Ah, DOOM... what more about it can be said.
So, DOOM 3 specifically... I didn't like it much, although the second half or so of the game gets better. And I do prefer DOOM 3 (if I had to choose) over DOOM 2016, for sure. With some Mods I'd say DOOM 3 can be a decent enough game. But I never was a fan of it, overall. I wouldn't say it was "bad", by any means really. But at the time (more so then in comparison to nowadays) it felt just 'off' by way too much for me compared to the previous games. The context is important though. It was a time period when no less than 3 very significant engines were made that would have (especially 2 of them) repercussions in the industry for many years to follow. I always considered (at the time, when I first played it; essentially I bought it from a pre-order at release, PC version) DOOM 3 to be a 'tech demo'. It's... not a tech demo entirely but... yeah the context had a tremendous role into shaping up DOOM 3 into what it was ultimately.
Their attempt at the "horror" aspects mostly failed, in my eyes; then again on a personal level I've never really been that impressed by most attempts in video gaming in general to do "horror". It doesn't work in video games - for me anyway - as well as it can work in movies. In games, the "dread" feeling can be achieved, and I've experienced it a few times here and there. But... in DOOM 3 it was all about flickering lights in a dark corridor, and sudden / burst spawning of monsters behind or on the sides. After maybe 1 or 2 few select jump scares you've basically seen most of them (well, speaking for myself). So, DOOM 3 for me didn't have to try to impress me with its horror take on the DOOM franchise, the only thing that could 'get me' would have had to be its actual "DOOM-like" game-play elements... and it just wasn't really there. Not to mention that I never "asked for" any actual big story, much less cut scenes or cinematics in a DOOM game. It was the case then, it was still the case when I first played DOOM 2016.
Anyway, I'm skipping a lot but... DOOM 3 in general for me was just monotonous to play, especially the first half. I did finish the game a single time and never touched it again since (although I do still own my original physical copy). If I had to score it (from my original playthrough at the time, without Mods or any of the modern revisions or the BGF edition and such) I'd have given it probably a 6/10 at the time, maybe more like a 5/10 for a DOOM game, or a 6/10 for just being a then-modern FPS game with new visual tech included. Around the same time period I had a lot more fun with the original FarCry by comparison, and I was a lot more immersed and fascinated by the new tech offered in Half-Life 2 instead.
My favorite DOOMs will pretty much always be DOOM II, Ultimate DOOM, DOOM 64, and Final DOOM. Can't go wrong with any of those. They are even better (in my opinion) when played with (G)zDOOM, even DOOM 64 is a possible experience on PC since the DOOM 64 EX port. The new DOOM 2016 and Eternal games... (to end of this note) just don't hold a candle to the classic series, they're just modern FPSes, they're not DOOM games for me. I'll repeat myself but I'd rather play DOOM 3 again if I had to choose, I pretty much hated D2016, couldn't actually bother to finish it; and that made me skip Eternal entirely (I did watch part of a playthrough on YouTube from one of my favorite streamers who happened to play it to the end... and all I can say is that not buying it is one of my best decisions in recent years when it comes to modern gaming).
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