Although I've been playing games since I can remember, I'd say that the early 90's were the most formative era for me. Or at least, I have the most nostalgia for that era. Sure I was introduced to the medium via Commodore 64, Atari 2600, and the NES, but really it's the 16-bit era that was the most exciting – which makes sense as I was just turning into a teen as games like Mortal Kombat and Doom hit. It was as if gaming as a whole was growing up with me. And so of course gaming would need to go through its edgy and brooding years. I had played Wolfenstein 3D, of course, but Doom was monumental. It was the first game that me realize why people upgraded their computers. My pitiful 286 machine couldn't run Doom at the time. Actually, it only had a 5.25" disk drive, and the Doom shareware came on a 3.5". This was in my mind, a killer app. I remember sleeping over my buddy Phil's house one night. We listened to Nine Inch Nails and White Zombie, and we played a heck of a lot of Doom on his new PC. He introduced me to the whole concept of online gaming. This was in early 1994, and yeah, I had America Online at the time. But the thought of playing a video game online still sounded like the absolute future to me. At the time, Doom was too advanced to be ported to the current consoles. Believe it or not, Doom was actually a selling point for machines like the 32X and the Atari Jaguar. That probably sounds insane in retrospect, but these systems had the first home ports of Doom and actually made them worth looking at in 1994. More popular systems like the SNES and Playstation wouldn't see Doom until 1995 – two years after release. And I mean, by then the SNES was getting pretty long in the tooth. It probably sounds funny now – in a time when pretty much anything with a screen can run Doom. But back in the 90's, this game was really pushing hardware hard and it was a reason to invest in new technology. I actually remember really wanting a Jaguar, and Doom – and Alien Vs Predator – were major reasons why. Doom is obviously a pretty early example of a first person shooter, but it's also the moment where the whole concept was perfected. Or, maybe not perfected. I mean, there's no vertical aiming. There's no jumping. Of course we'd see improvements in the years following. But Doom is the first game to really feel like it got to a serious point. And even playing this again at the end of 2022, Doom is a masterpiece in game design. KNEE-DEEP IN THE DEAD Doom's first episode is beyond iconic. This was the original shareware release. Nowadays, I guess we'd just call that a demo. But back in the early 90's, shareware was all the rage. You'd buy a disk at Radioshack or whatever. Or most likely, your friend would make you a copy. You'd spend so many hours on the demo and hopefully you'd like it enough to buy the full game. It sounds quaint now, but at the time it was brilliant and forward thinking. This opening episode is incredible. It sets the stage for everything you'll need to know to play Doom. You've got your basic shooting and dodging. You've got your hunt for keys to unlock colored doors. You'll be introduced to a barrage of demons. And you'll end things with an awesome boss battle that used to really intimidate me – probably because I always assumed the red lava looking stuff would kill me so I kept it super claustrophobic. Blasting through these original levels now – something I've done so many times in my life – it's easy to see why any gamer would fall in love with Doom. Even if this was the whole game, it would still be incredibly solid. It sucks you in big time. THE SHORES OF HELL Episode II is where things start to really get crazy. The shareware levels are all pretty straightforward. But the second episode has some sprawling mazes to make your way through. I'll be honest, I've replayed Episode I many times in my life. But the other two-thirds of the game, I'm just not quite as familiar with. So I can't really run through them easily. In this playthrough, I managed to stumble upon a secret level totally by accident. It was actually a rare achievement apparently, so that's cool. But I wasn't smart enough to save before it. So I got destroyed really quickly and lost all of my weapons. After a bunch of deaths and only a pistol to keep me safe, I finally resorted to using a cheat – something really easy to do on this console edition. That meant no achievement for completing the level, and a pretty major hit to my ego. But what could I do? While Knee-Deep In The Dead sucks you in, The Shores Of Hell is way more intense. This part of the game is one you'd spend a lot of time on, exploring, finding all the secrets. Which was obviously awesome in 1993 when you'd just plunked down real money to expand the demo. INFERNO The third and final episode of Doom in its original form is absolutely incredible. It takes place in Hell. It's 90s in the most extreme way. And frankly, the hellish landscapes are far more interesting to look at than the interiors of the first two episodes. The color schemes here evoke a sort of sickness. And the map designs feel way more interesting, and less maze-like than the sprawling labyrinths of Episode 2. Also, the whole thing ends with a boss battle against a gigantic demon who looks like a brain/spider hybrid with robot legs. Actually, he reminds me of a more menacing version of Krang. Though he feels a bit less difficult to kill than the previous bosses, which may or may not be a letdown to you, depending on your mood. As I write this, Doom in its original three-episode format was released just about three decades ago. I loved it then, and I love it maybe even more now. At the time, it was clear that it was a landmark release. But even after all the years of playing newer and more technically advanced FPS games, going back to Doom feels easy. It's fast, and it's well made. Somehow, it doesn't feel antiquated in the least. And yet, there's a certain thrill of playing something that you appreciate for all of its achievements. Without Doom, there'd be no Call Of Duty or Titanfall or Overwatch. Without Doom, there'd be no Doom Eternal. The DNA of this 1993 is absolutely everywhere now. And yes, there were other first person shooters before it. Id had already made Wolfenstein 3D prior, of course. But Doom was the big payoff. It was the game that took FPS out of the hands of cutting edge nerds and instead everyone had to play this game. It had to be ported to anything it could be ported to. Doom is a legit classic that remains more fun to play than other classics released concurrently. I'm looking at you, Mortal Kombat. POST-MORTUM Doom was eventually re-released in 1995 with an Episode 4, "Thy Flesh Consumed" under the title of Ultimate Doom. And much later, John Romero himself actually completed an Episode 5 called "Sigil." Both of these episodes are included in the modern console editions of Doom (along with a slew of other WADs). So at some point, it is my intention to dig deeper into the original game and play through Episodes 4 and 5 and update my thoughts on them here accordingly.
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