Doom: The Dark Ages Performance Review

Doom. Four letters, two gunbarrels, one space marine and boatloads of demon guts is all it takes to change the face of gaming forever.

Id Software’s seminal series is ground zero for first-person shooters, PC gaming, online multiplayer, community modding, speedrunning, and so, so much more.

Video games are still living in the shadow of this infernal masterpiece three-decades later. The FPS genre has evolved a lot since the days they were called “Doom-likes,” and so has the series itself– with varying degrees of success.

How does your favorite title rank among the seven (or so) main entries in the franchise? Which Doom games cover themselves in guts and glory, and which are cursed to wallow knee-deep in the unalived? We promise not to be too rough as we rip and tear through the series to bring you every Doom: Ranked.

2004’s Doom 3 is the end result of an ultimatum John Carmack issued to the rest of Id, and it kind of feels that way.

Carmack was dead-set on making a next-generation remake of Doom to showcase the impressive new light and shadow capabilities of the IdTech 4 engine. Doom co-creator John Romero was long gone at this point, and the remaining Id OGs were staunchly opposed to what they saw as a retread– a tech demo in search of a purpose. Carmack very publicly overruled them, and thus we have Doom 3.

To their credit, Carmack and crew made some big changes in pursuit of modernizing the series. Doom 3 is a slower, more story-driven affair than the first two games. There are voiced NPCs and lore-filled terminals that you interact with in a super clever way. Its jumpscares and “monster closets” instill a sense of anxious survival horror, a sharp contrast to the run-and-gun arcade frenzy of classic Doom.

It’s a valiant effort to bring Doom to a new generation of gamer culture. The problem is that this generation was extremely ugly.

The graphics tech itself is awesome. The projectiles and explosions almost make the game’s dull metal hallways interesting, but Id’s decision to showcase the game’s lighting engine is the game’s fatal flaw. You can’t see anything. Intentionally. The game is tuned to be super dark until you switch to your flashlight, which you cannot use at the same time as your weapon.

This was largely met with derision from fans, but the combat is actually tuned around it– juggling between seeing your enemy and shooting it creates a huge amount of drama and tension. It’s actually kind of cool, just not that fun. A popular “duct tape” mod addressed this, as did Doom 3’s “BFG Edition” remaster, but it somehow makes things worse. Having your light and your gun trivializes the entire combat loop. It’s the worst of both worlds.

The new demon designs are sapped of color and charm, turning iconic abominations into run-of-the-mill Umbrella B.O.W.s. It’s impossible to envision them as anything but their counterparts in the 2005 movie. The aesthetic is very of its era and just all wrong for Doom.

Doom is a heavy metal mural airbrushed on the side of a speeding van. Doom 3 is the embodiment of nu metal butt rock– more Mudvayne than Metallica. Decent for what it is, but it would take 12 years more before the series got a refresh with some actual rizz.