Top 52: Doom (#35)

Doom. Such a fitting name. The popularity of this game nearly spelled out the death of the video game industry since politicians freaked out at the violence within this game. However, the popularity of this game also may have saved the industry as tons of gamers and gaming companies fought against the government hovering over them, claiming free speech in their products. Oh, and the game totally rocks, which is why it's on my list.


Title: Doom
Console: PC
Release Date: 12/10/93
Genre: First-Person Shooter
My Ranking: #35
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I remember playing Doom for Windows 95 sometime around 1995 or 1996, when I was far too young to be playing a game that had so much blood and violence (psst, I was born in 1988). I had to play this game in secret because I didn't want my parents seeing me turn imps and soldiers into a pixelated bloody mush.

Violence controversy aside, Doom was an amazing game. At the time, the idea of first-person shooter was so new and fresh that the game felt and played unlike any other. My character is just a floating gun that doesn't really need to aim that much in order to do damage to enemies. The numbers on my keyboard change weapons as I get them, and boy, getting a new weapon in doom was equivalent to the feeling you get when you get a present on your birthday.

I remember when I first got the shotgun and suddenly I could take out imps with one shot at near-point blank range. I remember getting the rocket launcher and when you kill enemies with that gun, they are indistinguishable for any other enemy, since they turn into a bloody goo. And, who could forget the BFG 9000? That gun would obliterate anything in its path, and you only needed 4 shots with it to take down the final boss.



Doom was not addictive just for it's crazy awesome guns or for its blood and gore. Doom had excellent level design for one of the first first-person shooters. Switches changed the layout of the floor or would possibly unleash more enemies at you. You really did not know which. Every switch caused you to look around and say "hm, how can the developers screw me here?" Color-coded keys and doors also forced you to look in every corner, facing more tough enemies and possibly find some secret doors that you didn't even know existed.

Doom was incredibly hard as I remember as well. Maybe I was young and just inexperienced with shooters (as was everybody at the time) but bosses often ate up entire clips of multiple guns while if I was hit three or four times, I would die. It was happily challenging as I always felt that the bosses were difficult because of my lack of skill, not because they are cheap.



I think I've only beaten the original Doom once, since the game was pretty long and I was playing tons of games at a time as a child. Doom had to be on my list though since I remember playing the first couple of levels over and over again, just because I loved them so much.

Doom was the shooter that gave birth to all of the modern day shooters. If Doom was not as awesome and failed in the market, it is quite possible that Quake, Call of Duty, Halo, Medal of Honor, Gears of War, Team Fortress, or any other shooter would not exist as we know them today. If you have not played Doom, get on that right now. Not only was this game revolutionary for the genre but it also was the one of the primary causes for people to be worried about violence in video games. Doom is a historic game for the video game industry and for the culture around it. If you have an Xbox360, Doom is on Xbox Live. Go play it!
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My Top 52:
#52 --- Star Fox 64 (N64)
#51 --- Kirby's Adventure (NES)
#50 --- Roller Coaster Tycoon (PC)
#49 --- Grand Theft Auto III (PS2)
#48 --- Metroid Prime (GC)
#47 --- Halo 3 (Xbox 360)
#46 --- Bomberman 64 (N64)
#45 --- Guitar Hero II (PS2)
#44 --- Super Street Fighter II (GEN)
#43 --- Pokemon Puzzle League (N64)
#42 --- Soul Calibur II (GC)
#41 --- Gears of War (Xbox 360)*
#40 --- Elite Beat Agents (DS)
#39 --- Call of Duty 4 (PS3)
#38 --- Super Metroid (SNES)
#37 --- The Orange Box (PS3)*
#36 --- Metal Gear Solid (PS)
#35 --- Doom (PC)