After playing the phenomenal Doom 2016 I read up a little on the Doom lore and to me surprise I learned that Doom 64 was not a port of Doom 1, but instead a sequel to Doom 2 and prequel to Doom 2016 tying the original and new games together. Combine this with a diehard loyal fanbase of the game and I was super excited to play the “forgotten” gem of this legendary franchise.
Booting up I was immediately confronted
with how different the soundtrack is. The iconic metal is now gone replaced
with a weirder, more ambient and ominous soundtrack. It reminded me a little of
the original Quake, but I was not a fan. I understand what they were going for in
this one. Whether it was a purely intentional shift in direction or in part due
to limitations of the Nintendo 64, the levels are way smaller and more
claustrophobic. Pair with the soundtrack and you have Horror Doom before Doom
3. I liked it at first as a change of pace, but about 6-7 levels in I grew wary
of the formula and missed old school Doom. The enemies and guns feel like Doom
(with the return of my baby, Super Shotgun). Was it toned down for a 64
controller? Was it a limitation of the cartridge? Or was it Midway, the only other
studio to work on a mainline Doom, injecting their flair as I remember them
from games such as Psi-Ops, Area 51, and the Mortal Kombat series… Who knows. I
understand what they were going for – and I’m sure it was terrifying back in
the day (especially when you consider all the diehard fans) but it doesn’t hold
up. I kept waiting for the soundtrack to surprise me. I even turned it up and
tried to embrace it but it never developed beyond ambient garbage. FEAR, Silent
Hill, Condemned – so many games have done ambient music much better even of the
same era. All in all it just feels dated; less intense, less enemies, less
Doom.
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| Never really used the new gun - felt unnecessary. |
Levels are more miss than hit. A
lot of the “Doom puzzles” of finding keys requires too much guesswork. Switches
are behind puzzles, unlock rooms with no indication of where, requiring constant
meandering and backtracking. Why? This isn’t a puzzle it’s padding. It wouldn’t
have been difficult to have a sound effect for what it is (door, portal, wall,
etc) or a map to highlight when something opens. Combine this with the aforementioned
claustrophobic levels and it takes on a tedious labyrinthine design. There’s some
weird additional quirks like the cameras which provided seemingly no purpose.
It would have been cool if these faced rooms with patrols or threatening
enemies? Also that level that gave me a seizure… jesus.
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| Ah my eyes! |
Level 5 and 6 hit the nail on the
head, feeling uninspired with not much space. They’re just rooms. There are a
few moments like tearing through two dozen grunts with a minigun, managing
several arch demons or falling into the dark pit full of Pinkys which is terrifying
at first, but once you pull out your chainsaw you’re good. These however should
be the rule not the exception however. Level 9 is the perfect example of this.
Spawning into a full arena as enemies come in waves and pose a challenging
combat puzzle (i.e. the Doom formula). Scary AF new demons show up with variations
unseen before for the Doom veterans and throw in some interesting quake like
traps and you have what the Doom 2 sequel should have been. Level 9 popped up
every now and again but it was only milestone moments that served the story
(i.e. Doom guy got ambushed).
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| Final motherboss fight was cool |
I was excited to play the last link in the Doom chronology, but the story has never been a major part of the originals and all I was left was disappointment. Doom 64 was just… okay. The enemies and guns are on point, but without the soundtrack to give you the right tempo or great level design to support the Doom combat formula it just falls flat. Maybe it appeals to a particular taste who enjoy a creepier Doom, but I’m not convinced they’ve taken off the nostalgia goggles.
