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[Wasp]

Duke Nukem 3D, easily.

I played Duke Nukem 3D first on the PS1. I loved it and decided to pick up the PS1 version of Doom. Doom was fun and I enjoyed it but even in 1997 it felt pretty retro compared to DN3D and the graphics were noticeably worse.

 

[RionaaM]

I prefer Duke Nukem 3D in every aspect: weapons (the Devastator is incredibly cool and the Shrink Ray is totally original), music (while Doom has several memorable tunes, none stand out to me as "Grabbag" does), enemies (I loved my Octabrain action figure, shame I broke all the tentacles when playing with it) and level design (many areas in Doom are like mazes; Duke3D feels more "organic" or natural, plus there is more variety in locations). There are also Duke's funny phrases and the interactivity that comes from being able to use toilets or break the bottles scattered around the different environments that make it stand out from the competition.

Both Doom games and Duke3D are fantastic games, and I used to play them all the time as a kid (with god mode, of course). Duke gets my vote, but I also love kicking some Baron of Hell's ass with the BFG.

 

[Cow Mengde]

Ah, the days when FPS games were actually fun and intense.

 

[Serra]

DOOM

 

[5amshift]

Doom for life.

 

[elohel]

who said blood?!

 

[orborborb]

Duke 3D by a significant margin, but Descent and Marathon (and especially their sequels) are quite a bit better even than Duke 3D.

For me Doom is one of those games like Pokemon, The Sims, World of Warcraft, Gears of War, and Wii Sports that were undeniably original and influential, exceptionally well-made and absolutely VERY GOOD games, but just played things too safe to be real masterpieces.

 

[watchdog]

I definitely preferred DOOM over Duke Nukem 3D. I thought that most of Duke's one liners were pretty stupid. I'll take the silent protagonist over Duke Nukem any day.

 

[bathsalts]

2.5d fps crown? Blood.

duke and doom are both timeless either way though, hell tons of those games; Hexen, Heretic, Descent, etc. are masterpieces.

 

[AgeEighty]

I could never get past the fact that Duke Nukem just blatantly ripped off all its catch phrases from Army of Darkness. Yes, I know they acknowledged it freely, but they still did it and there are still people who associate those lines primarily with that game.

 

[John Rabbit]

Duke only because of the hours I spent in the BUILD editor.

 

[stuminus3]

Doom has timeless gameplay (like golden age arcades) but I think I might prefer Duke3D.

When I play Doom, it's still 2015.

When I play Duke3D, I'm in 1996.

It's awesome back then!

 

[evilromero]

Duke Nukem 3D is Sonic 1.

Doom is Super Mario Bros. 3.

A very good way to put it though I would still argue D2 has the better levels. It's just that D1 had the benefit of letting everyone try its first episode for free, so those levels are deeply ingrained.

 

[Whiteblade999]

I knew this place had great taste, all the Blood talk proves that.

 

[EmCeeGramr]

Duke Nukem 3D, easily.

I played Duke Nukem 3D first on the PS1. I loved it and decided to pick up the PS1 version of Doom. Doom was fun and I enjoyed it but even in 1997 it felt pretty retro compared to DN3D and the graphics were noticeably worse.

Well, by 1997 Doom was already a four year old game compared to the one year old Duke, and on PS1 it had reduced level geometry and texture variety which was slightly made up for with colored lighting.


(also the totally different moody music in the PS1 version is neat for a standalone thing, like what Doom 64 was, but it didn't really fit the original game)

A very good way to put it though I would still argue D2 has the better levels. It's just that D1 had the benefit of letting everyone try its first episode for free, so those levels are deeply ingrained.

Eh... even if you chalk up the gimmicky/puzzly levels in D2 to simply a different style, the city levels and fucking Nirvana are shockingly amateurish compared to the stuff in Doom 1, and even the earlier parts of D2. They straight up feel like slightly more polished versions of the first generation of middling fan wads.

 

[Gxgear]

Duke Nukem 3D. I also have a soft spot for Wolfenstein 3D.

 

[evilromero]

Well, by 1997 Doom was already a four year old game compared to the one year old Duke, and on PS1 it had reduced level geometry and texture variety which was slightly made up for with colored lighting.


(also the totally different moody music in the PS1 version is neat for a standalone thing, like what Doom 64 was, but it didn't really fit the original game)




Eh... even if you chalk up the gimmicky/puzzly levels in D2 to simply a different style, the city levels and fucking Nirvana are shockingly amateurish compared to the stuff in Doom 1, and even the earlier parts of D2. They straight up feel like slightly more polished versions of the first generation of middling fan wads.

Co-op on D1 is just not as exciting as in D2. The levels are too linear and involve less opportunity for strategizing between the players. I love D1 but I find myself enjoying the D2 and FD levels more after all this time.

 

[Robottiimu2000]

Doom. There isn't even a competition here.

 

[Lupin3]

Doom. There isn't even a competition here.

This!

 

[mokeyjoe]

Duke 3D by a significant margin, but Descent and Marathon (and especially their sequels) are quite a bit better even than Duke 3D.

For me Doom is one of those games like Pokemon, The Sims, World of Warcraft, Gears of War, and Wii Sports that were undeniably original and influential, exceptionally well-made and absolutely VERY GOOD games, but just played things too safe to be real masterpieces.

Doom played it safe? This makes no sense on any level. Doom is a masterpiece up there there with Space Invaders.

 

[ElTopo]

Base games (with zero mod support): Duke 3D.

With mod support: Doom 1 and 2.

Duke's single player was pretty revolutionary at the time and the map design is on par with Doom. The weapon balance was slightly better than Doom as well. But when you take mods into account then Doom 1 and 2 wins hands down.

 

[ThreePiMatt]

As far as what is more historically important to the landscape of gaming, not many games could possibly reach Doom's status. That said, if I had to pick which of those two games I'd rather play right now, I'd pick Duke3D every time.

 

[RionaaM]

Eh... even if you chalk up the gimmicky/puzzly levels in D2 to simply a different style, the city levels and fucking Nirvana are shockingly amateurish compared to the stuff in Doom 1, and even the earlier parts of D2. They straight up feel like slightly more polished versions of the first generation of middling fan wads.

This makes me sad, I used to warp to level 15 all the time. I really liked the city levels

 

[Krafter]

Doom 2 > Doom > Blood > Duke > Hexen, but it's very close and they are all great.

 

[Bedlam]

Doom > DN3D > Doom 2

My two cents

 

[Lux R7]

 

[Extra Sauce]

Duke 3D is a really fun game. L.A. Meltdown is a memorable milestone in FPS level design, giving depth, a lively interesting look, and interactivity to a first person experience.

Doom is a masterpiece, and Knee Deep in the Dead is a timeless work of FPS art.


Duke Nukem 3D is Sonic 1.

Doom is Super Mario Bros. 3.




Unless we're just talking about Doom II here in which case yeah they're probably about the same

I lost my two legs as a result of this truth bomb.

 

[Bedlam]

Duke 3D is a really fun game. L.A. Meltdown is a memorable milestone in FPS level design, giving depth, a lively interesting look, and interactivity to a first person experience.

Doom is a masterpiece, and Knee Deep in the Dead is a timeless work of FPS art.


Duke Nukem 3D is Sonic 1.

Doom is Super Mario Bros. 3.


Unless we're just talking about Doom II here in which case yeah they're probably about the same

Yeah but your comparison ignores the fact that Doom's first episode is leaps and bounds above the other episodes as far as level design goes (and music).

I'd go as far as claiming that E1M1 is the pinnacle of badassery. I love those first minutes of the game - moreso than any other part of Doom, Doom2 or DNF.

Overall, Doom 1 still reigns superior. DNF peaks early too and has a lot of filler levels in the later 2/3rds of the game.

 

[Lux R7]

however, to me:

1 - Hexen
2 - Doom
3 - Heretic
4 - Duke

 

[G-Fex]

People should play Duke Hard, a Die hard homage mapset for Duke 3D

 

[AlterOdin]

Duke for me! We played the hell out of the Multiplayer... in our school's IT class. They had fancy 486 DX2 66 if I remember correctly and it ran great!

So much fun!

This. Still LOL thinking back, when the class-room is silent and everybody is busy trying to fill out excel sheet (was economics class), and suddenly one who got killed jumps up from his chair cursing loudly, and "death treating" the player that killed him. Poor teacher.

 

[Lucumo]

Doom all the way.

 

[out0v0rder]

But what about the projector room in the cinema? From the theatre, you can see into both the room and the corridor below it. There is also a bridge at the end of that level, I believe.

The build engine didnt really allow for stacked rooms. The bridge at the end of that level is not a polygon or sector. Its 4 sprites(textures) that have been flattened and streched into the shape of a bridge.The devs also used tricks like teleporting in order to fool you, like falling down the vent in the first level, you are warping to a new area instaed of falling straight down. The spiral staircase leading you up to the projector room is also fooling you. Its also a teleport.

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

You guys are more well-versed in classic shooters than me: Did any Japanese developers ever attempt a FPS on PCs around that time? It's just kind of neat to think about how FPS appears to be a genre very much pioneered in the West, vs. something like, say, stylish character action, which was bred and born in the East.

There are some obscure examples that might fit. FPS games never caught on as a trend, but J-PC developers dabbled in the genre when before and after DOOM came.

•Amnork for the FM77AV, developed by the guy behind Derby Stallion, is an arena-based FPS where you can play against the CPU tournament-style—I've seen it compared to Ballblazers, or another J-PC game from Bothtec called Dires ~giger • loop~. Video.
•The Alien Island, another game developed by a programmer at ASCII, has the player landing on different islands, shooting up some aliens, and ending each stage by finding enough loot to return to the boat. Like the previous game, it pushes the limits of its hardware (the PC-8001, which had for its time a limited PCG video display mode, forcing usage of wire-frames). Video.
•SeeNa, by a programmer at System Soft known as Tinyan, is closer to a 3D first-person maze game, similar to ASCII's own riffs on 3D Monster Maze (which were included in their AX series of PC-6001 games). However, this game does have end-level bosses, and its speed of play means it could be considered a pre-modern FPS. Its sequel, produced by the former doujin group Bio_100%, looks a bit like Wolfenstein 3D too, at least visual-wise—I can't however comment on how it plays. Video.
•Geograph Seal, from the future developers of Jumping Flash, is a platformer/FPS hybrid that pushes Amnork's polygonal visuals even further. With a more traditional stage-based action game progression, you hop and jump through stages ending with boss encounters. It's well-regarded in Japan and overseas, and it echoes Western FPSes in a syncretic way. Video.

Though not FPSes, Star Cruiser (and its sequel), Elm Knight, Epsilon 3, Zone (almost gave it a spotlight, but it's still closer to a rail shooter than SeeNa), and HAMLET/Space Griffon (we got the PS1 port of this, and there's a port of the Windows remake to the Dreamcast) all have elements that belong to the genre. The former is particularly interesting because it smashes together a CRPG (dungeon crawling + a malleable story progression), a space-sim (overworld exploration), and FPS battles with enemies and bosses—expect nothing less from K. Yoshimura, who herself was the one programmer in Japan to make a first-person version of the Star Trek mainframe game. Space Griffon and Elm Knight are early-'90s anime-style first-person CRPGs with an emphasis on exploring labyrinthine areas, either continuously or as stages...definitely recommend them both. Epsilon 3 and Zone are the older games of this bunch, structured more like arcade games but still impressive given technical limitations. You shoot things in all of them, of course.

Notice how all of these games have either modern-day or sci-fi premises for shooting and exploration? The Japanese PC devs never tried to mix fantasy with first-person shooting the way Raven did. I suppose having tons of Wizardry-influenced blobbers meant little need to innovate on their end. Most of the above titles show a desire from their programmers to punch out impressive games that show off the system (Amnork, Star Cruiser, Geograph Seal, Zone), demonstrate what can be done with little (The Alien Island, Epslion 3), or tell stories of a popular idiom more uniquely (Elm Knight, Space Griffon).

 

[Decker177]

I still play both regularly. While Duke 3D had some great level design, I find Doom and Doom 2 a lot more fun. I always ran out of ammo in Duke Nukem 3D making it a drag.

 

[ZealousD]

Doom for gameplay. Duke 3D for level design and style.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Duke 3D is a really fun game. L.A. Meltdown is a memorable milestone in FPS level design, giving depth, a lively interesting look, and interactivity to a first person experience.

Doom is a masterpiece, and Knee Deep in the Dead is a timeless work of FPS art.


Duke Nukem 3D is Sonic 1.

Doom is Super Mario Bros. 3.




Unless we're just talking about Doom II here in which case yeah they're probably about the same

However much I love SMB 3, I'll take Sonic 1 over it any day. Same with Doom, it's a great game, but Duke 3D all the way.

Blood is better than both Duke and Doom though.

 

[PhantomZone]

Doom/Doom 2 for me, I love Duke Nukem 3D it continued my love of FPS games... but I had much much much more fun with Doom/Doom 2 (single player, coop and deathmatch).

My favorite deathmatch map in DooM II was http://doom.wikia.com/wiki/MAP24:_The_Chasm_%28Doom_II%29 it was amazing fun with 4 players. Fire a few rockets up above at someone on a narrow pathway and watch them attempt to run the path to avoid, fall off the edge then find a teleporter to avoid being killed by the acid floor ORRRR just get hit by the rocket and die with dignity.

 

[MrCunningham]

who said blood?!

No denying that Blood needs more love. It is one of the hidden gems of old school FPS's. Let Jace Hall release the damn source code, Atari.

 

[Ashodin]

Neither. Shadow Warrior is still the best.

WHOOOOO WANTA SOME WANG

 

[KatamariOnTheRocks]

Duke Nukem 3d is the better game without a doubt. It remains the greatest fps ever made in regards to level design and combat flow even to this day. Doom 1/2 have good corridor design but it pales in comparison to the amazing interactive levels of Duke 3d.

I still play Duke 3d almost daily because of how many awesome user made mods/episodes exist, most of which are of a much higher quality than your average Doom User map.

If anyone wants to check out a great user Map for DN3D on the Steam Workshop I really recommend the one called "Miami,FL_SP" it's a user made level that flows better than any AAA fps released in the last 10 years.

 

[Creaking]

Neither. Shadow Warrior is still the best.

WHOOOOO WANTA SOME WANG

I was playing some Shadow Warrior about half a year ago. Ehh... in terms of game design, I'd definitely put it below Duke. You get so many explosive weapons with very high areas of effect (meaning it's easy to hurt yourself), yet are often facing enemies who charge you in close quarters. And most of the gadgets were more difficult to use than they were worth.

I thought Blood was the better Duke-like successor.

 

[BGMNTS]

Doom Nuken.

Make it happen.

I'd have to give the edge to Doom though.

 

[inm8num2]

Let's not forget about Redneck Rampage. That one was pretty good too.

Nam was basically a Duke 3D mod.

Never played TekWar or Powerslave.

We can all agree the Witchhaven games stunk.

 

[buffelo]

Redneck Rampage > Doom > Duke 3D

 

[Man God]

DOOM is better. Duke is more 3D and did have an amazing mod scene, but then again, so did DOOM.

 

[Cormano]

Duke Nukem 3D for sure. Loved the level design.

 

[Chaotic-Strike]

I gotta go with DOOM.

I enjoyed the Hell aesthetic and Monsters better and for me; It has better level design.

 

[Fantasmo]

Duke had better tech but I'm not a fan of the fodder enemies in Duke. Doom did everything right. Duke did some things better but a lot of it could have been much better.

 

[Fox Mulder]

Doom. Duke was corny as shit to me even back then while Doom was badass.