Doom III BFG Edition

Azza

Anyone bother picking this up. Main reason I'm picking this up is for the 3D support and support for the Oculus Rift.
Obviously if you didn't like Doom 3 your not going be interested in this.
The expansion pack and Doom 1 and 2 are included.

Changes from the unmodded PC orginal are.
Additonal gameplay content "The Lost Missions"
Steam achievements.
3D support.
Oculus Rift support.
No mod support. (currently)
Widescreen support.
Higher resolution options. (1600x1200 was highest in the orginal unmodded)
Console resultion is 720p at 60fps.
Lower anti-aliasing options (4x compared to 16x in the orginal)
No graphical adjustment settings (everything is set to the equivilent of the ultra settings in the orginal)
Simplifed menu's.
Constant 120hz game engine for ultra smooth animations and gameplay
Improved performance.
New optional high quality motion blur.
Changed lighting. (much brighter in general)
Changed field of view (designed with consoles in mind, adjustable via the command line)
Flashlight works in conjunction with weapons. Flashlight no longer causes shadows.
Improved character shaders.
Minor graphicl improvements "improved texture seams".
Improved texture resolution.
PDA changed to a widescreen laypout.
Checkpoint system added.
Reduced difficulty with more armor and ammo available.
Reworked audio, lacks EAX support of the orginal (generally regarded as very much inferior to orginal version).

Doom 1 and 2 included.
Improved controls and audio.
Improved and smoother animations at 120hz.
High resolution support runs at 1080p on console and at desktop resolution on PC.
Does not require DOS box.
Steam achievements.
Secret Wolfstein maps and enemies modified to remove references to the Nazi's.
Red Crosses on Health packs removed due to complaints from the International Red Cross (I'm not kidding)

ShadowHearth

I wonder how long ID will be milking its franchises and how long will they be reminding us that they made doom and quake.

They becoming worse then Nintendo at this stage.

Doom 3 had some good scares, but its was more of a techdemo for me, then a game. It made me very good at 180 degrees turns and walking backwards in to new areas.

calex71

Saw it in town the other day and was tempted, at €30 for xbox I may pick it up.

super_furry

Got it on a whim but have to admit that I haven't played Doom III yet, just Doom II - which as ever is brilliant.

gizmo

ShadowHearth wrote: »

I wonder how long Zenimax will be milking the franchises it acquired and how long will they be reminding us that they bought the developer that made doom and quake.

FYP.

Remember, Activision published the original release of Doom 3 so it's utterly unsurprising that Zenimax want to cash in on their current gen releases.

Azza

ShadowHearth wrote:

I wonder how long ID will be milking its franchises and how long will they be reminding us that they made doom and quake.

They becoming worse then Nintendo at this stage.

In all fairness to Id they haven't really miled there franchises have they?
They re-released Doom and Wolfenstein on Xbox Live and PSN back in 2009 thats about it. How are the worse than Nintendo? Which was simply allowing console players to be able to buy like people on pc could?

So re-releasing 1 game, makes Id as bad as Nintendo?

I reckon this release is to drum up interest in the Doom franchise ahead of the release of Doom 4. Particularly on consoles, where the franchise isn't as well known (I'm aware of importance of the orginal Doom).

From a console viewpoint its quite a good technical achievement, running at 60fps for the most part. In many ways The Doom 3 engine was much tougher to run than Rages.

super_furry

I actually don't mind this rerelease - especially on consoles. Doom III was originally released at the end of the original Xbox's lifespan and while it got an ok conversion, it wasn't a patch on the PC version. There's a hell of a lot of people who never played it and for PS3 and 360 owners to get that chance now it fine by me. I think the Quake 4 re-release is much more cynical.

Azza

I will point out Quake 4 wasn't an Id title. It was developed by Raven Software and the re-release was published by Bethesda.

jumbobreakfast

I'll buy this with an oculus rift when they iron out all the bugs with it.

deathrider

I'm dying to get my hands on this as I've never had the chance to play Doom 3. I was a PS2 head when it originally dropped, so I couldn't play it. Also, I believe a man can never have too many copies of Doom 1 and 2. How much is the BFG edition going for?

Not The Real Scarecrow

deathrider wrote: »

I'm dying to get my hands on this as I've never had the chance to play Doom 3. I was a PS2 head when it originally dropped, so I couldn't play it. Also, I believe a man can never have too many copies of Doom 1 and 2. How much is the BFG edition going for?

I was the same.Never played it so I picked it up.Have to say while its not terrible ,I do regret getting it.Played for about an hour and got terribly bored so now its added to the list of games "to play" some time when I have nothing else to play.

Give it a week or two and I'm sure there'll be a tonne of 2nd hand copies floating around that you'll pick up for around 20 or 15 quid.

Azza

Depends on the format.

I think retail store are selling the console version for €24.99 to €29.99
I see HMW are selling the PC version for €18.99

Its €29.99 on Steam but if you already own the orginal Doom 3 you get it for €19.99

B.A._Baracus

Wow, can't believe Doom 3 is 8 years old.
Where is the time going. I remember the buzz the game had. It eventually hit the net early. I had to wait for the xbox version because my pc sucked. Ah memories :P

deathrider

Meatwad wrote: »

I was the same.Never played it so I picked it up.Have to say while its not terrible ,I do regret getting it.Played for about an hour and got terribly bored so now its added to the list of games "to play" some time when I have nothing else to play.

Give it a week or two and I'm sure there'll be a tonne of 2nd hand copies floating around that you'll pick up for around 20 or 15 quid.

That's disappointing to hear, but I'm going to have to take the plunge myself to find out for sure.

Azza wrote: »

Depends on the format.

I think retail store are selling the console version for €24.99 to €29.99
I see HMW are selling the PC version for €18.99

Its €29.99 on Steam but if you already own the orginal Doom 3 you get it for €19.99

That console price is grand. I'm glad they're not doing what Halo did, and charger full price for an old title.

Azza

deathrider wrote:

That's disappointing to hear, but I'm going to have to take the plunge myself to find out for sure.

Yeah its a pretty divisive game. I've heard alot of mix opinions on it over the years.

gimli2112

Yeah think I'll pick it up. Had it on the PC and generally enjoyed it but never finished it. Had a mod for cellotape to fix a flashlight to your gun.....hope this comes with the console version as otherwise it was waaaaay to dark.
Edit: K just see from OP flashlight comes with it ....yay!

Agricola

All the buzz about the BFG edition got me interested in re-playing it. The digital foundry analysis of the PC version on Eurogamer wasnt too complementary so I was happy to dust off my old copy and just add the major graphics mods to it.

After an initial glitch caused by the fact Im using an ATI card, Ive got it running at native resolution and it looks amazing I have to say. The much higher resolution textures included in the mods really make all the metallic surfaces pop.
I think this beats what Ive seen of the BFG edition easily and is the only real option if you have the original.

JohnMarston

I played throught the first few levels of Doom 1 on hurt me plenty. I forgot how cheap this game can be with the crushing traps and ambush rooms where every wall opens with demons when you pick up a key

Nody

JohnMarston wrote: »

I played throught the first few levels of Doom 1 on hurt me plenty. I forgot how cheap this game can be with the crushing traps and ambush rooms where every wall opens with demons when you pick up a key

That's not cheap; that's how a real game should be treating you with a kick in the gonands for you to properly become a pro old school gamer instead of the nanny state holding your hand style we get today :P.

Had to be said!

Retr0gamer

Hard doesn't equal cheap.

deathrider

Never thought it was too hard, myself. It's just a case of expecting the unexpected. Each time you open a door/get a key/find a secret/whatever expect a wall to drop, and a hordes of uglyy-ass demons to rush out. Always watch your own back. That's the fun of Doom, and personally I think the more monsters, the merrier.

johnny_ultimate

deathrider wrote: »

That's the fun of Doom, and personally I think the more monsters, the merrier.

Well the problem with Doom 3 was that they forget to add anything interesting aside from ****loads of monsters. The result was one of the blandest and most one-note high-profile video games ever made.

Doom 3 was hopelessly antiquated in the first place - and not the good kind of antiquated (there is a good kind of antiquated). I'd be surprised if there's a lot of first time players impressed by it.

deathrider

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Well the problem with Doom 3 was that they forget to add anything interesting aside from ****loads of monsters. The result was one of the blandest and most one-note high-profile video games ever made.

Doom 3 was hopelessly antiquated in the first place - and not the good kind of antiquated (there is a good kind of antiquated). I'd be surprised if there's a lot of first time players impressed by it.

This could be very true. I can't say either way, because I haven't played Doom 3, but my post was comment on Doom 1 as that was the one mentioned.

johnny_ultimate

deathrider wrote: »

This could be very true. I can't say either way, because I haven't played Doom 3, but my post was comment on Doom 1 as that was the one mentioned.

I do agree that Doom 1 has aged very well, certainly in comparison to 3. It's still a distinctive, challenging FPS two decades later, full of smart level design and hidden secrets. TBH, Doom 1 + 2 are a better reason to buy the BFG Edition!

nyarlothothep

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Well the problem with Doom 3 was that they forget to add anything interesting aside from ****loads of monsters. The result was one of the blandest and most one-note high-profile video games ever made.

Doom 3 was hopelessly antiquated in the first place - and not the good kind of antiquated (there is a good kind of antiquated). I'd be surprised if there's a lot of first time players impressed by it.

I found Doom 3 to be a passable game, 3/5 fare but it had some very nice touches. Isn't the scientist dude at the end, in the flying demon's mouth meant to reference something biblical? A new Doom game set moreso in hell like Quake 1 would be awesome.

JohnMarston

Nody wrote: »

That's not cheap; that's how a real game should be treating you with a kick in the gonands for you to properly become a pro old school gamer instead of the nanny state holding your hand style we get today :P.

Had to be said!

Not complaining about the difficulty, i've played these games before, i just forgot about the crushing ceilings that come out of nowhere.
I've played doom before, years ago, it just irked me that you're so close to the exit, you've fought tactically, and then, dead. We're kind of spoiled in a sense nowdays that games have save points and, you know, not losing weapons when you restart a level.

kingtiger

JohnMarston wrote: »

We're kind of spoiled in a sense nowdays that games have save points

F5 is all you need

briany

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

Wow, can't believe Doom 3 is 8 years old.
Where is the time going. I remember the buzz the game had. It eventually hit the net early. I had to wait for the xbox version because my pc sucked. Ah memories :P

Yeah and it's aged pretty well IMO. With the graphics set to ultra, it still looks pretty slick. A bit plastic maybe but it makes me think about how the leap between graphics 2004 - 2012 is nowhere near as (apparently) wide as 1996 - 2004. Oculus Rift sounds interesting but the first thing that came to mind is that I hope it's not just an updated Famicom 3d system. :P

ShadowHearth

Just read on kitoku: they removed doom 3 from steam lol. You can only buy it as BFG edition now, for more .

Mods don't work on new one too. Fair play lads... Fair play...

Azza

Mod support is expected to come later. Carmack twitted that it Doom III BFG will become open source. The incorporation of elements of ID Tech 5 and a new file format is what stopped old mods from being compaitable.

Hopefully they will put the old version of Doom III back up on Steam. The BFG edition is pretty cheap in HMV in fairness.

Azza

Just playing through this at the moment in 3D.

Gameplay
Is the same which was pretty divisive at the time of its release.
Its basically a narrow corridor shooter where you move from point A to point B killing monsters and zombies, occasional finding a PDA containing door clearance or a password (essentially the key cards from the orginal Doom games) to open a locked door so you can proceed to the next area and thus repeat the process. Suprise and cheap shock attacks are a frequent tactic. Levels are designed with numerous little corners, alcoves and vents that lead no where, the only purpose they serve is to give the enemy a chance to suprise attack you. But thats not cheap enough, there is also numerous hidden walls that rise up as you approach them to reveal more enemies for yet more suprise attacks. ID still where not satisified with this level of cheapess and simply allow enemies to simply spawn into area's after you check them. The idea behind this to always keep the player on edge. Some people enjoyed the tension this created, others hated it. However the game feels very easy even on the hardest default difficulty. Checkpoints have been introduced, more ammo and health kits are available. Very little in the way of challenge if you quick save often. I guess the adjusted difficult was designed to reduce frustration people felt when they died from ambushes, but on the opposite side of the coin it removes the tension when you enter every room with 600 rounds in every gun along with 125% body armour and 100% health

The weapons are a mixed bag. The pistol is inaccurate, and the shotgun is a pale shadow or the shotguns from Doom 1 and 2 being only effective at point blank range. The standard rifle, minigun and plasma gun are far more effective. The chainsaw has its uses against certain types of enemies.

The game was criticized orginally for a lack of varation, a one trick pony, something the orginal Doom games got away with as they where the trend setters at the time. However some people criticized the game for reduction in the number of monsters and the shift towards a horror game. Something I find a bit ironic considering the slatting Resident Evil got for going the other way.

Story
Barebones but sufficent to keep the game ticking along.

Graphics
Game holds up well, being quite the technical marvel back in 2004. Its not AAA 2012 by any means but it still looks well. The narrow FOV isn't an issue thats bothers me. The new lighting system seems fine, but I'll have to look back over Doom 3 vanilla to see which is better looking. Game is stable and at this stage easy to run on a PC maxed out at 1920x1080 or above and in full 3D. The 3D implentation is solid but not outstanding, it lacks the sense of depth the best 3D games have. Unfortantly due to lots of high contrast lighting in this game, the game does suffer from ghosting in 3D. More a limitation of the technology rather than the games fault. Its distracting at first but after a while I stopped noticing it. Overall the 3D's okay but I'm more interested in seeing this game run on the Oculus Rift.

Sound.
The orginal PC version carried EAX support. This version doesn't. I'll go back later and compare them. The game is really designed to played with a headset on in a dark room. But I will say the sound effects for the guns are quite poor. The standard rifle sounds quite weak. Otherwise backround audio is fine.

Overall so far I'm quite enjoying it. Have yet to touch the expansion pack or the additional missions. Mutliplayer seems deserted. Doom 1 and 2 still hold up well for some mindless blasting every now and then. The shotguns in those games have never been bettered.