In the course of the history of videogames there are events, still not perfectly stigmatized within the general culture, which deserve dividing capacity; events that would make anyone say "the world of video games has never been the same after the arrival of this product". If we try to think about the shape of these events, things like the arrival of World Of Warcraft within the PC market could come to mind, the overwhelming success of Fortnite: Battle Royale within the world of today's video games, the release of Death Stranding (maybe, we'll hear from you again in a few months in doubt) and definitely something about Doom.
Here, today we are going to quickly double check those that are three very important video games for the history of video games. In view of the release of the new chapter of the saga, that wonder that responds to the name of Doom Eternal, let's check the quality of the console ports of Doom, Doom II: Hell On Earth e Doom III, all of them released practically simultaneously on Playstation 4, Xbox One e Nintendo Switch.
Oh yes, let's talk about that triello of chapters that have to do with the controversy of Bethesda.net but we'll come back to this later.
Doom: the genesis of the myth
In 1993 a group of pimply kid programmers, after having brought a proper shooter to a personal computer for the first time with the first chapter of Wolfenstein, decided to raise the qualitative bar by creating something more refined inspired by one of their Dungeons campaigns. & Dragons (read Masters Of Doom for the full story). There are numerous versions of Doom thanks to the support of fans who, over the course of its years of life, have committed to building entire campaigns on completely original maps, making our protagonist Doomguy travel far and wide.
As some of you readers may already know, there are several versions of Doom on the web depending on the levels present. The Playstation 4 version of Doom is Ultimate Doom, which is the base game plus expansion Thy Flesh Consumed made at the time by Id Software itself. Difficult to talk about Doom without being redundant because in more than twenty years of criticism the title has been open and stripped like few other things in the world.
The first chapter of Doom, despite twenty-six years of age, remains a game to try at least once in a lifetime. From his he has an artistic sector that still works today, with memorable monsters such as Cacodemons, Cyberdemons and various ugliness and a level design still today never correctly imitated between incredibly complicated secrets to reach and memorable flaming arenas.
The playstation 4 (or its Microsoft / Nintendo counterpart) is, therefore, the definitive console where to play the first chapter of Doom?
No, the title, despite having arrived in one of its best versions in terms of content, has some technical flaws that definitely turn up your nose. The game appears to be simply slower than its original counterpart, by something like 10/15%; the movements are less rapid, the shots less lightning fast, the enemies less fast. It is reasonable to think that this change may have been made to try to facilitate the control system, honestly transposed to Dualshock 4 but still lacking that feeling of control that the keyboard caused at the time.
To give the coup de grace, unfortunately, is the soundtrack; also this slightly slowed down and with a sound quality practically MIDI, far from that of theoriginal. In the first chapter of Doom the musical sector had for the first time brought, in the world of video games, a kind of hybrid between metal (the similarity between E1M1 and Metallica's Masters Of Puppets is famous) and ambient sounds, both proponents of atmospheres of great impact for the time.
Doom II: when hell came to earth.
The second chapter of Doom, set immediately after the ending of the first, sees our dear Doomguy return home to earth, only to find that things have gone infinitely worse than expected. Compared to the first chapter, the innovative charge is infinitely less, Doom II: Hell On Earth is simply one of the best more of the same that has ever appeared in the world of video games.
Doom II gives the Doomguy one of the best sounding weapons in history (aka the Super Shotgun) and pits it against some of the most intricate, labyrinthine and fun levels ever seen in such an old first person shooter. Id Software this time decides to get serious with the contents and, in addition to proposing a huge amount of new levels, doubles the types of normal enemies present within the title, further variegating the already interesting game challenge. The dark Revenants appear with their homing rocket launchers, the Heavy Weapon Dude and their beautiful sprites.
It is difficult to complain about Doom II: Hell On Earth if you look at it from the perspective of a video game released in 1995; at the time it was essentially the improved version of something practically perfect and that almost comes today. The edition reworked by Bethesda and Nerve Software also has the 20 master levels created by a series of independent designers signed by iD in 1995; missing from the package is the expansion No Rest For The Livings, also created by Nerve on the occasion of the arrival of Doom II within Doom 3: BFG Edition.
Doom II: Hell On Earth is also worth the flaws of the first chapter. Playfully and graphically speaking, video games are unassailable and could be pleasant, especially for the imagery proposed, even to players who approach the first chapters of the brand nowadays. What is not convincing is the game speed, even here strangely lower than that obtainable with the game itself on PC and the quality of the music, mysteriously far from that of the original Doom II.
Doom III
The latest video game (for now) of the Doom brand revived by Bethesda is the third chapter, a video game that at the time was extremely talked about due to the change of course that iD Software seemed to have undertaken. No more hyperkinetic action and over the top violence, at that moment the goal of Carmack and associates was to give the player a bordeline experience between the first person shooter and the most vulgar horror, thanks also to the renewed power given by the iD Tech 4, the new graphics engine of the software house.
The new graphics engine had features otherwise difficult to achieve such as in-game animated GUI, an extremely complex lighting system and animations of a complexity never seen before in the genre. Entering for the first time in contact with Doom 3, this time brought on the new acquaintances by the guys of Panic Button, it soon becomes clear that Carmack's ideas must have convinced more or less everyone at the time.
Also in this case it is legitimate to understand which version of Doom we are dealing with; the Texan developers have essentially brought the Doom III BFG Edition directly to the new consoles, originally appeared on the past generation during 2012; compared to the original Doom III there is the Resurrection Of Evil expansion, interesting from a playful point of view thanks to the presence of weapons that mimic the behavior of the Gravity Gun and the expansion The Lost Missions with an alternate storyline that joins that of the single player mode of the original game. All the improvements of the BFG Edition, such as the renewed graphics sector or the possibility of keeping the torch on while aiming remain but little add to a title that cannot quite communicate what it wants.
Doom III was a game with some problems since its release due to a level design that is sometimes too incomprehensible for the players, other times due to a game rhythm that clashes with the goodness of the gunplay or with the possibilities granted to the player by what you have on the screen; to this should be added an inconsistent plot and a certain underlying cumbersome exploration. All small splinters that go to ugly a title that has an atmosphere of the highest quality and the iD Software brand in the gunplay DNA.
Bethesda, are you sure what you're doing?
Update on our new classic DOOM releases:
The BethesdaNet login requirement was included for the Slayers Club, to reward members for playing the classic DOOM games.
The login should be optional, and we are working on changing the requirement to optional now.
— Bethesda (@bethesda) July 27, 2019
One of the reasons why this triple re-release has made players discuss so much during its first breaths is the famous login to Bethesda.net which was mandatory for everyone, even though we were talking about games that with Bethesda are not right. This login is, at the time of writing this review, compulsory and limiting: if you are not connected to the internet it is not possible to play purchased titles, despite the complete absence of online functions.
Because yes, all three titles do not have online multiplayer compartments (Doom I and Doom II instead have split-screen multiplayer compartments) but all three need internet connection to be able to start correctly. Bethesda has stated that it intends to patch these mandatory logins away Coming soon. Doom 3, for some reason related to the Bethesda Club, crashed over and over again during our gameplay sessions on the standard Playstation 4.
The return of the Doom trilogy on the current generation consoles, despite some technical problems and some ridiculous choices by the publisher, remains worthy of time and money. Doom I and Doom II: Hell On Earth still today are extremely enjoyable despite the not particularly current technical level thanks to a fun gameplay and a level design of the highest order; the third chapter of the trilogy despite some problems has on its side the greatest number of contents among the various titles and is able to satisfy all players looking for twenty hours of play in the dark corners of the Martian space stations. For the price at which they are available don't miss them.
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