Doom III

[Dude_Doc]

Really, after all id Software games, what makes Doom 3 good? Sure, I know id Software are masters in graphics and engine design (after all, most FPS games can be traced back to their engines), but story-wise and game-design-wise, what's new? Let me take a look on the records of what the games contained since Wolf 3D:

Wolfenstein 3D

Okay, it was their first "real" game, and I can agree that they couldn't make much of a story out of it. There were no shadows or reflections, only labyrinths, Nazis and monsters (the dead).

The Doom Series (Doom, Doom 2 and Final Doom)

Okay, the engine is improved. So is the story (somewhat). You are a marine on Mars, and after a ship "from hell" comes and unloads monsters (killing everybody on the base - except you), you're into blasting and killing them. I think there were an episode where the monsters had invaded Earth too... Anyway, just like Wolf 3D, the monsters are from hell, as well as zombies and every other aspect of "evil". Anyways, the levels do have some distinction, they are colorful and mixed. I liked it.

Quake

Something different. Though, still monsters. This time you're a traveller to other dimensions to find four runes to defeat the greater evil. The engine is hugely improved, 3D and all. Cool, but with boring dark long levels. They could at least have had some distinctions, like different worlds or something. Though, you wouldn't mind since the game was the first real 3D shooter, so they did okay with that.

Quake 2

I said new worlds, and I got it in Quake 2. Along with cooler graphics and all. The levels are cool, but repeatedly. Monsters are the same. Gets boring, and you've lost the replayability once you played it through. The story isn't much (what a surprize): you're a marine on the planet Stroggos, and you have to defeat them... duh.

Quake 3 Arena (and Team Arena)

Multiplayer game. No singleplayer story (not in the game), although, the manual says that a warlord has set up an arena where you and every other race must fight for victory, and in the end, defeat the warlord. Graphics are, again, good. But that's it. The character selection is okay, but mostly the same stuff to choose from. Levels are the same too. They are constructed differently, but in essence, they hold the same thing. Could've been much better if they did more cooler levels. The background is non-existent, and don't add any "feeling" or anything to the levels. Same with Team Arena.

Return to Castle Wolfenstein

This is the "first" game with some story. Basically, the Nazis want to use creatures from hell to conquer the world. End of story. You can figure it out yourself. The game becomes somewhat boring because it's mission based, that is, you start of a point, complete the episode, and go to the next mission. Plus, the cut-scenes give away most of the story before you even get to play the game. Levels are a big improvement, and have some distinction, but as Quake 3, they are in essence the same. The same dark ways, with swatstikas and Nazis and zombies. Not much to it. Weapons are cool, but only modified from Quake 3. Enemies are the same too. Either it is Nazis or zombies, not much else. Some levels have exceptions, but that's it.

And now, their latest game. Sure, I may not have the same taste as everybody, but don't you think it's getting a little repititive with zombies and all, and exactly the same concept as their previous games? And to add it, I don't think games with "Heaven vs. Hell" or something like that is much story based. I mean, there is a hell with monsters, then everything is possible. It's possible for the creatures to walk (literally) right out of the wall if they wanted to. To hell, as well as to heaven (yeah, how many times have we seen heaven in games?), the creatures' master won't have to apply to the rules of our world. Which means that many sick things can happen.

Which is why I like games with aliens more. Why? Becuase aliens are often binded to our rules in this universe. In "smart games", the aliens are less capable and therefore work much like we do (for example, like spreading deceases, or invading planets, causing struggle (war)) and so on.

Anyways, that wasn't the point. The point is that I respect id Software for creating such cool engines and graphics, because after all, it's their department. They created it, and they know it. The thing is that they need to do something new in their games. Their old "hell" and "biotech" stuff, along with the same old weapons and levels are getting boring.

My question is: are Doom 3 like all these games before it?

[Cyborg]

Well...

We like zombies, and we don't really care about a story as long as there's a frightening monster that needs its brain sprayed onto the wall.

Call me mind dead, but I like all ID games except Quake 3 very much.

[Megashrap]

As a big Doom fan from the begining, all of those games you mention are great ones, but for Doom 3 very simple, If you compare it to all the other ID games, I personally think it surpasses em all 100x over story, graphics, well just every thing by far. but I think mostly is the game atmosphere,ambience I really like the best. :)

[DooM]

Well, to add my opinion, I think DooM 3 is the second best game ID ever released, I say second best, because no game has ever given me the experience I had with the first DooM game...

I mean, DooM has been with us for over 10 years now, I played it from the beginning and I still play it every now and then, no other game has got me to playing it for such a long time, and I doubt DooM 3 will...

For all other games, I like them all except for Quake 3 and RTCW, them for being a bit too boring for me... And I strongly disagree on Quake 3 having good graphics... The engine may be good, but I think Quake 3 looks awfull, everything looks too... well... polished, I mean, it are gun fighting arena's and there is absolutely no damage to anything, the levels have no atmosphere, and the hud weapon models are the worst I've ever seen in a game, only the player models are quite cool.

[Atomic Mitten]

Try Planetside core combat from Sony online games !

There

[HasimirFenring]

Try Planetside core combat from Sony online games !

There

[bryorama]

There are alot of pay-2-play games out there that I wish I could have..

(Example: City Of Heroes, Planetside, Star Wars Galaxies, & many more.)

But I'm not allowed to get them because my parents say so, due to my low budget, (12 years old)

:(

[Cyborg]

And also because they don't want you to end up as an addict with no real life, which happens to a few people who play it.

[lowzeewee]

That's why you need to be a nerd and play Pong! :O

[GUNWOUNDS]

And also because they don't want you to end up as an addict with no real life, which happens to a few people who play it.

whats a real life ?

[DooM]

Those people can't be called game addicts anymore, they are just plane lunatics... They're insane... I'm just 20 years old, I do play a lot of video games and I still live with my parents who call me an insane addict, but I would be nothing compared to those you describe mr. Gunwounds.

[Cyborg]

By saying no real life, I divide life into real- and virtual life...

I guess you know what I mean.

[Dude_Doc]

Well, I've completed Doom 3 now, and I can confess that I was wrong. It is probably one of the best games I've ever played.

For the first time, I really didn't know the story before playing, as I did with Return to Castle Wolfenstein. The game was not mission-based, as (again) RtCW was (playing episode by episode with it's own story).

The graphics are astounding. The monsters are scary. I mean, you just can't see any movie before playing this game to know, you just have to play it. I just loved the claustrophobic environment, and when the monsters aren't giving you horror, the music/sounds does.

Heh, and even AFTER the game, I was scared. Actually a funny thing: Today is Friday the 13th, the game was released in my country today, and I completed it today, at 04:00 AM - around 06:00 AM, the first thunderstorm this time of year struck the city, and lightning hit the backyard twice. I can tell someone "higher" reacted  ;D ...

Oh, and I have a tip that I copied from Planet Doom (www.planetdoom.com), from their forums:

This is a guarenteed way to get a MASSIVE performance increase to your game, at the

expense of taking up a little more hard drive space (2 gigs approx). I went from

running low quality at 800x600 to running high quality on 1024x768. This improves

load times AND framerate/details.

There is a catch! By doing this, you temporarily can't connect to pure multiplayer

servers. You have been warned (I'll tell you how to revert it at the end).

After installation, the Doom III Folder consists only of the doom3.exe and some .PK4

files. Those PK4 files includes the entire game (sounds, videos, textures etc.)

compressed. They are normally uncompressed in mid game, which is very hard on your

CPU. Lets fix this!

1. Make a copy of ALL the files in C:Program FilesDoom 3base. This is some big

  filage, but if you want to revert to MP without reinstalling you need to do it.

2. Unrar the following .pk4 files (just pretend they are .rar's and open them with

  winrar) into the C:Program FilesDoom 3base folder (each one should unrar a single

  folder such as textures or models):

  pak000.pk4

  pak001.pk4

  pak002.pk4

  pak003.pk4

  pak004.pk4 (This one has many files, put them all in Base and over right any that

              apply.)

3. Now delete the files above (pak000-004) or move them to another folder for storage so

  you can revert to multiplayer.

When you want to revert to multiplayer, restore everything you had before and get rid of

the new stuff. I'm not sure if the folder "maps" is the same or not, so make sure you back

that up.

When in normal mode, you should have "maps" "savegames" "config.spec" "doomConfig.cfg"

"doomkey" "game00.pk4" and "gamex86.dll", nothing else.

ALSO! If you open DoomConfig.cfg (C:programfilesdoom3base) in notepad and change:

seta image_cacheMegs "32"

to a higher number, such as 96 or 128 you will see a big increase too. Go for it bad boys!

I know this will work great for all of you, it has for me!

(NOTE I am not the one that came up with this I am just passing it along!)

BTW I can run my Doom at High with everything on at 30-35FPS and my cards a 5200! also

I am running at 640 x 480.

It worked for me at least (I have a 1.4 Ghz)...

[Cyborg]

Actually, Doom 3 is a horror game I am only frightened when playing.

When I exit, I don't think about it anymore.