Helmet vs. No Helmet

[dsm]

I recently checked the planetdoom forums (because I want to be as evil as Gamespy, mwahahahahaahah!) and saw the planetdoom members babble about a "November issue of PC Gamer" which had an interview with Tim Willits.

According to this issue (so the guys at Planetdoom who talked about the mag claimed) Tim Willits said in the interview that:

For starters, the Doom guy won't have a helmet. "Y'know, it'd make sense for him to have a helmet, but the guy just looks cool," Willits offers unapologetically, "and nobody will care."

This doesn't really make sense to my ears - the guy has a "cool face" so they decide to drop an equally cool helmet? And wtf? "Nobody will care"? Oh come on!

But this thing had me curious as to how many of you guys are in love with the helmet and how many couldn't give a birdshit.

As for myself, I guess I'm partial to the helmet. I saw the helmet that they had in the alpha and found it insanely cool somehow - seemed very authentic and very streamlined. Also, the whole thing about not seeing the guy's face while he's wearing the helmet provides a cool sense of mystery about the guy that I like.

But what are your take on the issue?

[Zoorado]

Doesn't matter to me. I would like to see the expression in the doomguy's face in different situations.

And the use of air canisters for breathing outdoors interests me. Highlights the fact that the Mars base doesn't have the necessary emergency equipment, to an extent that the protagonist has to resort to 'primitive' methods of survival.

I would be more easily frightened during a hell invasion if I'm minimally armed and protected. This helps create a more intense atmosphere in DOOM 3, I figure.

[Shaviro]

What Zoorado said.

[Disorder]

You only get to see Doomguy's face in the cutscenes anyway, so I don't really mind. Although I hope they have improved the facial animations. I didn't like them in this year's E3 trailer.

[Tetzlaff]

Good news! :) I always disliked the idea of running arround with a closed helmet (I mean, it wouldn´t have any impact on gameplay, but just the feel is uncomfortable).

And a close helmet doesn´t fit the rest of the Doom marines look anyways. Having light armour and bare arms combined with a closed helmet doesn´t go well together.

[BlueSonnet]

The helmet was included in the quakecon doom3 deathmatch event.

It's a clash really, whether one should keep the helmet or show off the mug. Personally i wanna see the helmet because in the old dooms you saw doomguy most with his helmet on and only saw him without it during endgame scenes or the front cover for doom2 (excluding the shifty eye mug at the bottom of the screen. And from what people here have taught me to believe, doomguy is a video game character that we don't know much about and is open to different interpretions, in fact the idea is that you are him. Now i'm not saying that he should always have the helmet on, but to keep it off all the time whilst we see his mug all the time i'm a bit afraid of the sense of being a different character and not being the guy or me who i have interpreted because of the possibility of knowing the character. It's probably just me but when i play a game such as resident evil and die i'm like "Hah! That's not me being torn apart by mutant dogs! That's Leon!", but when i die in a first-person shooter where you play a character like doomguy it gets a bit more freaky for me. The bottom line is that if keeping the helmet off will give off a sense of 3rd person perspective i fear it could destroy the immersiveness of the game. Haven't said all that seeing a character's face is one thing, hearing him talk or whatever is another, so i've could have wasted a 100 words or so of typing time. Heh BP

My general hopes though was that you start off without a helmet for a bit and later on you get one as you advance through the game. I like the helmet design and even if it's just a deathmtach-only feature i think it would be silly not to include it. It's what makes doomguy a doomguy.

Zoorado said:

I would be more easily frightened during a hell invasion if I'm minimally armed and protected. This helps create a more intense atmosphere in DOOM 3, I figure.

For me i don't think i see a difference in that perspective. The demons are ruthless things that wouldn't even care if you were wearing a pink Tutu. The bottom line for them is that they want to see you dead. And for me i'd be more frightened if i had good defenses that they could shatter without much effort.

[Zoorado]

To each his own...

Id probably just wanted to show off the graphics of the game. Maybe the doomguy's face is looking much better than last we saw him?

Anyway, I think having the helmet on is kinda dull, and don't fit well with the rest of his attire.

[dsm]

Zoorado said:

To each his own...

Id probably just wanted to show off the graphics of the game. Maybe the doomguy's face is looking much better than last we saw him?

Anyway, I think having the helmet on is kinda dull, and don't fit well with the rest of his attire.

Huh?
For me, the helmet seems like a multi-purpose combat helmet - add a an oxygen tank and attach pipes to the breather and you've got underwater scuba equipment.

Put on a space suit and you already have the helmet ready (same principle as with the scuba gear).

Plus the helmet is head-protection and NBC mask combined - how would that be out of place?

I think it's more retarded without a helmet - the guy runs about in heavy armour, yet *one* little bullet to the head could take him down.
Stupid.

That's one of the reasons I liked the design of the original Doomguy over the Quake 2 marine, despite the fact that the Q2 marine's armour is easily superior to the old Doomguy's armour - the doomguy had a helmet which made sense, while the Q2 marine had none (which makes zero sense).

Taking the same step with the new doomguy is...
greatly displeasing imo.

[Julian]

Doom Zealot... now that was a suiting title...

[Zoorado]

dsm said:

Huh?
For me, the helmet seems like a multi-purpose combat helmet - add a an oxygen tank and attach pipes to the breather and you've got underwater scuba equipment.

Put on a space suit and you already have the helmet ready (same principle as with the scuba gear).

Plus the helmet is head-protection and NBC mask combined - how would that be out of place?

I think it's more retarded without a helmet - the guy runs about in heavy armour, yet *one* little bullet to the head could take him down.
Stupid.

That's one of the reasons I liked the design of the original Doomguy over the Quake 2 marine, despite the fact that the Q2 marine's armour is easily superior to the old Doomguy's armour - the doomguy had a helmet which made sense, while the Q2 marine had none (which makes zero sense).

Taking the same step with the new doomguy is...
greatly displeasing imo.

The doomguy is not wearing heavy armour. And I think his face looks better than the helmet.

[Zaldron]

I wouldn't wear a full-head helmet in cramped corridors. I need all of my eyesight.

[MaCvILeWhOrE]

I don't care either way, just make sure doomguy doesn't turn into duke (i.e. never shutting the fuck up)

[Linguica]

Remember in Half-Life deathmatch where you had the option of using Gordon sans helmet or avec? I'm sure it'll be the same thing here.

Not using a helmet in SP makes sense though, since they're doing third person cutscenes to show off the doomguy's expressions and such.

[Amaster]

Doesnt really make a difference to me. I would like to see him wearing the helmet at some point though.

[beezee88]

the doomguy's helmet give him a touch mystique, like 'who is this guy and why is he saving the world single-handedly'? Because you can't see his face, your imagination will create what YOU think he should look like. A helmeted marine also leaves open the possiblilty that it's YOU behind the visor :) When I play doom, I really feel it's me more than the doomguy, and subconsciously I think the the helmet has something to do with it.

but hopefully there will be a helmet/head option.

edit:

Assmaster said:

Doesnt really make a difference to me. I would like to see him wearing the helmet at some point though.

It could be cool if in the game there's a bit where the air pressure is really low, or the athmosphere is poisonous and doomguy needs to put on a helmet to stay alive.

[Fredrik]

beezee88 said:

the doomguy's helmet give him a touch mystique, like 'who is this guy and why is he saving the world single-handedly'? Because you can't see his face, your imagination will create what YOU think he should look like. A helmeted marine also leaves open the possiblilty that it's YOU behind the visor :) When I play doom, I really feel it's me more than the doomguy, and subconsciously I think the the helmet has something to do with it.

You never noticed that the doomguy's freaking STARING AT YOU from the bottom center of the screen, all the time you're playing?

[beezee88]

not in zdoom
SCREENBLOCKS 11

[Fredrik]

You said:

[...] you can't see his face [...]

which would imply that it is impossible to see his face for any person playing the game. Face it (pun++), the face is visible by default. What you in specific choose to duct tape away has very little to do with ME and what MY imagination will make ME think :)

[beezee88]

Frederik 1, Beezee 0

I'm not in an argueing mood, and what you said probably made sense anyway :)

[Shaviro]

heh. Can anyone tell me what he would need that helmet for anyway?

[EllipsusD]

Shaviro said:
heh. Can anyone tell me what he would need that helmet for anyway?

Extra padding for if he gets hit in the head?

[Shaviro]

EllipsusD said:

Extra padding for if he gets hit in the head?

Have you seen those things in the trailer?
Looks like if the helmet won't help much :D

[Coopersville]

I don't like the helmet I saw in the screenshots of the Alpha. I'd prefer a helmet that didn't cover his eyes.

I don't care much, either way. If anything, I'd like him to go without the helmet, I guess. Not wearing full protection makes Doomguy seem vigilante-esque and reckles which suits his character.

[Zell]

i like the both the orginal helmets and the helmet that the guard wore in the doom3 trailer. I thought his looked cool, b4 he was turned into zombie =D

[tsareppsun]

It's obvious the reasons id took away the doomguy's helment is to show off the D3 engine. But for which reason? For the in-game or for the cut-scenery? Who knows............

But I'am alittle disappointed on how his new "Battle Dress" is designed. I was hoping it would be designed along the style of the "WOLF" storm trooper from that bad-ass anime cartoon called "JIN-ROH". especially the armored chest plate and shoulder area. Or at least look like the Q2 battle dress, still love that chest-plate and thick neck collar.

It would also would be phat if the doomguy could sometimes don a gas-mask like the kind our SWAT and counter-terrorist teams wear, for certain areas of the game when he goes in areas like toxic waste areas and whatnot...

I wish id would've looked at some "Paintball" shooters mags and designed a fancy helment from those books. And in the large glass/plastic eye-shield should show his wide intense glare in his eyes just like those counter-terrorist teams in Tom Clancy's "Rouge Spear" series.

[dsm]

Shaviro said:

heh. Can anyone tell me what he would need that helmet for anyway?

The military helmet designers didn't count on some dolt opening a gate to Hell - they probably designed the helmet for:
1. Protection against flak and flying stuff that can kill you by hitting your head (like modern military helmets).
2. Protection against headshots.
3. Protection against gas, chemical or bilogical hazards.

[Zoost]

"The Doom guy wont have a helmet. "Y'know, it'd make sense for him to have a helmet, but the guy just looks cool," Willits offers unapologetically, "and nobody will care." He wont even have a helmet when he goes outside for brief periods that require him to pick up air canisters to survive in the deadly Martian atmosphere. The message for those wanting realism is simple - it's a game, so just deal.

Tim Willits

[Coopersville]

dsm said:

The military helmet designers didn't count on some dolt opening a gate to Hell - they probably designed the helmet for:
1. Protection against flak and flying stuff that can kill you by hitting your head (like modern military helmets).
2. Protection against headshots.
3. Protection against gas, chemical or bilogical hazards.

I'd like to see an FPS where you can use your helmet as a melee weapon, which some are also designed for.

[Zell]

Coopersville said:

I'd like to see an FPS where you can use your helmet as a melee weapon, which some are also designed for.

melee? I would lke to see an extra power-up style helmet or chip that goes into the helmet give you automap, or enemy scan, etc.

[Zoorado]

Zell said:

melee? I would lke to see an extra power-up style helmet or chip that goes into the helmet give you automap, or enemy scan, etc.

Metroid Prime style?