons. You have to press a switch, then ride a pillar timing a rocket shot into the open brain, where the demons spew out. It won't be long until there are 30+ demons running around. It is really hard, and it took me many, many, many tries to beat.

Doom 64 is definitely the wildcard of the 3. This has been getting a lot of love on some retrogaming youtube channels I watch lately. (Snesdrunk comes to mind.)

This game really needs to be looked at in the realm of the time it came out. Doom on consoles back then was nothing like on the PC. Ports of it never lived up to the original. Then comes along Doom 64. The graphics are completely redesigned and for the most part look better. The environments look better. The bad guys for the most part look a lot better.

There are some seriously noticeable shortcomings though. The animation is definitely not as smooth as the originals. It's almost like the death animations just have a few less frames to save on space. And while most of the weapons look better, the animation of those weapons is simpler. In the original games, the shotgun moves and you get to see some hand when you fire and reload, if you fire the plasma gun for awhile he holds it up and it looks like it's overheating. The chain gun is an actual chain gun with a moving barrel.

Doom 64 has significantly simpler firing animations. So while the weapons themselves look better, they don't react or animate as well as the original games. Many of these things were most likely done because of the console limitations at the time. There are also more 'pallette swap' bad guys then the other doom games. There are 2 types of imps, only 1 human zombie model that is indistinguishable between 'pistol' and 'shotgun.' And of the course the original only palette swap, the 'hell knights' and 'barons of hell.' (The bosses of the first episode of the original Doom.)

My harshest critique of this game however is the level design and difficulty level. This game is a complete cakewalk until level 16 (of 28) and then suddenly the difficulty really cranks up. The amount of bad guys in the early levels is completely insignificant. In Doom II the first few levels have you facing rooms full of 10+ melee demons with just a super shotgun, Doom 64 doesn't have more than 3 bad guys on the screen at once for a long, long time. This lack of enemies makes the early parts of the game pathetically easy. Then when you hit level 16, suddenly there are puzzles and pillar crushing traps and rooms full of enemies and other kinds of puzzles that haven't been done in the Doom series up to that point, like trap switches and having to hit colored switches in the proper order to open specific doors.

Once the game hits that point, it does dramatically improve. Deaths go from 'extreme rarity' to 'at least once or twice a level.' This is how a Doom game should be! It only took 16 pretty boring levels to get there.

Doom 64 shines on the last map though. There are 3 bunkers that warp in a MASSIVE amount of units. I feel that 90% of the games bad guy budget goes into this fight. Why weren't there other rooms like this with 20+ bad guys coming at you? This room shows the N64 could handle it, so why save it for the very last fight?

After blasting your way through a genuine gauntlet of bad guys, the 'mother demon' appears, and while she wasn't as hard as the Doom II skull, she was way way harder than anything Doom 1 threw at me.

So in closing, I'm really glad I spent the 7.50 on these 3 games. I feel each one shines in its own way though.

Doom 1, best atmosphere, level designs, and 'story telling.' (If you can call it that.)
Doom 2, toughest game, toughest level design, hardest last boss, best big fights in the series.
Doom 64, best looking of them, (for the most part) most bi-polar. Had me going, "is this a doom game?" to "this IS a Doom game!" (If you're a Doom of FPS veteran, play this one on the highest or 2nd highest difficulty.)

[Herschie]

Did you get sick at all playing all of these? I always do and have to lie down at some point. My wife seems to get a kick out of it.

[Alucard1191]

I don't get any kind of motion sickness, vertigo or other issues like that. I also tend to not play a game for longer than 45 minutes at a time just because of having a busy life, but the old school running around with autorun with the bad textures doesn't bother me.