Inspired by @SorosFootSoldier post about FPS games, I thought I would try this conversation.

I think we all have at least one game that we have a weird love/hate relationship with. Maybe it was a game you had high expectations for and it disappointed youy, or maybe it's a game that you know is flawed and don't care, you still love it.

Mine is Doom 3.

Having played the older Dooms in my early childhood, I remember being a teenager when Doom 3 was first announced and seeing footage of it for the first time. This demo was the coolest thing I had ever seen for a game and it scared the living shit out of me. I still remember seeing it from a friend's house who had a fancy computer and was able to download this demo. I didn't have a computer back then that could've run this game but kept it in the back of my mind that when I got older, got a better job off school, this was the game I would work towards.

It wasn't until the early 2010s when I had reached adulthood, I finally got around to playing Doom 3. Personal experiences aside, I think this game largely disappoints people due to the expectations we had for it. There are some people who love this game, and I can understand and respect them for that.

First off, some of the good things about Doom 3 and what makes it appealing.

• The Atmosphere. Hands down, this game has an incredible atmosphere and is quite immersive. The Mars facility has a 'lived in' feel, where you get the sense of people living their daily lives and routines here on the job. The game truly takes the Mars base and makes it a haunted house in space. I also like the idea behind PDAs and having to read the emails and listen to audio logs of the people who lived there. The PDAs even go as far as to explain how the chainsaw weapon ends up on Mars and goes through a lot of the politics of the UAC company and how crappy it is working there. All this makes for an immersive experience that you can get lost in.

• The moment all hell breaks loose in the first level is superbly done with handling the atmosphere and how immersive this whole sequence is. You hear the marines all through the radio chatter calling for help and getting slaughtered by the demons. The lights are flickering, power going off and on and you are stuck shooting zombies with your crappy pistol while listening to the hopelessness of your comrades. This is all well done.

• Delta Labs. Hands down, my favorite level of the game and I'd argue it's the best level. All through the game, you have been hearing about Delta and how it's the source of the demonic invasion and it's the most dangerous place of the facility. You pretty much begin stockpiling ammo and saving your best weapons with a healthy amount of ammo for when you get to Delta. Then finally when you get there, you find.... nothing. All you find is chaos and destruction. The demons appear to have moved on. The first 10 minutes of this level, you can hear them, see them outside windows and it's like they're preying on you and when they finally come at you, they hit you with full force. This is a well designed level IMO.

• Lighting. The idTech4 engine used for this game seems to be the first video game engine that was designed entirely around lighting. This led to a lot of people calling Doom 3 a tech demo, but setting that aside, there are some great well designed levels that play with the lighting and for a game that came out over 15 years ago, it still looks impressive with it's lighting, shadows and all the light sourcing that came with it.

• The Chaingun is impressive and will easily be one of your favorite weapons (but sadly the ammo is rare until you get to Delta labs). Doom 3 has quite possibly my favorite Plasma rifle of all the series and it has the most satisfying reloud sound effect. It's got a slower fire rate than the Plasma gun from the old Doom, but it's still satisfying to use and in the second half of the game, ammo for it can be found everywhere making it a useful weapon to rely on.

• Hell. This is the one thing everyone remembers from Doom 3. The hell level is pretty good, but I found it to be disappointing personally cause my favorite game in the series being Doom 64 (and arguably the real Doom 3) had the best Hell levels of the entire series. But this version of hell is the true "fire and brimstone" scare-fest that is quite memorable. My own opinions about hell just go to show the point that most of us criticize this game based on it not living up to our expectations.

• The art style. It's either hit or miss with some people, but I quite like the monster designs in this game. Some of them are truly terrifying like the Maggots and the cutscene that introduces the Lost Soul made the hair on my arms stand up, it was so disturbing. The pinky demon's introduction has to be the coolest cutscene in the entire game.

So where does Doom 3 disappoint? For one, it don't play anything like the older games. The slower pace does not appeal to everyone, but I don't really have a problem with it. Doom 64 had a slightly slower pace and I love that game. The only issue I have with the pacing is that the game relies too much on Imps and the Z-sec zombie marines who by late in the game are mostly fodder trash enemies. Imps stop being a problem by the time you get to Alpha Labs, and yet the game throws them at you all the way to the end.

The Z-Sec marines are hands down annoying and probably the most hated enemies in the game. They are basically hitscanners who have great accuracy no matter what. Their shotguns can hit you from a mile away, and later in the game you have to deal with the chaingun commandos who are even more annoying. I never really have much of a problem with the tentacle commandos, those are one of the more fun enemies to play around with IMO.

Some of the enemies are hit and miss in this game. Imps throw fireballs and jump in your face. All the new enemies mostly just get in your face and hurt you. The older enemies have been redesigned and some of them are fun to fight. I like the way you can destroy Revanants rockets by shooting them accurately. The hell knights are more imposing and the Archville can still be annoying as a formable foe.

Doom 3's shotgun is hands down the worst shotgun ever in an ID game. It has too much spread that makes it next to impossible to use in long distance situations. You have to get up close and personal with it to get a one shot kill. I think many of us hate the shotgun cause we're so used to the one from Doom 1 where it was a crutch you could rely on. Not in Doom 3, and sadly you'll be using the shotgun a lot. It's still your crutch weapon like it was in the classic games, but you'll have to learn to get in Imps faces with it and become accustomed to how crappy of a weapon it is. Sometimes I think the shotgun was purposely made ineffective to make the player feel they couldn't rely on it in dark corners.

Many people hate how the flashlight works in this game, but I never really had a problem with it. The BFG Edition has a mounted flashlight and it really kills a bit of the tension and atmosphere to the game. Parts of the game seem to have been designed around a fear-factor of having to choose between your gun or your flashlight. I this is smart game design and don't have a problem with it, but at the same time, I can understand the criticism from other Doom fans who want to run and gun their way through mobs of enemies. The one flaw here is that Doom 3 don't give you a choice between the play styles, instead forcing you into the slower, cautious pace. Setting this aside, certain areas of the game were designed around the flashlight, like the part where you have to follow the scientist with his lamp, and these are some of the memorable parts of the game.

Another thing to throw in with the story; Doom 3 tries to have a serious story and having a human antagonist in Dr. Betruger kinda gives it a weird campy vibe. He taunts you throughout the game like Emperor Palpatine laughing at you and even reuses the same lines as you progress (Making progress, marine!?).Betruger's sound clips are hilarious sounding and kill a bit of the tension and atmosphere, but at the same time, I find him lovable for being so over the top. His voice actor sounds like he's having a ball with his one liners - Look around you marine! Everybody's DEAD! Soon you will join them and your soul will burn in hell for eternity! HA HA HA HA HA!!

Despite all the flaws and how disappointing this game can be, or the fact how hated it is by the fan base, I still kinda love it. There's several things about the game that I think are great and enjoy going back to. Every time I replay Doom 3 as I get older, I have a weird new appreciation for what it was trying to accomplish. I kinda feel that the game is misunderstood and beneath all the flaws, there is a really great horror game there. It's not a bad game, it just looks bad when compared to all the other Doom titles cause they are masterpieces. And still, I don't think it's the worst game ID Software made. I'd much rather replay Doom 3 than deal with Quake 2 or Rage again.

So what's your game you have a love/hate relationship with?