Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Doom3d, or, why am I so lame
There's only one thing that's better than monkeys in a game. One thing that we've reiterated over and over again that every game should have. That's right, co-op. Whether it's gimmicky, thrown into an already awful game or making a game exponentially more fun, it's always a welcome feature. I'm thrilled that more games are incorporating it these days, and in more dynamic ways.
Having online co-op in Doom 3 isn't just a gimmick to try and make up for the graphical deficiencies of the port (though the game still looks amazing); it falls more into the exponential category. To be fair, I haven't even touched the single-player game yet, but I know now that it won't be the same. Having someone playing with you feels completely new and fantastic. As you've no doubt read by now, someone usually has to hold the flashlight while the other person shoots, otherwise you won't see a damn thing in some areas. The lighting is fantastic, and there's nothing like seeing the shadow of a giant demon attack your unarmed buddy from behind, trying to yell out and warn him before it tears into his back. It would seem that not much has been changed from the solo game - some doors require dual authorization, people address you as "marines" and I assume there's a couple more health packs and enemies than usual (though maybe not). It's a helluva lot of fun though, and amplifies everything that's good about the game already.
It should be said though that critically, I'm not overly impressed with the game. It looks great, it's incredibly atmospheric (read: creepy), and the enemies are fairly cool. On the other side of the coin, It's simple, the impact of the guns feels weak, most enemy death animations are unsatisfying, and the actual enemy placement feels alternately precisely calculated and completely random. And that's all there is to the game - enemies. As I said, it's obscenely entertaining playing co-op, I'm just not sure if I'd ever want to play the game by myself. I'm also dying to check out the four-player co-op versions of Doom 2 and Ultimate Doom. I'll be back with an update on those eventually...
Having online co-op in Doom 3 isn't just a gimmick to try and make up for the graphical deficiencies of the port (though the game still looks amazing); it falls more into the exponential category. To be fair, I haven't even touched the single-player game yet, but I know now that it won't be the same. Having someone playing with you feels completely new and fantastic. As you've no doubt read by now, someone usually has to hold the flashlight while the other person shoots, otherwise you won't see a damn thing in some areas. The lighting is fantastic, and there's nothing like seeing the shadow of a giant demon attack your unarmed buddy from behind, trying to yell out and warn him before it tears into his back. It would seem that not much has been changed from the solo game - some doors require dual authorization, people address you as "marines" and I assume there's a couple more health packs and enemies than usual (though maybe not). It's a helluva lot of fun though, and amplifies everything that's good about the game already.
It should be said though that critically, I'm not overly impressed with the game. It looks great, it's incredibly atmospheric (read: creepy), and the enemies are fairly cool. On the other side of the coin, It's simple, the impact of the guns feels weak, most enemy death animations are unsatisfying, and the actual enemy placement feels alternately precisely calculated and completely random. And that's all there is to the game - enemies. As I said, it's obscenely entertaining playing co-op, I'm just not sure if I'd ever want to play the game by myself. I'm also dying to check out the four-player co-op versions of Doom 2 and Ultimate Doom. I'll be back with an update on those eventually...
// posted by Nick @ 11:46 AM 
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