Everywhere you look, someone is complaining about “games these days”. I do it all the time. Overpriced season passes, day one patches, and oh so much tedious filler (lookin’ at you Arkham Knight), are some of the biggest complaints you run in to. Many gamers wonder why video game developers and publishers can’t just deliver on day one, with a fun, well-crafted, tightly directed, and most importantly, complete game.
Check out my analysis on Doom (2016)’s stellar first hour.
Enter Doom (2016).
The Id Software developed and Bethesda published Doom reboot of 2016 is coming up on being a year old very soon. While most games would have finally become playable at that age, Doom not only has been an excellent first-person action experience from the start, but it has only seemed to improve with each passing day.
I frequently find myself diving back into the game’s superbly entertaining campaign and being able to pick any given level at any given time and having an absolute blast. Doom doesn’t ask me to sign up for anything when I fire it up. It does indeed have an overpriced season pass for the less than popular multiplayer component, but Doom is not multiplayer. To me, Doom is about jumping right in to the single player campaign and making Hell a living Hell for all of its ill-fated inhabitants.
From the punchy and satisfying combat, the flow of the level design, or the numerous collectables that I have yet to complete my search for, Doom satisfies with every repeated playthrough.
What makes this so special is that among all of the video game franchises that have tried reboots in the current and previous console generations, Doom stands alone atop the mountain, unchallenged.
While it is unfortunate that we are only now seeing our first stellar reboot, one that both recreates the effortless appeal of the original while building upon it in every constructive way (without overdoing it, mind you), Doom’s critical success as well as its serviceable sales, paints a positive for Id Software, Bethesda, and games media as a whole.
The industry is finally figuring out how to deliver a quality product in a world of crushing development costs and commonly accepted anti-consumer practices (I’m looking at you micro-transactions and invasive DRM). Unsurprisingly, the elusive answer seemed to be creating a quality product that didn’t treat its customers like criminals, simpletons, or sales, and instead treated the player like they were just that, a player. Someone here to enjoy themselves.
Dude Wrong Door 