Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski has shared his early reactions to id Software’s long-awaited and just-released Doom. Writing on Twitter, Bleszinski said he’s enjoying the game a lot, but had one “minor” piece of criticism–and it’s the same one he has for Gears of War. Check out the tweets below (via DualShockers).
OK some rapid fire Doom thoughts. Weapons feel good so far. Good to see some satanic stuff in there. Awesome to be on the Martian surface…
— Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) May 13, 2016
Love the mystery of who I am in the new Doom and the System Shock 2 “ghosts” narrative mechanic. Upgrade tokens and config weaps expected.
— Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) May 13, 2016
My only minor crit about the (fantastic so far) Doom is the same I have for my old franchise.
Stop focusing on executions so much. 🙂
— Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) May 13, 2016
Expanding on that last point, Bleszinski said execution animations can slow things down, maybe too much. “Players just want to win and kill in a shooter,” he said. “They don’t care about fancy animations that slow you down IMO.”
Doom’s Glory Kills, as they are called, are contextual attacks that show the player violently dismembering enemies. In his review in progress, GameSpot’s Peter Brown said these can definitely slow down the action, but they have an upside as well.
“While it’s fair to say Glory Kills bring combat to a temporary halt, they are also a godsend as they cause enemies to drop health packs, and occasionally some ammo,” he said.
Doom launched on Friday, May 13, but copies of the game were not sent to press early. GameSpot will be playing Doom all weekend, and our final review is expected to arrive early next week.
For now, you can check out GameSpot’s review in progress, which is based on around six hours spent in the campaign. You can also check out this technical analysis that compares the frame rate and resolution of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the game.
Bleszinski left Epic Games in 2012. He now heads up North Carolina-based independent studio Boss Key, which is working on the FPS LawBreakers.