DOOM (1993) Review

DOOM is a first-person shooter by id Software that was released in 1993 on the PC as shareware and was ported to just about everything after it became a hit. DOOM was the successor to id Software's Wolfenstein 3D and the improvements that were made makes DOOM a watershed game and provided the model that all first person shooters have used since.

After their success with Wolfenstein 3D, the creators at id set their sights higher. This time instead of setting the game in a realistic Nazi-controlled castle, mostly realistic that is, this game would be set on Mars. You are a stranded space marine, all of your army comrades are dead and you are the only thing stopping the monsters from Hell from attacking Earth.

Welcome To Hell!

With the enemies in DOOM from Hell, it makes this more of a horror game with graphic, for its time, depictions in the game. I remember when it came out and we got a shareware version of the game, my parents looked at it but let us play it. I'm thinking they would have felt differently if we'd go out after playing and started killing cats. My brother and I just loved the game. We also loved Wolfenstein 3D but DOOM was better.

The game looked way more realistic than Wolfenstein did, some of the levels you could go outside and there was the horizon that looked beautiful. I can still remember being awed at what it looked like.

The horizons didn't hold up so well.

It wasn't just the graphics that were better. This game is real 3D where Wolfenstein was faked. DOOM had levels and elevators you could ride and some of the rooms were rounded. Every aspect of the game felt like an improvement. I also thought the sound effects were great and the music was very good too. The music for the first level sounds like it was more than a little influenced by Metallica's Master of Puppets.

The game also had some gameplay changes that were very welcomed. You could find and use teleports which were really fun, back when I was a kid. There was also green "stuff", I don't know if it's supposed to be poison or radiation, that would damage you on contact but if you searched the level you could find a suit that would protect you. There were also orbs that would make you invisible for a short time. These things seem tame now but before in Wolfenstein, you would only find health, weapons and ammo, and loot.

Another important addition to the game was a map. You have to find it in each level but it was very handy to have.

Almost every time you trigger a switch a hidden door will open up with enemies pouring out so when you flip it get ready to do some blasting.

DOOM has some cool weapon that you'll come across as you work your way through the game including the best gun the BFG 9000. The enemies that you encounter early in the game are pretty easy to kill and I find that the shotgun is the best weapon to use. When you start to encounter tougher guys I'll move up to the chaingun or rocket launcher. I hold back with the strongest weapons until I encounter a boss are a huge collection of bad guys.

In DOOM you'll encounter lots of cool enemies that I thought looked very cool. One of them is a big red floating eyeball with some spikes that looks like it was almost a direct copy of the Beholder from Dungeons and Dragons.

Beholder?

I remember when DOOM came out there were Lot's of people that didn't know Wolfenstein 3D. Specifically, a kid in school was amazed that the bodies stayed where they fell, which it was back then as most dead characters would disappear. I mentioned that the same thing happened in Wolfenstein too but he never played it which was his loss.

When they die they stay dead.

In the end, what's left say about DOOM that hasn't been said before? It is a classic that helped make first person shooters some of the most popular games today. In my review of Wolfenstein 3D, I gave it a 9 and that was more for the part it played in the history of the first person shooter. I played that game and had some fun reminiscing about it but when I played DOOM for this review I found I couldn't put it down as I was having a lot of fun with it.

I bought DOOM for the Xbox 360 and played it through backward compatibility with Xbox One. This version of the game is an exact replica of the original game. If you played DOOM on another platform like the Super Nintendo or on an older computer you may want to try the game out today because I really enjoyed it. People that never played it but are a bit put off with it not playing just like Call of Duty I say to give it a try, I don't think you'll be disappointed. I give DOOM a 10 out of 10!