No Carmack, No Problem? DOOM Multiplayer In Action
Evil never dies, etc
"Those murders are alright," claimed Alice, and she spends half her time worrying that there are murderous clowns living in her basement, so I guess she'd know. Perhaps this bodes well for Bethesda's Doom [official site], the game we're not allowed to call Doom 4, whose multiplayer closed alpha kicks off tomorrow, and some advance footage of which can be seen below. And she's right - I don't know that I'd say it looks especially Doomy, but those murders are alright.
It's fast; it's certainly fast. After Doom 3, that's very much the good news. There are some nods to Doom heritage, like the oddly colourful UI and the rawwwwwwwwwwk, but all told it's more like some twitchy hybrid of Quake III and COD. See?
The alpha runs from tomorrow until Sunday, depending on timezones, and offers 5 weapons and two pieces of equipment in 6v6 play on one map, named Heatwave. No, you probably can't get into it at this stage. Alpha signups were open to folk who pre-ordered Wolfenstein: The New Order last year, and access wasn't guaranteed. If you did do that but didn't know about the alpha, get yourself over here sharpish and might not be too late. More tests are due ahead of release however, then the beta doors will open for all pre-orderers - and hopefully the rest of us.
I do have alpha access and I'll take a look tomorrow, but sadly no-one's allowed to talk about what goes on just yet. As soon as the legal blast shields are raised I'll have a natter about it, though. In the meantime, there are more details about what to expect here.
Based on the video though, how are you feeling about the first non-Carmacky Doom?