I've finished the Doom (2016) game lately and it triggered my Doom admiration again. Coincidentally I've got the Masters of Doom book inside my Kindle and could read it as well nearly the same time.

The Game

So to begin with the game: I liked it! Yeah, I mean liked. Not so new experience and genre-breaking gameplay but still exactly that slightly nervous feeling during pressing the buttons and good old friends starting right from the great big fat Mancubus. The two major things changed to classic Doom (and nearly everyone noted that) — the game became easier and the arenas appeared.

The first part is not surprising at all: since video games became the massively produced entertainment and gained the huge industry around they're becoming easier year to year and the difference between Ultraviolence then and Ultraviolence now can be seen by anyone without any efforts. But it looks like there's several levels above in the new Doom so there's possibly a place for training.

The second part is questionable: on the one hand arena is the Quake III attribute while Doom has always been the rather large world (divided into levels due to technical limitations sometimes) with place to retreat if monsters push you too hard; on the other hand these new arenas are planned well and the design is done great not only in terms of level design with paths, walls, jumpers and portals on their places but even from aesthetic point of view: textures, colors, sinners dangling around… However I'd still like good old levels with space for maneuver better.

Monsters are rebalanced greatly but the visual style is still recognizable: when you see a shotgun guy you know who he is and when you meet pinkie you'll even shout "- Hey!" but only until it rush you. From my point of view monsters are weaker now but deal more damage and you have to move, move and move around without pauses. The first stop usually means death for you. And again this game speed is more quake-like than doom, but still fun. And rebalance is quite irritating if you remember your feelings of the classical Doom. Now the first time you meet the Baron of Hell you'll shit bricks be surprised how he beats you to death by two or three heavy punches but on the last levels he'll receive no more attention than zombies. Situation with the Imp is quite the opposite: in classical Doom to beat one or two or squad of them was not even a noticeable event; now they're one of the most dangerous enemies in the game especially due to numbers. There's lots of imps, they're everywhere, they run walls and ceilings and they shoot you with their fireballs right when you're going to retreat and find a little medicine.

Weapon set seems good to me and I don't really care much about fitting the classical set: Gauss gun seems strange and not very effective, but shotgun with burst is fine. Double-barrel shotgun is still the logo and the main device to use throughout the game, balance between power and ammo is beautiful. And of course there's the chainsaw. And of course it's the great thing! Even greater you can imagine — it'll split nearly anyone into two (or more) pieces in a second but looking for fuel is the main quest of the game.

Summarizing: I definitely advice you to try the game if you still didn't do it and make your own opinion. At least killing hellish creatures with the shotgun is as fun as always!

The Book

And two words about the book: must read. Yep. These two ones. David Kushner did a great job collecting all the information and gathering it into the book. The most exciting thing is all the history from the book just happened in front of us. Russian video game world had been late by couple of years but the situation in the video games industry was very alike.

From the professional point of view I marked out for myself the moments of initial id company creation when the programmers needed a manager who could deal with negotiation and barbecue supplying and situation with Ion Storm rise and fall: sad but usual story. The great professional is not always capable of organizing a team and running business even if he thinks he is. The team (or person) who constantly delivers (which is John Carmack is all about) always beats colossal but unimplemented plans. The great discoveries are based not only on genius on the dull meetings and everyday work.

Anyway the book gets 5/5 stars from me and it worths money and time.