id Software simply leans into this aspect of the title more forcefully than before, emphasizing close quarters combat, scant light sources, and the most realistic environments and NPCS yet seen in the series. Doom has always had classic horror elements, from the monster growls heard long before you can see them to the strobe light sections where imps lurk in the shadows. While I certainly enjoy the pace of the original games as well as Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal, I can’t count Doom 3's lack thereof against it, as it simply highlights different aspects of the series’ core tenets. The lack of scale and speed has left a vocal minority of fans dissatisfied. The player will spend their time skulking around cramped, dark areas listening for ambushes, engaging in small to midsize conflicts, hunting for keys, solving the odd puzzle, and fighting bosses. You'll soon find that this remote base has been compromised by a power hungry scientist named Bertuger, who's been pushing the teleportation technology too far and allowed You're a marine who defied orders from a superior and now you've been given grunt duty at a Mars space station. In this retrospective, I will explore what makes Doom 3 and its expansion Resurrection of Evil so memorable, and judge how faithful the BFG Edition remaster is to that legacy.ĭoom 3’s setup is certainly similar to the original games. Once I’d experienced its intense atmosphere and combat, greatness in a first person shooter would have new meaning for me. Coincidentally, id Software would still be responsible for my own gaming epiphany by way of 2004’s Doom 3. While Doom’s influence on the design of modern shooters is undeniable, I didn't experience its release firsthand and thus can’t attest to it being transformative for me like it was for the industry back then. I rarely encounter a first person shooter fan who doesn't acknowledge Doom’s influence on their taste, if they don't outright call it their favorite game in the genre. Doom's pistol, shotgun, and rocket launcher loadout supplemented by novelty weapons would become the popular default for most shooters thereafter. Instead of samey levels and WWII weaponry, Doom gave us a sexy sci-fi arsenal to plow through a diverse cast of demons both in a space station and Hell itself. While id Software’s previous accomplishment Wolfenstein 3D established the first-person shooter experience as a compelling new genre, Doom truly perfected the formula. One fateful day in December of 1993, Doom unmistakably changed the gaming landscape forever.

One doomed space marine