One of the first PC shoot-em-ups I remember playing was DOOM. If I recall, the first episode in the DOOM series was available free online. I downloaded it over my “high-speed” dialup modem and played. It was so cool . . . back in the mid-1990s.

I probably played the entire DOOM preview the day I downloaded it. Unlike other games, DOOM was almost 3D on the screen. And it was scary! Monsters would pop up randomly, growl at you, shoot things at you, and you’d have to dodge and fight.

Like all good video games, DOOM was easy to learn and addicting to play. Dying didn’t discourage you from starting over and trying again.

I ended up purchasing DOOM, later called DOOM I. Then I ordered DOOM II when it came out. My video game habit is to play as a distraction, usually for 10 minutes or so, and then get back to work. Occasionally I find a game that enraptures me and I play longer, but that’s getting rare these days.

Out of nostalgia, I recently purchased (during the Steam sale, which is evil, by the way) the Ultimate DOOM package. For $2.99 I bought the original DOOM and DOOM II. These versions are compatible with modern PCs, so I loaded them up and for the first time since about 1998, played the games again.

DOOM plays well under Windows 10, but the graphics are really gross! And, of course, it’s not really 3D but 2-and-a-half-D. The gameplay is awkward and stilted compared with a modern shoot-em-up. Still, I enjoyed the trivia of playing the game and returning to familiar places in the digital realm. Yet, the nostalgia wore off after a while and I got bored.

I don’t plan on abandoning DOOM. I’ll probably go back and play it for a while whenever I’m bored. If anything, something in the game reminds me of when I first played it over 20 years ago. To me, it’s nostalgia — like going back to Disneyland and remembering the last time I was there and who I was with and what fun I had. Of course, the characters at Disneyland don’t shoot you with plasma rifles, but I’m okay with that.