Looks like we are sticking with first person shooters this week. This time though, we're moving back a generation.
Nintendo consoles have always had a reputation for being more kid and family oriented. That's probably because, well, they kind of are. I don't really see anything wrong with that, I would rather play a quality game without gratuitous violence than a lousy game with it. That being said, there is something to be said for offering more variety and having games targeted at older audience. More adult games don't necessarily mean more violence, games get T or M ratings for reasons other than blood and gore, but it often comes with the territory. And it's a territory the big N doesn't play in quite as frequently as its competitors. Remember how the SNES version of Mortal Kombat had sweat instead of blood? However, it also meant that when these games were announced, they tended to garner a lot of hype. The gaming media lost their collective minds when the Resident Evil Remake and Resident Evil 4 were announced for the Gamecube. I remember a game called Madworld getting tons of hype before its release on the Wii. It may not have been quite to the same level, but Doom 64 certainly generated its fair share of anticipation.
The Nintendo 64 library was relatively small when Doom 64 hit in April of 1997. It only had a handful of titles, most of which were some level of family friendly. Outside of two fighting games, Mortal Kombat Trilogy and Killer Instinct Gold, and Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, which came out only a month before, it was slim pickings for gamers looking for an M-rated experience. Shooters were similarly uncommon, and even the ones there were couldn't really be considered traditional FPS. Turok had a sort of exploratory, open-world vibe to it. Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire was a 3rd person shooter with platforming elements (it did have a first-person camera angle you could switch to. Good luck with that!). Doom 64 was the first true first FPS for the N64 and it further stands out because of how different it was from its predecessors. Remember, this was well before Doom 3. All of the previous Doom games, the first two and Final Doom, all used the same engine and graphical assets. Doom 64 would have an entirely new look and a modified engine, making it look and feel completely different. Oh boy, those words usually mean one of two things: the new game is going to be really good...or REALLY bad. Which side did Doom 64 end up on?
Meh, in the middle really. Doom 64 is fine, it was a nice change of pace from the Doom formula we have come to know and love, but I don't necessarily think its better. The newly designed demons and weapons look pretty cool, but the new level designs are hit or miss and seemed more focused on exploration and flipping switches than action. I guess that's okay, but it doesn't really get complex or deep enough that it feels fun or rewarding. It also doesn't really fit for what Doom is trying to do. The levels themselves are bland, the environments just aren't as fun or interesting as what you would see in the previous iterations of the game. The soundtrack is more of an ambient, atmospheric sound with horror vibes, similar to that of Doom's PlayStation port. I don't think it's bad, I just don't think it's as fitting for Doom as the more fast paced, heavy music of the originals. As a whole, the pacing is just different and I'm not sure it's a positive. I still had some fun with Doom 64, but there were a lot of issues that I believe prevented it from being as great as its predecessors.
The first problem I had is that Doom 64 is dark. Like, really dark. And I don't mean tonally, I mean it's so dark it's impossible to see in a lot of situations. I know the original Doom used darkness occasionally, but this was just too constant and too early in the game to call it anything but annoying. It's the first level and you are walking through complete darkness getting blasted by hitscanners that you can't see. That's a problem and unlike in the first Doom, where areas like that are interspersed occasionally for challenge, the darkness in Doom 64 is part and parcel for the game and it can't be avoided or mitigated with items. Maybe this is just me and my vision is terrible, but I just don't like spending 80 percent of a game getting shot by stuff I can't see. The fact that there is more a focus on finding switches and doors than combat makes this even worse. Doom 64 does make use of colored lighting effects that were common in console Doom ports, but even there it uses dark colors almost entirely.
Dark or not, the levels in Doom 64 feel a lot more bland and empty than what the series had presented in the past. They kind of feel like they were designed for a different game, like Half-Life or something designed to be a little more open. Yet it still tries to present more Doom-style, action-centric gameplay and it doesn't work. You will very quickly clear out enemies, only to find yourself wandering through now empty levels looking for hard to find switches, looking at the same boring metallic corridors. Again, this is a series known for its more action-oriented gameplay. The level design isn't necessarily bad, it just feels like it doesn't fit. If it had more interesting puzzles, this might be forgivable, but it usually just boils down to hit a switch, open a door on the other side of the map, run to it, repeat. The original Doom and Doom II had moments like this, but it wasn't nearly as frequent as it is here and it seemed like levels are designed around it when they really shouldn't be.
It's not all bad here. In fact, it's definitely more good than bad. Doom 64 does a really good job with enemy placement, whether its via monster closets or just generally. They are rarely placed to get cheap hits, but also in such a way where the provide challenge to the player. In the instances where they do force you to react quickly, it's usually at a part of the stage where you at least somewhat expect it. The enemy A.I. seems better in general, they aren't ruthless but they definitely do a better job of actually trying to hit you than the enemies in the original Doom. The early enemies especially behave less like cannon fodder and more like an actual threat. The lost souls in particular present a real challenge here and I found it much more fun to fight off swarms of them here. In general, I like that there are fewer hitscan enemies, as these can be frustrating to deal with. I also like the enemy re-designs, all of them look cool and they fit the aesthetic, I think the pain elementals are especially well done. The cacodemons are the only ones I really don't like, and even they are pretty cool.
The controls are very fluid and smooth and I rarely, if ever, had problems with them. I found the occasional platforming-esque statements to be tough, but these were few and far between and rarely required (you still can't jump here, you are really just running between platforms). Switching weapons was a little clunky, but it always is on a console FPS. The weapons as a whole are largely the same as they were in the original Doom, but with a new coat of paint. I think they look cool and they behave exactly how you think they would. If any weapon was improved here, it's the super shotgun, which no longer takes a full five minutes to reload after each shot. As a whole, I think the gameplay is solid, but unremarkable.
Unremarkable is probably the best way to describe Doom 64. It really stood out at release because of its lack of competition and it's updated visual style. To this day, it's the only Doom game that looks the way it does. However, it's a bit too slow paced for a game in a series known for its chaotic play style. I guess it's okay to change things up, we will eventually get to Doom 3 and that was completely different from the originals, but again, it's completely different. Doom 64 kind of felt like its predecessors with a new coat of paint and worse level design. It tried to lean in to the horror elements the series would fully embrace with part 3, but I don't think they went far enough. That led to a game with something of an identity crisis and that was reflected in the gameplay. However, it's still a solid playthrough, especially for fans of old school console FPS'. A weaker game in a strong series is still better than most series at their best. Doom 64 was one of the better options for a console shooter at the time, but now you can do better. Still, it's worth a look for FPS fans and series completionists.
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