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 gaming: doom 3 interview
We’re all Doomed. Again. The wait was a long one, but it was worth it. Doom 3 on PC is a thing of dark beauty. But it did take a while didn’t it? “Yeah, four years,” says Todd Hollenshead, CEO of games developers id. “Doom 3 is the longest project we've had. We really didn't anticipate that it was going to take that long. We underestimated the learning curve in the sense of dealing with the new technologies.” It's a refreshingly honest reply, but then Hollenshead is only too aware that people expect a lot from id. “id is obviously known for technological innovation. It created the [first-person shooter] genre with Wolfenstein 3D then popularized it with the Doom franchise,” he says. “People have been involved with these games for so long, they have an intimate relationship.”  Given both the heritage of the game, and how crowded the FPS genre has become, there must have been a lot of pressure. “Absolutely,” says Hollenshead. “But there are lots of ways you can push the genre forward. From a technical standpoint, though, we said at the start that the game really can't be all things to all comers. Our mission was basically to create this interactive horror film experience.” Another significant aspect of Doom 3 was unveiled to a very positive reception at E3 in May: the Xbox version. “Our goal on the Xbox was to make the best-looking, scariest console game anyone's ever played,” he says succinctly. “The resolution isn't quite as high as on the PC version. Some of the areas can't be as big and there are a few other limitations, but it looks very similar to what you get on a PC.”  So what's the game all about? “Doom 3 is basically a retelling of the original. We pretended effectively that Doom and Doom 2 didn't happen,” says Hollenshead. So you're back facing the hordes of hell, but of course they're a slightly better-looking breed of demon, all remarkable texture mapping and dynamic lighting. “We worked with a science-fiction novelist [Matthew Costello] to create a story that we knew was workable. Taking a cue from the film industry, we storyboarded out the entire game. “For it to be integrated into the game, the narrative is something that you have to pay attention to,” he continues. “Everything has to be connected. In Doom 3, progress through the entirety of the story is as seamless as we could make it. There are some drastically different environments, but you don't just arrive there. You have a sense of geography within the game – except for when we intentionally whack you on the head and take your compass away.”  Even without having your compass taken, Doom 3 provides a whack on the head – from the very fact that it's top quality and that it's finally arrived.
Daniel Etherington
Doom 3 is available now on PC. The Xbox version is out in September 04.
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