1. ID Software
Doom 3 Review - Page 1
id Software
Taking its name from Freud's primal instinct-driven face of the human psyche,
id Software is, by general acknowledgement, one of the coolest game shops in
the world.
Responsible for some of the best-selling and most critically
acclaimed video games of all time, id's ferociously independent staff of artists,
programmers and designers, have been rocking the gaming world from Mesquite,
Texas. id was founded after the withdrawal of 3 members from Softdisk Publishing
in 1991, John and Adrian Carmack and John Romero. In 1992, the company produced
Wolfenstein 3D, the first 3D game which came after a lot of predicaments.
In 1993 they presented Doom,
which
was the game that changed the interface of the next games and which was downloaded
15.000.000 times from the Internet.
Doom received the "Award for technical excellence" from PC
Magazine.
In
1994, id circulated "Doom 2: Hell on Earth" in America and Britain
which sold 2.000.000 copies. After two years, in 1994, id released Quake with
its outstanding graphics machine, which proved to be the first steps in multiplayer
gaming. Quake 2 followed a year later, having beautiful graphics as well, brilliant
lighting effects and supporting 32 players in multiplayer mode which took
the title of the best 3D shooter of the year.
You can see featured games by id Softweare in their web
site. Some of the most important games id ever produced are listed
below:
Commander Keen 1: Marooned on Mars (1990) 
Commander Keen 2: The Earth Explodes (1990)
Commander Keen 1: Marooned on Mars (1990)
Rescue Rover (1991)
Paganitzu (1991)
Keen Dreams (1991)
Hovertank (1991)
Dognapped (1991)
Dark Designs II: Closing the Gate (1991)
Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion (1991)
Commander Keen 4: Secret of the Oracle (1991)
Commander Keen 5: The Armageddon Machine (1991)
Commander Keen 6: Aliens ate My Baby Sitter (1991)
Wolfenstein 3D (1992)
Spear of Destiny (1992)
Night Raid (1992)
Doom (1993)
Rise of the Triad: Dark War (1994)
Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders (1994)
DOOM II: Hell on Earth (1994)
The Ultimate Doom (1995),
Hexen (1995)
Quake (1996)
Final Doom (1996)
Quake II (1997)
Quake III: Arena (1999)
Quake III: Team Arena (2000)
Doom 3 (2004)
Some Doom 3 screenshots
2. The Creator
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The creator
Who is John Carmack anyway?
He is the person that gave birth to the First Person Shooter with Wolfenstein
3D and immediately afterwards, Doom 1 with his pioneering graphics engine
which made the player see the world through the eyes of his character.
This engine not only constituted the machine of Doom, but also
made the word Quake a synonym for revolution in games, a graphics engine
which was used
in hundreds of other games.
Equally successful were Quake 2 and Quake 3 Arena (personally
my favorite game). A person like Carmack could never just be satisfied with
this.
He
has also founded Armadillo Aerospace, which resides in Texas. It is
a company that experiments with small spaceships. There is always the possibility
that Carmack will abandon
creating games to dedicate himself to Aircraft construction.
Some Doom 3 screenshots
3. Minimum Requirements
Doom 3 Review - Page 3
Minimum Requirements
As expected, Doom 3 uses the new 3D graphics engine from id Software that
needs more graphics "power" from your computer to run. The minimum
system requirements as set out by id Software are shown below.
- 3D Hardware Accelerator Card Required - 100% DirectX® 9.0b compatible 64MB Hardware Accelerated video card and the latest drivers*.
- English version of Microsoft® Windows® 2000/XP
- Pentium® IV 1.5 GHz or Athlon® XP 1500+ processor or higher
- 384MB RAM
- 8x Speed CD-ROM drive (1200KB/sec sustained transfer rate) and latest drivers
- 2.2GB of uncompressed free hard disk space (plus 400MB for Windows® swap file)
- 100% DirectX® 9.0b compatible 16-bit sound card and latest drivers
- 100% Windows® 2000/XP compatible mouse, keyboard and latest drivers
- DirectX® 9.0b (included)
MULTIPLAYER REQUIREMENTS:
- Internet (TCP/IP) and LAN (TCP/IP) play supported
- Internet play requires broadband connection and latest drivers
- LAN play requires network interface card and latest drivers
Important Note: *Some 3D accelerator cards with the chipset listed here may not be compatible with the 3D accelerator features utilized by Doom 3. Please refer to your hardware manufacturer for 100% DirectX 9.0b compatibility. This product does not support Microsoft® Windows® 95/98/ME or NT.
SUPPORTED CHIPSETS:
- ATI® Radeon(tm) 8500
- ATI® Radeon(tm) 9000
- ATI® Radeon(tm) 9200
- ATI® Radeon(tm) 9500
- ATI® Radeon(tm) 9600
- ATI® Radeon(tm) 9700
- ATI® Radeon(tm) 9800
- All nVidia® GeForce(tm) 3/Ti series
- All nVidia® GeForce(tm) 4MX series
- All nVidia® GeForce(tm) 4/Ti series
- All nVidia® GeForce(tm) FX series
- nVidia® GeForce(tm) 6800
There are some short in-game movie clips in wma format with no sound ( use
the right click Save Target As in order to avoid automatic playback):
4. Script
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Script
Year 2145. Earth's natural energy sources have
run out and companies search for alternatives. The U.A.C (Union Aerospace Corporation)
has set up a base on Mars.
You are stationed there, working as a guard. While exploring
around, something strange happens and the U.A.C. becomes a slaughterhouse!
Suddenly the place is swarming with terrifying
monsters and guided by a mad scientist, aim
to take
over the Earth.
As id says: one of only a few survivors, you struggle with shock and fear as you fight your way to hell and back, in an epic clash against pure evil.
Now, duty calls!
Some Doom 3 screenshots
5. Action
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Action
The main characteristics of Doom 3, are the fear and the anguish
of what awaits in the next room while you constantly hear sounds from hell.
The darkness
and the horrifying howls build up the intensity to the max.
As you progress from room to room, your opponents, even though there aren't
many of them in each room, are capable of making your skin curl and frightening
enough
to keep you sleepless at
nights.
A negative aspect is the fact that the same action is repeated from room
to room, without however losing anything in atmosphere and without
wanting to imply that you
will be
bored.
The monsters are hidden in the most unexpected places, often
waiting
for
you to slack off before attacking and this keeps you constantly on your
toes.
Some more Doom 3 screenshots
6. Gameplay
Doom 3 Review
- Page 6
Gameplay
The Gameplay is heavily focused around the graphics. The shadows
and the terror of the unseen, nails you to your chair for over 30
hours,
which is about how long it takes to play the game from start to finish.
The A.I., is not of the highest order, (but then again, who's
expecting intelligent monsters), is not overly annoying and adds
to the games' interest.
Despite having a pistol, launcher, rifle, shotgun and a
lot of other weapons on call, these do not make you feel any less
intimidated by
your enemies who only have the element of surprise and
darkness on their side. You move very quickly from room to room throughout
the entire game, rooms which are all very dimly lit with only a torch
in your hand to help shed some light, which however, you cannot hold while
simultaneously holding one of your weapons.
This, for many players will be a disadvantage, but I believe that it makes
the game even more scary. However, for those who want the torch, I will provide
a link
to a patch that allows you to hold both the torch and a weapon.
Yet Some more Doom 3 screenshots
7. Graphics - Sound
Doom 3 review - page 7
Graphics - Sound:
Impressive!
John
Carmack and his crew at id have produced something exceptional in
the field of graphics. The realism and the amazing effects will astonish
just about anyone.
All these of course also have their price, because in
order to enjoy the game to its limits, you are obliged to spend a
lot of money
on hardware.
Similarly, the sound is also great. It supports
5.1 channels where not only do you hear and understand everything, crystal
clear, but you can also judge the distance of the source of the sound. The
only music during the game is present when navigating the menus and is "pleasant",
but the sound effects throughout the game are very realistic
and help create the atmosphere.
The following benchmark results are for the ATI AX 800XT and
Nvidia COOLFX 6800 ULTRA graphics cards for high game details:
ATI users should install the DNA
drivers for better performance
and for all other users, read this tweak
information.
Some Doom 3 screenshots
8. Multiplayer
Doom 3 review- page 8
Multiplayer:
Before
the game was released, we all knew that after Quake 3 Arena, Carmack would
present a game that could satisfy anyone looking for Single Player
action. For this reason, they put Multiplayer mode as second priority and it
shows.
Multiplayer mode contains only 5 maps that a maximum
4 individuals can play simultaneously! As in single player mode, you move
quickly, which
in combination with the small rooms makes for fast action play. There are
no overly powerful weapons, a characteristic which was prominent in
previous games
such as Quake 3 Arena.
As we implied above, multiplayer mode is not particularly
satisfying. For this reason, id supplies you with the level editor so that
the
gaming community can knuckle down to work and produce enhancements, additions
and modifications.
In the table below, you will find our favorite collection of
modifications for the game ( after download read first the included instructions):
- single player modifications:
Trap and Death |
|
Anti-gravity room |
|
Barista 3 |
|
Church of ruins |
|
Dead simple map |
|
Death is coming |
|
Doom recreation |
|
E2m01 map (remake of doom 2) |
|
Evil toilet |
|
Home made map |
|
Lab 42 map |
|
Redemption |
|
|
|
Zombie swarm |
|
Time Cop |
|
- multiplayer modifications:
Aztec |
|
Bubo's stone dojo |
|
Death for All |
|
Deathchamber |
|
Discombobulated |
|
Doom 2 multiplayer map |
|
Killing zone |
|
Mp Skyglass |
|
RB Colosseum |
|
The hellish complex |
|
The hall |
|
The underhalls |
|
Viagra DM |
|
Facility |
|
Sunnyville |
|
And Finally, Some More Doom 3 Screenshots