After a couple of weeks hiatus on Something For The Weekend, I’m back and it was a no-brainer to pick this game for you all to consider or re-consider for something different for this weekend. Just lately, I’ve been playing a lot of the new version of DOOM, the gameplay is a welcome return to the run-and-gun style and there are wonderful throwbacks to the original series of DOOM games that were so incredibly popular in the 90’s. It really did feel like a modern day version of DOOM which DOOM 3 never really came close to doing. So that’s why my choice for Something For The Weekend for this weekend is a simple one. DOOM….Classic DOOM.
That’s right, sod the new one for a while, let’s take it right back. Let’s go back 23 years to 1993 when DOOM was first released and – to quote the wordsmith, Miley Cyrus – “came in like a wrecking ball”. Before then we had Wolfenstein 3D, which is quite rightly referred to as the Grandfather of FPS gaming, and you could even go so far as to call it the Grandfather of modern gaming as we know it today. But if Wolfenstein 3D was the Grandfather, you know what that makes DOOM? That’s right, it’s the Daddy.
Now a lot of younger gamers, all gamers 22 and under in fact, will have been born into a world where DOOM was a part of it. I was born into a world where Super Mario was king (and arguably he still is, albeit like the Queen – no real power, more a figurehead) and it’s something that could easily be taken for granted, but what they have to remember is that it did change everything. It really did bring games to a more mature audience, it did divide, it was a tool for blame among various groups (especially when the Columbine High School shootings took place) and it was as controversial as you could imagine, to the point that it had a ban on it that was only lifted in Germany in 2011 due to it being deemed “likely to harm youth”.
When a game creates that much of a storm around it, you know it has to be something special. And trust me boys and girls, those of you who grew up in the Call of Duty era, this game is something special. I still get nervous when I know I’m going to have to take on the Cyberdemon or the Spiderdemon. Yes the graphics are a product of their time, but the atmosphere, the sounds, the gameplay are all absolutely on par than a lot of games that are released today, it stands the test of time very well and definitely deserves it’s place in the Video Game Hall of Fame.
DOOM is available on Xbox 360 and Xbox One (through back compatibility), PlayStation 3 and PC through Steam.
Come on gamers – DOOM! Tell us your memories of playing it when it was new and your thoughts on playing it more recently in the comments below or in the RGM Forums.
