DooM III Preview - 20/12/2002 - [ by hack-boy ]

"A Pentium which runs at 1,2 Ghz is the minimum for DooM 3" - John Carmack

Everyone was looking forward to seeing DOOM III at this year's QuakeCon - id Software has spared little expense in making sure that the game they show off will impress anyone who sees it. The mini-theater that was custom built specifically for this purpose has your standard DOOM theme all over it, with dark colors, pipes, and all the hard edges and lines you'd expect out of id Software architecture.

Id has added new footage to the presentation that won 5 "Best of E3" awards a few months ago, and has allowed anyone in attendance at QuakeCon their chance to see it. The projection screen it was shown on was impressive, as well as the sound setup - all made to immerse the attendants into DOOM III.

The whole thing was about 15 minutes long, and was run on a Pentium 4 2.2GHz machine with the Radeon 9700 video card (which isn't out yet). Everything is rendered by the game engine as it goes, and it all starts off with a short cutscene to give the viewer some idea of the story. A skeptical scientist opens up a portal at some higher-up's command, without knowing what's going to happen: evil comes tearing through, wreaking havoc on the UAC base and changing the soldiers into the walking dead. In comes our hero, the space marine, to blow stuff up. Most of the rest of the presentation is in first person view as the player explores the base and encounters plenty of monsters. As you can probably guess, it's very dark, and has an atmosphere a bit reminiscent of the first two Aliens movies.

id Software has put a lot of effort into generating fear, then backing it up with a cinematic feel for many of the monster encounters. Several scenes were custom-crafted for this pupose - a monster will tear right through a wall (dislodging pipes as they go) or feed on a corpse as you watch. DOOM III will definitely not be for the squeamish, as there is plenty of blood and guts, and it's going to be just too realistic for some people to handle.

The monsters were all very well done, and while there aren't too many of them, there are plenty of new types to come. Currently, there are both skinny and fat zombies, a new type of Imp that throws fireballs and also will leap at you with an attack if you're close, and then there are the huge dog-like monstrosities (which seem to be a successor to the Pink Demon). Finally, Tim Willits' separate demonstration of the game showed off a monster they just put in, which was the Revenant from DOOM II. He still has the shoulder-mounted rocket launchers, and he of course shoots the floor near you to make sure you eat the splash damage.

DooM III Screenshots

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A 2nd Opinion about DooM III (by Thierry Nguyen)

Posted: 24/12/2002 - 23:25

“Anyone will tell you that Doom III was the most beautiful game at E3, a game that showed that id Software is the master of 3D engines. The ten-plus minutes of gameplay footage shown at E3 easily rivaled the best-looking CGI cut-scenes of the Resident Evil series, with the notable difference that there was actual gameplay instead of just canned cut-scenes. The demo was run on a 2.4GHz P4 with a next-generation ATI card, and it was hard to believe the images could move so fluidly.

It's easy to spot the next-generation "upgrades" of classic Doom enemies. The ubiquitous imps now do more than snarl and hurl fireballs; imps now pounce on you and stare you down with their beady, insect-like eyes. "Pinkie demons" (as id calls them) now feature mechanical rear legs, which make their leaps all the more terrifying. The new hell knight was so big and fast that he literally tore the player apart.

Id's main focus with Doom III is on creating a terrifying single-player experience. There will be multiplayer, but the options may be somewhat limited, according to id god John Carmack. All of the technology, from the new 5.1 surround-sound engine to the rag doll physics, is put to the task of making a creepy game. Most of the time, as seen in the demo, you're fighting one critter, be it a zombie marine or a hell knight. One method of inducing fear is cutting to a third-person camera during key sequences; the camera might cut around the corner and show you a zombie packing a minigun, and then put you back in first-person to let you prepare for the coming firepower.
It'll be interesting to see the final product when it ships next year. Doom has always been known for its over-the-top action, stacking each level with horde upon horde of monsters. The more intimate focus of fighting only one or two enemies at a time, is an interesting one for id, and if nothing else, would make for a different sort of game from them.”

 

DooM III The Legacy Trailer Movie

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