Debuting just a year and a half after Wolf3D, it's nearly impossible to overstate how far ahead Doom was compared to every other PC action game at the time. There were other, more ambitious first-person games (Ultima Underworld, System Shock, hell even Terminator Rampage), but nothing came close to Doom in its fluid and relentlessly visceral action.
An undeniable classic, and the gameplay still holds up really well as long as you use strafe controls (or just use GZDoom).
The sound design impressed me the most this time, from the bestial grunts and cries of the undead marines and demons, to the unsettling screeeeeee of the powered doors.
The level design is also quite good, although it gets pretty abstract and doesn't really feel like a real space (whether that be a moon base or the depths of hell). The levels are clearly designed for gameplay first, immersion/realism second, but that decision was the right one to make.
And if you really want to get your ass kicked, you must play the 4th episode Thy Flesh Consumed included in Ultimate Doom. The first two maps are just brutal.
An undeniable classic, and the gameplay still holds up really well as long as you use strafe controls (or just use GZDoom).
The sound design impressed me the most this time, from the bestial grunts and cries of the undead marines and demons, to the unsettling screeeeeee of the powered doors.
The level design is also quite good, although it gets pretty abstract and doesn't really feel like a real space (whether that be a moon base or the depths of hell). The levels are clearly designed for gameplay first, immersion/realism second, but that decision was the right one to make.
And if you really want to get your ass kicked, you must play the 4th episode Thy Flesh Consumed included in Ultimate Doom. The first two maps are just brutal.