I’ve played Doom 2, but never the original, so this is quite exciting for me. It took a little while to get set up because there are so many different versions to choose from (I played freedoom for a while, which is a great project but just didn’t satisfy in the same way). Eventually I started using the shareware version via chocolate-doom (I’d recommend this if anyone is desperate to just get started on Linux: it’s available through most package managers and has the real assets for the first episode).
My first thoughts (may be brief, as I’m keen to get back to it!):
– The levels are actually incredibly short, which is different to how I remember Doom 2 at least. I wonder if that’s due to the machine I was using back then being slow, or just a fault of memory.
– The strafe functionality is difficult to get used to. On my version (which I assume is close to the original game), you can only strafe by pressing Alt + Left/Right; I’ve been spoiled by modern games (and, IIRC, the version of Doom 2 I used to play) which allow you to strafe and turn at the same time, but this method makes the corner dancing a bit trickier.
– Doom 2 used to scare me, but now I’m able to enjoy the game a lot more. Case in point: I noticed the first time you pick up the chaingun (except perhaps in a secret area), the designers bring out a crowd of monsters for you to play with. As a child I’d have been cowering in a corner, but this morning I just mowed them down with great satisfaction.
– I’m becoming addicted quite quickly. Can’t wait to explode some cacodemons 😀
