Atmospheric Pacing in an Ancient Video Game

     Because I've been obsessed with Doom music recently (partially due to this Doom ripoff illustration project which I'm regretting), it got me thinking about how great the level when you meet THE CYBERDEMON really was, on reflection.

     The first thing you'll probably notice is the really creepy carnival music.

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iIrg4DM078

     The level starts you off in a tightly packed room with four switches, each one opening one door. Plastered on the adjoining walls are four of the strongest demons you'd faced up to that point, gutted like frogs. Walk out one of the doors and you'll be in a large courtyard. You'll probably notice a few of the pissant flying flaming skulls you've been killing by the dozen up till now. At this point you've got a suspicion there's gotta be more to the level than this. You take a shot at one of the skulls, only to hear a kinda deafening "RAAAARRRRRGH!" somewhere in the distance. If you were a kid when you first played Doom you probably peed a little. By firing a shot, you alerted the behemoth to your presence, and now he's stomping around the courtyard. Looking for you. All you hear now is a loud clanking metal footstep. You'll probably wander around the place for a while, out of a combination of curiosity and just hoping you find him before he finds you. When you finally DO see him... HE'S PRETTY BIG.

at this range... you're pretty much dead.

     The thing about the Cyberdemon is, he doesn't stop to show you his huge set of fangs or strut for a while while you soak him all in. The instant he sees you he starts firing rockets at you in salvos of three. If one hits you, odds are you're dead or close to it. It was one of the most intense boss battles I'd experienced, and it was with nary a dialogue screen, cutscene, or a plot at all, really.

This is something that games today are often terrified to do; let you build the suspense by yourself. Games today are so worried that you might miss something that the whole thing becomes more of a sightseeing tour than an actual experience. 

     Fighting ol' Cybie now is kind of a joke, as the good ol' mouse and keyboard combination which is now standard allows you to just circle-strafe him to your heart's content without ever catching a missile up your nose. Back in those days, though, when you were awkwardly using the arrow and ctrl keys to do business, he was one scary bastard.