Faceoff: Doom3 vs HalfLife2

This is going to be a big year for gaming. Doom 3 and Half Life 2 are both sequels to the undisputed best first person shooters in PC gaming history. This alone makes both "must haves."

Besides all the fancy graphics, what excites me is the multiplayer potential of these two. Unfortunately, it looks like out of the box Half Life 2 will knock Doom3 to its knees. With Valve promising that Half Life Mods Counterstrike, Day of Defeat, and more, will be converted to HL2 upon shipment, its hard to believe Doom 3 will stand a chance. In fact, I'll probably skip singleplayer and go straight to multiplayer after I install Half Life 2.

However, I do have some concern about Valve's new Steam technology. A while ago there was an issue brought up about paying monthly fees for games delivered via Steam rather than paying for it off the shelf. If I'm right, I'm guessing you'll have to pay extra to play CounterStrike and these other previously free mods. Considering the quality of certain Half Life mods in the past, I wouldn't have a huge problem with the myself, however it may isolate younger gamers who have a much smaller income.

Doom 3 may also be weaker in the singleplayer aspect. The original Half Life re-injected a solid storyline to the genre. Earlier in the 90s games such as System Shock and Ultima Underworld had these strong elements, however the fast paced action first person shooter quickly become dominant. Its clear that Half Life 2 will also have a strong storyline. We aren't quite sure about Doom 3.

Videos and leaks have made it clear that the game will be very interactive, as well as full of scripted scenes. We've seen that the levels come in a wide variety--indoor, outdoor, in all kinds of different locations. We know there are vehicles. We've seen the impressive physics engine that does more than give you cool death animations. For example, the latest E3 demonstration showed an enormous crate (oh shit, not more crates!) being dropped on enemy soldiers, by a player controlling a magnetic lift as seen in junk yards.

On the other hand, what does Doom 3 have to offer? The atmosphere is the best I've seen in any computer game to date. The first Doom3 video showing John Carmack demonstrating the GeForce3 on the Mac was absolutely jaw-dropping. Unfortunately, this was years ago. Today new 3D engines are rapidly catching up to iD's technology, and may have already surpassed it. All the levels appear to be indoors. We've heard mixed news about the multiplayer when Doom 3 ships.

Despite the questions about both games, both Valve and iD have a solid history of producing quality games. Of course, Team Fortress 2 may have never shipped, and Half Life 2 really is only Valve's second game. Unlike 3D Realms and Duke Nukem Forever, it appears that Half Life 2's release is going to actually happen.

I think both games will be huge successes. In the end, if I could only play one, it would be Half Life 2. Despite what happens, both of these games will have a huge effect on gaming for years to come -- and yet, it won't be as big as the original two had.