'Doom Classic' Gameplay Video and Early Impressions
posted by arn on October 31st, 2009 3:14 AM EDT in $6.99, 4 stars, First Person Shooter, Reviews, iPhone games, iPod touch games
id Software's Doom Classic finally appeared in the App Store after a lengthy wait. John Carmack, himself, seems to have done most of the work in reviving this classic title for the iPhone. Doom Classic brings four episodes across 36 levels and revamps the control system to a touch-screen friendly system.
Those familiar with the Wolfenstein 3D Classic controls will likely feel at home with the adapted Doom controls but there have been several upgrades to the system. Doom Classic offers 3 different control systems with the option of adding accelerometer strafing. These include:
- 1. Combined single stick for movement and turning
- 2. Left stick movement, Right stick turning
- 3. Left stick movement, Right wheel turning
Each of the controls can be customized further by dragging and dropping them on the screen to the desired location. Notably, the sticks are now "floating" sticks by default that allow more freedom in where you place your fingers down.
The #1 control option offers the benefit of simplicity, with a single stick for movement, though at the sacrifice of pure left/right strafing which is more easily accomplished with the #2 control method. Controls seemed a bit sensitive during my early play with no options to adjust the degree of sensitivity.
The following gameplay video shows the different default methods in action:
Meanwhile, there are a number of control customization options, including the ability to fix the location of the controls (similar to Wolf 3D) or turn the control graphics off completely and just use the left/right sides of the screen. This latter option allows the game to emulate the other first person shooter controls that we've seen in Eliminate and Modern Combat. So far, this has been my favorite combination: #2 with Draw Controls: Off and Auto Use: On (so you don't have to tap on doors to open them), and sensitivity here seems better, but not perfect.
When we spoke to Carmack back in June, he had big plans for the Doom franchise on the iPhone, including adding the ability to purchase in-app content for Doom 2, Ultimate Doom, Final Doom, Master Levels.
This initial release also contains multiplayer, but it is local multiplayer only (WiFi). Competitive internet multiplayer was listed a possibility for a later update when we spoke to Carmack in June.
App Store Link: Doom Classic, $6.99
TouchArcade Rating:
Who would have knew it would come out on halloween, i've been checking the damn appstore since june!!!!
im a happy guy now
Man… I'm motion sick just from watching that video.
I don't think I can play this. I had to delete Wolfenstein for this same reason.
Just try and change the weapon, sigh…
Oh, just tap the face – should have guessed that… yeah.
Nearly unplayable. Why dont use real trackpad emulation like in Desert Combat? Why dont use double tap to shoot?
Ok its DOOM, lot maps, local multiplayer, etc, etc. But whats the point with awful controls like that?
!!
IMHO, it isn't worse at all than Wolf 3D – and Wolf3D was pretty playable with the onscreen controls.
Halloween>Christmas
One of the best things that happened to me on the iPhone. Of course, after the controls become used to.
How do I type IDKFA or IDDQD?
Boy this takes me back.
Tap the screen with four fingers to bring up the keyboard. It's one of the first things I tried:)
Two high-quality (HD, stereo etc.) multiplayer demo videos posted to:
youtube.com/watch?v=tMtEtx_xOOM (cooperative)
youtube.com/watch?v=gRAlJ1BqmDk (deathmatch)
Also see my remarks in the latest UPDATE post (direct link: forums.toucharcade.com/showpost.php?p=602704&postcount=82 ) of the Multiplayer bible at forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?p=602704
(Use copy/paste for the YouTube / local forum links – sorry, sometimes it takes hours to approve a message.)
Spam?
Anyw00t, Doom is an instant classic! Worth every penny! Contols need a little getting used to, but is fully costumizable, wich is allright.
Control method 3 seems to work for me, it gives me the ability to turn really fast!
Why would it be spam? Show me another HD (!!) multiplayer demo video, which also shows how the game runs on both the 3G and the 3G S… because my multiplayer demo videos show this all.
The sensitivity of the option 1 controls was too high. That was the only complaint I had. I played wolfenstein 3d then this and wolfensteid had far better sensitivity. Easier to contol. Hopefully there will be an update for this. The game looks really good
The controls are great in Doom Classic!. I hope they will update Wolf3D with the same controls soon (and fix all the bugs in the latest version)
dont forget idspispopd, which I believe is short for smashing pumpkins into small piles of putrid debris, for clipping mode, or does it use the updated "idclip" command?
This game is awesome. I used to emulate it on my PSP but now I can play it on my phone. The controls are fine, like every game on iphone, need to adjust but it plays fine. With control option 2, I can dodge incoming imp projectiles, and the like, and move swiftly in circles around my enemy. It plays Just fine, not sure what some people are having problems on.
Option 2 works really well but I wonder if option 3 gives an advantage in deathmatch games due to better turning control…
The controls look very inaccurate in the video… I'd like to see a Sandstorm like control system.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmui6HDe2nw here's my 1st level on hardest mode. Totally agree with the most comfortable control setting, except, however, for the auto use: i like the buttons to be pressed and the doors to open when i want them to
when i logged on to toucharcade and scrolled down and saw the words "doom classic" i did a little jig cos ive waited for this for sooooooooooooooooooooooooo long and finally its here thank you so much john carmack youre a legend!
Very very *very* good port. I don't mind the delays, because they've obviously put a lot of work into getting the interface right for the iPhone. I don't mind that the graphics haven't been updated to look better in higher resolutions – with the 3d hardware smoothing the textures, it all looks pretty darned good anyway.
Anyway: absolutely brilliant port. Seems that Wolf, Doom, and Sandstorm are thus far the only three FPS games to have got the controls good enough for me to keep them on my phone. (I almost want to rant about that crap port that is Duke Nukem again ..but I've got the ID classics now. I just don't care.)
Great, great game. Think the controls actually work better than Modern Combat as you don't have to keep 'swiping' at the turn to keep turning.
Only complaint so far is that you can't have multiple save slots, but I'll get over it!
Worth the wait imo.
Why is this game $6.99? Wolf3d was $2.99 on release (or was it 4.99? I just know it wasnt $7) Doom has been out for years and years, and is playable on dozens of devices. Is it really possible to still charge $7 dollars for this game? I will wait for the price to drop, big time drop.
I don't see how anyone can still get "excited" to play Doom. Now if there was multiplayer…. I'd pay 10.
There is multiplayer. 4 person over wi-fi. Co-op or deathmatch.