Everything felt a bit too heavy in D3... not enough room too move around, kinda sluggish movement, making it difficult to dodge attacks.
And being hit slows you down significantly because of the screen shakes and such. Weapons also lacked a certain punch.
IMO still the best Doom -- I do think D1 and 2 are viewed through rose tinted glasses a bit too much at times -- I played both after finishing D3.
Z-axis makes maps that much more interesting. I just wish the player was a bit more nimble and it wasn't so much claustrophobic corridors.
Also in terms of production value still very good game. Martian settlements feel like a breathing living world. The unified dynamic lighting also helps in that regard.
Quake 1 is still Id's best game in terms of combat and map feel. Q2 enemies lacked the inventiveness of Q1 and the weapons weren't as fun.
Q3 easily matches Q1 in those regards I think, but of course that's multiplayer.
Rage has great enemies and solid weapons, was a great step up from D3. Gameplay wise reminded me a little of HL2 at times. Animation is amazing.
Actually, I personally found the first maps of D3 to be much more of a drag than the second half of the game. The part where you enter delta and there isn't a living soul anywhere was a nice touch. Also the part where you move around a corner and there's an imp with a strong bright light behind him, just standing there... kind of a WTF moment, but it worked so well, a shame so much of D3 was just grinding through corridors. Also: too dark!
One thing that generally irks me about Id games is the weapon selection.
Super shotgun is essentially a better shotgun, minigun is a better assault rifle. In Quake it didn't really hurt, Q2 it was already annoying me, but in RAGE the AK feels so pointless once you get the Auth rifle, and D3 arsenal is generally identical to Q2. Just a case of the same weapon, just better. You could easily make it one weapon and use alternate firing modes like in Unreal. Or at least diversify the weapon properties a little. I did like the D3 plasma quite a lot though, was a little slow, but it felt powerful somehow.
Ramble ramble...