Personally, I think of the ones listed in the OP, Far Cry 3 is probably the weakest, though that could just be my overlying issue with 'open world FPS' having a diluted story and side quests that don't really do anything besides fill up the xp bar a bit, or maybe give you another serviceable weapon.
Doom, on the other hand, has some decently good/great arenas, and doesn't overstay its welcome - I get the issue about relatively 'few' weapons, but I think the upgrade system kind of incentives you to experiment at least a little.
And tbh, only TNO has what I'd call a somewhat convincing story.
All in all tho, I'd say TNO was great (old blood much less so), Metro:LL was good/great (definitely better than 2033), Doom was great...2017 Prey was pretty good, though more system-shock/bioshock esque (haven't played the old one to compare)....
Off the top of my head, here are a few SP shooters I've played in the last 5 years that I found to be generally more memorable and compelling than DOOM:
I just really want to understand what logical leaps you must've made to accuse a game that is effectively the personification of the staples of the FPS genre to be something lesser.
I couldn't get more than a few hours in and I don't understand why. I like shooters, generally. Doom ticks all the boxes of what *should* make a game engaging.
But... for whatever reason, I just couldn't find myself having fun with it. I really liked Wolf TNO, so... yeah. Something about it just doesn't click with me.
I think it was assessed fairly when it came out. People trashed the multiplayer, and rightly criticized certain aspects of the single player such as the way the levels are empty of enemies outside of the gore nests. It wasn't a masterpiece, but the single player was fun and polished, and since a lot of people were sure it was going to be terrible that's all it needed to be. I hope they listen to the criticism for the sequel, and I hope the success means that we will finally get a Quake 2.
The thing I liked about Doom is that it gets me "in the zone". What I mean by that is that the gameplay does a really good job of drawing me in to the point of almost hyper-focus. Constant movement, fast action, shooting, explosions, demons... you just sort of get in a flow and it feels amazing. Top it off with the xbox elite controller and the game feels even better with never needing to take your thumbs off the sticks.
I like different shooters for different reasons, usually because they manage to excel at something that makes them unique (Superhot for example), Doom manages to carve out a niche for itself and the things that make it different are done very well.
Besides the general awesomeness of DOOM's gunplay (maybe the best ever), this shooter will he forever memorable to me for one special reason: it is the game on PC where I first practiced and mastered Steam controller's motion aiming.
I kid you not - I played Destiny 2'a beta on the PS4 this weekend as he first time playing an FPS game since finishing DOOM a few months ago and I deleted it after fifteen minutes. Without motion controls, it is hard for me to go back to analog aiming. Also, DOOM killing sprees were soooooo much fun that it'll be a hard combination for any game to match anytime soon.
It's in a similar situation to Wolfenstein. They're both considered "old school" experiences that you don't get much these days so they get inordinately praised.
I liked it, but I am in general agreement with you OP.
I thought there were some flaws that kept it from being truly great. First off, it should have been probably about 25% shorter, as the last couple hours didn't really add anything new. I kept waiting for it to be over for the last few levels.
I also didn't like the boss fights. I actually liked the game early on the best. I did a lot more running and gunning and it felt more satisfying to take out a larger number of weaker enemies than the larger monsters later in the game.
But I would still give Doom a solid 7.5/10, as it was pretty fun for a while, it ran great on PS4, the graphics were good, and the music was fit perfectly with the game.
Damn. There is delusional, and then there are TheRedSnifit level of delusions.
I mostly agree with you OP. DOOM is a very fun game, but certainly wasn't the second coming of video games a lot of posters on here made it out to be for me. Everyone enjoys different things though.
Also, while I didn't much like Far Cry 3, I vastly enjoyed your other examples (Especially Wolfenstein) over DOOM. Despite that, I still look forward to a DOOM sequel.
Can't agree with you there man. I beat it way back at launch and I still think about it every couple of weeks. Been thinking about doing another play through even though I have a massive backlog.
It's in a similar situation to Wolfenstein. They're both considered "old school" experiences that you don't get much these days so they get inordinately praised.
What you call old school, I call 'pure.' We don't need 'cinematic experiences' or 'storytelling' in our gorefests. Sure, it's nice, but the gorefest is the point. And sure, the originals weren't exactly gory -- although they were for their time -- but all of this hearkens to a day where developers weren't spending millions on advertising, millions on graphics, millions on storyboarding and cutscenes and licensing, and the least amount on the game. The gameplay is what matters FIRST AND FOREMOST, and Doom's gameplay is smooth, fluid, and visceral.
No more "24 fps because that's how movies are xD" or "the human eye can only see at 30fps" NO.
The human eye has ONLY seen 30 fps because you have foisted it upon them and made them beg for more of that, never knowing that it could be better. Smoother. Beautiful silk ribbons of gushing viscera as you rip and tear until it is done.
The discontented anger with which the Doomguy destroys everything in his path, as if breaking the chains of the industry itself, a beast fueled by profit and power in opposition to what we want, need, and deserve, is the perfect encapsulation of our rage against the EAs and Activisions and Ubisofts of the world.
No more will the lesser players rattle their chains and beg for scraps from their masters, who, content with giving them less and less and taking from them more and more, force more filler than game while packaging it as the latter.
The Day of Reckoning has come for them.
For the righteous among us, there is no substitute. Your Preys and Call of Duties and Battlefields are forgeries -- pale imitations as if FPS was a lost art. When really, the only things that are lost...are themselves. Alas, the aspirations themselves are too much, yet alone playing host to the need that would drive these lost souls to realize them.
But soon. Soon we will make a resurgence and once again Unreal, Quake, and Doom will be on everyone's mind. Soon we will cleanse this world of the filth and its forgeries.
Soon, it will be remade.
I just like vaguely villainous monologues, this is mostly just joking.
I guess it's memorable enough for you to feel compelled to create a thread critiquing it. Usually I don't care to put that much effort into games that I forget.
DOOM is boring to watch, boring to read about, and boring to reflect on. As it should be. Looking at this thread, games listed have set pieces, or "stories, and marketing campaigns that push them. They're memorable because thats how the game is sold, thats how the game is structured, so those moments stay with you. But that's not the point of DOOM. The moments that matter in DOOM are too numerous to sell, to take screen captures of, and stick on the back of the box. DOOM is incredible to play, all else forgotten. The moment to moment of DOOM trumps everything in this thread, hands down. It's only forgetable if you're not remembering the parts that matter.
DOOM gets a lot of praise around these parts, and while some of it is deserved, it hardly offers much of what I consider a stable of a strong FPS experience. Besides the levels, there wasn't anything particularly memorable about it. Story was forgettable. I didn't care for any of the characters. Weapon selection was more limited than I'd like. Ultimately it got repetitive quicker than I'd anticipated.
The only thing that really stood out for me was the level design, which was nothing short of amazing.
Off the top of my head, here are a few SP shooters I've played in the last 5 years that I found to be generally more memorable and compelling than DOOM:
- Far Cry 3
- Metro: Last Light
- Wolfenstein: TNO
- Prey
None of these were perfect by any means, but in terms of I expect from a good FPS experience, they offered a better package than DOOM.
I was ultimately happy with my purchase of DOOM and liked it enough to get all achievements. But looking back now (been a year since I finished it), there's hardly anything about it that makes me want to go back to it. It just sort of came and went.
So... when people go so far as to say it's better than Half-Life 2 and whatnot, I do find it a bit strange.
Probably my favorite game this decade so far, so I can't really follow you there. One of the best gameplay systems ever made.
(Particularly if you play with kb+m. Nothing else compares.)
I wouldn't say it's forgettable, but it didn't stick in my mind as long as Wolfenstein did. It was consistently great. but it never really hit any great heights. All the levels felt pretty samey, to the point where I struggle to remember any of them in any detail (so I guess it's forgettable in that respect).
Still one of the best games of last year, though. The gunplay was so goddamn satisfying from beginning to end.
Shadow Warrior 1 is a vastly superior game to Doom 2016, IMO. Doom 2016 is basically the worst sections of Shadow Warrior 1 -- arena combat with enemies teleporting in until you kill them all -- turned into an entire game. But Shadow Warrior was more than arena combat. It had wonderful variety in its level design and set pieces, all backed up with exceptionally sharp writing.
Doom 2016 is a one trick pony. It's a faux-"retro" game that plays nothing like the "classic" titles it ostensibly resembles.
I hesitate to call it a "bad" game because it's immaculately polished. Things like animation, AI, and weapon feedback are really well done. But it's like Quake III if Quake III were a singleplayer game. If you're not loving it within the first 10 minutes, there's no "it gets good" point When I played Doom 2016, I had a sinking feeling roughly 5 minutes into the game. It's like the game serves you a chicken burger. And then another chicken burger. And then another chicken burger. And it sucks to be you if you were hoping for some chips and salad and maybe some lovely pan fried fish on the side, followed by a nice glass of apricot juice. Because it's chicken burgers, and more chicken burgers until the credits roll.
DOOM gets a lot of praise around these parts, and while some of it is deserved, it hardly offers much of what I consider a stable of a strong FPS experience. Besides the levels, there wasn't anything particularly memorable about it. Story was forgettable. I didn't care for any of the characters. Weapon selection was more limited than I'd like. Ultimately it got repetitive quicker than I'd anticipated.
The only thing that really stood out for me was the level design, which was nothing short of amazing.
Off the top of my head, here are a few SP shooters I've played in the last 5 years that I found to be generally more memorable and compelling than DOOM:
- Far Cry 3
- Metro: Last Light
- Wolfenstein: TNO
- Prey
None of these were perfect by any means, but in terms of I expect from a good FPS experience, they offered a better package than DOOM.
I was ultimately happy with my purchase of DOOM and liked it enough to get all achievements. But looking back now (been a year since I finished it), there's hardly anything about it that makes me want to go back to it. It just sort of came and went.
So... when people go so far as to say it's better than Half-Life 2 and whatnot, I do find it a bit strange.
So "forgettable" that you can't forget it and instead feel compelled to make a thread about a game that is over a year old to complain that it gets too much praise? Sounds more like an unforgettable game to me!
Prior and after, tried to play it because the new one looks nice but no, I can't enjoy it. I think is the music/sound being so low or something and uninteresting regular enemies.
OP, did you love the old Doom games? Because part of the reason I love DOOM so much is because it's exactly what I want a 2017 DOOM game to be. Without my love for the old games I would still think it's great, but not the best FPS campaign in years.
Prior and after, tried to play it because the new one looks nice but no, I can't enjoy it. I think is the music/sound being so low or something and uninteresting regular enemies.
Just played it through the free weekend. It is forgettable for sure. I see it's appeal but it doesn't have the long lasting appeal of it's predecessors