Finally played a sizable amount of Doom 3...

[Mochan]

I tried the game out some time back just to see how good it would run on my system.

Now I actually tried playing the game for a few hours. Whee, I'm so scared! I have to take a break for a while or my heart won't take it. This game doesn't quite give "unnerving horror," rather it gave me more of a "shock and fear the next turn" terror.

Anyway one thing I noticed was that a lot of review sites say the game plays like the old Doom, but I find this to be false. Gameplay (not to mention style) is more like Half Life than Doom. Doom gameplay is Serious Sam. Doom 3 is like Half Life.

There I said it. I find it amusing that Id has wittingly or unwittingly fallen into the convetions of its biggest rival.

[Renzatic Gear]

Eh, I really don't think they cared about the game. They just wanted a vehicle to show off their pretty engine and impress people.

That said, Quake 4 looks like it could be the Id style game we've all been waiting for. It's more of a game than a tech demo from what I've seen of it.

[ron_tayan]

I tried the game out some time back just to see how good it would run on my system.

Now I actually tried playing the game for a few hours. Whee, I'm so scared! I have to take a break for a while or my heart won't take it. This game doesn't quite give "unnerving horror," rather it gave me more of a "shock and fear the next turn" terror.

Anyway one thing I noticed was that a lot of review sites say the game plays like the old Doom, but I find this to be false. Gameplay (not to mention style) is more like Half Life than Doom. Doom gameplay is Serious Sam. Doom 3 is like Half Life.

There I said it. I find it amusing that Id has wittingly or unwittingly fallen into the convetions of its biggest rival.

Doom 3 is a lot like Undying. Have you played that game? I think that Doom 3 has absolutely nothing in common with halflife since halflife had all those damnable "jumping challenges".

Serious Sam and Doom1-2 are very close cousins, though.

[E.T.]

Undying was for me one of the most atmospheric shooters Ive come across [emphasis on ONE OF]. Scare factor was up there with System Shock 2 & Alien vs Predator [original]. Undying was loaded w/spells & weapons, giving multiple options on killing the badies. Plus resources could be combined in one volley i.e.: fire the speargun while blasting a lightning spell to charge the spear with electricity......what fun indeed! :D

[Mochan]

Yeah, I played Undying. Great game. Probably the best straight scary shooter I've played.

Doom 3 is more like Half Life IMO. Nothing in common? They've got the same kind of plot (aliens/demons gating in to take over the world), similar cinematic style (far closer than Undying), similar level design and "cheap thrills" like hands bursting through the walls (as opposed to Undying which had mansion levels and the scare factor was differently executed), and same kind of weapons (as opposed to Undying which had mystic weapons).

Anyway I think I'll finish up Doom until Quake 4 comes out. Still, though, I went into Doom 3 hoping for something like Doom 1 and 2. I think I'll pick up Pain Killer, I hear it's more like that than Doom 3 was.

[Hieremias]

Still, though, I went into Doom 3 hoping for something like Doom 1 and 2. I think I'll pick up Pain Killer, I hear it's more like that than Doom 3 was.
And that was your mistake, a mistake that most Doom 3 haters have made. I don't know why people did this, there were dozens of screenshots, videos, and previews for the game long before its release. It was very obvious this was not going to be like its predecessors.

Personally I think Doom 3 was a one-trick pony, but it pulled off that trick extremely well. It was designed to give cheap scares in a dark, claustrophobic environment. And it kept me on the edge of my seat when I was playing it. No it's not a memorable game, none of the levels stick out in my mind. And I could never play it for more than 30 mins at a time, it just got too repetitive. But for brief periods of jump-off-your-chair scares, there's nothing better.

Though others on this board will disagree, I thought Painkiller was terrible. The pacing was awful. It was too slow-moving to be an arcade shooter, too repetitive and dumb to be a serious shooter. The weapons were underpowered and the enemies were boring. No, if you want an arcade blast-em-up, get the Serious Sam games. Especially in co-op multiplayer, they are a blast.

[Mochan]

I've never been one to follow development previews and stuff so I really had no idea what Doom 3 was going to be like. That said, I don't hate Doom 3, I agree it's very good at giving cheap thrills in dark, claustrophobic environments, but like you I couldn't seem to play it for longer than 30 minutes at a time. Probably for different reasons though.

But I did read reviews of Doom 3 and a lot of people were comparing it a lot to the old Dooms so I was expecting it to play more like them. So Painkiller sucks huh? Well I'll try it out if I get the chance anyway.

Sam games are great, but I already finished both games, and in co-op as well. Bah, they were loads of fun! That's the kind of gameplay that made Doom great. Granted though Sam is a bit more like Duke Nukem but we all know what we're talking about.