A game that's as old as arcade's themselves! A true game to the end!
Plot:
Well really back then, plot hadn't popped up as most 3-D shooters are, but to be close to being the plot, you mainly had to survive the infestation of demons. You eventually traveled into Hell itself, to confront the final boss and defeat him. Like plot, there was really no reason on why the final boss was trying to take over. That kind of stuff didn't come around until games became more story based. Basically surviving long enough to fight the final boss was as big as a plot as your gonna get.
Music:
Alot of music back then was 8 to 16-bit style music, where instead of instruments, it was more of wierd computer noises. Despite having music made entirely of computer noises, the game had really good music. Some had a guitar beat, while most had this creepy music playing, like piano music, making the atmosphere scarier than what it was. Although some levels had music that didn't seem to fit the tone. It either sounded off, or not a good time to play it.
Gameplay:
What it really was, is that you had to fight swarms of enemies, and try to stay alive. Back then games had the strange way of having powerful weapons practically sitting on a pedestal. That was always strange to me. Walking to a room, after fighting some demons, I find a rocket launcher on a tile that seems to jut out more than the others, or I find the chain saw on a giant platform. You can also find weapons from demons, but it was rare since only human-like demons, demons that took over other marines, had weapons. All other demons either had a weapon only they could carry, they hit you with their bare hands, or they shot fire balls or green energy blasts at you. This meant ammo was hard to find, but only on harder difficulty settings. Easier ones meant ammo was every where. The bad thing about running out of ammo means, you have to punch with some spiked knuckles, but it doesn't do much.
Difficulty:
The game ranges from five strangely named difficulties. I'm too young to die!, (easiest) Hey, not too rough!, (semi-easy) Hurt me plenty!, (normal) Ultra-Violence (semi-hard) and Nightmare (hardest). Each setting changed how much ammo you get for weapons, how much is lying around that you can grab, and how tough enemies are to kill, or how fast they can kill you. If your decent at Doom, I suggest Hey, not too rough!, or Hurt me plenty!, those two shouldn't be too hard, if not choose I'm too young to die!, it should be easier on you. If your hardcore, choose Ultra-Violence. It's a little tougher but if you can manage, go for it! If your really hardcore, play Nightmare. I can't guarantee you'll live through it.
Hours of gametime:
This game isn't too hard, and could be beaten in a matter of possibly 10 hours or so, unless your playing a harder difficulty. Even at Hurt me plenty! it isn't very challenging, most enemies drop in a couple shots. Plus you can always strafe around, making it harder for people to shoot you.
Artwork:
Alot of the graphics are sprites, meaning nothing other than little pixels. No high level graphics engine here, but the game has some nice shadow effects. The game can sometimes even get dark, making it harder for you to see. It shows how even a game like this has some nice lighting.
Scoring:
Unless you downloaded the XBox 360 version of Doom, there really isn't a way to record progress, but you can save it to your console, with the old fashioned three initals.
Special Features:
Unless you got the Doom 3 special edition, there's really nothing special in it. If you did, you can see how Doom first came to be. If you got the 360 version, you can play co-op online with a friend. It is possible for co-op in the XBox version, but it does not support online.
Overall:
The game seems good, nice unique enemies, weapons galore, and even some secrets hidden around the area. Unless you know where everything is, I suggest a walkthrough for all the secrets. All in all the game held my interest for a very long time, in fact I still play it. I give it a 9.5 out of 10. This has been reviewed by Soniczero1993, the biggest Sonic nut in the world.