DOOM (1993)
DOOM started in 1993 as a 3D 8-bit first-person shooter game published by game developers id Software. In DOOM you play as an unnamed Marine who battles his way through hordes of Demons all the way from the surface of Mars to the Depths of Hell. DOOM mixed 3D map environments with 2D character models which may appear strange compared to modern games we see today but this was very immersive back then. In the game you start with only a pistol but you have the option to collect more weapons by progressing through the game and defeating enemies, this task can be made easier by finding armour, power ups, ammo and health packs which are dotted around the map. In DOOM you could only look left and right and never vertically, which lead to some awkward gameplay experiences. The games brutal gore and satanic imagery was very controversial to the public which gave it a lot of public exposure. The game’s MIDI soundtrack combined metal music and electric together, the music in the soundtrack was inspired by bands such as; Slayer, Pantera and Alice In Chains. DOOM was revolutionary because it was one of the first video games with an immersive 3D layout, the level design and gameplay was loved by players across the globe. DOOM 1993 would later inspire other shooter games such as; Call of Duty, Half Life and Duke Nukem. DOOM was played by 15- 20 million people when it was released on shareware.
DOOM II (Hell on Earth)
DOOM II was the sequel to the original DOOM, but this DOOM didn’t bring anything new to the table in terms of new game mechanics or improved graphics or textures. However DOOM II did introduce new demons to fight such as the Mancubus, Arch-vile, Revenant and the Icon Of Sin which is the games final boss fight. The game sold well because of it’s name alone, this is because DOOM was very popular and players wanted more of its gore and action. In DOOM II you play as the same unnamed protagonist that slays demons in the first game, but this time you fight the hordes of demons on Earth. The story of the game is that the demons have exited Hell to launch an attack to invade and conquer earth, but it is up to you as the DOOM slayer to stop this. Because the original DOOM game had so much popularity this allowed DOOM II to be distributed on multiple platforms. Just like the previous game in the series, DOOM II was developed by id software. DOOM II was first launched on MS-DOS computers in 1994, but then in 1995 it was launched on Mac computers. However it did not stop there, in 2002 DOOM II was released on the Gameboy advanced which was a very popular console of the early 2000’s. But through the years DOOM II was later released on the Tapewave Zodiac in 2004 and the Xbox live arcade in 2010. In terms of video game soundtracks DOOM II was nothing special, this is because it used the same soundtrack from the original DOOM.
Final DOOM
Final DOOM was released in 1996 as the third installation in the franchise of DOOM. Final DOOM was often looked upon as DOOM and DOOM II but more difficult, this is because the game didn’t add much new gameplay features not even any new additional enemies. Final DOOM was the first spin off title in the series, meaning it was not following the games main story line unlike the previous 2 games. Despite the lack of new gameplay features the game was very well received by video game critics. Final DOOM was the first DOOM game to be released on the PlayStation, meaning the franchise now had a whole set of new players. The game was said to be way easier on PlayStation than it was on PC, on PC it was said to be the most difficult entry in the franchise. After Final DOOM was released the official magazine at the time rated it a 9/10, as an essential game to play. But players of the original DOOM knew that it was nothing special, because it was practically the same as the previous entries in the series.
The Final DOOM was special compared to other entries in the series because of its new levels, this game had 32-level mega wads, these are files containing 15 or more levels of the video game. This was way more maps than we had ever seen before in the DOOM franchise, the first pack of levels was called TNT: Evilution, which was developed by TeamTNT. The second pack of levels was named the Plutonia experiment, and was developed by a team called the Casali Brothers. The games new maps where the only thing making Final DOOM a new game, because a side from the new maps the game is identical to DOOM II. This means that Final DOOM is practically and expansion pack for DOOM II. The Final DOOM also had a completely new soundtrack which used higher dynamic ranges than the former DOOM games, it also had a sharper edge to the music which had a more aggressive tone. This soundtrack was a step closer to getting to the DOOM music we know and love today, Final DOOM’s soundtrack represented it’s aggressive gameplay better than the former DOOM games did with their video game scores.
DOOM 64
DOOM was released in 1997 by developers Midway games. DOOM 64 was unlike any other entry in the series, the entire musical aspect of Heavy Metal themed music was removed from the game, instead this music was replaced by a brand new terrifying ambient and ancient sounding soundtrack. It is apparent that DOOM 64 took a sudden turn for the survival horror game genre. The game created a perfectly horrifying soundtrack, the game did this by adding screams, distorted synths and reversed speech in the music. The soundtrack took another step closer in the soundtracks growth and development for future games. In this game we yet again play as the DOOM marine, but this time you are only fighting your way through hell and no other location such as Earth, which is the main location where DOOM II takes place. The lighting and colour scheme in this game is significantly dimmer and darker compared to the other entries in the franchise, which use light shades of blue and green in their level design. The enemies in this game are presented to look more like terrifying demonic figures in comparison to the original DOOM where some of the enemies almost looked human like in appearance, an example a demon with a human appearance in the former DOOM games is the soldier enemy. However the action and shooting aspect of the game was still very similar to the other DOOM games, it was just the tone of the game that was changed dramatically by the alteration of lighting and terrifying musical scores.
DOOM 3
DOOM 3 was released in 2004 on platforms including: Windows, Xbox, Linux and Mac OS. This entry in the series was once again finally developed by the original developers of DOOM 1 and 2, which meant it was an official entry in the video game series. This DOOM game finally gave players a new game engine, new mechanics and new gameplay, but was this for better or worse? DOOM 3, just like DOOM 64 became a horror survival game title, it even used similar techniques to create a scary atmosphere within the video games level design. The game has dimmed and dark lighting in the maps to add a spook factor to the game. The games soundtrack uses strings, ambient sounds, demonic growls and choirs to further enhance moments of fear within the gameplay, the music also sometimes represents the power of the enemy. An example of this is the track cyber demon, in the franchise the cyber-demon is a very powerful enemy and the music uses loud dynamics and instrumentation to reflect off of the demons powerful stature, appearance and presence.
DOOM 3 has a very different style of combat in comparison to the other DOOM games, this is because the game is a lot slower paced and the demons have more health meaning they are harder to kill, this means even one enemy should be dealt with, with caution. This DOOM game was the first in the franchise that allowed you to look around in any direction including vertically, this is because you could only look horizontally in previous DOOM games. In this game entry you play as the same unnamed marine like in previous games, but this time it’s based in an alternate universe which many believe to belong to the DOOM marine ‘Flynn Taggart’ from the DOOM novels. The character we play as is in this game is significantly weaker than the other character we played as in the previous DOOM games, in this game he is easier to kill and he finds it harder to slay enemies. This game still keeps key game features from previous games, one of example of an element they kept in game is the need to progress through the game in order to expand your arsenal of weaponry. Many players fell in love with DOOM 3’s game environment as it was claimed to be “convincingly lifelike”, the demons were also designed to be more lifelike and more hellishly designed to scare the player. DOOM 3’s main title theme was the first in the franchise to play a loud and aggressive palm muted guitar in it’s theme. This style of music was loved by most players and would later make a return in future DOOM games.
DOOM (2016)
DOOM (2016) was once gain developed by id software, who this time tried to return to the DOOM slayers gory demonic massacre we saw in DOOM 1 and 2. This video game was originally announced all the way back in 2004, but went under severe development delay. This entry in the franchise was published by a very popular video game company called Bethesda. DOOM (2016) was said to be a soft reboot of the original DOOM game, this is clear to see as they both are set on Mars and also in Hell. Unlike DOOM 3 which was slow paced and scary, DOOM (2016) was fast paced and the demons are not as intimidating as they were in the the previous game. The game was extremely fast paced and the Doomguy in this game is viewed upon as a one man army taking down the army of hell all by himself. DOOM (2016) was also apart of the next generation of gaming which allowed it to have the best graphics it has ever had before in the franchise, this lead to a breath taking and horrifying realistic game environments.
The amazing graphics also meant id software could increase the gore level of DOOM by 1000% which is exactly what they did. The developers added in a new game feature called glory kills, this is a in game time event which would allow the player to engage in a brutal finisher upon a stunned demon, doing this would reward you with health points that replenish your characters health. As well as the introduction to glory kills enemies would also loose chunks of flesh with each gun shot they received to their body, they would also explode upon impact with a close range shotgun blast. This was a new level of gore for the DOOM franchise but everyone seemed to love this intense and blood driven violence. The game also featured new environments called arenas which lock the player in an arena until all the enemies within the room have been eliminated, this leads to intense moments of gameplay as there are many demons trying to kill the player at simultaneously. This game still keeps classic enemies shown previously in the video game series such as the; imp, cyber-demon and soldier which all have new character designs. There are so many new gameplay features in DOOM (2016) that it would take too long to mention them all in the time that I have.
DOOM (2016) gave players the ability to upgrade your character and weapons using an in game skill tree, this would encourage players to get creative with their arsenal of weaponry when ripping through the armies of Hell. The DOOM Slayer in this game was made to be highly agile, making it possible to slay enemies at a rapid pace. One of the most highly praised aspects of this game was it’s soundtrack which was composed by Mick Gordon. The soundtrack was bigger and better than any other DOOM game, it had an aggressive edge to it and reflected perfectly off of the intense and fast paced gameplay. The music was so good it actually won the award for best video game soundtrack of the year in the game awards of 2016. As well as best music DOOM (2016) also earned best action game of the year because of its sharp visuals and energy driven gameplay. DOOM (2016) chose to incorporate more story aspects into the game than previous entries in the franchise, the game managed to balance the time focused on the story very well as most players don’t necessarily care about the story in comparison to the gameplay. In summary of this game DOOM 2016 brought many new gameplay features and was very well received by DOOM fans and new players to the franchise.
DOOM Eternal
DOOM Eternal was released in early 2020 by Bethesda once again, making it the most recent game in the franchise. The game was also being developed by id software once again, who were the original developers of the original DOOM games. DOOM Eternal was also decided to be a soft reboot of DOOM II (Hell on Earth), this is apparent because they share the same enemy types as well as the same gameplay environments, they both even have the Icon of Sin as a final boss fight. This DOOM game decided to add aspects such as platforming, puzzle solving and map exploration into the game. One of the features that had the most attention in terms of development was traversal, maps included objects such as bars and climbing walls that your character can use to quickly traverse areas or reach things that you usually couldn’t have access to due to them being out of reach. Traversal was also implemented into elements of the games combat as you could often use these objects to traverse arenas, traversal is essential in DOOM Eternals combat because if you do not stop moving the enemies fast paced attacks will kill you. DOOM Eternal chose to make ammo more scarce to force players to be more careful with ammo consumption and to use all of their weapons at their disposal instead of just one. This is because in DOOM one the developers realised players would go through the game only using one weapon while the developers intended for the players to use all of the weapons, in this most recent entry develops fixed this issue by making ammo more less common forcing players to switch weapons often. In this game different enemies also have weaknesses to specific weapons in the game, this would make players constantly switch weapons if they wish to rapidly defeat their enemies.
DOOM Eternal was very popular because of it’s extremely faced paced gameplay and gore that were both improved upon since the last game. This game was made more fast paced by constantly spawning enemies into the game at a rapid pace, this made the game more chaotic and forced players to have to make critical decisions on the spot in order to survive the game’s unforgiving combat encounters. Gore was also improved by adding more glory kill animations than the last game did which made the game interesting, this is because you weren’t constantly seeing the same death animation over and over again in your gameplay. Mick Gordon was once again working on DOOM’s soundtrack for Bethesda because everyone loved his musical work in the previous game. Unfortunately the final mix of the soundtrack was very controversial, this is because Gordon was unable to mix all of the soundtracks in time for the release of the game, the public could very easily recognise which compositions he didn’t mix within the games soundtrack. This lead to a split in the DOOM community over the soundtrack, because the mix sounded terrible in comparison to the previous DOOM soundtrack. This ‘bad’ soundtrack was caused because of the lack of time he had on the project, Gordon simply needed more time in order to make the music sound the best it possibly could have. Fortunately their was a few soundtracks completely composed and mixed by Gordon himself which everyone could enjoy in the game. Some of these tracks include: ‘Meathook’, ‘The Icon Of Sin’ and ‘The Only Thing They fear Is You’ Despite the controversial soundtrack this game had, it was loved by the majority of players and was a major success in the gaming industry. Many players today see this as the best DOOM game ever made, the soundtrack was also well received by many players of DOOM Eternal.
Summary
Now we are all up to date on the history of DOOM, hopefully this has given you some information on this interesting evolution of this game franchise. My overall summary of this franchise is that we didn’t see any major changes in gameplay until the next generation of gaming, this is when DOOM 3 was released. However we could see minor changes to the soundtrack slowly occur since the release of ‘Final Sin’. But the DOOM game were we saw major improvements and changes within was in DOOM (2016), this is were the original games mechanics where taken to next generation of gaming. But DOOM Eternal took all of DOOM (2016’s) features and improved upon them by making them bigger and better than ever seen before.
Reading List
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