First of all I want to thank the Doom community, without the enthusiasm (and memes😏) I would've never bother getting into a game that's literally older than me.
I was born in 1995 and didn't start gaming until well over 10.
My childhood games are consists of early 2000s shooters like Half-Life 2, F.E.A.R. and Doom 3. (Yep, my first Doom is Doom 3.)
It's no surprise that I had zero interest in 90s shooters cause they just look so much worse than what I grew up on, at least that's what I assumed for the past 20+ years of my life, and boy was I wrong.
I recently bought The Ultimate Doom on Steam and played it with GZDoom and I was blown away by just how much I'm enjoying it.
Before I get into the game I want to talk about some GZDoom settings, I try to keep it as original as possible except for aspect ratio and HUD scaling. That's means software rendering, no texture filtering, no lost soul transparency, tone map set to palette, no mouse freelook, default auto aim and particle style set to square etc. you know what I'm talking about. I did however enable decals (bullet holes on the wall) as well as sprites & particles for effects like blood & rocket trails cause they look much better than the original while still looking like a 1993/1995 game. I'd like to imagine it as a special ultra graphics setting for super computers of 1995.
Anyway here's a screenshot of my game, you can see the blood particles I was talking about.
Now let's get into the game. I'm playing on Hurt Me Plenty but with no quicksaves so if I die I have to load the autosave at the beginning of the level. (NOT pistol start)
My biggest surprise is how well the combat works especially for such an old game. All the weapons felt incredibly well balanced. The shotgun is useful against smaller enemies but has a slow fire rate and limited range. The rocket is powerful but it has unforgiving splash damage and you will end up killing yourself if you're not careful. The chaingun is excellent against zombie man & imps even in long range but is mostly useless against tougher enemies. The plasma rifle feels genuinely powerful but the projectile is slow and is more easily blocked by corners and railings.
The overall weapon balance is so much better than Doom 2016 and it makes for a truly engaging rock paper scissor combat, or how Hugo Martin, the director of Doom Eternal like to put it, ''chess pieces''.
I always thought people's praise for this game is just nostalgia. I used to cringe when people put the classic Doom games above Doom 2016 in their ''Best Doom games list'' and it always got me like ''Really? This ancient 1993 shooter where you can't even look up & down is objectively better than the amazing rip & tear powertrip that is Doom 2016?''
Now I get it. Doom 1993 is genuinely a tighter, more balanced FPS than Doom 2016 and if you are willing to look past the ancient graphics and controls to appreciate the core design then you will be surprised just how well it holds up. It's a better game and I'm saying that unironically.
After beating Spiderdemon in Unto the Cruel (E4M8) I'm immediately replaying the whole thing from E1M1. That's how much fun I'm genuinely having with this game, the last time I've seen this level of replayability is in Resident Evil 4, and that was more than 10 years ago.
Doom is magic, Doom is love. Doom is Eternal.
My favorite episode is Thy Flesh Consumed. It's hard as balls but at the same time extremely tight and memorable.
Also John Romero's levels are mean as hell, dude is a dick and I can't wait to play SIGIL.
I was born in 1995 and didn't start gaming until well over 10.
My childhood games are consists of early 2000s shooters like Half-Life 2, F.E.A.R. and Doom 3. (Yep, my first Doom is Doom 3.)
It's no surprise that I had zero interest in 90s shooters cause they just look so much worse than what I grew up on, at least that's what I assumed for the past 20+ years of my life, and boy was I wrong.
I recently bought The Ultimate Doom on Steam and played it with GZDoom and I was blown away by just how much I'm enjoying it.
Before I get into the game I want to talk about some GZDoom settings, I try to keep it as original as possible except for aspect ratio and HUD scaling. That's means software rendering, no texture filtering, no lost soul transparency, tone map set to palette, no mouse freelook, default auto aim and particle style set to square etc. you know what I'm talking about. I did however enable decals (bullet holes on the wall) as well as sprites & particles for effects like blood & rocket trails cause they look much better than the original while still looking like a 1993/1995 game. I'd like to imagine it as a special ultra graphics setting for super computers of 1995.
Anyway here's a screenshot of my game, you can see the blood particles I was talking about.
Now let's get into the game. I'm playing on Hurt Me Plenty but with no quicksaves so if I die I have to load the autosave at the beginning of the level. (NOT pistol start)
My biggest surprise is how well the combat works especially for such an old game. All the weapons felt incredibly well balanced. The shotgun is useful against smaller enemies but has a slow fire rate and limited range. The rocket is powerful but it has unforgiving splash damage and you will end up killing yourself if you're not careful. The chaingun is excellent against zombie man & imps even in long range but is mostly useless against tougher enemies. The plasma rifle feels genuinely powerful but the projectile is slow and is more easily blocked by corners and railings.
The overall weapon balance is so much better than Doom 2016 and it makes for a truly engaging rock paper scissor combat, or how Hugo Martin, the director of Doom Eternal like to put it, ''chess pieces''.
I always thought people's praise for this game is just nostalgia. I used to cringe when people put the classic Doom games above Doom 2016 in their ''Best Doom games list'' and it always got me like ''Really? This ancient 1993 shooter where you can't even look up & down is objectively better than the amazing rip & tear powertrip that is Doom 2016?''
Now I get it. Doom 1993 is genuinely a tighter, more balanced FPS than Doom 2016 and if you are willing to look past the ancient graphics and controls to appreciate the core design then you will be surprised just how well it holds up. It's a better game and I'm saying that unironically.
After beating Spiderdemon in Unto the Cruel (E4M8) I'm immediately replaying the whole thing from E1M1. That's how much fun I'm genuinely having with this game, the last time I've seen this level of replayability is in Resident Evil 4, and that was more than 10 years ago.
Doom is magic, Doom is love. Doom is Eternal.
My favorite episode is Thy Flesh Consumed. It's hard as balls but at the same time extremely tight and memorable.
Also John Romero's levels are mean as hell, dude is a dick and I can't wait to play SIGIL.
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