Official DOOM 3 discussion thread

[NeilMcRae]

Concept,
You could say that for a whole load of games some that even predate half-life. There was LOADS in half-life that was lifted from Doom. I think it'll be interesting to see what happens with Half-Life 2 and what "new" things valve will come up with.

Regards,
Neil.

[SuperBeatBoy]

i dont know why people are moaning about the flashlight. all you have to do is hit f again to get your gun reequipped.

i thought it was a superb idea to do it that way.

[Concept]

Neil -

I know it's a roundabout circus, where one game influences the other. My point was there are definitely specific elements in Half-Life which were present in this latest version of Doom, although they were incorporated in a very iD-like way. Just as, how you say, Valve took influence from the original Doom...

My point was to highlight that even though lots of games do it, it's the way in which people use those elements that separates the jam from the mush.

I don't think anything startlingly "new" fundamental gameplay revolutions will come from Half-Life 2, but the prospect of roaming a beautifully realised city in urban decay, coupled with characters who have a place in the world, does make me salivate. I imagine it being a beautifully realised mixture of a number of strong aspects that work well together.

If Valve can create the illusion that we (as the player), are trapped and repressed in an isolated, forgotten city, with other likeminded individuals, then they've succeeded on an important level. To feel some common sense of imprisonment, or repression with a bunch of NPC's in an environment I can easily relate to will probably be a move forward for the first person shooter genre in general. You could say the likes of The Chronicles of Riddick have already got there with that form of player/character relationship, but the main protagonist in that game is always out for himself.

Freeman can be whoever we want him to be.

Anyway, the reason Doom III is one of the games of the year for me is that iD have got on with it themselves. Whereas Valve have let the interest in Half-Life 2 build over the past year with lots of movies, screenshots, scandals, iD basically just let the fact Doom III has always been in development speak for itself.

They haven't promised the world with Doom III, and that's why I'm not disappointed. For me, the game sets out to achieve what it achieves, and that's the important thing.

[jezzace]

But valve didn't want to build it up over the past year. When they released the first shots it was supposed to be only three months away from release. Its now a full year delayed because of hacker/pirate scum. Whereas they've been banging on about doom 3 for about 2 years now.

[SuperBeatBoy]

4 years acually. not banging really they just usually demonstrated it at e3, valve have been giving half-life 2 alot of press since it was announced last year.

[Concept]

It's been delayed because Valve weren't ready, and weren't confident enough to tell everybody that before September 30th of last year. No doubt the hacking issue delayed things, but it was by far the only reason. Maybe I'm being harsh on Valve, but over the past year they have released over 10 bink movie files, two official E3 trailer cut-ups, dozens of screenshots, and what seems almost like hundreds of interviews. The hype is there partly because this is Half-Life 2 we're talking about, and like Doom III, the name and brand has immediate recognition amongst most gamers. But the hype is also there because Valve have needed to maintain fan interest after the delay which irritated so many people.

As of this moment, all of the new stuff we're seeing is material which has supposedly been held back. Doug Lombardi said there's a media blackout right now, and he's right. The media we've seen over the last few days is content that was being held until the game was nearer release which is a positive sign.

In comparison, nearing Doom III's release, iD went extremely quiet and let the licenced Xbox port do the talking at E3.

[Dirty Sanchez]

Cheers Concept, some interesting observations on the development of the genre. Doom is fairly unique in that Id realised the limitations of the direction they have taken and made the most of the basic gameplay elements with a sprinkling of humour.

My system runs at....WHATEVER....

[Grey Area]

i dont know why people are moaning about the flashlight. all you have to do is hit f again to get your gun reequipped.

or scroll weapon up/down

[Tom Salter]

Finished Hell yesterday - loved that boss in there. Took me a good 3/4 goes to beat him, coz I was shooting him rather than the target I was supposed to

Another minor gripe, is it just me, or is there a slight lack of direction in the plot? I just feel like I don't quite know what the two people (counselor and other bloke with BFG) are doing there...Also, why was I hunting for the Soulcube? I just had Betruger telling me that I'd never make it and that he had the Soulcube.

Methinks I need to play through again and take more notice of the plot

[mid]

My take, from admittedly just the first hour of gameplay and the intro stuff, is that the counselor knew what they were up to on Mars, at least in a vague sense, and had been sent to confirm suspicions and, if necessary, have BFG bloke shut the place down. Creepy Scientist Dude clearly comes from the "Mad" school of physics, and so activated the teleportation device before it was ready, in case he didn't get the opportunity later.

Cue "Event Horizon" on Mars, basically.

[Freddo]

the problem with the plot is most of it is hidden away in the pda's and unless you listen to the audio logs carefuly and read all the emails and things its easy to miss stuff, plot points aernt always really obvious, Like one pda might tell you who someone is, and another might tell you something they've done, neither of which seem remarkable until you make the connection.

also, minor tip put flashlight on right mouse button its much more use there than jump

[HHarm]

I've been playing Doom 3 for some time now. The graphics REALLY are awesome and I was positively surprised how well it runs consider the looks. The feeling of being there is awesome when playing in a dark room with headphones! I do however have quite a few things to criticise. Being "old school" isn't a bad thing but that's no excuse for clear flaws.

The AI is almost non-existing. Sure they are undead, demons etc but that's no excuse.

They could have made a nod towards a weapon balance like Halo has. Now it's still mostly just a matter of getting better weapons and making the previous ones less useful. The shotgun feels way too powerless (as do most other weapons) and the pistol is a joke.

Physics, ragdoll models etc are not up to the level present games have. Seems like iD was so concerned with the graphics engine in the long project that they noticed too late that they should have those as well. Now there are some physics but it's really lacking when you consider Far Cry for example.

Even if there are no proper different hitzones in the enemies they could have at least made the enemies react to hits. Shooting somebody with a shotgun you would expect them to be thrown back or at least be slowed down by the impact. Now the effect is tiny and they go business as usual attacking you until you kill them.

The action is very repetitive and the surprises cheap and too foreseeable. Is non-stop opening and teleporting enemies behind your back really still the way to build an action game? I do think it's a part of the Doom experience but too much is too much. There is little surprise if you know what to expect.

The weapon sounds are awful. I don't know what kind of sound system iD had in mind but in most cases the lack of bass makes the weapons sound really powerless. Luckily Trent Reznor Sounds fix this.

I liked Far Cry better and I'm sure Halo 2 and Half-Life 2 will be tops as well. Doom 3 is still a good game but unfortunately it seems that once again iD has made a good game with a great graphics engine but it takes somebody else to make a great game with that engine.

[mid]

The shotgun feels way too powerless (as do most other weapons) and the pistol is a joke.

...

Even if there are no proper different hitzones in the enemies they could have at least made the enemies react to hits.

If you haven't noticed hitzones, its little wonder you don't like the shotgun - Zombies certainly require headshots to do any serious damage to them, even with the shotgun. But then, they're Zombies, and we all know that only headshots make any difference there.

Luckily Trent Reznor Sounds fix this.

Actually, fact fans, its part-time fellow NIN-member Chris Vrenna, not Trent doing the music. But yes, its rather good.

[HHarm]

If you haven't noticed hitzones, its little wonder you don't like the shotgun - Zombies certainly require headshots to do any serious damage to them, even with the shotgun. But then, they're Zombies, and we all know that only headshots make any difference there.

Of course I've noticed the headshots. A modern hitzone system is more than headshots. And the power of the shotgun should be evident in other shots as well.

Actually, fact fans, its part-time fellow NIN-member Chris Vrenna, not Trent doing the music. But yes, its rather good.

Wasn't talking about the music. I think it was Trent that originally did the sound effects. In any case who ever did the effects, the Trent Reznor Sound Pack replaces the weapon sounds (and monster sounds?). With the pack the weapons at least sound powerful.

[mid]

Mind you, a real shotgun to the chest won't send anyone flying, so you could argue that its the physics working for once...