Summary
John Romerois a true icon in video game development. While he is most known for his contributions toearly shooters likeWolfenstein 3DandDoom, Romero’s career has been varied and multifaceted. He left id Software before the company shifted from producing multiple games a year to only a handful in a decade, and by looking at his ludography, it seems like part of him remained stuck in that time.
Romero, like everyone else at id Software, is mostly remembered for creating the modern first-person shooters. Starting with experimental titles likeHovertank 3DandCatacomb 3-D, the company soon found success withWolfenstein 3D. Romerobecame an overnight celebrity, at least in the relatively small circles of gaming aficionados, so it’s no surprise if his most important games all have something to do with his time at id Software.
Catacomb 3-Dis one of the very first 3D games developed by id Software. Released in 1991, it once again implemented the first-person technology created forHovertank 3D. This game would also be the groundwork for the creation of Wolfenstein 3D, the title that established John Romero and id Software as the most important developers in the genre.
As the name implies,Catacomb 3-Dis a 3D remake ofCatacomb, a top-down action dungeon crawler created by John Carmack a year prior. The series didn’t end withCatacomb 3-Deither, with Softdisk producing three sequels, none of which were as influential as the original.
Daikatanaisn’t the most respected game in Romero’s catalog, but it’s far from theworst game evercreated by the legendary designer. It was hated at launch, thanks in part to a disastrous advertising campaign. Playing it now, the game itself is surprisingly quaint. It’s not as revolutionary asWolfenstein 3Dor as good asDoom 2, but it’s easily better than most cheap shooters of the day.
What makesDaikatana’s story a bit sad is that this is the last game Romero directed for a long time. Almost all of its work following this release, for good or ill, was in the realm of mods and independent productions. All this for a passable game that couldn’t meet the expectations of being the nextDoom.
Wolfenstein 3Ddoesn’t need any introduction as it’s arguably the game that put first-person shooters on the map. It skyrocketed the career of pretty much everyone involved with its creation, Romero included. And it’s still a fun time to this day, even if it’s really starting to show its age in a couple of places.
Fans ofslower modern shooterswill find plenty to like inWolfenstein 3D. Even if it’s due to technical limitations, the slow speed of the game and the relatively fast reactions of your enemies make the gameplay a bit like tactical shooters. Even the scarcity of resources and abundance of secrets reinforce this slow playstyle.
Doom 2is the kind of sequel that doesn’t really expand on the first game as much as it reiterates, refining some of the original’s ideas and adding its own spin to certain aspects.Doom 2has more enemies, sure, but it mostly has heavier enemies that allow the designers to make more varied encounters than what can be found in the firstDoom.
The most important difference between the first twoDoomgames is the levels, mainly because the level design is what really makes those games. One only needs to look at how much those games change from episode to episode and level pack to level pack, following the design sensibilities of different designers.
Even if it came after someinnovative and influential shooters,Quakestill managed to eclipse id Software’s previous games, at least for a time. Just as playing throughWolfenstein 3Dbecame much harder after the release ofDoom, Romero’s space demon saga instantly began looking outdated with the release ofQuake.
Quakeisn’t the first game set in a truly 3D world, but it’s certainly the one that made FPSs move to fully polygonal worlds. It also pioneered a lot of what is now given for granted in online shooters, like bunny hopping and rocket jumping.
For a long time,Doomwas the mostwell-known name in first-person shootersand perhaps in PC gaming as a whole. It’s quite an achievement for a game that was developed in only a year and came right after the revolution that wasWolfenstein 3D. But compared to this predecessor of sorts,Doomis a much more immediate, enjoyable experience.
There are plenty of old games that modern players can find a lot of fun in, assuming they put in the time and maybe imagine them in their original context.Doomisn’t like that, it’s as great now as it was then. Part of this is due to the amount of fan support it has had during the years, as fueled by the free release of the game’s source code in 1999.
Sigil
Filled In The Gaps Between Doom and Doom 2
Sigilis afully original game in the form of aDoommod. It’s worth mentioning because this package contains some of the best levels in the entire series. Soon after the mod had been released online, currentDoomIP owner Bethesda added the level pack to the official releases ofDoom,Doom 2, andFinal Doom.
Unlike most traditional games, including sequels likeDoom 2,Sigilis clearly meant to be played after the originalDoomchapters. This makes sense because, narratively,Sigilfills a hole in the story ofDoombetween the end of the first game and the beginning of its sequel. Because of this,Sigilis a lot harder than any standalone Romero game to this point.
