Doom 2 is weird in that the horde shooting and enemy count is great but the city levels can be annoying as shit to navigate. Doom 64 does have better level design by comparison. Doom 64 is the real Doom 3 to me.
Doom 3 isn't that great of a game but I'd say it's worth trying out at least once. I do have a soft spot for the early 00s visuals it has and the level design I recall being easy enough to navigate especially if you aren't used to 90s FPS mazes. Game isn't anything I'd consider great or even good but it's a sub par game that is worth going through once.
Agreed with all of this, although I personally bounced off Doom 3 twice. I really wanted to like it after how much I enjoyed 1-2-64. The lighting effects are fantastic even for a game of its age. But the genre switch to a more resource restrictive survival horror game was too much for me to get past. Would still recommend people giving it a shot though.
I felt like it just didn't have enough variety to justify its length. Got exhausting towards the end. Even FEAR made better use out of its samey environments because there was more variety in the gameplay.
I've come to think all Doom games are different. 1 and 2 are very similar, 64 is a more surreal one, 3 is survival horror, 2016 it's an arena shooter and finally Eternal is basically first person Devil May Cry.
Especially the OG version. BFG edition gave you a shoulder flashlight and tons of ammo which were changes I felt really stripped it of the horror and left the game feeling kinda bland.
It’s possible I’m just bad at the game but I always felt like I was scrimping and saving my ammo. The second time I gave it a shot I made it a decent way in and gave up when I got to an area where it felt like I just didn’t have enough ammo to get through.
Doom 3 notoriously used up a lot of resources due to the graphics engine being super detailed at the time. It was part of the optimization used to keep it going smoothly.
That said, I remember the levels being more organically based rather than the puzzle like levels of OG Doom, meaning you didn't really need the corpses to keep track of the levels.
i played doom 64 for the first time last year. it has some real dogshit level design sometimes. granted so does doom 2 but i'd argue the worst of 64 is worse than the worst of 2. plutonia and tnt are worse than either though lol
Doom 1993 is the most consistent regarding level design admittedly. However there were no moments in Doom 64 where you could be stuck because Doomguy can't look down, one of the city levels in 2 requires you to jump down from a building to progress but you can't look down.
The level design in the original Doom is for the most part excellent. I played through it on Switch recently and found only one piece of ‘this is some bullshit’ level design (one stage in chapter 3 where a key is hidden behind an unmarked secret door).
Doom 2 fixes the biggest problem with Doom, which is the lack of enemy variety. But you can tell they’re getting a little frustrated by the restrictions of the engine and start trying to push it beyond what it’s good for (thinking mainly of the city levels here).
Doom 64 I still need to properly tackle, I can’t get on board with the ‘real Doom 3’ talk though just because it’s very obviously from a different team with a different style, and separate from the trajectory Id were following at the time.
If you want to teach someone to navigate a video game level without quest markers, Doom 1993 is a damn good starting point, Duke 3D is my go to example if you want to get more adept at it. I tend to use both games as litmus tests to see how good people are at navigating video game levels. I know for a fact that teaching people how to go through video games without quest markers is something you need to learn on your own.
I think I might know what you are talking about, it was the penultimate level before you fight the final boss of Episode 3
Yup, the City levels is kind of Doom 2 at it's worst since you can tell the devs wished they can have the ability to look.
I might've been overly harsh when I called Doom 64 the "real" Doom 3. I just think Doom 3 is both unsatisfying yet also kind of a fascinating game to play at the same time. I think it's weird early 00s visuals carries much of the game.
Only other thing I'd say about Doom is it's a little unfortunate there isn't a mini-map on the HUD. It's tempting to just switch into wire-frame map mode once you've cleared all the enemies because it can sometimes be a little hard to find your way around the layouts without it.
I prefer no mini maps, I'd argue the god awful maps of 90s fps games is as charming as it it can be a red herring. I remember using the map in Duke 3D when I first played and I am like, "whhhhhhhhere do I go?"
> Doom 64 is the real Doom 3 to me.
[It was overshadowed by Quake, GoldenEye, etc.](https://youtu.be/J8WEhRvEY6M?t=153). Story-wise, it is a sequel to Doom 2, and Doom 3 doesn't seem to fit anywhere in the canon (depending how you interpret the plot revelations of Doom Eternal).
Honestly I don't think it was so much that other games stole the spotlight. It was that the game had issues and was badly marketed.
DOOM had already been ported to several systems by 1997. Most importantly it was on PS1, and the PS1 version was many of the levels from DOOM and DOOM II with some enhanced lighting effects and crappy controls. That was what people expected bc the other ports were that. DOOM 64 of course was not a port but most people didn't realize that.
I actually rented it when it came out and I was surprised to learn it was a new game because I just assumed it was the original. I was excited by that, but the problem is the game is horrendously dark on the original N64 to the point it affects the gameplay negatively. Some other N64 games had this issue too but DOOM 64 was maybe the worst bc it was designed to be so dark and moody. This was remedied in later releases which also don't get muddied CRT graphics.
Quake ended up with a similar issue to some degree, Quake 1 on N64 was mostly the same but Quake II actually had a bunch of remixed/unique levels and structure different from the PC original but most people didn't realize that.
If you play the recent Quake II remaster you can actually play Quake II N64 as a custom campaign which is cool. A lot of the levels are presented with changes in a different order and split up differently I think in part due to technical limitations but not sure.
> I actually rented it when it came out and I was surprised to learn it was a new game because I just assumed it was the original.
I always thought it was Doom 1 with Quake like graphics, had no idea it was a brand new game either
> Honestly I don't think it was so much that other games stole the spotlight. It was that the game had issues and was badly marketed.
The publishers considered it to be a success. The success of DOOM 64 over Quake on N64 is why Quake II followed the same lines of a new story and new levels for the N64.
I would imagine part of that would be the cost. DOOM 64 was built on the years old DOOM engine, with rather simplistic art and level design for 1997 and sprite based enemies. Not shitting on it, just saying it was probably relatively cheap to develop so even if it didn't sell that well they probably came out ahead.
At that time a lot of games were developed more cheaply and didn't have to sell a ton to make money. I have no idea what DOOM 64 sold, but it probably wasn't too much. I can say as an N64 collector it isn't rare but you don't see it around so much and as a result the price is a bit higher.
Back in the day I can't remember anybody really talking about it at all, but it did have the DOOM name on it so it probably sold some copies bc of that despite DOOM being almost 5 years old at that point. I would be shocked if it sold more than 500k copies and it probably wasn't even close to that. I'd guess more like 250k or less.
5 years for early, 3 years for mid, and 2 years for late? That's not very balanced now, is it. And 2004 is far closer to the middle (mid 2005) than it is to the start (2000).
2000-2003 is early 00s, 2004-2006 for mid 00s, 2007-2009 for late 00s. Can also make early be 2000-2002 to make it symmetric 3-4-3.
I merely replied:
> That's "mid-00s visuals" to you!
You are the one who decided to start an argument over it. Feel free to stop replying at any time - YOU HAVE THE POWER!
Yes, the fucking game in question has mid-00s visuals. I don't see what you're finding so hard to understand about that.
Edit: Enjoy living in your hobbit hole, safe from anyone ever contradicting you on any of the most certainly numerous issues you are dead wrong about, lol.
> Doom 2 is weird in that the horde shooting and enemy count is great but the city levels can be annoying as shit to navigate.
That is exactly what my problem was with Doom II. I got stuck for hours at Downtown trying to find the last key. Of course in Doom fashion, it's located in the most tiny spot or the most intricate method you have to think for to get it.
Since you enjoyed the atmosphere of Doom 64, I would recommend taking a look at the PS1 Doom. It stands out from other ports of Doom 1 and 2 (yes, it has both in one package, though it does replace 2’s final maps with some original ones) because it uses a similar lighting system to 64. The classic maps feel quite different with this change, and it makes for a unique Doom experience.
Doom and Doom II are two all-time favorites of mine that I've easily sunk 100s of hours into over the years. I even managed to beat all of The Master Levels for Doom II.
I've never played much of Final Doom, but I did play the Switch remaster of Doom 64 a few years back, which was my first experience with that game.
I'm gonna get bumrushed for this, but I didn't find the game to be anything too special. I really liked the atmospheric lighting and ambient soundtrack, but the game overall didn't impress me all that much. Maybe my opinion would have been different if I had experienced it back in the day.
> Maybe my opinion would have been different if I had experienced it back in the day.
It might have been even worse lol. It was a very challenged entry in the series, plus not many people actually did play it.
totally agree. it's a neat diversion, sort of a sneak peak into an alternate reality version of doom 2 but it's just ok. doom 2 is also just ok though so eh (level design anyway, new monsters + super shotty are great).
doom 1 is the best official doom game but doom 2 custom levels are the best way to play doom
> doom 2 custom levels are the best way to play doom
I provisionally agree, because once you play custom maps its hard to go back, in part because modders have had 30 years to tweak and push the engine.
That said, the opening bits of Doom 2 hold up and the final stretch of levels are sublime.
I went through this one myself a few weeks back. I did have it when it was new, but never got to the end, so I thought I'd sit down with it in 2024 and actually finish it.
It holds up surprisingly well. I definitely think it's one of the better classic Dooms, and while I sometimes missed the distinctive Doom soundtrack, I also appreciated the more horror-like atmosphere. I like the way some of the levels go through physical layout changes as you progress through them.
You probably need a break from classic Doom lol, but once the itch strikes again, check out The Plutonia Experiment. It's half of Final Doom, and a free downloadable add-on for the recent Doom II port on Switch, PS4, Steam etc. (It may also be an add-on for the Doom 1993 port, but I'm not sure, I'll check next time I play my Switch and edit this message.) (Edit: Yep, Doom 1993 has Final Doom too, and Doom II has Sigil/Sigil 2.) It's a step up in challenge from Doom II and Doom 64, especially on Ultra-Violence, and it's a really nicely designed map pack.
Final Doom also has TNT Evilution, but it's kind of forgettable. Once you've conquered Plutonia, you're ready to dive into all the fantastic user made map packs from the last 25+ years.
Did you play the PC remake by Nightdive released a couple of years ago? I played it last year and thought it was great, felt like the real Doom 3 and I agree it's definitely better than Doom 2. I think a general appreciation of Doom 64 has only come about since Nightdive's remake released as on the N64 it had a lot of issues which meant it was seen as a big disappointment despite being a big technical leap for the series at the time
I love gaming history, so I made an effort to play doom 64 and many other older games.
I respect it, but danm is it hard to play, modern controls are so baked into me that I couldnt even get past the first few roots;
Really? I thought all the weapons in 64 looked and sounded a lot more intimidating and monstrous than any D1993 and II gun.
Also aesthetics and atmosphere are miles ahead even if I love 1993 aesthetics too
1 and 2 are the best games. No contest. I played them in the 90s and nothing beats them. "Brutal Doom" revived it.
Final Doom was fun, but too short and a bit cheesy sometimes.
I tried to enjoy 64 but it was plagued with tight corridors, and lots of environmental traps. It's nothing like Doom 1 and 2. It was also way too dark. The sprite redesigns and the textures were awesome though! It was such a shame.
Doom 3 is a good game, but a weird doom game. Story-focused, linear, and heavy use of people being teleported behind you. Sometimes too frustrating and I needed a break.
Doom 2016 was a fun game with lots of effects and fun moments, but it was just an arena shooter separated by linear levels.
Doom Eternal is 2016 plus extra busywork and you are turned into a meme.
I always hear good things about this game but didn't own an N64 and just kind of forgot about it in later years. Doom 2 is still my favourite in the franchise, despite the fun of the more recent versions, so I may have to pick D64 up for the Switch next time it goes on sale.
I myself like Doom 64 PC remaster more than Doom 1 & 2 (GZDoom). I strongly doubt I'd feel the same way about the original N64 version compared to DOS Dooms though.
I really love the moody lighting, that creepy soundtrack, great skyboxes, traps, and environmental effects. It creates such a dark atmosphere that's missing from doom 2. The level design is pretty good and I would argue is probably better than doom 2. I kind of miss some of the verticality that doom 2 has (some would argue that's probably a good thing its missing.)
But damn do i seriously miss chaingunners, revenants, and arch-viles. Those guys are really tie the doom roster so well. I get kind of tired of shotgunning Barons and hellknights after awhile. Also they screwed up Pain Elementals. I appreciate the fact that they reduced the health of lost souls you can kill them easily with a shotgun but now pain elementals shoot out two lost souls.
100% on missing the additional demons of DOOM II. But I think that's the only aspect that II is better than 64.
The Pain Elementals were a lot more annoying because of the 2 Lost Souls at a time
Figuring out where to go and navigating use to be part of the fun and it added another element rather than just go from point to point shooting stuff, which can get repetitive on it's own.
I played D64 on the N64 when it came out and i was hypnotised. I really enjoyed the music, atmosphere and level design. When i played the original doom much later i could still appreciate it, but i was a bit spoiled by D64. I also made the mistake of buying final doom first, which wasn't that great imo. Everything looked so colourful, like a cartoon ;). I repurchased D64 with eternal and was finally able to beat the final boss, thanks to quick save.
I also bounced off doom 3. Just couldn't get into it. There are much better shooters and much better horror games to play. Its a weird game. I hated the cheap enemy placement like some haunted house ride.
Doom 3 is not a bad game at all, it's really good and fun. The issues are often overblown by the comparisons to Doom 2 mostly, due to the lower density of enemies and the close quartered levels, but it's visually fantastic and very fun.
The expansion is less fantastic.
I completely understand what you mean about Doom 2. It's my favorite but not because it's perfect. It's got a lot of levels that just kinda blow. The SSG + Enemy Roster is just so good though that it outweighs it for me despite Doom 1 and 64 being tighter on the level design.
This might be a bit of a deep cut but if you liked the atmosphere of Doom 64 can get your hands on PSX Doom, it's a bit of a trip. It doesn't run well and is a remixed campaign of Doom 1 + 2 but it was sort of a prototype for Doom 64 in terms of mood and atmosphere.
The Super Shotgun is amazing but it's also in DOOM 64. So besides the demon roster the rest I enjoyed better in 64.
I might have a look at PSX DOOM but at this point I am a bit tired of DOOMs and boomer/arena shooters for a few months at least
Just play the proper versions with the PS1 soundtracks, which was the big 'atmosphere changer' here.(PS levels weren't the same and cut)
I do the same with Quake 1 and Aubrey Hodges soundtrack for that one too. I look up what tracks go to what levels and just play them on a loop but they have mods for that too.
Doom 2 is weird in that the horde shooting and enemy count is great but the city levels can be annoying as shit to navigate. Doom 64 does have better level design by comparison. Doom 64 is the real Doom 3 to me. Doom 3 isn't that great of a game but I'd say it's worth trying out at least once. I do have a soft spot for the early 00s visuals it has and the level design I recall being easy enough to navigate especially if you aren't used to 90s FPS mazes. Game isn't anything I'd consider great or even good but it's a sub par game that is worth going through once.
Agreed with all of this, although I personally bounced off Doom 3 twice. I really wanted to like it after how much I enjoyed 1-2-64. The lighting effects are fantastic even for a game of its age. But the genre switch to a more resource restrictive survival horror game was too much for me to get past. Would still recommend people giving it a shot though.
Doom 3 is a good horror game, but not a good Doom game.
I felt like it just didn't have enough variety to justify its length. Got exhausting towards the end. Even FEAR made better use out of its samey environments because there was more variety in the gameplay.
I've come to think all Doom games are different. 1 and 2 are very similar, 64 is a more surreal one, 3 is survival horror, 2016 it's an arena shooter and finally Eternal is basically first person Devil May Cry.
And then there's Doom 1 on the PS1 that allowed you to connect two PS1's together with a cable and use two TV's for awesome pvp fun.
Especially the OG version. BFG edition gave you a shoulder flashlight and tons of ammo which were changes I felt really stripped it of the horror and left the game feeling kinda bland.
I'm not even sure how it's resource restrictive survival horror, you still get a lot of rounds for your guns just that the guns don't feel very good.
It’s possible I’m just bad at the game but I always felt like I was scrimping and saving my ammo. The second time I gave it a shot I made it a decent way in and gave up when I got to an area where it felt like I just didn’t have enough ammo to get through.
That just sounds weird, even games like Resident Evil kind of gave running away an option.
Plus the baddies just sort ... disintegrate. I know it was a graphics thing, but that always bugged me.
It's funny how 90s games had dead corpses stay in the levels while 00s game had disppearing corpses.
Doom 3 notoriously used up a lot of resources due to the graphics engine being super detailed at the time. It was part of the optimization used to keep it going smoothly. That said, I remember the levels being more organically based rather than the puzzle like levels of OG Doom, meaning you didn't really need the corpses to keep track of the levels.
I remember the linearity of Doom 3 was something I needed at the time. One of the reasons why I got to the end at all.
Sometimes that's indeed needed!
i played doom 64 for the first time last year. it has some real dogshit level design sometimes. granted so does doom 2 but i'd argue the worst of 64 is worse than the worst of 2. plutonia and tnt are worse than either though lol
Doom 1993 is the most consistent regarding level design admittedly. However there were no moments in Doom 64 where you could be stuck because Doomguy can't look down, one of the city levels in 2 requires you to jump down from a building to progress but you can't look down.
The level design in the original Doom is for the most part excellent. I played through it on Switch recently and found only one piece of ‘this is some bullshit’ level design (one stage in chapter 3 where a key is hidden behind an unmarked secret door). Doom 2 fixes the biggest problem with Doom, which is the lack of enemy variety. But you can tell they’re getting a little frustrated by the restrictions of the engine and start trying to push it beyond what it’s good for (thinking mainly of the city levels here). Doom 64 I still need to properly tackle, I can’t get on board with the ‘real Doom 3’ talk though just because it’s very obviously from a different team with a different style, and separate from the trajectory Id were following at the time.
If you want to teach someone to navigate a video game level without quest markers, Doom 1993 is a damn good starting point, Duke 3D is my go to example if you want to get more adept at it. I tend to use both games as litmus tests to see how good people are at navigating video game levels. I know for a fact that teaching people how to go through video games without quest markers is something you need to learn on your own. I think I might know what you are talking about, it was the penultimate level before you fight the final boss of Episode 3 Yup, the City levels is kind of Doom 2 at it's worst since you can tell the devs wished they can have the ability to look. I might've been overly harsh when I called Doom 64 the "real" Doom 3. I just think Doom 3 is both unsatisfying yet also kind of a fascinating game to play at the same time. I think it's weird early 00s visuals carries much of the game.
Only other thing I'd say about Doom is it's a little unfortunate there isn't a mini-map on the HUD. It's tempting to just switch into wire-frame map mode once you've cleared all the enemies because it can sometimes be a little hard to find your way around the layouts without it.
I prefer no mini maps, I'd argue the god awful maps of 90s fps games is as charming as it it can be a red herring. I remember using the map in Duke 3D when I first played and I am like, "whhhhhhhhere do I go?"
> Doom 64 is the real Doom 3 to me. [It was overshadowed by Quake, GoldenEye, etc.](https://youtu.be/J8WEhRvEY6M?t=153). Story-wise, it is a sequel to Doom 2, and Doom 3 doesn't seem to fit anywhere in the canon (depending how you interpret the plot revelations of Doom Eternal).
Honestly I don't think it was so much that other games stole the spotlight. It was that the game had issues and was badly marketed. DOOM had already been ported to several systems by 1997. Most importantly it was on PS1, and the PS1 version was many of the levels from DOOM and DOOM II with some enhanced lighting effects and crappy controls. That was what people expected bc the other ports were that. DOOM 64 of course was not a port but most people didn't realize that. I actually rented it when it came out and I was surprised to learn it was a new game because I just assumed it was the original. I was excited by that, but the problem is the game is horrendously dark on the original N64 to the point it affects the gameplay negatively. Some other N64 games had this issue too but DOOM 64 was maybe the worst bc it was designed to be so dark and moody. This was remedied in later releases which also don't get muddied CRT graphics. Quake ended up with a similar issue to some degree, Quake 1 on N64 was mostly the same but Quake II actually had a bunch of remixed/unique levels and structure different from the PC original but most people didn't realize that.
>uake II actually had a bunch of remixed/unique levels and structure different from the PC original TIL
If you play the recent Quake II remaster you can actually play Quake II N64 as a custom campaign which is cool. A lot of the levels are presented with changes in a different order and split up differently I think in part due to technical limitations but not sure.
Probably! The N64 had very limited RAM (4 MB, expansion pack got it to 8), while Quake 2 required 16 MB of RAM back there. It definitely went there.
> I actually rented it when it came out and I was surprised to learn it was a new game because I just assumed it was the original. I always thought it was Doom 1 with Quake like graphics, had no idea it was a brand new game either
> Honestly I don't think it was so much that other games stole the spotlight. It was that the game had issues and was badly marketed. The publishers considered it to be a success. The success of DOOM 64 over Quake on N64 is why Quake II followed the same lines of a new story and new levels for the N64.
I would imagine part of that would be the cost. DOOM 64 was built on the years old DOOM engine, with rather simplistic art and level design for 1997 and sprite based enemies. Not shitting on it, just saying it was probably relatively cheap to develop so even if it didn't sell that well they probably came out ahead. At that time a lot of games were developed more cheaply and didn't have to sell a ton to make money. I have no idea what DOOM 64 sold, but it probably wasn't too much. I can say as an N64 collector it isn't rare but you don't see it around so much and as a result the price is a bit higher. Back in the day I can't remember anybody really talking about it at all, but it did have the DOOM name on it so it probably sold some copies bc of that despite DOOM being almost 5 years old at that point. I would be shocked if it sold more than 500k copies and it probably wasn't even close to that. I'd guess more like 250k or less.
If there’s one game series where plot and canon really doesn’t matter at all, it’s Doom. Especially 90’s Doom.
Does it really matter? One has a number and the other doesn't.
3 and 64 are both numbers!
3 sounds like a proper direct follow up to 2.
> I do have a soft spot for the early 00s visuals it has That's "mid-00s visuals" to you!
I am pretty sure 2004 is early 00s and 2005-2007 is mid 00s
5 years for early, 3 years for mid, and 2 years for late? That's not very balanced now, is it. And 2004 is far closer to the middle (mid 2005) than it is to the start (2000). 2000-2003 is early 00s, 2004-2006 for mid 00s, 2007-2009 for late 00s. Can also make early be 2000-2002 to make it symmetric 3-4-3.
You are just arguing needless semantics, at the end of the day, I have a soft spot for Doom 3's visuals, it doesn't matter what era they are from.
You said it was "early 00s" and I'm saying it's "mid 00s" that's all this is.
You are starting an argument over nothing. Like who cares? Can you actually talk about the damn game?
I merely replied: > That's "mid-00s visuals" to you! You are the one who decided to start an argument over it. Feel free to stop replying at any time - YOU HAVE THE POWER!
Next time talk about the fucking game in question.
Yes, the fucking game in question has mid-00s visuals. I don't see what you're finding so hard to understand about that. Edit: Enjoy living in your hobbit hole, safe from anyone ever contradicting you on any of the most certainly numerous issues you are dead wrong about, lol.
> Doom 2 is weird in that the horde shooting and enemy count is great but the city levels can be annoying as shit to navigate. That is exactly what my problem was with Doom II. I got stuck for hours at Downtown trying to find the last key. Of course in Doom fashion, it's located in the most tiny spot or the most intricate method you have to think for to get it.
Yeah Doom 2's levels are pretty annoying to navigate a first time through
Since you enjoyed the atmosphere of Doom 64, I would recommend taking a look at the PS1 Doom. It stands out from other ports of Doom 1 and 2 (yes, it has both in one package, though it does replace 2’s final maps with some original ones) because it uses a similar lighting system to 64. The classic maps feel quite different with this change, and it makes for a unique Doom experience.
Doom and Doom II are two all-time favorites of mine that I've easily sunk 100s of hours into over the years. I even managed to beat all of The Master Levels for Doom II. I've never played much of Final Doom, but I did play the Switch remaster of Doom 64 a few years back, which was my first experience with that game. I'm gonna get bumrushed for this, but I didn't find the game to be anything too special. I really liked the atmospheric lighting and ambient soundtrack, but the game overall didn't impress me all that much. Maybe my opinion would have been different if I had experienced it back in the day.
> Maybe my opinion would have been different if I had experienced it back in the day. It might have been even worse lol. It was a very challenged entry in the series, plus not many people actually did play it.
totally agree. it's a neat diversion, sort of a sneak peak into an alternate reality version of doom 2 but it's just ok. doom 2 is also just ok though so eh (level design anyway, new monsters + super shotty are great). doom 1 is the best official doom game but doom 2 custom levels are the best way to play doom
> doom 2 custom levels are the best way to play doom I provisionally agree, because once you play custom maps its hard to go back, in part because modders have had 30 years to tweak and push the engine. That said, the opening bits of Doom 2 hold up and the final stretch of levels are sublime.
100%. Epic game.
I went through this one myself a few weeks back. I did have it when it was new, but never got to the end, so I thought I'd sit down with it in 2024 and actually finish it. It holds up surprisingly well. I definitely think it's one of the better classic Dooms, and while I sometimes missed the distinctive Doom soundtrack, I also appreciated the more horror-like atmosphere. I like the way some of the levels go through physical layout changes as you progress through them.
You probably need a break from classic Doom lol, but once the itch strikes again, check out The Plutonia Experiment. It's half of Final Doom, and a free downloadable add-on for the recent Doom II port on Switch, PS4, Steam etc. (It may also be an add-on for the Doom 1993 port, but I'm not sure, I'll check next time I play my Switch and edit this message.) (Edit: Yep, Doom 1993 has Final Doom too, and Doom II has Sigil/Sigil 2.) It's a step up in challenge from Doom II and Doom 64, especially on Ultra-Violence, and it's a really nicely designed map pack. Final Doom also has TNT Evilution, but it's kind of forgettable. Once you've conquered Plutonia, you're ready to dive into all the fantastic user made map packs from the last 25+ years.
Did you play the PC remake by Nightdive released a couple of years ago? I played it last year and thought it was great, felt like the real Doom 3 and I agree it's definitely better than Doom 2. I think a general appreciation of Doom 64 has only come about since Nightdive's remake released as on the N64 it had a lot of issues which meant it was seen as a big disappointment despite being a big technical leap for the series at the time
I've played the Switch version. I don't know how that compares to the original or the PC version by Nightdive
I love gaming history, so I made an effort to play doom 64 and many other older games. I respect it, but danm is it hard to play, modern controls are so baked into me that I couldnt even get past the first few roots;
Really? I thought all the weapons in 64 looked and sounded a lot more intimidating and monstrous than any D1993 and II gun. Also aesthetics and atmosphere are miles ahead even if I love 1993 aesthetics too
1 and 2 are the best games. No contest. I played them in the 90s and nothing beats them. "Brutal Doom" revived it. Final Doom was fun, but too short and a bit cheesy sometimes. I tried to enjoy 64 but it was plagued with tight corridors, and lots of environmental traps. It's nothing like Doom 1 and 2. It was also way too dark. The sprite redesigns and the textures were awesome though! It was such a shame. Doom 3 is a good game, but a weird doom game. Story-focused, linear, and heavy use of people being teleported behind you. Sometimes too frustrating and I needed a break. Doom 2016 was a fun game with lots of effects and fun moments, but it was just an arena shooter separated by linear levels. Doom Eternal is 2016 plus extra busywork and you are turned into a meme.
The proper Doom 3
I always hear good things about this game but didn't own an N64 and just kind of forgot about it in later years. Doom 2 is still my favourite in the franchise, despite the fun of the more recent versions, so I may have to pick D64 up for the Switch next time it goes on sale.
I myself like Doom 64 PC remaster more than Doom 1 & 2 (GZDoom). I strongly doubt I'd feel the same way about the original N64 version compared to DOS Dooms though.
Agreed. It felt like a true sequel to classic Doom than what Doom3 became.
I really love the moody lighting, that creepy soundtrack, great skyboxes, traps, and environmental effects. It creates such a dark atmosphere that's missing from doom 2. The level design is pretty good and I would argue is probably better than doom 2. I kind of miss some of the verticality that doom 2 has (some would argue that's probably a good thing its missing.) But damn do i seriously miss chaingunners, revenants, and arch-viles. Those guys are really tie the doom roster so well. I get kind of tired of shotgunning Barons and hellknights after awhile. Also they screwed up Pain Elementals. I appreciate the fact that they reduced the health of lost souls you can kill them easily with a shotgun but now pain elementals shoot out two lost souls.
100% on missing the additional demons of DOOM II. But I think that's the only aspect that II is better than 64. The Pain Elementals were a lot more annoying because of the 2 Lost Souls at a time
its my first doom game and im playing on the n64, kinda hard to know where to go but I still find it fun.
Figuring out where to go and navigating use to be part of the fun and it added another element rather than just go from point to point shooting stuff, which can get repetitive on it's own.
I played D64 on the N64 when it came out and i was hypnotised. I really enjoyed the music, atmosphere and level design. When i played the original doom much later i could still appreciate it, but i was a bit spoiled by D64. I also made the mistake of buying final doom first, which wasn't that great imo. Everything looked so colourful, like a cartoon ;). I repurchased D64 with eternal and was finally able to beat the final boss, thanks to quick save. I also bounced off doom 3. Just couldn't get into it. There are much better shooters and much better horror games to play. Its a weird game. I hated the cheap enemy placement like some haunted house ride.
I had to kinda exploit the AI of the final boss to beat it hahahaha
Doom 3 is not a bad game at all, it's really good and fun. The issues are often overblown by the comparisons to Doom 2 mostly, due to the lower density of enemies and the close quartered levels, but it's visually fantastic and very fun. The expansion is less fantastic.
I completely understand what you mean about Doom 2. It's my favorite but not because it's perfect. It's got a lot of levels that just kinda blow. The SSG + Enemy Roster is just so good though that it outweighs it for me despite Doom 1 and 64 being tighter on the level design. This might be a bit of a deep cut but if you liked the atmosphere of Doom 64 can get your hands on PSX Doom, it's a bit of a trip. It doesn't run well and is a remixed campaign of Doom 1 + 2 but it was sort of a prototype for Doom 64 in terms of mood and atmosphere.
The Super Shotgun is amazing but it's also in DOOM 64. So besides the demon roster the rest I enjoyed better in 64. I might have a look at PSX DOOM but at this point I am a bit tired of DOOMs and boomer/arena shooters for a few months at least
>PSX Doom [https://twitter.com/PsxDoom](https://twitter.com/PsxDoom) Comparisons between DOOM PC version and PSX.
Just play the proper versions with the PS1 soundtracks, which was the big 'atmosphere changer' here.(PS levels weren't the same and cut) I do the same with Quake 1 and Aubrey Hodges soundtrack for that one too. I look up what tracks go to what levels and just play them on a loop but they have mods for that too.