Where Has My Aim Polygone?

[RJ 17]

There's actually a theory that this was completely intentional in order to create a video that would get lots of clicks as curious people go to see just how crappy the person playing is. :3

 

[Ragsnstitches]

I didn't know my dad worked for Polygon.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Wait, how is the new doom more shallow than the original?

Health and ammo come to you instead of being hidden, the blaster has infinite ammo so you can never run out.

On the other hand, the suit and gun mods add scope to experiment in different ways to the old Dooms. So you lose a bit of depth in one aspect, you gain it somewhere else.

I think ammo coming out of enemies is a bit of a step back, it's fair enough as an anti frustration step but some levels of the old Doom specifically had too little ammo in them. You had to figure out how to beat the level without simply blasting everything, which could be somewhat (more) frantic and a change of pace. Maybe making general ammo (bullets, shells) come out of enemies and forcing you to hunt for heavy/plasma ammo would have been a better compromise.

On the other hand health coming out of melee killed enemies is genius. I liked it in Space Marine too since it encourages you to take risks instead of taking the fashionable hide in the corner approach. That's a good way to play a twitch shooter.

 

[Worgen]

Wait, how is the new doom more shallow than the original?

Health and ammo come to you instead of being hidden, the blaster has infinite ammo so you can never run out.

On the other hand, the suit and gun mods add scope to experiment in different ways to the old Dooms. So you lose a bit of depth in one aspect, you gain it somewhere else.

I think ammo coming out of enemies is a bit of a step back, it's fair enough as an anti frustration step but some levels of the old Doom specifically had too little ammo in them. You had to figure out how to beat the level without simply blasting everything, which could be somewhat (more) frantic and a change of pace. Maybe making general ammo (bullets, shells) come out of enemies and forcing you to hunt for heavy/plasma ammo would have been a better compromise.

On the other hand health coming out of melee killed enemies is genius. I liked it in Space Marine too since it encourages you to take risks instead of taking the fashionable hide in the corner approach. That's a good way to play a twitch shooter.

Ehh, I dont buy it. The ammo and health coming out of the enemies allows them to make the enemies more dangerous, on nightmare they hit pretty damn hard and the action is faster than in the old doom so you can't look for health as easily as you used to be able to. Plus the blaster is pretty damn weak, the pistol in the original doom was stronger. Really its inclusion at all was an odd choice since once you get the shotgun, which you will get, you wont use the blaster again except for one trial.

Actually the ammo adds an interesting dynamic, ammo came out of enemies in the original doom also, in fact it came out much more commonly. Just not out of every kind of enemy. Really the only reliable way to get ammo from enemies now is the chain saw, which begs the question, do you use your precious fuel to keep your ammo stocked or wait for something big and annoying that you want removed.

 

[Something Amyss]

So I have a friend who kind of sucks at video games. Like, really bad. I play games with him, but he brings down even my game (and I am far from some sort of elite gaming amystress). This is a guy who has trouble with Rock Band on easy, constantly needs reviving in co-op shooters, stuff like that.

Right now, he is laughing at that video.

 

[LetalisK]

Well, that's exactly what I look like when I try to play a shooter on consoles. KB+M forever.

 

[Fox12]

Man, Doom Guy really developed a drinking problem since the last time we met.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Do you think someone told them that to get the real, true DOOM experience you have to play it for the first time with mouselook turned off?

You know, arrow keys for movement.
Pageup pagedown for looking around.

Yeah, but to be fair, Doom 95 also had vertical auto-aim which Doom 4 of course, doesn't have.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

Whoever was playing it clearly did suck, but the comparison with Nvidia footage was almost as pathetic; 'derp, let's directly compare footage of some garme jurno game journo with some promo content by folks at a PC components manufacturers and promoter! that'll make sense!'.

The former was clearly played with a pad - and possibly someone not even used to game pads (the LP'er Gopher comes to mind - good with a mouse, hideously bad with a pad till he acclimitises) - whilst the latter was a skilled player with a mouse and at arcade shooters. I'm okay at FPS's, but nu-Doom's pace is too quick for me, and I'd need time to get used to the flow, as I did even with Wolfenstein TNO's action.

I think the potshot at Polygon for diversity was pretty cheap, too - unless someone knows the player in that video was hired on their ethnicity or gender alone.

 

[LenticularHomicide]

So, is that why their review of it will contain nothing but commentary on corporate greed and fracking?

(I'm referring to the Penny Arcade strip, of course, but it's a nice dovetail of two otherwise usually ideologically-opposite gaming comics.)

 

[Gatlank]

I think the potshot at Polygon for diversity was pretty cheap, too - unless someone knows the player in that video was hired on their ethnicity or gender alone.

i have to agree with you. He could have been hired due to his knowledge of filipino politics.

 

[bificommander]

The first, and I think still only time, I played a FPS with a controller was when a friend we were visiting wanted to do a Halo multiplayer deathmatch against me. I pretty much looked like this. I just couldn't get a decent shot off.

The thing was that my family was visting him because his dad just died. So I thought this was a good time to be quiet and suck it up, if he was enjoying himself.

 

[MrFalconfly]

Is it too much to ask, that the reviewer of the game has at least some basic competences?

I mean Arthur Gies (the clown who's playing in that Polygon vid) apparently can't even aim, and that'd be equivalent to having Chris Harris review a VW Golf without knowing how to change gears.

 

[flying_whimsy]

It would be really sad if it turned out he is an MLG PC player. I've seen some PC guys play on console before, and it looks EXACTLY like that video.

I was thinking the exact same thing. It reminds me of when I played halo on a console. Granted, it looks like they don't quite get the tactics for the game, so they may be used to one of the third person shooters or something, too.

My biggest concern about all of this is that polygon did it on purpose either as a lesson to one of their own staff or as an effort to generate controversy because the 'git gud' gamer response is perfect fodder for rage articles. I feel like this is one of those manufactured scandals that gets clicks: the less attention we pay to it, the better.

 

[Arina Love]

I was PC only player and pretty good CS and Quake 3 player before buying my first console (360). It took me about an hour to feel very confident with controller in FPS. Even if the dude was PC only guy forced to play FPS with the controller, he could've trained before doing the video, you know , treated his job with professionalism. Instead we got amateur half-hour bananza. Poly is either a sinking ship or they doing it on purpose because controversy = clicks.

 

[SKBPinkie]

Trust me - it's not about using a controller. I'm playing Doom on my PC and I prefer using a controller (gasp! Blasphemy!). I've been doing absolutely fine so far.

But holy crap, that video, man. That video....

 

[weirdee]

I mean, they already pay the staff in peanuts, so might as well bring somebody in that already has a compatible savings plan.

Also, Jim's a low hanging fruit situation as he prefers the Warriors series from Koei, which unless you set it to the highest difficulty mode, doesn't actually pose any challenge (and even then it's just making numbers bigger and letting the AI cheat).

The thing is, though, is that he has EXPERIENCE with the types of games he likes to play, and that is the important part of hitting all the relevant points for readers.

Wait, how is the new doom more shallow than the original?

Health and ammo come to you instead of being hidden, the blaster has infinite ammo so you can never run out.

On the other hand, the suit and gun mods add scope to experiment in different ways to the old Dooms. So you lose a bit of depth in one aspect, you gain it somewhere else.

I think ammo coming out of enemies is a bit of a step back, it's fair enough as an anti frustration step but some levels of the old Doom specifically had too little ammo in them. You had to figure out how to beat the level without simply blasting everything, which could be somewhat (more) frantic and a change of pace. Maybe making general ammo (bullets, shells) come out of enemies and forcing you to hunt for heavy/plasma ammo would have been a better compromise.

On the other hand health coming out of melee killed enemies is genius. I liked it in Space Marine too since it encourages you to take risks instead of taking the fashionable hide in the corner approach. That's a good way to play a twitch shooter.

I figure this is quite a different experience as many areas are simply "kill them all" though, which explains the padding. It feels more like Metroid Prime to me, which isn't bad...but perhaps not DOOM enough for some. There are many, many works of art in the mods (wads) community though, so I figure, if people want a deeper experience in that vein, there's really no reason to rerelease something that already exists.

 

[Starke]

Wait, how is the new doom more shallow than the original?

I don't think it is. It's mechanically a lot more complex, and borrows heavily from later shooters.

Alt Fire modes are new. I don't remember if those got added to the series in Doom 3, but it means every weapon has three different versions in combat.

Upgrades are... kinda a plague on modern games. But, it does mean you have more potential approaches to a situation.

EDIT: I should probably add. Exploring your environment was always a natural element of Doom. Before that meant finding ammo and health. But, resources are so transient in Doom4, I kind of suspect the collectible system is there to make exploration feel more meaningful. A box of 16 shells and a cell pickup will be gone in the next fight, but an upgrade that lets you carry 10 more shells? That will stick with you.

The Rune system reminds me of Painkiller's tarot system. That might not be what they're referencing, but still, it means a lot more options in how you approach the game.

The platforming elements are new for Doom. At least in their current form.

The maps are far more complex than what the Doom2 engine could handle. Specifically the over and under elements. To be fair, in the original game would have broken its mazes up more horizontally, while Doom4 goes vertical.

The Glory Kill system might look like dumbing down, but it changes moment to moment combat allowing the player to actually engage in the arena, instead of picking off enemies at the edges. It does discourage a playstyle by incentivizing the intended approach, but, I'm not sure it's something that should be held against the game.

Pinkies and the Sentinels also force you to move amongst enemies, rather than just finding a comfortable pillar for cover. It's easy to point at that and say, "but, they're just copying other games," but the actual effect they have on gameplay is different. Usually shield guys are there to force flanking, here it's saying, "get into the fight."

The change from the chainsaw from a flat melee upgrade to a limited use "Fuck You" button is a fantastic change. It means you can eliminate an enemy you don't enjoy fighting, or get an instant ammo refill if you're getting desperate. Those two tension against each other nicely. And, off hand I can't think of any systems like that in the original games.

This is a very fluid and straightforward game. Most of the systems interact naturally with each other. It feels simple, but there is a lot going on, and a lot of it interacts with other systems. It is still about entering a room and murdering everything that looks at you funny, but that's what the classic Doom games were about. Doom4 is just embellishing and polishing that core.

 

[chadachada123]

Either the player is new to gaming, in which case he shouldn't be the one making the gameplay video,

or he's a PC gamer with no experience with console controls, in which case he should be playing on PC

or he's the perfect stereotype of a typical Polygon reviewer, and is just plain awful at video games, in which case he shouldn't be the one making the gameplay video.

A guy that doesn't know how to shift gears simply isn't capable of reviewing a manual sports car, and won't be able to fairly represent said car to the general public, his audience.

Likewise, any game reviewer should have a certain level of competence in the genre they are reviewing, or should pass off their work to those who ARE competent.