Id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead has defended Doom III's reputation, pointing out that the four-year-old first-person shooter is "the most successful game in id's history".
Asked by Kikizo whether there were any 'weaknesses in Doom III that need to be corrected' for upcoming multiformat racing/shooting hybrid Rage, Hollenshead rejected the premise completely.
"I think there are three people on the internet that keep making these posts that Doom 3 was 'bad', and they get no credibility from any other people... there's some mass-misperception out there," he said.
"I get this occasionally - why don't I think Doom III was successful? We sold over three million units! It's the most successful game in id's history."
Released in August 2004 on PC (and later on Xbox), Doom III took players on a spooky tour of a dark and distorted Mars research base where naughty experiments had opened a gateway to Hell.
The game was highly rated at the time, even collecting a 9/10 rating from our own Kristan Reed, but it did come under fire for its repetitive environments, single-minded focus and the fact you couldn't hold the torch at the same time as your gun.
Doom's developer is currently working on various projects including a fourth game in the series based on id's current engine, id Tech 5.