DOOM is a game that needs no introduction or explanation. Everyone knows what it is, everyone knows the legacy it left behind, and it's one of those games that everyone takes for granted. Between mods, sourceports, sequels, reboots, questionable DOOM games with the number 3 on their title, there's enough DOOM to last anybody a lifetime, to the point where I wonder how many people even played vanilla DOOM and how long ago most people did.

The good news is, on its own DOOM is still a really fun, well designed game. It's impressive how not only did id Software essentially invented a genre here (Wolfenstein 3D notwithstanding), but also how much they knew of the strength of their own mechanics. It's very rare that developers figure it out this quickly, usually there's sequels that iron out whichever issues pop up, but what you get here are three pretty good episodes containing still some of the greatest layouts in FPS history, and generally great examples of how to design FPS levels (hence the countless WADS, lots of them even better than what's on display here). They're varied, well paced, there's tons of little things to discover, and you probably won't even notice you've been playing the game for 3 hours in a row. Not every level is a hit, especially a couple of later ones where the game becomes less a shooter and more a game of guessing which transporter will bring you where, but even in these lesser levels the strength of the movement, shooting, and basic design principles still show through.

Obviously, DOOM should be played at least once by every shooter enthusiast. It may be a game that's been bested since, both in terms of gameplay depth and level design depth, but the core fundamentals are so sound here that it's easy to see how this little game spawned an IP, a whole genre of clones that will later on oversaturate the market, and maybe most importantly a passionate community of modders, designers and just people that are still playing this game almost 30 years later.