Doom 3
Tuesday, August 10, 2004 @ 08.03 CDT
Doom 3 came out last week. If you care even the tiniest amount about computer games, you already know this, of course.
Background: Chad and I used to play an awful lot of Doom back in the day. Contrary to many opinions about Doom-like games you often hear, this turned out to be a great thing for both of us. Possibly not as important as the day I brought Netscape Navigator 1.1N(?) for Mac OS to the house on a floppy and said, "You gotta see this!", but marathon sessions of Doom ][ via 40' serial cable led to serious thoughts of Doing Computers for a Living.
Anyway...
I was at the store on my lunch break to buy my copy on August 3. I was sad to read on the bottom of the box that the minimum system requirements pretty much describe my current desktop computer. That night, my impression was that it ran like a slide show, but one of the best looking slide shows I've ever seen. Even at "Low" quality, the textures are impressive, and the lighting is fun to play around with. I probably spent five minutes pushing a desk lamp around and opening and closing the blinds in the kitchen at the beginning of the game.
It's also pretty scary. The original Doom looks like Pac-Man now, but it was scary at the time. Doom 3 brings back that feeling.
For an old-timer like me, it doesn't really matter that there are a few gameplay problems or that it doesn't run all that well on my computer. It's Doom 3.
Background: Chad and I used to play an awful lot of Doom back in the day. Contrary to many opinions about Doom-like games you often hear, this turned out to be a great thing for both of us. Possibly not as important as the day I brought Netscape Navigator 1.1N(?) for Mac OS to the house on a floppy and said, "You gotta see this!", but marathon sessions of Doom ][ via 40' serial cable led to serious thoughts of Doing Computers for a Living.
Anyway...
I was at the store on my lunch break to buy my copy on August 3. I was sad to read on the bottom of the box that the minimum system requirements pretty much describe my current desktop computer. That night, my impression was that it ran like a slide show, but one of the best looking slide shows I've ever seen. Even at "Low" quality, the textures are impressive, and the lighting is fun to play around with. I probably spent five minutes pushing a desk lamp around and opening and closing the blinds in the kitchen at the beginning of the game.
It's also pretty scary. The original Doom looks like Pac-Man now, but it was scary at the time. Doom 3 brings back that feeling.
For an old-timer like me, it doesn't really matter that there are a few gameplay problems or that it doesn't run all that well on my computer. It's Doom 3.
