The Ultimate Doom

"Doom is huge! That means it has HUGE GUTS!"

Well, The Ultimate Doom. A slightly updated version of the original Doom, with a fourth episode added, bridging the gap between Doom and Doom II. I got it with a collector's pack, the aptly-named "Doom: Collector's Edition". One note, I play on GZDoom, an advanced Doom "source port" which allows me to play on Windows XP, adds mouselook, an OpenGL rendered, dynamic lights and whatnot. Anyway, into this review.

Graphics: 8/10

Doom uses sprites for characters. These sprites look nice at a distance, but up close, things can get pretty damned pixelated. The source port I use has anti-aliasing for sprites, which makes things a bit nicer, but it's still embarrassing these days. Still, when you play Doom nowadays, you're not looking for Source-engine quality graphics. The sprites work.

The textures are very nice, too. Steel walls of the early levels look good, as does radioactive sludge, with it's limited frames of animation. In the later, Hell-ish levels, you have stone walls and magma, which also looks good. Overall, nice textures and backgrounds, too.

Your weapons look good, and have a decent amount of animation to them. However, they're all "held" in the center. (Apparently, your character likes the way the rocket launcher feels between his legs.) Still, the original Doom was from '93. Cut it some slack!

Sound: 8/10

I think Doom had some excellent noises. Let's start with enemies. Zombies moan and groan, imps and demons snarl, cacodemons hiss, cyberdemons roar, and they all sound very convincing. id went to great lengths to make sure the enemies sounded good, I'm sure.

Weapon sounds now. Good enough, I'd say. The pistol sounds as underpowered as it is, while your trusty twelve-gauge has a satisfying boom and a classic pumping sound. The rocket launcher has a nice "shoomp!" sound to it, the chainsaw snarls and revvs, and the ever-lovable BFG just sounds... Right. I like the sound.

Generic sounds, you say? Doors whine as they open, explosions go boom... And I think that's about it, really.

Music: 9/10

Doom has some of my favorite MIDI tunes. I think everyone can recognize the classic guitar in E1M1, and while I can't recall any more specific levels, they all had some great music. From the rock tunes of the early levels to more chord and organ based ones of your adventures in Hell, the music is excellent and catchy.

Controls: 10/10

You can customize the controls any way you like, and on a source port that lets you use the mouse for turning and shooting (Doom95 doesn't allow that on Windows XP...), you have a classic FPS setup that'll have you mowing down enemies in no time. It IS possible to just play with a keyboard, however, and I've done it. It takes some getting used to, but can be done.

Gameplay: 9/10

Doom, being "the" first person shooter, has to have good gameplay, right? Correct! Sure, it may be simple compared to your Half-Life and Halo, but it's a formula I love. Run, blow the crap out of enemies, find keys, throw switches, kill more enemies, find a new gun, kill even more enemies, and find the exit. It's primitive, but sometimes, you don't want an epic first-person tale of intrigue and angst; you wanna blast some demons back into Hell! That's why I still play Doom more than any other game I own.

Story: 7/10

Doom has a B-movie story, really. Here's the deal. The UAC's (Union Aerospace Corporation) bases on the moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos, come up with a teleportation system between the bases. At first they experiment in a playful kind of way. Tossing a wrench through and watching it come out the other side. But then... Demons start pouring through! Everyone is either zombified or killed, except you. (Well, we wouldn't have much of a game if you shambled around going "Uhhhhnnnn...", now would we?) You, an unnamed marine on the Phobos base, armed with a lowly pistol, must find better firepower and go kick some demon ass.

It's a so-bad-it's-good kind of story, and you have to love it, really. Average, but... Hell, let's bump that up to 7 instead of 5. You have to show Doom a little love.

Replayability: 9/10

Doom is fun to play through a few times, but a lot of the replayability comes from how moddable Doom engine games are in general. Most mods these days are for Doom II, and most of them require a source port like ZDoom or GZDoom, but there's a lot to keep you entertained. Want to make demons look like Barney? So be it! Want to kill Teletubbies? Go for it! How would you like to be Mario fighting goombas? Not a problem! Or maybe you want more than sprite and sound changes? Well, plenty of excellent (and not-so-excellent!) mods are out there. Check out websites like Doom WAD Station to get started.

Overall: 9/10

Doom is one of those games that everyone has to respect, at least a little bit. Wolfenstein may have been the first true FPS, but Doom took it up to the next level. Even today, it provides a good challenge and a lot of nostalgic fun, so go get the collector's edition, download GZDoom, and have yourself a ball.

PS: You probably wanna know what the title means, right? Well, Google the "Doom Comic", but beware the stupidity.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/04/07

Game Release: The Ultimate Doom (US, 04/30/95)