The Doom of 1993 was fast and stupid. Though a technical marvel, its main appeal was the satisfaction of nailing demons with various ridiculous guns, the thrill of sprinting through each labyrinth and across pits of lava to find the quickest route to the end, and the ham-fisted comedy that sparked in between.
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Since developer id's attempt to modernise the series (read: make it darker, more realistic, slower, and more cinematic) with Doom 3 in 2004, many fans have hoped for a return to simpler times, and this latest Doom very nearly delivers it.
In many ways, Doom 2016 feels like an expression of the quarter-century-old original game, just made with modern technology and the lessons learned since way back then. It's fast. It's stupid. It feels like Doom.
Yet in other ways that desire to modernise is still there, and the end result is a satisfying game that isn't quite a resurrection of a classic but isn't quite its own thing either. It's a middle ground between Dooms 2 and 3, with a graphical and mechanical overhaul.
A good example of this can be seen where narrative is concerned. The original game was completely, comically devoid of a coherent story. You were the Doom guy and you were in hell for some reason to kill demons and listen to MIDI rip-offs of Metallica songs and maybe find a pickup that turned you into a god temporarily.
The new Doom starts off strong, putting a gun in your hands within seconds and making a point of showing that the protagonist could not care less about the backstory (two separate scenes in the first few minutes showing him angrily bashing a monitor while a character tries to explain the situation).
It feels like the no-nonsense marine of the first few games has been transplanted into the convoluted, Earth-invades-Hell-via-Mars world of Doom 3, and while that's a funny premise it is held back by the fact that the player still has to sit through plenty of unskippable story cutscenes, and a few baffling sequences where you stop running and shooting to jump and climb awkwardly in tests of platforming prowess – not traditionally Doom guy's forte.
On the plus side, the game outside the occasional story or climbing section is gory, unadulterated fun, backed by a pulsing heavy metal soundtrack and a great mix of old-school sensibilites and smart arcadey additions. Playing around in the world of recognisable demons, colour-coded keycards, sprawling maps and never, ever having to reload your weapon, you may wonder why first person shooters ever became so dour and humourless as they tend to be now.
Unlike most modern shooters, you're constantly encouraged to get up close and personal with the horde of demons threatening to rip you apart. There's no cover mechanics and no automatically regenerating health, so stopping to take a break after you cop a fireball to the face isn't on the cards. Instead, you need to stagger an enemy with a gun and run in close for a "glory kill" to fill your health meter back up.
Similarly, the marine is equipped with a chainsaw that grants ammo refills when you take down enemies, but it requires fuel to use. This all creates a fun loop of staggering demons to keep yourself alive, carving them up when your ammo runs out and keeping your eyes peeled at all times for jerrycans.
The other wrinkle to the combat comes in the form of upgrades, both to your marine's abilities and to the equipment he carries around. Each weapon can be modified in two different ways – for example the shotgun can be fitted with a burst-fire mode or an explosive round – giving you a degree of freedom to decide how you'll attack each situation.
Purists may argue that none of these new additions sound particularly Doom-like, but they all contribute to a frenetic, pulse-pounding shooter experience that certainly recalls those old PC games. Old school players will also be rewarded with plenty of nods to (and subversions of) the designs they remember, and I was thrilled to find that each level is filled with hidden secrets and easter eggs, something shooters have mostly left behind since the late '90s.
Unfortunately, the multiplayer aspect of the game is less impressive. While the campaign carves its own path and makes an argument for some of the uncomplicated, silly paradigms of the past to return, the online play feels more like an attempt to compete on the same terms with Halo and Call of Duty. It's not bad, but it can't beat those juggernauts at their own game.
Ignoring everything but the main campaign, this is very close to a perfect reimagining of what Doom should be in 2016, and a breath of fresh air for anyone worn down by the plodding predictability of modern shooters.
