Every week, Richard Cobbett rolls the dice to bring you an obscure slice of gaming history, from lost gems to weapons grade atrocities. This week, as a few lucky people get a glimpse of the new Doom, a look back to one of the forgotten games that preceded it.
Very few genres start with their most famous game. In the case of shooters, Doom set the template that everyone would first wisely try to build on as far as style, design, deathmatching and feel, but it wasn't even close to being the first FPS. Nor was its predecessor, Wolfenstein 3D. Even without looking at other companies, id Software had two before either of them - fantasy-themed Wolf 3D predecessor Catacomb 3D (not the "Catacomb Abyss" series that used the same engine but was made elsewhere, as well as featuring the most eye-gouging wall textures ever inflicted on an unsuspecting world), and the super-miminalistic Hovertank 3D back in 1991, which had simple coloured boxes for levels and turned heads less for its complexity as its speed - something that Wolfenstein 3D would later weaponise.
But before that? Let's check in with Core Design, years before striking gold with Lara Croft...
