the most unsalted tops ass shooter of the era. something of a canary in the coalmine in hindsight and the first of many dead eyed john carmack tech demos that lack the human component that made id's earlier work so compelling — namely john romero and sandy petersen

a comprehensive downgrade from atmosphere to movement to weapons to maps to enemy designs, functions, and even silhouettes. while it doesn't play poorly it settles on a perfunctory lurch early on and operates comfortably in that space til end credits roll four hours later

I revisit this thing every few years when the psyop hits successfully and seem to enjoy it less and less each time. in fairness I don't mind the quasi hub format even if it feels real conservative following hexen and strife, some of the setpieces are cute, and I eventually came around on how every monster looks like it was inspired by toy story. at one point I walked into a room full of people doin an elmer fudd thing for some reason? I don't know dude, this game's real dumb