Doom 3 scribblings
If you were lucky enough to be a certain acquaintance of mine, you might be about to possibly get a tour of the Id offices before the upcoming QuakeCon 2004. If you were a humble nobody like myself, you might have to make do with jotting over to a friends to check the game out for yourself.
I'm still trying to get over how creeped out it made me; it was a dark room, with a killer surround system, but still. The screenshots just do not do it justice, you really have to see the thing in motion to have an idea of just how beautiful and natural the shadows are and how much they add to the experience.
And the level of detail is just astounding. I'm half-wondering if they spent the last 6 months doing nothing but adding art and trim. I didn't spend enough time with it to go into things along the lines of replay value... this is no review, I'm just impressed as hell with what I saw. What the mod'ers are going to be able to do with this engine is going to blow people away for years to come.
Posted by drunkenbatmanAugust 08, 2004, at 01:19 AM
Comments (9)
Posted by: Torn at August 8, 2004 05:21 PM
The game looks good, but Id has pulled a Bungee. Linux before Mac port? It's all about the X-box to them
Posted by: Grendel at August 8, 2004 05:46 PM
Eli, how about a spoiler warning!?!?!
Posted by: Rae at August 9, 2004 12:42 AM
So, you are the majority owner in my blogshares, eh?
Posted by: solios at August 9, 2004 01:19 PM
Pulling a Bungee? hardly. More linux users are likely to have Doom3 capable machines than Mac users- going by the system requirements, the Mac version's going to require a late-model G4 or a G5 to play, which is a fraction of a percentage of the install base. Nevermind that the "linux version" is probably "x86 linux" as opposed to, say, MIPS, SPARC or PPC.
Heck, to meet the game's requirements, I need a 600$ processor upgrade (dual 450 to dual 1.24ghz- kind of pointless to up a dual to a single...). Lag on the Mac port means I'll probably be able to afford the upgrade (which will be useful for other things) by the time the game's available. :P
Posted by: Eli Sarver at August 10, 2004 06:52 AM
Grendel,
There was no spoiler there. This game is just a remake of Doom 1, with plot and better technology.
Posted by: Ankalon at August 14, 2004 04:05 PM
"Bungee?" Wow, can't you sepll?
Posted by: Mindflayer at August 14, 2004 08:54 PM
I don't like Id's argument that a full 5.1 system is the minimum for gaming nowadays. Most games support DirectX's 4 channel sounds at a maximum. To really get into the game, I'm either going to have to move my computer to the other side of my office and hook it up to my receiver, or buy some new speakers. Either is a pain in the arse.
I was also impressed by the engine. Even on my humble Radeon 9200 the game plays great. My only stereo out is via three 1/8 plugs, and I'm not about to get cables just for the hook-up. If a Playstation 2 can create DTS surround in software/hardware then so can a computer made 5 years later. My just doesn't, ya know?
The folks at ID expect people to play their game slow. Putting triggers every three feet in the game leads to somewhat long gameplay.
I'm a lazy SOB, so I switched to god mode after the 6th area or so. I wandered through the levels and into the hell world. I have to say that the hell world, beside making little sense, was a poor end to a well-crafted game. They put you up against four imps at once with a handgun. This whole section (filled with barons of hell at every turn) ranks up there with the last section of Metroid Prime for developer laziness. The previous 20 or so levels are godlike, though.
I would like to see this live at 2048x1536 4xAF and 16AA. That's got to be a treat.