In defence of Doom 64

MajorRawne said:

What's with the death labs map, where monsters beam in every time you walk up a different staircase? Is it some kind of practice level? You can simply walk straight into the exit without even seeing anyone.

Assuming this is the same map I'm thinking of (this one) it was a rather lousy deathmatch map I had made while tinkering with Doom 64 TC modding that was later repurposed as a test map of some kind. I wasn't actually aware that the map was included in the Doom 64 TC at all.

i don't remember much of Doom 3 having any kind of soundtrack; i thought it was just ambient noise being generated in different parts of the levels, strung together. does Doom 3 really have any ambient audio tracks playing in the game? if so, i felt it did a poor job sounding like any kind of music, but a good sound-resource for machinery and the like.

Having actually spent time listening to D64's music, I'd say the PSX music is definitely superior. Some of the tracks are almost melodic. D64, by contrast, is very repetitive and there are no Hangar or Toxin Refinery style melodies, so D64's mood is darker, more antagonistic, less accessible. I find it much harder to tell one track from another and none of them is as outright terrifying as Deimos Anomaly or the one with the babies crying. (Yes, I realise this was used to some extent in D64.)

That said, several of the tracks are fearsome, and I wouldn't hesitate to use them for hell-themed maps with lots of fog, strange angles and dark lighting. I wouldn't sit listening to it except maybe when writing some very dark fiction, eg Imperial Guard on a daemon world.

I personally think Dark Citadel and Breakdown can easily match up to any of the PSX Doom songs, while as a whole the Doom 64 soundtrack isn't as memorable there are definitely some gems in there.

In my opinion Doom 64 is the real Doom 3, Doom 3's atmosphere is nowhere near as dark and foreboding.

Funnily enough those are the tracks I was thinking of. Well recommended, sir. Hmm... Maybe I should add a Doom 64 tribute area to my Panophobia map...