Doomed: Has id lost its crown?
Posted by twonha July 10, 2005
I read this article, and figured I could do better. Here's my attempt:
Very few PC developers ever pull off one major game, let alone a franchise that sticks around for a sequel or two. Plenty of developers go bust, some stick to making mediocre games. Texas-based id Software however managed to come up with at least three entirely different franchises, all with several sequels, all very succesful. During almost all of the 1990s, id Software was by far the king of first person shooters, starting with Wolfenstein 3D, continuing with DOOM, and finishing in 1999 with Quake III Arena. Id's technology reigned supreme, having dozens of games based on their engines, id's multiplayer wrote the book on death match, id's style was unrivaled for many years.
Beginning of the end
While Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM, DOOM 2, Quake and Quake II kicked major ass, very few other developers managed to pull off anything even resembling shooters that good. Rise of the Triad, Heretic and Hexen cloned DOOM, SiN and System Shock built on the Quake games, and while each of these games had their share of fans none became quite as popular as id's crown jewels.
But, by the turn of the century, id's monopoly on making the best shooters seemed to be coming to an end. Unreal and Half-Life had left Quake II biting the dust, and for many gamers Unreal Tournament and Counter-Strike were by far the more enjoyable games compared to the somewhat elitist Quake III Arena. In both single- and multiplayer, id had been out-done. Was their decade of being the King of FPS over?
The next round: DOOM 3, Half-Life 2, Far Cry
Right after Quake Arena, id Software started working on their super secret project known as Trinity. To this day, no-one really knows what it's all about, for it was soon dropped in favor of the notion to remake one of id's classics: DOOM. DOOM 3 was to become the DOOM id would have made in the first place, had technology allowed it ten years ago. A lone space marine, a ruined Mars base, a lack of ammunition and an abundance of demons from Hell itself.
Naturally, with the long line of top games behind them, id was expected to deliver yet another classic game this time. And while DOOM 3 was received quite nicely by many, it needs no argueing the game disappointed many more gamers. It was too dark, too repetitive, and its multiplayer was a joke. It is according to many as if we're playing something that is supposed to compete with the likes of Quake II again, even though Far Cry, Half-Life 2 and Unreal Tournament have proven that interactivity, artificial intelligence, story line, gameplay and pretty graphics do mix. It doesn't have to be just one of these, you can have the full package. Not to mention, Serious Sam and Painkiller both provide the 'retro' gameplay of DOOM many gamers seemed to crave, featuring lots of brainless monsters to slaughter with fast-paced, heart pounding action. Other developers do a DOOM better than id does.
So, what should we conclude from this when it comes to DOOM 3 and id Software?
DOOM 3 is not a top shooter. Commercially it is, of course, but when it comes to quality I wouldn't say it is. While its graphics and production values suggest different, DOOM 3 is a pretty bland shooter. It is, in many ways, no match for most other high class shooters released during the past few years. That is not to say people cannot or should not enjoy DOOM 3; the game still has plenty to offer, different people have different tastes (and DOOM 3 is pretty unique in days where horror shooters are few and far between), and some just don't care for Far Cry's long viewing distances, Unreal Tournament's dozen gameplay modes or the advanced artificial intelligence from Half-Life 2. But DOOM 3 just does not, unlike id's previous games, appeal to just about everyone and their dogs.
Does that mean id Software's supreme reign of the first person shooter genre is over? Yes and no. First of all, you could say that because DOOM 3 is not the best shooter, id is no longer the best developer. Second, ten years ago when they practically invented the genre there were no (or very, very few) other developers doing first person shooters. Right now most popular PC games are (first person) shooters. There are simply many more developers creating shooters these days, the genre has much more to offer these days than it did a decade ago. Id's supreme reign of the genre is definitely over, but it's not necessarily because of DOOM 3 not being as good as we wanted it to be.
id versus ego
The id is the somewhat primitive, brutal side of the human psyche, while the ego tends to do a bit more rationalising. Now, I'm not about to pretend I know much about Freud's work, but id Software's games have always been pretty straight forward, primitive and brutal, while today many shooters prefer to make you think before you run in and shoot at everything that moves until either it is dead or you watch the loading screen. The first person shooter genre has diversed, grown, changed - does id Software still have a place here? Do they still have a future at the top?
It is hard to say. Their engines were always licensed to other developers, so that id's top technology could be used in plenty of different games. But in these days of multiplatform gaming and many more top developers around, it seems John Carmack's predictions of the industry moving forward without him are coming true: Epic's Unreal Engine 3 is being licensed left, right and center, fewer and fewer games look to id's technology.
As for id's games, Quake IV (developed by Raven Software) has yet to prove itself as being significantly different from DOOM 3 and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (developed by Splash Damage) is a new kid on the block, the block where Battlefield steals your lunch boxes and hands them back to you just for the hell of it. While these two games are not developed by id themselves, they do continue one of id's top franchises, but it's unlikely they'll do so with the same oomph of earlier Quake iterations.
While also overlooking development at other studios, Id Software itself is currently hard at work at their next game. It's supposed to have a new engine, it's a new IP (intellectual property, which in this case basically means it's not another Wolfenstein, DOOM or Quake) and it's not been unveiled officially. So whether or not id Software will stay at the top themselves is hard to say right now, considering how little we know about their next project.
We'll have to sit back and watch from the sidelines. Will id Software take the feedback on DOOM 3 to heart? Will Quake IV and Quake Wars turn out quality titles, even in a crowded genre? I can't tell you just yet. I can tell you though that whatever id's working on is bound to be something to keep an eye on. Id may not be the King of FPS anymore, they still know their stuff.
