Doom 3 holds up surprisingly well (and is underrated)

[Silly Germans]

There exists a lan coop mod for Doom 3, which is kinda funny
in a retarded way if you turned on friendly fire. The map design
certainly was not meant for 4-6 people at once.
I think the mod also included new maps which were actually
good and playable with multiple people.
I like the engine with its extremely hard shadows and it works
great for the Dark Mod.

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

At least you can run Doom 3 on good old Voodoo 2 and enjoy 1997 graphics:

 

[Excommunicator]

Mancubuses and lost souls were very lazily designed and bland.

Still, both lost souls and Mancubusses in Doom 3 are better than those in Doom 2016/eternal.

Ugh, the guns sound even worse than I remembered.

 

[502]

Do you think it's worth getting back to with a source port nowadays?

It's been long time but I would enjoy Doom 3 a lot more if it were a proper FPS from the get go instead of all the exposition and the cheap "you and your pistol and a handful of bullets and your flashlight and an imp in a pitch black room" shit. I also hated the shotgun. I shouldn't hate the shotgun in an id game.

And remember this track from one of the E3 teasers? With demon sketches and bits of gameplay in the background? Even the uploader doesn't know its name.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHo3KXj2gQA

 

[Arbiter]

Do you think it's worth getting back to with a source port nowadays?

It's been long time but I would enjoy Doom 3 a lot more if it were a proper FPS from the get go instead of all the exposition and the cheap "you and your pistol and a handful of bullets and your flashlight and an imp in a pitch black room" shit. I also hated the shotgun. I shouldn't hate the shotgun in an id game.

And remember this track from one of the E3 teasers? With demon sketches and bits of gameplay in the background? Even the uploader doesn't know its name.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHo3KXj2gQA

Dhewm seems to be the most popular source port, looks really nice with Redux graphics mod.

For gameplay modes, you may want to check out Perfected Doom.

 

[DeepOcean]

Doom 3:

+ Cool aesthetics
- Absolute shit shooting
+- Mediocre level design
Story? Who fucking cares.

Nu-Dooms:

+Good shooting mechanics
- Terrible aesthetics
- Terrible level design
Story? Who fucking cares.

They are both shit but on different ways, pre Bethesda fecal matter isnt made better because of post Bethesda fecal matter.

 

[RRRrrr]

I've beat it today. It brought fond memories of the times when the final levels of games were the best, most carefully designed, most over the top, challenging and interesting rather than the most unfinished and boring part of any game. I liked the story (and disagree that it doesn't matter, especially since Doom 3 is a survival horror), the final levels were packed with strong enemies and very few imps and no zombies (which was nice, considering how cool the more powerful enemies are), the Hell levels were superb, the final levels were very old-Doom like. The game suffered from a too long first act. If the Delta Labs were cut, everybody would have loved it because everything after them was just over the top action filled classic design. It seem like the engine supporting too few enemies on screen at a time was not completely true, it was a design choice that worked for the first levels, but dragged far too long.

I can see that some mistakes were made, like making the game a little too long (the Delta Labs were unnecessary), and the final cinematic bringing too little closure (they were far too optimistic for a Doom 3 sequel, which was a mistake), but overall. Doom 3 was great.

Today, Doom 3 is older than Doom 1 was at the time Doom 3 came out. Let that sink in.

All in all, I truly miss how old games put the most effort in the final rather than in the first levels. Doom 3 did this to a fault. Gameplay-wise, the levels Hell levels and everything onward was 10 times better than anything before than, almost old-Doom like. And the previous levels were packed with atmosphere, story and secrets, so still worth it.

 

[Arbiter]

I've beat it today. It brought fond memories of the times when the final levels of games were the best, most carefully designed, most over the top, challenging and interesting rather than the most unfinished and boring part of any game.

That has not always been the case. John Romero designed Doom 1 starting from Episode 3 as he knew the success of the game would largely depend on the shareware version (episode 1) and thus wanted to make sure he is experienced with the engine and tools by the time he got to designing first level of the game.

 

[RRRrrr]

That has not always been the case. John Romero designed Doom 1 starting from Episode 3 as he knew the success of the game would largely depend on the shareware version (episode 1) and thus wanted to make sure he is experienced with the engine and tools by the time he got to designing first level of the game.

Generally, the part that gets designed first is the most polished one, so this explain why the 3rd act of Doom 1 was so good. I loved it the most.

 

[Semiurge]

At least you can run Doom 3 on good old Voodoo 2 and enjoy 1997 graphics:

That triggered flashbacks of Red Faction, AvP 2 and Quake III Arena with Voodoo 3/Pentium 2.

 

[DalekFlay]

I just did a replay of the game and both expansions and ranted about it in the "what are you playing" thread. I thought it held up very well overall, though it's a mostly very different experience from the others. I called it a cross between System Shock and Doom in that thread, and stand by that. I'm generally into slower paced shooters with atmosphere and exploration elements, so for me it adds something to the Doom formula rather than taking away. I didn't like Resurrection of Evil much though, it leans heavily into its gimmicks and the level design is less interesting, plus the story is a throaway. Also Doom 3 is very long and more content feels redundant.

The "Lost Mission" and the BFG Edition in general are very interesting because they speed the game up considerably, add more ammo and brighten everything to an insane degree and it all makes it feel more like an action shooter. Lost Mission itself seems designed around this with bigger areas filled with higher level monsters to strafe and shoot. I honestly enjoyed Lost Mission more than Resurrection, just because it was different. Overall though I think the original game looks and plays much better, because it's the pacing the game was designed for. Too bad it runs significantly worse on modern systems than the BFG version, but what can ya do.

Do you think it's worth getting back to with a source port nowadays?

dhewm3 makes it easy to set up and run widescreen and whatnot, but it does not fix the performance issues on modern cards or get rid of the 60fps cap. You can hack the cap out two ways, but one results in a stuttery mess and the other a sped up game. The BFG Edition fixes all that and runs like a dream, but of course it's uglier and has the gameplay changes I mentioned above. Neither is a perfect solution. I can't speak for mods, I prefer the intended experience.

 

[Boleskine]

 

[adddeed]

I played the game this year and had a lot of fun. But only after i made two very small modifications.
I increased the walking speed by 1.5x, and in increase damage of allweapons by about 50%.
One, it made the gameplay feel fast paced and made fights over quicker. Felt more like old school FPS games.
Two, it made the game less scary (since i was faster and deadlier) and since i get easily scared in horror games it made the game a lot more fun.

They were two easy changes that i did within the files myself and i enjoyed Doom3 a lot. Loved it.

 

[Ash]

A good game, not a good Doom game.

No. Even based on its own merits it's just alright.

-Simplistic level design.
-Pretty art direction but a one trick pony. There isn't much variety. Seen the first level you've seen it all (aside from the two surface walks and hell. Hell is also way too short, but that's for the best since it's p. boring).
-Weapon design inconsistencies. Some weapons are great (chaingun, plasma), others feel like shit (pistol, shotgun). How'd they make a bad shotgun. It also has super RNG elements to it which is weird. Also where the fuck is the super shotgun are you kidding me. Yes, the expansion has it and its great, but that doesn't count. Should have been in the base game if the default shotgun is so bad.
-Has nothing that sets it apart from any other shooter except the graphics for its time.
-OK combat. But that is pretty much all the gameplay is; just ok combat over and over and not much else.
-Somehow for all its trying (darkness & lighting, pretty graphics, sound design, everything), it's not scary in the slightest.
-Challenge. The game isn't super easy at least but it doesn't demand much from you at all.

Interestingly enough there is one feature that sets it apart: this was the first game I ever noticed a hit indicator/marker (crosshair has a red fill when hitting targets). I guess the computer interaction was also cool.

It barely tries anything, barely has anything that sets it apart. Name a impactful level. Name a memorable gameplay feature. Name a interesting story moment. Was sound design incredible? No, it was just OK. Was the atmosphere amazing? Nope, was just OK.

Someone posted the metacritic user scores. 7.7 is probably even overrating it. I'd just say flat 7.

 

[luj1]

Its really a poor man's Half Life (on Mars)

 

[Darth Roxor]

Doom 3 is p. cool

 

[Tacgnol]

It was a pretty showcase for a lot of the new shadow and lighting effects that were becoming practical around the time.

Far Cry, Doom 3 and Half Life 2 all raised the bar from a technical perspective.

 

[Ash]

Its really a poor man's Half Life (on Mars)

Nah that's 100% Red Faction (Also probably a 7/10, or 7.5/10 game). Also set on Mars and more clearly inspired by HL.

Doom 3 feels like its own thing to me. I can't think of another FPS for direct comparison except the mediocre clones it spawned. Maybe Alien Trilogy (another old school horror shooter) but I probably prefer that, console shooter or not.

 

[SlamDunk]

Doom 3 was a bad game and the reason it might feel underrated to some is because no real progress in corridor shooters has been made since then: modern equivalents are on the same level or even lower.

 

[Ash]

Doom 3 was a bad game and the reason it might feel underrated to some is because no real progress in corridor shooters has been made since then: modern equivalents are on the same level or even lower.

To be fair, when was the last time a corridor shooter was made? They're pretty rare these days. Ah Nu wolfenstein (shit). Doom 2016 (ok). Doom Eternal (good, though it's more an arena shooter really). Shortly after Doom 3 coridoor shooters were everywhere, and all pretty much mediocre to shit indeed. Nowadays they're usually open world looter shooters, military or cinematic shooters, and also shit.

 

[passerby]

Its really a poor man's Half Life (on Mars)

It's not as good as HL1, but it's the best HL1 clone there is.
I found it on par with HL2, with different strenghts, where HL2 is more of a departure from HL1 formula.

Doom 3 is p. cool

It's good for what it is.

 

[Ash]

Not sure where the HL comparisons are coming from in terms of design philosophy. In terms of quality, I'd say it's about on par with HL2 (7/10) but nowhere near as good as HL1. And it is about as linear as both half life games (more actually) with notable emphasis on realism, but that's as far as the comparisons go for me. Half Life 1 has loads of scripted events and gameplay. Hitscan-heavy combat while D3 is more melee and projectile. Quite a bit of interactivity while Doom 3 doesn't even have a dedicated interact input. Mixes things up constantly with puzzle or gimmick elements (on a rail, forget about freeman air strikes, mine fields, massive laser traps, low gravity etc). Has a heavy emphasis on platforming. And also a moderate focus on story, to the point of the first half an hour or more giving you no weapons. Doom 3 does none of these things, it's just combat after combat after more combat. Stopping ocassionally to press a switch or optionally read a log. Red Faction is the best HL clone, and also one of few that felt anything like it.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

I've been replaying this after completing it a long time ago and it's pretty fun. I don't mind the slower pace and more methodical approach to enemy encounters (picking the right gun, only sprinting when you have to, etc), and having your flashlight as a separate weapon is a neat idea.

The shotgun takes a while to get used to, but it's not as shitty as it seems. As long as you're using it as intended (blast to the head/chest from a point blank range), it's good. Occasional secret areas and the fact that you're supposed to pay attention to the environment is also a nice change of pace compared to the majority of other FPS games.

Comparing Doom 3 to HL is pretty dumb -- to me it seems like it took inspiration from System Shock games, but mostly did its own thing.

 

[Ash]

The shotgun takes a while to get used to, but it's not as shitty as it seems. As long as you're using it as intended (blast to the head/chest from a point blank range), it's good..

Glorified melee weapon. Not very fun. Indeed performance-wise it is acceptable if not overpowered at point blank range. Anything beyond that it's total shit. There's no middle ground. It also looks and sound underwhelming.

Doom 3 is a fine game with great visuals and artwork, I don't think thats ever been disputed, but the chief complaint has always been that it doesnt play anything like doom and plays more like a survival horror. I don't think its underrated at all, if anything, its a little overrated.

Lol it doesn't play anything like a survival horror. No backtracking. No inventory management. No puzzles. No strategy/pre-planning. No severe aim or movement restrictions (even if it is slower than classic FPS). No...horror. It just plays like a mediocre/ok shooter.

 

[Ol' Willy]

I played it on Hard using shotgun (yes, shotgun) most of the time - and it was fun. To kill things with a shotgun in D3 you need to get very close, and while there is less enemies than in Doom 1 or 2 they are bit more powerful. It's called "The Dance" - advancing, dodging, headshotting and retreating. Definitely fun.

Also lol, I didn't know that you can heal with the soul cube thingy right until the end, so I relied only on pickups.