The Problem With DOOM, According To Gears Of War's Designer

DOOM is finally here and game design legend Cliff Bleszinski appears mostly happy with it. He does have one small gripe, though, and he admits it's an issue he himself has been guilty of.

Last week was actually a pretty insane launch period for AAA games. Not only did Naughty Dog's new action adventure, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End hit store shelves, but it was joined by the highly anticipated and far more graphic DOOM. Those games are certainly different enough to draw two different crowds, though, so I doubt either bit into the others sales.

Apparently Cliff Bleszinski (You know, the guy responsible for the Gears of War series?) decided to pick up the latter and, according to a recent tweet, he's digging his time spent with DOOM. He does have at least one gripe, though, which he decided to share on Twitter.

Anyone who has played the Gears of War series knows that, if you get close enough to the game's baddies, you can murder them in pretty tremendous fashion. Whether it's a curb stomp or an in-your-face removal of limbs via Lancer, the series became known for its gratuitous violence against the invading Locust hordes.

According to Bleszinski, DOOM offers a similar execution system to the Gears series and, in his eyes, both were a bit too over-the-top. It sounds less like Bleszinski has an issue with the violence and more like he's frustrated with what these constant breaks for gore do to the game's pacing.

In the follow-up conversations, Bleszinski explains that, in DOOM, this is especially troubling since executions provide health and are basically necessary at the game's higher difficulties. So while you're trying to survive yet another flood of hell beasts, you're constantly having your flow shut down by one execution scene after another. We can certainly understand why that would be frustrating.

Still, we appreciate Bleszinski's constructive criticism. He wasn't rude about it (an internet rarity) and he even acknowledged the fact that he's guilty of the same sin. Perusing the comments that follow, even Cliffy B's followers engaged in some level-headed conversation about the pros and cons of the animations which, again, is pretty insane for the internet. No swearing or name-calling, just folks talking about whether or not the execution animations are cumbersome.

Which brings us to our own comments section. We'd love to hear our readers chime in on the topic. Have you been playing DOOM this week or are you trying to get through Uncharted 4 first? What are your thoughts on the execution features? Would it be better if they were truly optional and not tied to health? Let us know your thoughts below.