There was a moment in the new (and awesome by the way) Doom which instantly reminded me of Half-Life. The moment came when I entered the core of the Argent Energy Tower, and I was sent back in time to Anomalous Materials in Half-Life. Bear with me, and I will explain all after the break.

Once I had seen this, I couldn’t help but think back to other parts of Doom and elements of the Half-Life series which resonated. A lot of these moments are just visual cues, such as finding your suit at the beginning of both games. They don’t look that similar, but it is a shared moment of ‘oooh, this is my new toy!’.

There are also some similarities in the themes of the games (in respect of the original Half-Life at least) as scientists are testing the creation of portals to other worlds (Hell counts!) and have previously sent through exploration teams which have failed to return. The ego of the scientists in both games leads to invasions of aliens/demons to a research base, and one of the only ways to stop the chaos, is to travel to the other world.

That’s where another visual and gameplay comparison comes into play.

The final visual similarity is one of the strongest. Two towers and two glowing red portals emanating from the sky above.

In a world where fans are eagerly waiting for any indication that Half-Life 3 or Episode 3 is in the works or close to release, I think Doom has enough shared stylings and themes to satiate the desire for news.

Am I mad? Did anyone else think about this when playing Doom? Or are you just reading because I’m talking about Half-Life?