Quake3World

Let me get right down to it. (posted at doomworld, too)

To answer your question -- no, it's not worth $60. The packaging is quite nice -- maybe the coolest I've ever seen. Aside from that, no, it's not worth it.

The extra stuff that adds the extra $10 to the price is worth... about a dime.

The id interviews they've got on there are the ones that are in the movie DOOM: The Legacy, which you can get for free on the internet. Or, you can just go to doom3.com and watch them there. Lame.

The concept art: Most of it is already available (when I say "most," I mean 90% or so) for free on the internet. Also, it's not in a gallery style where you can take your time to look at them. It plays as a movie that you can't pause or rewind. I will concede that a couple of the concept pieces are very cool looking, anyway.

The G4 Icons episode is also available on the internet for free, and to be honest, the quality isn't unbearably worse in the free internet version.

Let's see, what else... Oh! Perhaps the greatest failure of all of the special features. The inclusion of the first two games.

The graphics were much better on the PSX version. The music is somehow emulated, and it's not tight. For instance, load up Map01 in DOOM II and you'll find that the syncopated rhythm that you're probably used to in the pc version slows down ever so slightly and speeds up again -- the instruments are not 100% in sync with other in the XBox version. Incredibly lame.

Furthermore BFG trick is gone.

Oh, and don't even start to wonder if the multiplayer on the old games is any good. It's split screen, yes, we knew that -- but it's ANNOYING split screen. Instead of cutting the view in half horizontally, they put two very small-sized screens side by side. It looks horrible, even on a larger tv.

OK, so pretty much all of the extra stuff was a total sham. The quality of the extra features is quite bad, and I'm quite disapointed in it.

Now, on to the game:

Question: Is the co-op any good? I wouldn't know, yet. I haven't gotten a chance to play it with a friend. It shows promise though.

I did get to run through the first few levels of the single player game. I have to say I'm pretty impressed with how well some of the stuff translated to the XBox. I think players who didn't get a good graphical feast in the PC version because of hardware are going to appreciate this.

However, I do have a problem with the cuts they made to the game. I thought it was going to be much more subtle than it actually is. What they ended up cutting out was about half the gameplay. Entire rooms are missing. Scenes that you controlled your character in are now merely cutscenes -- that, in my opinion, don't even flow very naturally because of the cut/paste strategies they used to create them out of the PC's actual gameplay.

Furthermore, because of the amount of content that's actually missing from the game, the horror effect is pretty much gone completely, in my opinion. Maybe if this is the only version of the game you've played, it will still be scary, but for a veteran of the pc version (who's been through it three times), you'll find that all the time you spend building anticipation up, all of that is gone.

Now it's almost all action.

I shudder at the thought of how the XBox version is going to completely rape the Delta Labs map that the PC version did so well. You know, the one that's all red and though it's completely abandoned, you're going through it extremely cautiously, full of anticipation and fear. That is the greatest emotional effect I've ever seen used in a game -- that map. I think it's first map of Delta. Anyway, in the XBox version, at the rate I'm seeing things cut out so far, it's going to be like, one room's worth of anticipation, and then the computer room where you complete the first objective or whatever it is. Quite, quite lame.

I won't even get into how much easier to the game is on XBox, but trust me -- the fear of your enemies is completely gone. Taking 1 hp damage from an imp when you only have 65 armor is pathetic.

So there it is so far. I don't plan on trying deathmatch. I'd only do that in the PC version. I will definitely report back with my thoughts on co-op, though.

Anyone have anything to add?

Mogul wrote:
Anyone have anything to add?

42

i pity u

honestly i felt they did quite a good job with the ports of doom 1 & 2, but you are totally right with the sound problems, but your missing the one key part, its a blast to sit on your couch and play with the mates with afew beer.

i just finished the sinlge player on the xbox, the end boss was quite abit tougher, and i really enjoyed playing it through.

and i know the online is simple, but its still alot of fun.

SoM wrote:i pity u

If you are referring to Mogul then yes.

If you are referring to me then. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :icon27:

I thought it looked and ran pretty spiffing. You know the way you can tell if a screenshot is from the Xbox version based purely on how crap the visuals look when compared with a PC screenshot? Well, it doesn't translate at all in game when everything is moving. Looked quite good to me.

I fully agree with you about all the stuff they've had to cut cause of the limited hardware. Like that bit on the outside right when you arrive on Mars, or that part with the hanging beams when you're on your way down.

However, I wouldn't go as far as saying that the horror effect is gone. It was about as horrifical as I remember it being on the PC.

And I also completely disagree about it being too easy on the Xbox. I played on the easiest difficulty and died about 30 mins in and couldn't be arsed to continue. But that's also partially due to the fact that I suck with the pad.

I, too, am really interested in seeing how the coop plays out.

Mogul wrote:I shudder at the thought of how the XBox version is going to completely rape the Delta Labs map that the PC version did so well. You know, the one that's all red and though it's completely abandoned, you're going through it extremely cautiously, full of anticipation and fear. That is the greatest emotional effect I've ever seen used in a game -- that map. I think it's first map of Delta. Anyway, in the XBox version, at the rate I'm seeing things cut out so far, it's going to be like, one room's worth of anticipation, and then the computer room where you complete the first objective or whatever it is. Quite, quite lame.

To be honest, compared to a) the first level of the original AvP and b) the Cradle, there's precious little suspense in that level even in the PC version. id really bottled the suspense elements; a couple of imps crawling about doesn't count, especially since by that point in the game you've taken down about 5,000 imps with shotgun headshots and they're jut not scary any more.

I agree that AvP is a scary game, but how they built suspense in that level -- I've never seen anything like it. From what I've seen and played, it's the best psych-job ever.

FlamingTP wrote:

Mogul wrote:
Anyone have anything to add?

42

lol