Life Changers: Doom

Morg remembers id’s classic FPS

For my Life Changers I couldn’t pick any other game but the id Software classic. From John Romero’s brilliant level design to the weapons that became genre standard, Doom took a generation of 2D shooter fans and gave them taste of the 3D worlds to come.

Back when Doom launched, around 1993, we had an old IBM XT. Around a year later dad upgraded to a 25Mhz 486SX and my older brother - who was attending university at the time - suggested we get a little title called Doom. Coming off the four color monitor to a crisp fake 3D world meant Doom was the first title to ever blow me away.

The biggest highlight was the level of immersion from seeing these demons right there, in front of my gun – and unloading a round of shells on them. I hadn’t played anything like it before. From the moment I shot a zombie Doom had me going “Holy…” followed by an obscenity-filled “Did you see that?” It was impressive back then.

Doom’s weapons set the benchmark for every shooter to come. Even today the layout remains set in the format: pistol, shotgun, semi-automatic, rocket launcher and one ultimate weapon with a smaller supply of ammo. Almost - if not every - FPS out today will have a variation of this line-up.

Every weapon worked well against a specific tier of monster from the zombie to Cacodemon-slaying shotgun and gatling gun, to the Cyberdemon-slaying BFG 9000. Discovering the weapons was part of the fun, too. From the first time I picked up the BFG and wiped out a room of monsters I knew it was too awesome to last more than a few shots – largely based on the serious ammo depletion going on.

Another thing Doom had that a lot of games fail at these days was John Romero’s brilliant level designs – yes, the same John Romero of Daikatana infamy. Back in the days of Doom development he created levels that didn’t have any one correct path to take. Every level had a clear start and finish with multiple routes to take and a clear map to help find your way around. The levels were split up with doors that needed keys to unlock, and one of Doom's level design quirks was to have a horde of monsters show up as soon as you got a key.

There was one level in particular where the lights go out and about four Imps come out of a small room, leading to me running back out and waiting for the Imps outside. Another level was like a joke played on the cheaters. It took place at the end of the first episode - and I was one of the cheaters they caught out with this - they had a room that deactivates invincibility and drains your health until roughly 40%. You teleported in and suddenly you’re surrounded by demons and your health is being drained. It turned out to be part of Doom’s paper-thin plot.

Unfortunately my experiences with Doom weren’t all good; my older brother repeatedly fragged (a term meaning kill coined by John Romero) me in Death Match. Another thing that bothered me in Doom was the Imp scratching sound; it drove me nuts - and not in the good way - and still does today. Of course, it’s a given that no one wants to get scratched by an Imp or Baron of Hell, but the sound irritated me more than the attack itself. To give you a rough idea of how it sounds to me, it’s like someone was scratching a chalkboard, right next to your ear.

All in all Doom is rightfully remembered as the classic FPS that kicked the genre into the mainstream and sent a shockwave throughout the PC gaming market, leaving a permanent mark on the gaming industry.