"Even from the beginning of the graphic engine's construction, I knew it was far beyond anything that anyone had experienced,'' remembers Romero. And you still take dogged pleasure in collecting every last helmet and energy bottle, finding every secret door, and killing every goddamn demon you can find. From the monsters that fight each other to the sprawling environments and real-time updating map. From the well-balanced weapons to the slimy explosions of blood and rib cage.
Reflexes and aim.Įven today you're struck by the sheer amount of great ideas in the game. And without modern control complexities-jumping, reloading, looking up and down - it's like driving an automatic. Playing Doom now is like driving your first car again. Eighteen months later, they released Doom. "So John Carmack basically said: 'What if we did the same thing, except with hellspawn instead of aliens?"Īnd so it happened. "But we bailed out because we wanted total creative control and that was not going to happen with a licensed property," says Romero. Sci-fi space beckoned as a setting and for a while they even contemplated doing an official Aliens game. It could as yet only manage "sloping floors" but it was a start. John Carmack had a new engine in progress. The Texas-based developers wanted to break out of Wolfenstein's boxy castles for their next game and do something more realistic, an action adventure with a cohesive storyline.
It sold well, but what's more it suggested for the first time that the PC wasn't just a golf and flight simulating 'dad machine' but could do fast action games as well. Released in July 1992, this action-packed maze/shooter game featured an impressive high-speed 3D engine and enough Nazi imagery to get them plenty of press and the inevitable ban in Germany.
Id had started out with the sideways scrolling Commander Keen series but the game that really put them on the map was Wolfenstein 3D. "We considered ourselves underdog developers with ideas and passion, and each new project was a step up the coolness ladder," remembers Romero. And last, but not least, was John Carmack, uber-geek programmer whose high performance 3D engines would become a dominating force at id and in the games industry in the years to come. Young programmer and designer John Romero. The hyper-geeky id team was small but packed with up-and-coming talent. Contrary to prevailing wisdom, they considered the PC to be the future of gaming. They had a shared love of Japanese games, horror movies and science fiction graphic novels. They all played Dungeons & Dragons together. We were witness to one of the most influential, ground-breaking, and downright playable computer games ever. Sound familiar? Doom was the mother of all first-person ultra-violent shoot 'em ups. And then these huge, howling demons started exploding out of the walls. Your only comfort were these big weapons: shotguns, rocket launchers, a chainsaw. Except there were these demons and zombies everywhere, and rivers of radioactive waste, secret rooms, catacombs and dark bits where the lights were broken that made you feel really and truly scared. As hilarious as it may seem from the screenshots, more real than anything we'd ever seen. Loading it up, we were completely amazed. W6 had spent a marathon night frantically sucking the 4Mb shareware version down a 14.4 modem from a bulletin board in Texas. Cycling through the weapons is also slow - press the button three times, and a few seconds later, the desired weapon appears. You'll be fighting the controls more than the enemies. The delay between a button press and the onscreen action means movement isn't as responsive as it should be. The biggest problem with Doom is the control. While the music livens up the stages, it overshadows important sound cues that are essential to complete the levels, such as secret doors opening. The explosions, grunts of pain, and weapon discharges sound great. Doom is most effective with the music turned off, so you can hear hissing enemies lurking around corners or right on your heels. One of the key elements in the game is sound. Other visuals remain sharp, however, and distant objects are clear with colorful explosions and bloodletting that more than utilizes the red end of the color spectrum. Up close, walls and enemies suffer horribly from pixelization. Several hidden rooms and passages also add to the fun and make for hours of exploring.ĭoom has graphics ranging from bright and colorful to dark and gloomy. Doom isn't just about splattering enemies with your shotgun, though: Some levels have puzzles and require strategy as well as a quick trigger finger. A variety of weapons (like shotguns, rocket launchers, and chain saws) make up your arsenal, along with other power-ups (like armor and first-aid kits).