[sek929]

OK, so I know that D3 came out like 2 years ago, but I never saw it played or even had the ability to play it. In fact, I had written off the game thinking it would suck balls and ruin the Doom legacy... that is until it came out for xBox.

My friend Mello stops by and has the "Ultimate Collectors Edition" So I look at the metal case....looks cool, then he informs me that they ported Ulitmate Doom and Doom 2 to xBox, and this edition has both.

Ok, calm down, being able to waste hordes of 2D IMPs isn't worth 60 bucks...right? Kinda.

I am about 3/4 of the way through the single player and I have to say that I couldn't have been more wrong about this game. If Halo 2 was a semi-dissapointment than Doom 3 is like coming home to naked lesbian supermodels in your bed....but more evil.

Its made me jump (and almost lose grip of the controller) countless times and the audio is insanley immersing on my big bad home stereo. The graphics put Halo to shame, well, its really just the lighting effects but they are done so friggin' well who cares.

Scariest game I've ever played, though its not so scary once you play it for a while, but still. Basically I love everything, the switches, code pads, the levels in Hell where walls deconstruct and reconstruct into walkways, the enemies, the weapons.

My only gripe is the extreme similarity between D3 and Half-Life for the computer.

As a side note: The first two days I had this game nothing was played except Doom 2... what a classic game.

[waxcrash]

Originally Posted by sek929

OK, so I know that D3 came out like 2 years ago, but I never saw it played or even had the ability to play it.

It came out on August 3, 2004. It hasn't even been out for a year.

[sek929]

Which just solidifies my point that I didn't know sh!t about the game.

[- - e r i k - -]

While the graphics and scare-factor are great at first, gameplay becomes repetitive and dull later on.

[cruciarius]

also halo sucked and halo 2 was even worse. comparing doom 3 to those doesn't do doom 3 justice.

[RonnieoftheRose]

Never understood why anyone liked the Halo series.

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

I played doom 3 for 30 min on my g5 and got sick of the laimness of it.

[starman]

Originally Posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker

I played doom 3 for 30 min on my g5 and got sick of the laimness of it.

2 days shorter than me. Got VERY bored with it VERY fast. It was scary and cool for the first 200 dark corners...then it got repetitive and stupid.

Mike

[starman]

Originally Posted by RonnieoftheRose

Never understood why anyone liked the Halo series.

Halo kicked ass.

Mike

[Mafia]

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - -

While the graphics and scare-factor are great at first, gameplay becomes repetitive and dull later on.

q4t

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by starman

Halo kicked ass..

... at sucking.

[ort888]

I enjoyed Doom3 for what it was. It was a decent game. It had incredible graphics and sky-high production values.

It was NOT, however, a worthy succsessor to the original Doom. It has some major problems.

PROBLEM 1; Lack of bad guys. In the original Doom games, you might walk into a room and see 50 demons. You might see 20 imps 100 yards away, 5 demons in your face and a couple of grunts up in towers. There were hundreds of enemies per level. In Doom 3, you fight bad guys one or two at a time. Even when they do try and throw more guys at you, they send 2 at you, and then have two more respawn when you kill them. It's just not the some. Even in the later levels, when the game is getting tough, you never fight more than 5 guys at once... and that's a rarity.

PROBLEM 2: The "story" No one wants to read a PDA message in the middle of an action game. No one cares about the story. It's Doom. All you want to do is shoot demons in the face. I wouldn't have a problem with the PDA messages if the game didn't FORCE you to read/listen to them to get those ridiculous 3 digit codes to open storage lockers. OK, it was interesting the first time it happened. But after running into my 20th storage locker requiring a three digit code, it got to be a tedious chore. Seriously, who thought this would be a good idea? How is that fun for anyone? Are you supposed to feel like you accomplished something by opening a message and reading it?

PROBLEM 3: The Setting The Mars base looks great. They did an incredible job. When you finally get to Hell, it's beyond spectacular. It almost made me weep. The problem is that 90% of the game takes place on the Mars base. It gets very tiresome. They even send you back to the Mars base after you've been to Hell. What a letdown... totally anti-climatic. The original Doom had a very wide variety of level themes. Military bases, castles, weird satanic temples, alien landscapes, more weird satanic temples, and finally Hell. All we get in Doom 3 are 30 levels of a drab grey base, 3 levels of Hell, and a couple of levels that kind of combine Hell with a drab grey base. There is no variety.

The levels also lack imagination. Most of the levels in Doom II and Ultimate Doom were incredibly creative and wicked. They all had widely differing structures and layouts. They all had a unique feel and tone to them. Huge wide open spaces, tight corridors, hundred foot tall elevators... all sorts of stuff. Lots of love and attention went into the level design. In Doom 3, you wander around dark grey hallways and tiny rooms until you find a key then you move on. The levels are short and linear, and they all start to run together in your mind. There is almost nothing to set one level apart from the next.

PROBLEM 4: It's too easy It just is. I had so much ammo that I almost never used my heavy weapons. I was trying to save them for the tougher parts of the game but they never came. Whats the point of having heavy artillary if the worst thing you'll ever run into is three Imps at a time? It's not like in the original Doom where you might hit a trigger and suddenly the room fills with 40 pinky demons. It never happens.

*****

I didn't hate Doom 3. It was OK. I would probably give it about an 8.5 on a 10 point scale. The problem is, is that the original Dooms get about an 11 or 12 on a ten point scale. The new one just doesn't live up to it's pedigree. I'm playing more of the classic Doom games on the Xbox than I played Doom 3, and I'm having more fun doing it as well.

I hate when people defend Doom 3's simplicity by saying that "It's Doom, it's always been about simplicity!". BS I say. I think there was a lot more depth and variety in the original games then there is in the new one. I think they really lost track of what made Doom great when they were making this new one. I think they really missed the mark.

[finboy]

Originally Posted by ort888

I'm playing more of the classic Doom games on the Xbox than I played Doom 3, and I'm having more fun doing it as well.

Me too, so far, although the Xbox version of 3 is much more fun than the PC version (it's a little easier to see things and more responsive to controls, I think). The only reason I bought the Xbox Collector's Ed. is for the original 2 games. I've found, though, that the controls (which aren't adjustable for the classic games) are too hinky. Still fun, but controls are unstable, which can sometimes be frustrating.

[ort888]

Yeah, I really wish they let you customize the controls. The set up they have isn't bad, but it needs some tweeking.

I also wish they had the Playstation music on there rather than the PC music. The PC music is terrible. Well, I wish they gave you a choice actually. Or perhaps if they just let you turn it off altogether.

[RonnieoftheRose]

I just played Doom 3 for the first time. Was quite engrossing at first, began like the original Half Life did, but after a while shooting creatures got boring. Damn good graphics and sound.

[RonnieoftheRose]

Originally Posted by starman

Halo kicked ass.

Mike

Those little cretins that looked like muppets with shields was a big turn off. I can understand why we would want to shoot them but not why we would want to listen to their chatter and squeels.

[sek929]

I agree with alot of Ort's gripes, although I do like listening to the audio logs and I do like the story (again its very Half-Life). I use my shotgun 90% of the time and then I'm like "Hey, I have a BFG, why the hell haven't I been using it??" Of course I am only playing it on Marine (Normal) so maybe when I re-play it on hard the game will throw a lot less health and ammo at me.

Also the grenades are completely useless, how are you supposed to grenade enemies that haven't spawned yet? Plus they bounce so crazy I usually end up banking it off a far wall and right back into myself, useless.

Right now I am at the point where the base is starting to resemble hell, but I really do wish that the game took place in hell for alot longer since the levels and scenery are amazing. At least now the frequency of harder enemies (Arch Vile, Hellknight) are starting to appear...but then again I am armed with the soul cube and BFG so it isn't really that much harder.

Halo was revolutionary, but incredibly repetetive, even more so than Doom 3. Halo 2 was more of the same Halo BS. I guess the reason I really love this game is the lighting and sound, well done Id.

The one thing I really wanted to agree with Ort is the enemies, or lack thereof. Where are all the Mancubuses (Mancubi?) I've fought like 5 total throughout the whole game...Sh!t in Doom 2 most rooms have more than that! And c'mon, 4 Imps aren't hard, lets see a whole room full of those damn things... maybe I'd have to reload the shotgun in the middle of a battle for a change. The only enemies I am really happy with are the Revenant and Arch Vile. Both tough as hell, smart, and both pack adequate firepower. The Hellknights may be big but if you can stay back from them and dodge their super slow plasma balls less than a full clip of the chaingun wrecks em.

Also I am in the process of beating Inferno on Ultra-Violence...now THATS good Doomin'

[itai195]

Halo was fun, but I don't see any justification for all the love it got. Didn't seem to me that it added anything new to the genre. Haven't played Doom 3 yet, but I will... sometime...

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally Posted by itai195

Halo was fun, but I don't see any justification for all the love it got. Didn't seem to me that it added anything new to the genre. Haven't played Doom 3 yet, but I will... sometime...

I thought Halo 1 was just aweful as a single player.

Halo 2 was awesome as a single player.

[MilkmanDan]

Originally Posted by RonnieoftheRose

Never understood why anyone liked the Halo series.

You obviously never repeatedly killed your room mates in HALO, did you? Nothing is more satisfying then wacking them on the back of the head. Repeatedly. Or running them over. You know, in a game.

[RonnieoftheRose]

Originally Posted by MilkmanDan

You obviously never repeatedly killed your room mates in HALO, did you? Nothing is more satisfying then wacking them on the back of the head. Repeatedly. Or running them over. You know, in a game.

I missed that one. If multiplayer is the case just about all games are good. I just haven't done any multiplayer gaming since UT2003 came out when I dumped the PC and went 100% Mac where games didn't quite have the same mp performance.

[jasonsRX7]

Originally Posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker

I thought Halo 1 was just aweful as a single player.

Halo 2 was awesome as a single player.

The repitition in Halo 1 made my eyes glaze over. It was like watching a movie you thought was going to be good, being disappointed, and then watching it backwards. I enjoyed Halo 2 for the most part, although I do not like the online multiplayer.

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally Posted by jasonsRX7

The repitition in Halo 1 made my eyes glaze over. It was like watching a movie you thought was going to be good, being disappointed, and then watching it backwards. I enjoyed Halo 2 for the most part, although I do not like the online multiplayer.

I agree 100%

[starman]

What's with everyone bashing Halo? Christ, has noone played the awful TOmb Raiders and Resident Evils? There are games that are MUCH worse. Besides, as a Marathon fan, how could you NOT like it?

Mike

[mitchell_pgh]

I gave up games in 10th grade and never looked back. I played a little in college (an hour here, and hour there) but at the end of a few all day games, I felt like I acomplished nothing.

Kind of like NN