Doom 4 No Longer Tease, Team Confirmed
I guess we're supposed to jump for cacodemonic joy now that id Software's confirmed what we've known since last August -- that Doom 4's in the offing. Today's emailed news-bomb courtesy Karina Tang confirms Doom 4 finally has a dedicated team, and hey, they're hiring! (I think you have to drag race Carmack for the benefits package.)
"DOOM is part of the id Software DNA and demands the greatest talent and brightest minds in the industry to bring the next installment of our flagship franchise to Earth," said Todd Hollenshead, CEO, id Software. "It’s critical for id Software to have the best creative minds in-house to develop games that meet the standards synonymous with our titles."
While nothing's announced yet, expect versions for the PC, Xbox 360, PS3, and probably the Mac.
id's last in-house game (not counting Rage, it's current project) was Doom 3, which was really just a Doom remake to let Carmack and Co. pour rivers of shellacked pixels over our eyeballs. (Oh, and stare down some of the creepiest human facial renders this side of Rob Zemeckis' spooky The Polar Express.) I remember being pretty impressed after the part where you actually go to hell in Doom 3, then being equal parts depressed about the prolonged snapping off the lights and going "boo!" and monsters popping out of closets like a bunch of dopey snarling marionettes. (You know, "Rrrrrrr! I've been waiting here just to go Rrrrrrr!" and stuff.) Doom 3 was impressive for the first couple minutes ogling each level, then it was more like rock-rolling.
Was Doom ever really meant to be a game anyway? I know we all dutifully popped those 3.5" disks in our pre-CDROM PCs and cooked through the two-and-a-half-dee shareware version back when shareware was still a neologism hot off the griddle. I know we couldn't get past how cool it was to be able to move around in 3D and shoot stuff and dodge fireballs flung by leering, strafing sprites. I know not even Half Life's managed to capture the nostalgia I have wandering into gloomy rooms glowing the original's peculiar shade of ectoplasmic green. Man, I still remember trying to get an IPX/SPX game going over dial-up with a guy down the hall in my college dorm. Good times.
But ever since Doom 3, the whole series has felt more like a tech demo, a geek-fest for Carmack to roll the ball a little further down a field that's been getting smaller and narrower and aesthetically blinder with every play. id knows where its base lies, but imagine if the Beatles had just cloned "Love Me Do" for 10 years straight.
I'm not saying Doom 4 won't rock the Casbah, just that I'm ready for less Please Please Me, more Abbey Road this round.
Re-Play
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I've been playing Doom games since dialup Internet was impressive, and even now, I still play Doom 3 like it's brand new, 4 years later. I was just playing it last night, as a matter of fact. If Doom 4 is anything like Doom 3, it gets a spot on my shelf, without a doubt.
Without the Doom games, we'd still think Pac Man is intense.
I hope this version has network play, team based and everyone for themselves against mobs.
The network play should consist of
LAN - For local networks
Internet - For private hosted servers
Internet - For public servers
Internet - Mass-Multiplayer
I would also like to see a bit more RPG style such as player stats, levels, and weapon upgrades / enhancements, permanent armor upgrades, and NPC's to repair with a currency. Perhaps even kick it up a notch and give AOE spells -- These could be justified due to the long amount of exposure to the demon environment as a side-effect the player can now have these abilities, and the longer the player is exposed, the more abilities the player can gain.
The Pecker hit the nail on the head, Doom 3 was a big let down. The designers have to do so much more than just update the graphics to make this series relevant again. I hope they take some cues from games like Half-Life 2, BioShock, and Call of Duty 4.