How Does the Original Doom Fare Today?

For computer gaming, 1993 was a landmark year. id Software, known at that time as the brain behind the epic Wolfenstein 3D and Commander Keen, delivered “Doom”, an evil, twisted, and action-packed 3D shooter that proved just as addicting as it was gory. I think few will call Doom anything other than a masterpiece, because it set a precedent, and even game developers today speak highly of it.

By now, you might imagine that everyone’s played the game, but don’t be so sure. One Kotaku reader, a heavy FPS gamer, never played Doom until recently. So, he made it a point to seek it out, play it, and relay some of his thoughts. Could this ancient title live up to his current standards of FPS gaming?

Believe it or not, Stephen’s first thought of the game, upon loading the first level, is what he thought he knew about the game. He was surprised to see blue, of all colors, gracing the floor ahead of him. And now that I think of it, that is kind of a stand-out color for such a dark and gory game. Then of course came the realization that Doom is very, very blocky… but not that it’s necessarily a bad thing.

One thing he mentions that I found quite interesting is that while most FPS titles today spoil the gamer, with almost all of the weapons, or at least powerful weapons, available from the get-go, Doom made you work for anything of power. In his case, he wanted the shotgun, and didn’t stumble on it until the third level. Up until then, you have to work, and work hard, to survive. But, that’s part of the rush.

Overall, Doom is a classic, and will remain that way forever. Now, I have a major hankering to go download it through Steam and give it another run-through myself…

My bigger concern with getting Doom wrong was not the controller, but the shotgun. As I played the Flash version on my computer, I began to stress that I would not find the famous weapon. Eventually I found the cheats, of course, and unlocked all the weapons. But into the game’s second and third areas of its first level, I had no shotgun. I was a pistol man in a world of nasty, unfriendly foes. In the midst of one firefight, as I slid to the side with the Q key and wheeled around with the A, then ran with the W… there I saw it: Shotgun.