Action Button Reviews: DOOM
Added 2020-09-13 07:08:43 +0000 UTCWell, the review is finished, exported, uploaded, processed, and scheduled! Please go to our YouTube channel at 11am Eastern on Sunday to watch the premiere live.
The video will of course be available to watch in full after the premiere.
We had a grueling situation wherein YouTube kept flagging and blocking the video for including a royalty-free recording of a particular Beethoven song. I changed the song several times--the same bold robot claimed to own the track every time. I wasted a day arguing long distance with an invisible brick wall.
I'm in South Bend, Indiana now, where we just finished filming the next video. I'll talk more about that next week. Though it went well! This one will be exciting.
Also this week, I'll roll out the first ever installment of a new Backer-Exclusive Feature . . . I won't spoil it, though it involves my having signed up for a Vimeo account a couple weeks ago . . . !!
Well, time to go to bed for a couple hours. I'll be in the chat watching the premiere live on YouTube Dot Com Slash Action Button tomorrow (uh, later today) at 11am Eastern. Hopefully YouTube doesn't blow up again . . . and hopefully they let it play until the end this time!! (They cut off the premiere of the THE LAST OF US video partway into the epilogue, minutes before I revealed The Surprise!)
Comments
The Borgesian DOOM recursion gets another dimension: https://hackaday.com/2022/07/12/even-doom-can-now-run-doom/
Zay Amsbury
2022-07-12 17:02:30 +0000 UTCThis review inspired me to play Doom 1, 2, and 64 for the first time and this pandemic actually afforded me time to do it
Chris F
2020-12-16 17:19:13 +0000 UTCThis review was immediately a favorite of mine... thank you for all of your insight on the original Doom. I am really curious about what you may have to say about the later iterations of Doom. The games seem to have gone in much different directions by focusing on different aspects of the original. This may be a false dichotomy, but if you ever have the time to indulge the mental exercise, I would love to hear your thoughts on Doom as a “Horror” game vs Doom as a “Rip-and-Tear” game. I believe that the original had a healthy balance, where neither aspect took away from the experience of the other. Most players seemed to dislike Doom 3 because the “Horror” caused the game to lose too much of the “Rip-and-Tear” action. I believe I am in the minority, but I much more strongly dislike Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal, because the emphasis on “Rip-and-Tear” gameplay caused it to lose all aspects of “Horror.” I know that Doom was never meant to be a Horror game, so that term might be incorrect, but what I mean is that the original Doom had moments that triggered fear in me when I played it. Like it triggered a fight-or-flight response in my brain. That fear gave me a rush and was enjoyable. I got this from Doom 3 as well. But I don’t get that feeling at all in the new Doom reboot games. You talked a lot about violence and level design in this review video, but what about the feeling the game gives you? Maybe you have played so much of the game that it can’t surprise you any more, but I know YOU can remember the first times you played the levels and what it felt like! Did you get the same rush that I got? Is that part of what makes the Doom experience great? What do you think about these game-flavors? And how do they relate from the original to the later games?
Dan Allen
2020-12-13 21:26:23 +0000 UTCThis was so epic, and, since we're not far in age, very nostalgic in surprising ways. I really appreciate that you actually give space for people to wander and find their own answers (indeed, it is a shorthand for profundity in some narrative works, but I would argue that in a video essay is Socratically generous). One thing that stood out to me a bit technically: when shooting on green screen, I would go with a softer shadow on your face - it's kinda weirding me out since the background is usually "evenly lit". But I got used to it after a bit, so it's no big for sure. I'm going to up my donation from next month, this is really wonderful work you're doing.
Emilio Bellu
2020-09-29 22:13:17 +0000 UTCAlso, my usual drinking game of doing a shot every time Tim uses the word "luxurious" was sorely sober in this video. I think there was 1 use in 3.5 hrs that I counted. FF7 had like 5 in an hour
Mike Amarilio
2020-09-20 19:47:24 +0000 UTCTook 3 sittings cause it's been a hectic weekend but bravo. Also, what was the bgm song played on classical guitar? Only song I didn't recognize, but I loved it.
Mike Amarilio
2020-09-20 19:44:17 +0000 UTCnah, it's not the essay on kotaku. it's somewhere else on the web.
golok
2020-09-18 00:15:36 +0000 UTCI can't work out how to directly reply... are you sure you have found the secret essay? There's the kotaku essay but I'm certain that is not it. I've tried direct quote searching on google of the essay title in the video but all I found was an obscure tweet @tim about if he had ever posted it or not. Am I a failure of a detective? Finding this essay is consuming my thoughts. Help!
Alex Spalding
2020-09-17 22:34:11 +0000 UTCThanks for teaching me about the origin of the word 'critter'. I had no idea!
Ian
2020-09-17 18:44:22 +0000 UTCEdit: found it! Snoop around in the youtube comments of this review a bit and you'll easily find it. It was published last year confusingly.
I Have Four Names
2020-09-17 09:48:43 +0000 UTCLoved this!!!!
Allie
2020-09-17 01:17:55 +0000 UTCI've searched high and low for the essay referenced in the video with no luck. Has anyone else found it? Did Tim actually even post it? On my journey through the world wide web I have come across and enjoyed a bunch of other essays by Tim though :)
Alex Spalding
2020-09-16 03:58:42 +0000 UTCI was never really into Doom, but I found this video thoroughly entertaining! Thanks Tim!
Jonathan Brown
2020-09-15 14:52:51 +0000 UTCI gotta say. I loved section 1 and 5, I’m really looking forward to the one hour reviews coming up, and I’m really exhausted by the idea of a five hour video! My attention span could not stay with you this long on any of the last three!
Alex Lovendahl
2020-09-15 02:54:09 +0000 UTCThis was delightful to watch. You’re great, Tim
Brittany A
2020-09-15 02:06:37 +0000 UTCI'm not even half an hour in and I've cried multiple times hahaha (during the Bob and Korg section primarily)
Casey
2020-09-15 01:05:06 +0000 UTCTwo things: 1. Just as you said, the DOOM Review absolutely feels like the previous two videos (which I absolutely loved) were like warmups. It's absolutely wonderful. To be That Guy, the sort of one who gives an overly grandiose (and topical!) compliment in the absolutely nerdiest most pretentious way, it feels like the Eroica of your video review work... a culmination of a lot of experimental work and the emergence of a confident creative voice in the form of a Huge Work, the first, I'm sure we all hope, of more to come. Never mind 3 and a half hours feeling long, I have repeatedly checked the time on this video (and the last two) because I didn't want them to end. And hey, if you don't agree with that assessment, well, Beethoven probably wouldn't have either! 2. I only have one regret, not a criticism, a regret, but it did occur to me when watching the video. I am probably one of the few people who would have absolutely lost their shit at that one part if you'd been able to find a royalty free recording of I Was Glad. Not a Brit, or a Anglophile, just infiltrated an Anglican choir for a few years. So it's too bad it couldn't make it in, for, all of the dozens of us who would have loved that very precisely targeted joke
Jay Caron
2020-09-14 23:35:07 +0000 UTCJust finished watching, fantastic work! Excellent structure and pacing. Well worth the wait!!!
Agnes Lundberg
2020-09-14 19:00:19 +0000 UTCI think this is your best video yet, and thats saying something. This was magical.
Luciano
2020-09-14 15:10:59 +0000 UTCbest one yet!! also Moon is so good!!!
Kyle Green
2020-09-14 14:55:24 +0000 UTCWow, this review was phenomenal. I really loved both the previous ones but the production value and the writing on this one were on another level. Well worth the wait, please take a few months of holiday now! Grazie Timothy!
Dario Bertagna
2020-09-14 14:22:33 +0000 UTCNew Patron. I loved the bit about the middle school gamer "pals". Like Tim's 3DO kid, when my friend got a new CD-rom computer and Rebel Assault I was allowed to watch, but not touch.
Tommy_
2020-09-14 10:25:29 +0000 UTCMan that was an epic video. I really appreciate the time and effort you put into these reviews. I'm going to watch it again tomorrow. Your videos are the only gamer content I rewatch multiple times . They really are that good!
david gibson
2020-09-14 08:05:41 +0000 UTCThis is your current masterwork. When you said that this is as chaotic and speedy and innovative a video as you have yet made, you were, truly, not kidding. This is the 'Round About Midnight of video game reviews. I can't wait to see more.
Bohtaro
2020-09-14 02:42:37 +0000 UTCI'm new to Patreon posts. Where is the link to the video?
Evan
2020-09-14 02:10:30 +0000 UTCSpending the day watching the video in chunks, not dissimilar to how people watched The Irishman. Wonderful watch as always.
Mat Segal
2020-09-13 23:38:56 +0000 UTCJust finished watching. This was my favorite video you’ve produced thus far. Thank you!
Max Brown
2020-09-13 18:39:44 +0000 UTCI'm busy, so I can't be at the premiere (which is happening as I type this), but I will watch later! But I just wanted to comment on how horrible it is that your video was being flagged for that Beethoven piece! The amount of free classical music available on Youtube that legally shouldn't be there is... well... it's a lot! I'm not complaining about that though. It's good to let live video-recorded performances from the 90's and earlier be available to the public (within reason). But if they're going to allow that (and I am very glad that they do!), then it's a major error in programming to not allow you to use a piece that was specifically royalty-free! I'm so sorry you had to go through all that hassle. But your efforts are appreciated. Your reviews on video games have impacted my life more than I can say. They help my thinking about the arts and about life in general. So, thank you so much for all that you do!!!! Your hard work helps others!!!!
pwned11
2020-09-13 15:45:23 +0000 UTCDOOM!
Stephen “Seven” Perteet
2020-09-13 15:08:36 +0000 UTCthe return of the iconic bomber jacket
Cobhlaith
2020-09-13 11:12:32 +0000 UTCI’ve been watching through that great stream you did the other day with death stranding black and chrome. Finally bought the game. Really enjoyed woman in the dunes, Solaris, stalker and the great beauty. Excited for doom tomorrow and to see what’s next. Never backed anyone on patreon before. Love the content. Thanks for being a chill bud!
Jason
2020-09-13 08:28:38 +0000 UTCWould love to join y'all for the premier but it's unfortunately 2am where I'm at. Guess I'll have to watch it in the morning.
Aragorn Keuken
2020-09-13 07:28:41 +0000 UTCWow, Doom? I think I've heard of that. I'll watch this review and see if it is a game I would enjoy playing.
Kewl0210
2020-09-13 07:17:07 +0000 UTCI have been looking forward to this review (these reviews, the REVIEW) for weeks, The original Doom was formative and forbidden, a snuck treat for my young self. Excited, Tim!
Nathan Noble
2020-09-13 07:15:46 +0000 UTClove'n that E.S.T. debut
Mark T. Sedita
2020-09-13 07:11:00 +0000 UTC
