Doom 64: Best (classic) single player experience?

Despite the game'a shortcomings and somewhat smaller scope, I find D64's maps consistently more interesting than any other classic Doom game. It seems the three short years following the original game's release dramatically improved mapping skills. There's something about the way D64's maps transform and flow that makes its experience the smoothest overall. 

I'm not so sure about that, if you cut down Both UDoom and Doom 2 down to their 15 best levels I can't confidently say D64 really all the much better. It is really good though.

That's a good point, but I would argue that all of Doom 64's maps (minus the throwaway ones you access via the Hectic exit) are really well designed, so that means, if you want to make a fair comparison, you'd need something like 28 really good Doom 1 maps and 28 really good Doom 2 maps. I dunno if there are that many high quality maps from the classic games.

For some reason I thought D64 had less levels than D1 and D2. I'll have to replay it.

Doom 64 for me had more Interesting levels than anything else in the original dooms

Heretic>TNT>Plu>D2>D1>D64

Tbh I didn't like D64 much at all. Partly for the music (or lack thereof) and partly for the gameplay differences.

24 minutes ago, Fonze said:

Tbh I didn't like D64 much at all. Partly for the music (or lack thereof) and partly for the gameplay differences.

You are henceforth banished from the community of Doom. Your sentence shall be carried out swiftly and mercilessly pending your tarring and feathering.

I can't really tell a preference for the designs of the maps compared to classic doom maps, but one thing i know forsure, the maps from D64 are easier than those of classic doom. Well that's my point of view.

Doom 64 has IMO a lot of memorable and well designed levels. I always thought it was awesome that Midway put so much work in the Nintendo 64 version to make it really different from the previous ports of Doom. I don't think developers do this kind of thing anymore.

I love the classic Doom wads too but Doom 64 feels quite different to me even though the gameplay is more or less the same.

The first time I played Doom 64 was last year with the Doom 64 EX source port so I have my bias in preferring Doom 1 and 2 seeing that I remember the levels from those games more fondly as it is. However, if I have to say anything, Doom 64 does great on atmosphere and the lightning and shadows really do look nice. Gameplay is more "slow" I guess you can say and music isn't exactly as memorable aside of the main theme. Though I don't really have a whole lot of complaints, I enjoy Doom 64 despite that I only played it around once or twice since last year.

Doom64 has excellent maps which mirror the more competitive era it came out though not all maps made use of the clever tricks that were possible via scripts. I remember being totally impressed with the teleporting blue key in the earlier maps.

It is overall more of a slower and darker interpretation of the original theme... its only weakness being release date, controls and the, in parts, cheesy artwork.

1 hour ago, Megalyth said:

You are henceforth banished from the community of Doom. Your sentence shall be carried out swiftly and mercilessly pending your tarring and feathering.

He must have already been drummed out of another forum and that's why he's already a manfish. Why make him a birdmanfish?

Doom 64 is neck-and-neck with Doom 1 for me in terms of sheer Doom-y greatness. The new Doom also comes to mind as well, being the closest to D1 and D64.

I think it's hard to argue that doom64 is a good game in it's own right. At the same time, the aesthetics seem replaceable with anything you can think of... Doom and DoomII were coherent. They felt similar, looked similar (surprise) and for some reason I always tought DoomII was what Doom should have been in terms of gameplay. Doom64 is vastly different in terms of atmosphere and gameplay-feel, and thus pushes different buttons than the classics do.

If doom were a manga, I would even go as far as not considering doom64 to be part of the canon, and rather view it as a parallel story that happened somewhere between whatever...

2 minutes ago, Nine Inch Heels said:

 

If doom were a manga, I would even go as far as not considering doom64 to be part of the canon, and rather view it as a parallel story that happened somewhere between whatever...

Doom is more of an anime original I think, like Zeta Gundam or Cowboy Bebop. B-)

I agree that Doom 64 pushes different buttons, for me I prefer the id games, but Doom 64 is solid.

I liked Doom 64's different-and-yet-the-same gameplay approach. It's a nice breather from Doom 2, which was basically Doom 1.

As the the experience, I would agree it is the best classic experience out there (not considering PWADs). The maps have consistent quality, making use of scripted events but nothing forced or too linear. The use of scripted events alone made it a great singleplayer experience. Sometimes, we like being surprised.

Doom 2's maps pale compared to Doom 64's IMO. Not to mention we finally got a Doom game where you spent the majority of your time in Hell, rather than Hellish techbases and Hellish Earth. And those Hell maps were pretty cool compared to Doom's. IMO.

I feel if id Software/Romero actually spent some more time on the engine for Doom 2, the game would have had the small improvements like in Doom 64, like the extended map format.

I've been a fan of the Doom series since it was first released in 1993, it has always held a special place in my heart. The entire series as a whole is something that I can revisit time and time again. But for me personally Doom 64 is my favorite of all the games as far as experience goes. For me it hits all the right notes, the blend of sci-fi/horror with the spirit of Quake (which has Lovecraftian influences which I adore). The moody lighting, the ambient soundtrack done by Aubrey Hodges, the PSX sound effects, the brooding level design and the overall design of the game really pull me in.

I remember the first time I played Doom 64 in 1997 when it was released (It's already been 20 years?!) I still have my original game cartridge and N64 console which both work perfectly fine even after all this time. It's good to see that the black sheep of the Doom series is getting some attention first with Absolution TC, Doom 64 EX, Brutal Doom 64 and so on. It really is a great game to check out and I would recommend it to others. It certainly is not everyone's cup of tea for a myriad of reasons, but give it a chance is all I can say on that matter. It still plays exactly like the original Doom games where you run and gun down baddies.

Nowadays I find myself playing Doom 64 more than the original games.

2 hours ago, Nine Inch Heels said:

If doom were a manga, I would even go as far as not considering doom64 to be part of the canon, and rather view it as a parallel story that happened somewhere between whatever...

Doom64 is doujinshi confirmed.