Doom (PC)

Developer:

id Software

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Release Date:

2016

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Systems:

Windows, Xbox One, PS4

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This week on Super Adventures I'm spending an hour or so playing last year's Doom! I know it's a new game and there's already a million reviews out there to read, but I played the other three so it seemed cruel to leave this one out.

Plus this gives me a chance to go on a rant about them pulling a 'Tomb Raider' with the title, meaning that we have to call the first game 'the original Doom' from now on to avoid confusion. This problem generally wears off over time for movies (no one can even remember that they remade RoboCop or Total Recall) but the trouble with games is that the reboots are often good and you have to acknowledge they exist.

There was actually a Doom 4 in development, which was to take place during the demonic invasion of Earth, but it was cancelled on account of it being soulless, heavily scripted and more like the Call of Duty games than Doom. That was in development from 2007 to 2011, then this game sprang from its ashes in 2016. So henceforth it shall be known as Doom 2016.

I'm very familiar with the earlier Doom games, but all I've seen of this one so far is the demo. I've been deliberately avoiding reading too much about it just in case it had an actual plot to spoil. Hey if Wolfenstein: The New Order of all sequels can have an emotional thought-provoking story then there's hope for every game series!

(Click the pictures to view screenshots at a slightly less pitiful 1280x720 resolution).

Doom 3 (PC)

Today I present to you the final Super Adventures article of the year and yes it's another bloody first person shooter. I figured that I should probably get this one out of the way now while the original Doom games are still fresh in my mind.

I get the impression that Doom 3 (or is that Doom³) isn't the most beloved of the franchise, possibly due (in part) to the fact that very little pisses gamers off more than when a developer tries to turn their franchise into something new to bring in a different audience. I mean when you go out to buy a loaf of bread you wouldn't likely be impressed to find that the baker has suddenly reimagined it all into... ice cream or something to better appeal to the teen demographic would you? Though unlike the XCOM, Syndicate, Resident Evil and Shadowrun franchises etc. with this game id software tried to turn their mindless mainstream shooter series into something slower paced and a bit more intelligent.

Doom 3 isn't entirely new to me, as I actually finished it back when it first came out, but I'm interested in seeing what I think about it now that it's a decade behind the curve and the shine's all worn off.

(Click the images to see them at twice the resolution!)

Doom II: Hell on Earth (MS-DOS)

Oh crap what have they done to Doomguy's hair? It looks like some demonic head-crab has attached itself to the back of his head.

It might seem like a strange choice to play Doom II when I already have Doom I on the site, as the games are fairly identical. But if I remember right this second game actually has a number of refinements over the original, such as... uh... well they give you an extra gun! Also there's a few new monsters I believe, a couple of extra pickups... plus they've turned off most (but not all) of those little red lights that used to be scattered across the blue region of the logo text.

I'll give it an hour or so anyway; long enough for me to find out first hand whether it's a true sequel or an expansion pack in disguise.

Doom (MS-DOS)

The Doom franchise is 20 years old this year so I thought it'd be a good time to take a brief look at the original Doom, id software's fifth first person shooter (but their first to have four letters in its title and end with 'm'). The anniversary is actually 10 days into December but I'm impatient so you're getting this early.

I'll admit right now that I'm not going into this one even slightly blind and I doubt I'll be able to think of anything worthwhile to say about the game that you haven't heard a thousand times already, but it's not like I've ever let that stop me before. There's a Doom shaped hole in my website and that needs fixing.

To be accurate I'll actually be playing Ultimate Doom, not the ORIGINAL version of original Doom, despite the fact I've used the original title screen here. I apologise for the unnecessary confusion. Basically Ultimate Doom is Doom with the latest patch installed and a fourth episode bolted on, but there's at least one sneaky change to an earlier level.