The Ultimate Doom

"Welcome To The Core Of First Person Shooters."

The portal to hell has opened and it is your duty to venture through various factories, facilities, and wastelands to put all the escaped creatures to rest for good. You must defeat the evil hell-spawned demons and monsters then close the open portal before it's too late. The weight of the world rests on your shoulders. And all you've got is a pistol. Sweet. Welcome to The Ultimate Doom.

Maybe people deem Doom as the turning point of great FPS games. Some people say Doom is the #1 best game of all-time. Other claim that Doom is too violent and shouldn't be played. Well, no matter what YOU think, it's a fact that Doom was a trend-setter, a pioneer for it's time, and a great game to play, even over a decade later.

Doom starts up and you select an "episode" (or a world, if you will), and you are on your way. You start with a pistol and some ammo. If you run out, you must (1) find more ammo, (2) find another weapon, or (3) use your brass knuckles, which never "run out" of ammo. You venture through the levels killing monsters and beasts, with the help of exploding toxic barrels to kill a bunch of enemies at once, armor pick-ups on the ground, and scattered health packs to keep you alive. You'll find yourself hitting switches to open hidden entrances, searching for keys to unlock doors, and swiftly maneuvering to avoid falling into toxic waste on the ground. Though Doom may look simple on the surface, underneath, there is a deep FPS waiting to be discovered.

You have four episodes to chose from in The Ultimate Doom, those being Knee Deep In The Dead, The Shores of Hell, Inferno, and another episode that is unique to The Ultimate Doom, called Thy Flesh Consumed. All four episodes are split into a bunch of "levels" which you must venture through, trying to reach the door labeled "Exit" to continue to the next level. Each episode also includes a boss near the end that you must kill, getting you one step closer to saving planet Earth!

The weapons range from boring and weak to strong and freakin' sweet. You start off with Brass Knuckles and a Pistol, but after searching through the levels, you might uncover the Shotgun, the rapid firing Chaingun, the all-powerful Rocket Launcher, a Plasma Gun, the monstrosity known as the BFG 9000, and my personal favorite, the Chainsaw. Some weapons like the BFG will clear out a room full of enemies in one or two shots, but others like the Shotgun will require more precision to successfully defeat your foes and stay alive.

Enemies in The Ultimate Doom are excellently portrayed and really fun to kill. You have the soldiers with pistols, soldiers with shotguns, brown looking demons called Imps, bigger and scarier pink monsters generically called Demons, invisible Demons, flying skulls on fire, large floating red blobs with one eye, and that's not even all of the enemies. There are multiple bosses you'll face throughout that are really tough to defeat and take lots of hits to finally lay to waste. Hope you brought more than that tiny pistol!

The levels are laid out very well, with lots of secrets hidden and tiny nooks which will take you a while to find, especially if you have nonobservant eyes. As levels get harder, you must look for color-coded keys to unlock their corresponding colored doors and progress. All in all, your main goal is to reach the bronze colored door labeled "EXIT" and hit the switch inside of the room there. Good luck, you'll need it.

Doom comes with five difficulties to suit gamers of all types. The difficulties from easiest to hardest are as follows: I'm Too Young To Die, Hey Not Too Rough, Hurt Me Plenty, Ultra Violence, and Nightmare. In Nightmare mode, you can't use cheats, enemies are more plentiful than in Ultra Violence, enemies also respawn after a bit, and ammo pickups give you 2x the amount (trust me, you'll need it).

The controls in doom are simple. You maneuver using the keypad or the mouse if you'd like (I think the keypad is easier), and press a button on the keyboard to shoot. There is also a button to look at your map, pause, and open doors. Remember, this is a computer game, so you can set all the controls by yourself, which means it's insta-win.

The graphics in The Ultimate Doom are not good compared to games of the future, but for their time, they were awesome. The sweet design of all the enemies throughout the pseudo 3-D world gave this game a horror unlike any other. Not to mention the violence. Ripping enemies to shreds, seeing blood and guts lying on the floor all around you... nasty stuff. Definitely not a game for those with weak stomach, as well as those with young children!

There you have it. That's The Ultimate Doom from a minor vantage point. If you haven't played this game yet, then get off your ass and find a copy because this game is legendary, and it'll be worth every penny that you pay for it.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/14/07