A Brief DooM and Quake Series Historyical Overview
(C) 2005 by Jools
DooM - December 10, 1993
Back to where it all begun... DooM came along with graphics and gameplay unseen before (with the small exception of Wolfenstein 3D and its sequel, Spear of Destiny, though I deem those as some 'trifle' iD guys love to make). What was so good about it? As a DooM fetish, my most obvious answer would be 'everything', but I'm trying to be honest here, so the real answer is 'every bloody thing'. Fast paced gameplay, tons of enemies, gore, blood, dark rooms, scary and creepy sound effects, great soundtrack, uber-cool weapons, divinely designed maps (and loads of them), cool demons to blast away (politically correct and evergreen), a simple plot, multiplayer gaming, good old level bosses, a chainsaw. Could a gamer ask for more? Honest, no. By the way: DooM was initially released on a FTP belonging to the university of Wisconsin, which crashed twice during the first few hours of release. The original shareware version featured the whole first episode of the game, for a total of 9 levels, equal to the exact 33% of the whole game. Now, see why THAT one is the golden age, and THIS is not? DooM' toponymy alone is enough to scare the player even before the game begins: Phobos Anomaly, Halls of the Damned, Unholy Cathedral, Gate to Limbo and so on. As a teenager, I didn't dare to play doom at night, I kept thinking about the game at school, planning how to kill some boss (like Barons of Hell, to name one) or the way to go through some map. The total experience.
DooM II - 1994
To this all, one exact year later, DooM II added a double-barrel shotgun, more levels, even nastier demons, loads of unique bosses, and the usual load of fear to scare the hell outta you.
Quake - 1996
The second milestone in FPS games, Quake delivered the first real 3D game engine ever, started a new game series, a couple of nice weapons (4 barrel nail gun), nightmare areas and demons, and lot of fear. The 3D engine helped to make the gaming experience even more real, and the overall mood of the game is really dark: castles, crypts, pits, fiends, pentacles, blood, torches, lairs. Possibly, the most demonic setting in the whole series, just everything in Quake just smells 'evil'. There was disappointment in the air, because all the DooM fans were expecting the next chapter in the DooM series... could have they guessed how much time would pass before they could fetch that? Anyways, they well liked Quake and begun playing serious online fragging. FPS slang is born: frag, TK, camper, w00t... an era begins. Did I mention that the game's soundtrack is composed by Nine Inch Nails? Well, it IS. Now, stop drooling.
Quake II - 1997
Now what? A brand-new, visually-astonishing graphic engine. New setting, although it is supposed to be the sequel to Quake. New weapons, new enemies (the infamous Stroggos), even more online gaming support, usual, great level-design, some kind of plot, breakable glass, support for the newly wide-spread 3D accelerated video boards (3DFX, Voodoo), new texturing system (to make a long speech short: you shoot enemy, blood stains and wound appear on enemy), some physics, dynamic lightning, ultra cool animations (especially when enemies die), bio-tech-alien stuff, a railgun. Possibly, there is a change in the wind: the game is less dark and more tech, less evil and more alien, not so fast paced as DooM was... Sometimes ambushing enemies or hiding behind pillars is better that running through the room shooting like crazy. An AI seems to make some shy, quiet appearance here. The era of engine licensing is taking now off, and from Quake II' engine some great games are born: Half-Life (and CounterStrike), SiN, Soldier of Fortune, and many others.
Quake III Arena - 1999
Is this Quake at all? Quake III is FPS, pure as it can be. Some maps (called 'arenas'), a load of nasty bots with AI ranging from 'sitting duck' to 'i am the aimbotting wallhacking happy bot', new futuristic weapons, gore, blood and all the usual we could expect to find in a Quake game. All but... no plot. Not a real one anyways: Quake III is born and meant to be multiplayer, single player mode only allows to play against (dumb) bots, which quickly becomes boring. Maps are a mix from the previous games: futuristic ones, alien ones, gothic ones, hell ones... Again, new graphic engine, and the ultimate one: shaders, curve surfaces (well, kinda), reflections and tons of other eye-candy, to make the gaming experience extreme. Faithful to its design, Quake III gives its best on multiplayer: ladders, tournaments, lan parties, office contests... Quake III is just everywhere. Gameplay is fast as hell, side-circular strafing becomes a must, along with rocket jumping and railgun headshooting. The special edition metal box is divine (no, actually, DIVINE!).
DooM III - August 03, 2004
When I first had the game box in my hands, I thought I was going to start crying like a boy with his brand-new, long-longed for, parents-gifted PS2. It took me infinite time to open the box, read the manual, install the game: I sipped every single step, touched, relishing everything my eye caught. My hand trembled when I doubleclicked my DooM III desktop icon, my eyes staring the monitor. iD logo intro... gooseflesh, and a shiver down my spine. Mind flies back to the old days. I play around with some options, then start a new game. Seeing the UAC logo again was a pleasure I wasn't anymore hoping for. Game starts. I'm not going into a DooM 3 review here and now, so I'll just outline the game. Well, my first thought has been 'DooM is back, and we couldn't hope for any better way'. Almost everything from the original game is still there, and there have been a few changes. Gameplay isn't as fast, fear is brought to extreme levels (thanks to the ultimate-graphic-engine), demons are less in number but much more evil and deadly, taking damage is much less advisable, rushing is certain death. Usable computers are something uber-cool, the flashlight is our best friend, sporadic friendly encounters (or incoming radio comms) help overcome the fear, and everything smells, looks and sounds utter evil.
IMO, and to make a long story short, this game is now THE game, as DooM has been 10 years ago.
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