id Software

A Beautiful Waste

HIGH The Dead City section is a varied high point in the campaign.

LOW The end of the final mission is a turpid joke.

WTF Who races a "time trial" once the Apocalypse has gone down?

I downloaded Doom on a whim off of Live, and I've got to say I'm surprised by just how good it still is. Great level design, interesting enemies, good weapon balance.

It's the exponential progression of these things that bothers me most. Ever since the original Doom, the majority of First Person Shooters (FPS) have followed an incredibly strict formula: The hero begins the game with a ridiculously underpowered weapon, and is besieged by an army of enemies that can be just barely killed by that first weapon (it's challenging enough that each enemy put down feels like something of an accomplishment).

According to ESRB, this game contains: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence

An impressive achievement in audio and visual technology, Doom 3's visceral gameplay is a deliberate throwback to the original Doom from 1993.

Game Description: Doom 3 continues the incredible shooter action of the first two Doom games! The Mars Research Facility has been invaded by demons from Doom, leaving only chaos and horror in their wake. You're one of the only survivors - to stay alive you'll have to fight your way to Hell and back.

The Dreamcast port of Quake III has for the most part stayed true to its PC cousin.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Animated Blood and Gore, Animated Violence

I'm pretty much in agreement with Mike on this one. Quake III Arena is fast, violent and addictive—so much so that I found myself glued to the game without a care in the world for what I was doing, where I was or how I got there. I became so addicted to the game that my brain would liquefy and go on auto pilot for hours at a time—totally desensitized to all of the lightening-quick violence and utterly oblivious to the online opponents I was mercilessly fragging.

Videogames have also been considered another plain old recreational activity, but with the release of the much anticipated online multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS), Quake III: Arena (Q3A), that perception may finally change. The activity of Deathmatching (dueling to the death in cyberspace), which was popularized by FPS games like Q3A, may finally be considered a legitimate sport; digital or otherwise.