Doom

Q: Can videogames be art?
A: cocks shotgun

In Doom, your health could go past 100% if you picked up vials while already at full health, just another reminder of the mindset and design principles behind this game: extreme and over the top! Demons, blood, guts, guns, mutants, Nazis, nuclear waste; and if it was possible in those days, this game would've had a thrash metal soundtrack without question. It's practically Slayer: The Game. It is unabashedly lurid and violent (albeit in a slightly campy way), the product of people who grew up listening to heavy metal and reading horror comics. My kinda people.

And, of course, it's one of the more influential games in history for bringing both the 3D perspective and first person shooter genre into the modern era along with id's Wolfenstein 3D from the previous year. First person shooters weren't even called that for nearly the first decade after Doom's debut, they were called Doom Clones, it's influence loomed over gaming to that much of a degree.

If anyone were to ask me what the best indie game of all time is, this would be my answer without hesitation. Granted I'd had to specify the O.G version where the episodes came on floppy discs mailed to subscribers of shareware throughout the 90s (which my family was despite being a rather athletic family) however this review focuses on the game itself rather than the multiple versions it's been released as over the years.

If you're looking for story and characters, then you've come to the wrong place as this game has neither. What it does have however is highly addictive gameplay that can be enjoyed on your own and with a bunch of friends thanks to its multiplayer functions, some of the best power ups in gaming history and inspired level design that will admittedly upset religious folks as it does depict stigmata and satanic imagery among other things that made it highly controversial back in the 90s. I'd also advise against letting children play this game unless you're OK with them having nightmares for years to come (this unfortunately comes from personal experience.)

It has its naysayers, and you can argue said naysayers have every reason to object to this games existence, however there's also no denying how this impacted the gaming industry in a positive way given how it revolutionised the FPS genre as well as creating a market for gamers who want something more mature than the likes of Mario and sonic.

genre defining fps mastery

Yup. It's Doom, alright. Just fun demon shooting. There's really no need to deliberate on this game, it's fucking Doom. What more can I say?

This game would have had a 3-3.5 if it wasn't for the "Official" Unity port add-ons, which elevate it to a 4.5. The game itself has good art direction and music, but that isn't what anyone plays it for. It's for the Demons, for the Guns. And the balance and interplay between the weapons and monsters is great, especially combined with the top-notch level design of the first and forth episodes (Although, it isn't quite on the level of Doom II: Hell on Earth's). That brings me into my one gripe with the game, though. That being, the shoddy maps in the middle. No disrespect to Sandy, but the maps in the second and third episodes just don't have the same tight flow and design that the other two do. Much of the community content however, matches and even surpasses that of original game. Take for instance, John Romero's Semi-official 5th episode SIGIL (which is now included in the official Unity port of the game). It exemplifies everything that can be done right doom map design, with tight combat puzzles, great exploration, and legitimately impressive visuals. Doom is a must Play, especially with all the extra content the community has developed over the years