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NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 09 Aug 2024 15:49:03 +0000
From: Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action
Subject: More Doom... that's a good thing, right?
Date: Fri, 09 Aug 2024 11:49:03 -0400
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Bethesda has just dropped an upgrade for the original "Doom" and "Doom
II" (yes, the classic games from the 90s). Bethesda really knows how
to milk their existing IPs; adding a few tiny upgrades, and then
repackaging it under a slightly different name and reselling it to
fans.

Although we're rapidly approaching Ship of Theseus levels of
replacement here, since there's very little of the EXISTING game left
in these repackagings. The textures are new. The sound is new. The
engine is Nightdive's own proprietary "Kex" engine. Sure, it largely
looks, sounds and plays like Doom but at this point, is it still
really "Doom"?

Whatever it is, this new port does bring things like wide-screen
support and accessibility options to the game, and the package
includes pretty much ALL the officially released material from the
classic era (including the recently released "Sigil" map-pack), all of
which is good. 

But playing it... it doesn't really FEEL like Doom. It's too... I
dunno, too smooth. The originals had a roughness to them that had
nothing to do with pixels or framerate. (I'm pretty sure this is a
result of the KEX engine; it always feels too slick for its own good.
I disliked this in their Quake port too). Honestly, I think you get a
much better experience using a source-port like zDoom or Boom or
whichever alternative you like most.

It doesn't help that this new Doom is closely tied to Bethesda's own
network (you can't even add mods without a Bethesda account). I'm like
90% certain this was the whole point of the release. Bethesda's been
trying everything to leverage its IPs to get more players to create a
bethesda.net account.

Still, you can't beat the price... /IF/ you already own Doom, that is.
If you have "Doom" or "Doom II" on Steam or GOG (or anywhere it's been
sold in recent years), you'll get this package as a free upgrade. If
you don't own those games, I say you're still better off just buying
the originals, but this new version is worth at least taking a look at
if it's a freebie for you. (If you don't own the classics, this new
version selling for $10USD. But just buy the classics; they're better
and you get much better mod support).

Anyway, there's more Doom now. Whether that's bad or good, I felt
obligated it report it to comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action. It was the
original home of the game, after all.