Category Archives: Gaming

Doom 3 Review

Doom

Well I finished Doom 3 this weekend. Color me impressed. Without a doubt it’s the scariest game I’ve ever played. I had to force myself to move down those dark corridors 😉

I’m not really going to write a review because I don’t want to take the time, but I will say this. Those people who complained about the gameplay not being “innovative” enough need to go back and play the original Doom and remember what made that game great. I think Doom 3 is an excellent homage to the original vision that John Carmack and co. had over a decade ago. They set out and made the game exactly the way they had pictured doing it, and they deserve mad props for accomplishing that.

The game didn’t run spectacularly on my 64 MB Geforce 4 440 MX, but I still had an enjoyable experience. I had to turn most of the goodies off like shadows and bump maps, but will definitely be playing through it again when my PNY Geforce 6800 GT arrives later this month.

I’ve played a fair number of FPSs, but nothing like this game. It far exceeded my hopes and expectations for a conclusion to the Doom saga.

Score: A

DOOMSDAY

Doom

Well, today is the day we’ve been waiting four long years for. My copy should be arriving any time now. I’m pretty psyched about this game, except I hear it will be quite the scary experience. I’ve never been really freaked out by a game before (I was a little bit in Return to Castle Wolfenstein and, of course, Half-Life), so this ought to be quite the memorable gaming experience.

Now if only that FedEx truck would get here… 🙂

Update: They promised delivery by 3 pm, and it got here at 2:53. Well done, FedEx! Playing now, too busy to write…

Bring on the upgrades

Doom, Gaming, Half-Life

With the release of Doom 3 just around the corner, the pressure is on every gamer who knows his or her roots to upgrade at the least to a modern video card. The Doom 3 benchmark results over at HardOCP reveal that, for the time being at least, owners of Nvidia‘s top-of-the-line Geforce 6800 series video cards will be in gaming bliss.

This introduces a slight problem. It involves that other game; you know, the other most-anticipated game of all time, Half-Life 2. Clearly Valve and ATI have quite a relationship going on (anyone remember the thing at Alcatraz?), and they will no doubt claim that the Geforce X800 XT-PE will be the preferred card for excellent Half-Life 2 performance.

I can only speak for myself, but Nvidia clearly has the industry in its grasp right now. Doom 3 is gold and being manufactured as I write this, and Half-Life 2 is still, as far as anyone can tell, off the radar. Nvidia has three video cards to rule them all: the Geforce 6800 (good), Geforce 6800 GT (better), and Geforce 6800 Ultra (and they mean ultra). ATI’s X800 series is comparable in performance, but certainly not in price, which I think is why I think Nvidia will win this round.

Winner: Nvidia

Now I just have to get around to ordering one of those GTs for myself… 🙂