Doom 3 was a totally different type of game than what its predecessors were like. Instead of going balls to the walls against hordes of demons inside well-lit, brown rooms, you ended up having to trek down dark corridors with your crappy flashlight, wondering when the next freak of nature would pop out and how. It was an overall tense experience, even when you were equipped with powerful weapons like the machine gun and the chainsaw (when used right), you still felt helpless as your marine made his way through hell on Mars. The title's main flaw was that it dragged on forever (and this was the Xbox version I played, mind you), which made it tiring to play late into the game. But those early moments left quite a lasting impression, truly frightening you, back when it all felt fresh. It was made even worse for me because of those damn giant spiders. And you know why? Because I hate spiders! Argh!!
I knew the type of thrill I was getting when I bought D3, but shit, those creatures really fucked me up. It didn't help matters that I knew they were gonna appear because of the build up to their first appearance: I enter a small room, observe it, then head towards the exit. But the door wouldn't open. At this point, I noticed something odd at the top of the screen, and looked up. What I saw was a dead body, wrapped inside a bunch of webbing, hanging upside down above the door.
Of course, I got weary. Then I got even more weary when I realized I had to go inside a floor duct filled with webs. As I slowly and nervously crawled my way through its mini maze, I caught a glimpse of a monster's silhouette, one with many legs, move away. I didn't want to go forward, fearing I would have to battle them inside such a small area, but I didn't have a choice if I wanted to beat the game. After a few minutes (yes, minutes, I was moving real slow), I finally came out of the duct and into an empty, dark room without witnessing anything. It was a completely different story, however, when I gravitated towards the center of the room, and a light yellow-skinned spider quickly popped out of a duct, and GROWLED LIKE A FUCKING LION.
For the next hour or two afterwards (again with the slow moving), it's complete horror for an arachnophobic: venturing through the latter half of Alpha Labs filled with spiders that pop out all over the place. It's even more frightful because it was happening in the first-person view, which gave the illusion that they were coming RIGHT AT YOU. It was absurd to the point where I started looking behind me and at my room's entrance, thinking they were there waiting to pounce me. Thinking about it now, I'm surprised I had the willpower to get through the whole ordeal. But I wouldn't be so fortunate the next time....
When you finally leave Alpha Labs, you won't see any spiders for the next four/five hours. Sounds great, but it just made things more tense. Every time I entered a room or walked down a corridor, it was scary, because I knew they would reappear again, but I didn't know when. And just when I reach the monorails, and my fear started to diminish, BAM, they come out of the shadows, scaring the shit out of me in the process. Figures. At that moment, I couldn't continue; I was just too freaked out. I guess it was because I knew what I was in for and didn't want to go through all that crap again. To this day, I never went beyond the monorails, and most likely never will.
So, congratulations, id, congratulations for scaring the crap out of me with Doom 3.