I have seen Doom 64 hailed as "The Real Doom 3", but to a degree 64 acts as the connective tissue between the fast action of Dooms I & II to the horror atmosphere of Doom 3, in some way justifying the direction of the latter.
I might be tempted to call 64 "The Real Doom II" moreso than a "Doom 3", but either label really only acts as a slight criticism of games that aren't Doom 64.
Doom 64 is a relatively bold shift in the Doom aesthetic coming off of Doom 2 - For one, instead of rocking out to .MIDI guitar solos while blasting away swaths of demons, the soundtrack has you looking over your shoulder for any demons that may have snuck up on you... While blasting away swaths of demons.
At it's core, Doom 64 is still classic Doom gameplay, more or less. After the initial shock to the system, Doom 64's atmosphere loses its grasp on you as the familiarity of the gameplay loop sinks in. There are some sandbox differences, aside from visual - The addition of a new Cell weapon, the subtraction of some enemies from Doom II, and tweaks across the board. Most irritating of these tweaks are a change in behavior for the Lost Souls that transform a formerly pesky and annoying enemy, to one that will straight up ruin your day.
On the technical side, Doom 64 offers some nice audio effects and improved color lighting, which the game is quick to abuse, including one flashing light sequence that is prone to at least induce headaches, and could potentially be an actual health risk.
64 experiments with including more shifting geometry, which is no doubt impressive coming from Doom 2, but ultimately does not offer any major revolutions in the Doom formula, such as vertical mouselook aiming, jumping, or vertically layered 3D environments.
When you get past the horror atmosphere and some improved environmental design, Doom 64 shows its true colors as "Just More Doom, But Kind of Worse". Annoying habits in level design such as hitting plenty of buttons and switches that maybe do something on the other side of the map, and a collection of demons that feel lacking in variety firmly plant Doom 64 in that "Weird Game In The Franchise" category, failing to earn its hidden gem status.
Still, it is Doom. And Doom is nothing if not pretty solid.
I might be tempted to call 64 "The Real Doom II" moreso than a "Doom 3", but either label really only acts as a slight criticism of games that aren't Doom 64.
Doom 64 is a relatively bold shift in the Doom aesthetic coming off of Doom 2 - For one, instead of rocking out to .MIDI guitar solos while blasting away swaths of demons, the soundtrack has you looking over your shoulder for any demons that may have snuck up on you... While blasting away swaths of demons.
At it's core, Doom 64 is still classic Doom gameplay, more or less. After the initial shock to the system, Doom 64's atmosphere loses its grasp on you as the familiarity of the gameplay loop sinks in. There are some sandbox differences, aside from visual - The addition of a new Cell weapon, the subtraction of some enemies from Doom II, and tweaks across the board. Most irritating of these tweaks are a change in behavior for the Lost Souls that transform a formerly pesky and annoying enemy, to one that will straight up ruin your day.
On the technical side, Doom 64 offers some nice audio effects and improved color lighting, which the game is quick to abuse, including one flashing light sequence that is prone to at least induce headaches, and could potentially be an actual health risk.
64 experiments with including more shifting geometry, which is no doubt impressive coming from Doom 2, but ultimately does not offer any major revolutions in the Doom formula, such as vertical mouselook aiming, jumping, or vertically layered 3D environments.
When you get past the horror atmosphere and some improved environmental design, Doom 64 shows its true colors as "Just More Doom, But Kind of Worse". Annoying habits in level design such as hitting plenty of buttons and switches that maybe do something on the other side of the map, and a collection of demons that feel lacking in variety firmly plant Doom 64 in that "Weird Game In The Franchise" category, failing to earn its hidden gem status.
Still, it is Doom. And Doom is nothing if not pretty solid.