Final Doom

"32 levels of DOOM pleasure...32 levels of DOOM pain!"

I've loved DOOM ever since way back in 1995, I believe, when I first played it on the Super NES. I had heard alot about it, and I didn't have a (decent) computer yet, so I decided to pick up the SNES version. I was blown away. It was action-packed, it was scary (voted scariest 16-bit game of all time in GamePro magazine!), it was fun. I still didn't have a (decent) computer when I tried the Playstation version of Final DOOM a few years later. It, too, was amazing. Of course, I had rented it along with a Playstation, so, I couldn't keep it. But, with a brand-spankin' new (used) 486 (equivalent. Actually, a turbo-speed 386) PC I got a bit later, the PC versions of DOOM, DOOM II, and Final DOOM were in my grasp (finally)!

Final DOOM was a set of two 32-level sets designed for the DOOM II engine (which was included). They were ''TNT: Evilution'' (made [mostly] by our buddies over at TeamTNT!), and ''The Plutonia Experiment'' (made by the Casali brothers, Milo & Dario Casali, also members of TeamTNT at one point or another). One impressed me, the other scared the crap outta' me!

Since Final DOOM is basically two games in one, I'm going to split them up into two sections. Here goes!

Final DOOM: TNT: Evilution

The story is this. You're The Man. Yes, you. You rock. You single-handedly stopped the forces of Hell itself from conquering the Earth *TWICE*! The first time you destroyed the demon threat on the UAC (Union Aerospace Corporation) bases on the two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos. Then, you managed to stop the demon war that was raging on Earth itself! How'd you do that, anyway?
Well, anyway, the UAC released the demons into our universe by fooling around with ancient teleportation devices they found on the Mars moons called ''Gates''. It would make perfect sense to leave those Gates alone, considering that we know where they link up to. But, the UAC still hasn't learned it's lesson, and continues it's experiments on the Gates. This time, though, they're conducting there studies on the moons of Jupiter, a safe distance away from Earth. Marines are also stationed there for extra safety measures.
Everything is all set. The Marines are positioned around the Gate, ready for anything. The Gate is opened, and the horrors of Hell flood the room, hoping to meat warm flesh with their sharp teeth. Instead, they meet heavy firepower from automatic weaponry. Soon enough, the invasion stopped. The Marines were victorious, and Hell stayed back.
The testing continued. The Marines tightened their defensive positions. They watched the Gates closely for any enemy activity. Unfortunately, the was the wrong place to look.
Months passed, and the yearly supply ship arrived...ahead of time. On the radar, it appeared far larger than it should've been, and was coming from the wrong direction. Odd, but not inexplicable. The personnel were informed, and they headed out to the landing field to meet it. But, it never landed. The people looked up, and noticed something. This was terribly wrong.
The ship was gigantic, constructed of metal, flesh and bone. It's humongous, football field-sized doors opened, and demons poured outward. There were hundreds of thousands of them...everywhere. The Marine defenses, stationed around the Gate, were completely useless. Everyone was killed quickly. Soon after, they were reanimated into the living dead, and had only one thought on their mind. That thought was to KILL.
Of course, this happened to everyone...except you. Lucky, lucky you. The Marine Commander. You were miles away at the time, enjoying a pleasant stroll across the rocky landscape of the moon. It wasn't until you heard that disgusting sound...that sound those...''things'' always make, that you realized something was wrong. It was behind you. You whirled around and made mince meat of it with your 9mm, though.
You ran back to the base to find nothing but death. Death of the UAC technicians, the scientists...your men. The men you trained so hard with. You were so proud of them...and now, they were gone. Imagine your reaction to this.
You couldn't protect the base. Everything is gone. So, the only thing to do now...is to get REVENGE! You ready your weaponry (your shrimpy little pistol and spiked brass knuckles), and go into battle. Sure, you might die, but, death comes to everyone. At least you'll go out with a BANG!

Long story for a first-person shooter, dontcha' think?

Graphics- These days (in the year 2000), with all these 24-bit graphics cards a 3D accelerators and all that complicated mumbo-jumbo, Final DOOM isn't very impressive. Heck, even back in early 1996 when this game made it's debut, these graphics were nothing spectacular. But, for DOOM standards, there's still some mighty impressive visuals.
The wall textures are quite detailed, and look very good in some parts (there's even John Romero's name written in blood in a couple areas!). There's neat little effects, like cracks in walls that you can walk through and broken fences, etc. Even more impressive are the sky graphics, such as the starry sky that seems to let you see the farthest reaches of the galaxy, and the billowing red clouds in some of the later levels. The levels themselves look very well, also. They're much improved over many of the original DOOM II levels.
The character and enemy graphics are pretty nice, as well. They do get very distorted and pixelated up close, but, from a distance, they look rather good. They aren't very well-animated, though, and appear rather jerky at points. On the other hand, the death animations are quite good (try punching a pistol zombie while using a Berserk pack. Ouch!).

Final DOOM: TNT: Evilution's graphics aren't all that wonderful, especially when compared to Duke Nukem 3D or Quake (all released the same year), but they still can pack a punch, visually.

Sound- The great Robert ''Bobby'' Prince's awesome sound & music flow all throughout Evilution, and include some of his best music tracks to date, as well as some of his ''golden oldies'' from DOOM II.
The music is fantastic. It sets the mood perfectly for the already great levels, and heightens the overall enjoyment level of the game. These are memorable tunes, and, if you're like me, you'll never forget them, even if others do.
The sounds are excellent, too. They are one of the most well-crafted parts of the DOOM games. The zombies will creep you out with their otherworldly moans and labored breathing, and the other enemies will make you jump at least one time with their high-pitched screams and hisses.
The weapon effects are awesome as well, from the ''BOOM! Clickety-click!'' of the Super Shotgun, to the ''BWOOSH!'' of the Rocket Launcher. The other sound effects are a kick, too.
A wonderful treat for the ears. That's a good description of Evilution's sound package. If you've played DOOM/DOOM II, this won't be anything new, but, at least there's a kickin' new soundtrack! Hats off to you, Bobby Prince!

Play Control- No problems here. It's all smooth sailing. One button for running, one for opening doors, flipping switches, etc., one for shooting, and so on. It's all executed perfectly. You can also use the mouse for more precision. Even more, if the default controls don't suit you, you can customize them using the setup program.

Challenge- It varies, but things never get too easy, or too insanely difficult, either. You'll have trouble making it out of situations without getting blown to bits, all while trying to figure out where in the world you're supposed to go next. Alot of these levels are quite large and complex, and can have you searching all over for exits. The enemies don't usually get too out of hand, though, but still offer plenty of challenge. It's definitely tougher than DOOM II, I can tell you that!

Replay Value- DOOM doesn't have much in the form of replay value. Once you beat the game, you can try it again on a harder difficulty, or challenge yourself by trying to find 100% of the secrets (two secret levels lie within!) or completing the levels quickly, or something, but that's about all.

Other Gripes- If you enjoyed DOOM and DOOM II, and buy Final DOOM expecting something new, you'll be quite disappointed. There are no new enemies, no new items, no new weapons, no NOTHING except new music and levels. Sorry. I guess you'll just have to wait 'til DOOM III is released (which is currently in development. WHOO-HOO!).
Another problem is the amount of bugs in this game. If you watch the demos at the beginning of the game, after the third demo ends, the game will crash, giving you an error about not being able to load demo4 (because it doesn't exist). Other errors can occur from overly large levels (visplane overflow!), and one other bug keeps you from completing secret level 31 (because the yellow key is missing!)! I wish they could've fixed that up before releasing this as a commercial product and all!

Final DOOM: The Plutonia Experiment

The story is this. You are, once again, The Man. You're the dude who beat the heck out of Hell twice before. You alone managed to stop the demon invasion of Earth a while back, and saved all that remained of mankind.
After the invasion was over, the US took steps to make sure that nothing like that would ever happen again. The US ordered the new UAC (the old one was, pretty much, completely destroyed) to find out a way to close the remaining Hell Gates on Earth.
Right away, the UAC got to work on Quantum Accelerator Devices, which would allow them to close the Gates permanently from a distance. Everything was going well.
That was, until the demons became interested in the experiments. One day, a Gate opened up right inside the UAC complex. Now was the time to see if the device would work! Sure enough, in it's maiden test, the Quantum Accelerator performed perfectly. It even spelled a miserable death for a demon halfway through the Gate when it was closed.... This technology would be able to protect the world from any more demon invasions.
The demons were persistent, though, and the next day, a ring of seven gates opened in the complex. The Quantum Accelerator was put to work immediately, and managed to close six of the gates within an hour. But, by then, there were too many of them. The Marines stationed in the complex fought hard, but couldn't stop them. Soon enough, all of the personnel and the Marines were either dead or zombified. The Quantum Accelerator and it's prototypes now belonged to the demons and the Gatekeeper guarding the seventh Gate.
The government got word of this, and, fearing that the Quantum Accelerator might be destroyed or used for some terrible purpose, ordered all available Marines to the site at once. You were on leave at the beach when you got the word. Only minutes from the complex, you suited up, grabbed a pistol, and raced over to the complex in your pickup truck.
When you arrived, there were bodies all over. The sounds of battle could still be heard from inside the complex. Backup would arrive in an hour or so, but, that would be too little, too late. You've gotta' get in there and retrieve the Quantum Accelerator and it's prototypes from the Gatekeeper before it's too late and the monsters once again are unleashed into the world!

Graphics- The Plutonia Experiment seems to focus more on level design than graphics. While the levels still look pretty good, they looked better in Evilution. At least in Evilution, it looked like you were in a moon base. This looks more like another dimension than a complex on Earth. I guess that must've been caused by the demon's influence.
The few new textures that are included look okay, as well, but aren't very noticeable. The sky graphics in the first few levels are pretty cool, too. All the rest of graphics are the same as they were in DOOM II/Evilution.
The graphics certainly aren't as breathtaking as they were in Evilution, but certainly are interesting nonetheless.

Sound- I hope you like the music from DOOM/DOOM II, 'cuz that's all you'll find here. There are absolutely no new music tracks, just picks from DOOM/DOOM II. At least the old music was good. They just don't seem to fit the levels as well as in Evilution. But, I guess no one really cares about music in DOOM.
The sound effects are the same as they were in DOOM II/Evilution. Welp, don't fix what ain't broken, I guess!

Play Control- Just as flawless as always. As I always say with games that have good play control, if you screw up, it's YOUR fault, not the game's!

Challenge- OH MY GOD!!!!! ARGH!!! Sheesh, I'm trying to have a nice fun game of Plutonia, and I keep getting killed all of the time! The enemies are relentless, and are in INCREDIBLE numbers. You'll never have a chance to calm down, since you're always in some crazy situation where the outcome is usually some demon stepping all over your lifeless body. Plus, equipment is not usually in good supply. If you think the hard mode of DOOM or DOOM II is too tough, completely avoid this game. You will die again, and again, and again, and again, and never get very far.
If you're tough enough to handle the absolutely ridiculous number of enemies, then you'll probably never figure out how to beat the levels because they're very complicated. This is nothing but expert DOOM for people who just like to show off.
The Plutonia Experiment is WAY tough, but, some people like that. If you're new to first-person shooters, I wouldn't recommend starting here!

Replay Value- Same as every other DOOM game. Just play again because you want to, that's all.

Other Gripes- The Plutonia Experiment shares many of the same problems as Evilution. They really offer nothing new to the DOOM series, and they both have similar bugs (like big levels crashing and trying to load nonexistent demos). Oh, DOOM III, where are you?

Overall- Final DOOM is for the player who just loves DOOM and can't get enough. They don't care that nothing new is added. They don't care that the game is a little buggy. They don't care that this is the same game they've been playing for years. They just want more DOOM, and this offers plenty of it. Final DOOM is 64 quality levels for your DOOMing pleasure, nothing more. If you want a revolutionary new shooter, buy Half-Life or something like that. If you want classic, hard-core first-person shooting action without alot of those fancy graphics or CD-quality sound or deathmatch that you can play with 63 other people, look no further. This is nothing but fun, gritty, down and dirty gaming. No strings attached. If you love DOOM, buy Final DOOM. If you want to play DOOM for the first time, you can buy this, but, I don't recommend playing Plutonia right away....

Other Suggestions- If you enjoyed playing Final DOOM, I suggest playing DOOM or DOOM II (for just about any computer or game console you can think of), or Quake (for the PC, N64, Saturn, etc.).

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/10/00, Updated 02/22/01