Video: Digital Foundry's Technical Analysis Of DOOM, DOOM II And DOOM 3

Ah Digital Foundry, never has there been a group that I have seen with more nitpicking and combing over every last nook and cranny for something to criticize.

Ah well, I know they give info a lot of people are curious about. I just feel like they would be the people who, if they ordered food at a restaurant, would complain that the food on the plate was off balance and that other guy had 3 more macaroni noodles in his salad.

[edit] and before you jump on me, I'm not saying we shouldn't talk about these things or I hate DF or anything. Please relax.

@Heavyarms55 you know that’s their job , right?

These guys are nitpicking and biased. I win bye-bye.

@hippoeater And they are, perhaps, annoyingly good at it.

@Heavyarms55 I do agree that Digital Foundry reports sometimes seem to try hard to find a needle in a haystack. This Doom analysis is one of these times.

@Heavyarms55 These guys seem extremely nit picky, I agree.

@graysoncharles You wrongly interpret why sometimes people do not like Digital Foundry videos.

They are extremely nit picky, but the faults they showed with the Doom 1 and 2 ports are very valid. The issues with the music and aspect ratio/screen stretching are extremely valid and simply unacceptable for games that a damn toaster could run in 2019.

@Cosats @Heavyarms55 DF showed multiple instances of some pretty big frame drops on the Switch version of DOOM 3. That's not nitpicking. And even then they still decided that this version is pretty good.

As for DOOM 1 and 2, they pointed out that the developers made some pretty absurd (read: pisspoor) design choices for a 26 year old game that has been ported to literally every electronic on the planet.

Should have added gyro.

That said, all excellent releases (I get the anger at the login, but honestly it’s a one time thing and then you never have to worry about it again for the rest of your entire life, so just sign in with an email and be done with it, doesn’t even have to be a real email)

They're not really nitpicking here, though. While a lot of Doom 3 on Switch is 60 FPS, some areas do drop the framerate like a red-headed stepchild.

I played through the entire main campaign in handheld mode, fov 80, flashlight shadows on and while the game was smooth as a whole, certain areas would drop down even to the 20s. Particularly larger areas, or areas with lots of glass and geometry.

Of course doing stuff like blowing up several barrels at once will make the engine tank as well.

One instance of repeatable slowdown was kinda funny, though - a single run of metal stairs by a wall, not a large location, nothing really that taxing... But the moment the flashlight was on, the game would drop to the 20s, but just for these stairs. Weird.

Still, all in all, a good port, plus it let's you turn the flashlight shadows off of you prefer better FPS over them.

Cya
Raziel-chan

I am enjoying DOOM II even with the stretched ratio and slower music. I noticed these things as well, but for $5.00 I don't care.

Switch shouldn't struggle to run a game that was released 14 years ago, even if it was high end (and buggy) at the time.

@Heavyarms55 DF have replaced the role that the scored review once fulfilled for many people—a so-called objective, by the book technical analysis of a game's performative strengths and weaknesses.

It's a great video that I enjoyed very much. I remember thinking that sometimes Doom 1993 seemed to judder more than usual while playing it on Switch. Not sure if I really noticed a drop below 35 fps or if it was the uneven timing of translating 35fps to a 60fps display. Anyways, it would be absolutely fantastic if they fix everything about the game that Digital Foundry pointed out in the video. I would really love a boost to 60fps if they could possibly do that too. Having said all of that I've been enjoying the game quite a bit even with the judder, squashed display, slow music, muffled sound effects, etc.
Also, I really hope that Doom 64 comes to Switch running at 60fps. And Quake 1, 2, and 3! 60fps for each and every one : )

@MARATXXX That's what I kinda don't like about them. I care much less technical aspects of a game. I am more concerned with story, gameplay mechanics and flavor. A game has to have actual functional flaws that disturb the gameplay for me to really care about resolution or frame-rate. Or the resolution has to be particularly bad. Talking 480p or less before I actually get upset.

When I read a review I want to hear what the game is about, what kind of game play to expect, a general overview of the story/flavor, and if there are any concerning bugs or glitches. Not concerned with things like "If there are 10 enemies on screen the frame rate drops from 60 to 39" or "Some of the textures look real grainy".

But I do understand that there are people who care more about frame rate and resolution than much of anything else and that no matter what the game play is or how interesting the story might be, they wont buy a game if the frame rate or resolution doesn't meet their standards. And I know DF is catering to them.

But because of how they do that, it feels like they are just digging for anything they can find to criticize.

Glad I only bought 3 😊. Can't wait to fire it up in October

@Heavyarms55 i get that, but at the same time it does provide the kind of technical analysis that, let's admit, most game reviewers are no longer capable of—and perhaps shouldn't be focusing on in any case, unless the issues are glaring. but for tech nerds like myself, i love DF, and it's rare that what they say one way or another actually impacts my purchasing decisions. but i do like being an educated consumer.

@Heavyarms55 This isn't really meant to be a review though, this is specifically a test for framerate and visual settings. There are plenty of other sites and YouTube channels that offer what you are looking for. That being said, this DOOM analysis is probably the most "review-like," video I have seen them do.

Saying you don't like DF because you want to hear more about the story and style is like complaining that a Chinese restaurant doesn't have Italian food.

@Indielink I was responding to someone who said DF was giving something other reviewers do not. That's why I mentioned that. It's not the only reason I dislike DF. Like I said in another comment, it feels like they dig for anything they can find to criticize. No matter how big or small the detail.

@Heavyarms55 I'm in the same boat as Maratxx. I find the tech behind development fascinating. Especially when it comes to ports of Switch games I find it super interesting how devs handle the differences in hardware and DF are the only guys who do this sort of breakdown.

John and Rich do dig deep for a lot of things but their criticisms are usually very constructive rather than some kind of mean-spirited fanboyism. Those guys have a lot of love for the Switch, and they are very generous with their praise.

Oh look, a bad port of an old game. Shocking.

@graysoncharles I am happy that you read my comments. I am also happy that you seem to understand that Digital Foundry's reports are sometimes hyperbolic.

John Linneman for president

#MakeGamingGreatAgain

Love the doom series and picked these up having played through them many times across several platforms. Well through doom and really enjoying it in handheld mode.

Thought it played great - then seen all these articles on how poor the ports were. In truth I don’t get it - plays great, smooth and just a great doom experience.

@JaxonH no. You grow a back bone and stop doing everything you're told

Despite the issues noted I'm still really enjoying playing through the first 2 Doom games on Switch and I'm enjoying the 3rd a lot more than I remember too. The performance of that may not be perfect but its generally very good overall and it looks really nice on the small screen. If you're not overly familiar with Doom most of what DF talks about will probably go unnoticed anyway but hopefully it is corrected at some point

I grew up playing the SNES port of Doom and I had to say playing these old Doom games in better form on the Switch is a blessing. Unless you're a die hard PC Doom purest then you may find fault with them but to me I enjoy them just fine.

If someone releases a physical collection of them, then I would jump at them, but otherwise will probably wait until they are majorly discounted.

@Bunkerneath “majorly discounted” - doom 1 and 2 are 3.99 gbp each - even a major discount constitutes a saving of only 2 pound a title !

Ah here is the, oh a frame drop game is terrible- sony fanboys of DF again.

On a Nintendo fansite.

0/10 article.

As I was only interested in 1 and 2, having seen the issues - pass. Even chump change prices can't sweeten the taste of botched port. Also a big factor, Doom would often induce motion sickness and I fear the issues raised here would exacerbate that.

@spirit_flame I've put about 10 hours into Doom so far and just bought Doom 2 last night. If I hadn't read this article I would have said they were superb ports. They look and play great. Don't let DF put you off from having a great time. They're an absolute steal at this price.

Indeed as someone above said, a steal at the prices they've been posted for. I'm content with the way all 3 play, despite keeping DooM to a Playstation standard. I felt these would be fun to have in handheld and indeed they are, as well as being able to easily transport the Switch from one dock to another, as opposed to unplugging a whole PS3 and moving it into the bedroom. So overall I'm happy with these ports. Hella happy.

@OorWullie Same here, I do love DF but I'd have never noticed the issues they spotted. I actually suspect the Doom 1 & 2 ports were stretched a bit to fill more of the 16:9 screen rather than down to cowboy coders getting it wrong. Plus of course, if they'd changed the framerate to 60fps there probably would have been people complaining the original framerate hasn't been preserved!

@Sabroni
???

Did you hit reply to the wrong person, cause I have no idea what you're talking about.

Grow a backbone and doing what "others tell me"? So just skip the entire game over a two second, one time pop up?

Grow some common sense, how's that. Nobody's doing it "because they said", but rather because it's the best course of action and doesnt take but 2 seconds, one time. There's protesting on principle (which I support, I even complained on their twitter), and then there's just being a mule-headed child about it and letting pride and rebellion keep you from making the best rational choice.

@OorWullie totally agree. There is nothing wrong with these games on switch.

@Lucarianzx tell me that was typed by your little brother with a blindfold over his controller.

@Galenmereth if I hadn’t already bought the games I would be put off with this article - car crash of a port etc. Reality is the games are great

@Punisher67 there are several issues which make the first two games sub-par ports (not isolated to the Switch version). They are detailed in the video. If you haven’t watched it: the music and sound play at incorrect speed, the aspect ratio is incorrect, leading to inconsistencies in the graphics, and the frame rate being locked at 35fps, while accurate to the original PC version, leads to issues with modern displays which cannot output at 70hz. Are they still playable? Yes. Are the criticisms nonetheless valid? Yes. Some people, for example, don’t care about playing games or watching films at the wrong aspect ratio, but that doesn’t make it right, and bravo to DF for calling Bethesda out on an unnecessarily problematic port. I’ve bought Doom, btw, and will probably buy Doom 2 and 3 at some point, so I’m validating the publisher’s laziness!

@RadGravity fair enough - the games are fine though

@Punisher67 given how a bit of effort in the porting would eliminate most or all of these issues (a homebrew version of Doom exists that runs more accurately), I would respectfully disagree. Doom is still a classic, but these ports are a bit shoddy. Given how they are identical across consoles and iOS (I don’t have an Android phone for comparison) it seems to be the way they were ported using Unity that has been the major factor.
If people don’t care, so be it. I’m reminded of the PAL Virtual Console version of Super Mario Bros., which was updated and weirdly sped up. It ruined the feel of the game, though there didn’t seem to be much of a brouhaha then. Go figure.

These Doom I and II ports have a lot of issues that nobody can justify in 2019.

Digital Foundry is doing their job and people complaining about them doing their job competently, professionally and objectively can ignore their videos or complain to Nintendo Life for talking about their videos. The same people that call other people whiners are the biggest hypocrites.

All the issues that he talks about in the video are true, this is not a silly Toutuber without reasoning and we all know that. If you can't deal with the truth just ignore it. If you want rosy reviews that ignore the facts you have plenty of choices elsewhere.

@MARATXXX Exactly, modern reviews aren't objective anymore, at least technical analyses are.

@BlueOcean the games are fine. If they were poor to play I would be the first to complain - they are extremely enjoyable to play on the switch

@Punisher67 Fine, nobody has said that the ports are not enjoyable but the issues are glaring and shocking for such old games (I and II, 26-25 years old!) and people (not you) complaining about Digital Foundry doing technical analyses are ignorant because that's their job. That's the only reason why I'm posting on this thread, if they don't like technical analyses just read rosy reviews that don't mention performance, aspect ratio and sound glitches. Thanks to Digital Foundry and some others, developers have patched issues before and helped consumers getting what they deserve so thank you people.

@OorWullie that’s good to hear. I’d love to play the first Doom again and then play the second one for the first time. I’ll get into this over the weekend!

I have played every port of Doom, and the PC(as well as the source ports), 32x (I KNOW) and Ps1 versions the most extensively. These ports are up there with the best of the console ports. Nit Picks are VALID but should NOT scare fans (or soon to be fans) of the original games away. They look great, play smooth, and have just enough QoL additions that they truly stand up as fun. Now lets jump on the MAKER craze and get us a drag and drop WAD editor and blow this thing UP.

Well, you can play with a single joy-con, and it has HD rumble. Also, you have split screen multiplayer anywhere. I don't think DF mentions those things right?

As someone who played the originals their entire life, many of the differences were noticable from the get go. DF made mention of the balance changes to 3 BFG edition, but hadnt really touched upon a new berserk glitch or ‘difference’.

In the original versions, the chainsaw would replace the fist, but berserk would allow the player to select the fist for the duration of that level (at will). The issue with this port hpwever is that although the berserk powerup restores the fist upon pickup, once you change from the fist, it is gone again. Thats the loss of quite an important ammo saving weapon.

Strafe running appears to be different too or at least the controls are. Many secrets that are more easily accessible by running forward and strafing simultaneously have been a lot harder to reach in this port. Im not 100% on the exact reason, but ive heard on other sites the engine isnt the original one and accounts for some differences also.

@Taarna Yeah back in my day we had to play Doom on a Game Boy Advance if we wanted to play it on the go. Kids these days are spoiled.

@Heavyarms55

Why would you watch DF then? It's literally what they do... It's like going to an Italian restaurant and ordering spaghetti and then complaining about how you don't like pasta.