The Ultimate Doom

"The Ultimate Doom? Try "The Ultimate Blastfest"!"

We all remember Doom. At one point or another, anyone with a PC had Doom. However, most people never got the full Doom experience because they had the shareware version. And for those who did buy the retail version, they still didn't get the full Doom experience.

But with The Ultimate Doom just recently released, you can now finally get the full Doom experience! Let's review the game, shall we?

STORY 5/10: So the story was a bit non-existent. But honestly, did you really need a story? What's that? You did? Oh okay, here's the story...

The UAC has been experimenting with wormholes on the Martian moons of Phobos and Deimos. However, the UAC soon discovers disturbances in the wormholes. Chaos! Hordes of pure hellspawns have somehow gotten through the wormholes and into the moon bases! Billions are dead! Your comrades have lost their lives! Soon, you are the only one left. Just you. And them...

GRAPHICS 10/10: I don't care what anyone says, The Ultimate Doom has amazing graphics! While they didn't rival another great game of its time... *cough*Myst*cough*... The Ultimate Doom has a wonderfully solid framerate, and this helps to accent the graphics even more! Great use of extensive color really helps give the game atmosphere. Toxic lakes, dead bodies, everything in The Ultimate Doom owes so much to the game's wonderful 3D graphics!

GAMEPLAY 10/10: The Ultimate Doom has perhaps the easiest play control ever! All you need is the keyboard! (Since The Ultimate Doom was just recently released, it now also supports joystick and game pad use.) Anyhoo, using the keyboard or joystick or game pad, you can fire weapons, check your Automap, activate items, enter cheat codes, etc.

As for the gameplay itself, it is pretty self-revealing. In each episode- there are 4, by the way- you travel from one area to the next, killing anything that moves. Once you exit each level, you will automatically move on to the next. It's that simple! However, each level you progress to features more and tougher enemies, and each episode tends to add a new enemy or two. Plus, each level/episode also tend to add some new challenges, such as crushing ceilings or secret exits. And speaking of secret exits, each episode contains one secret level, or the ninth level of each episode. This makes a grand total or 36 levels! (That's more than Doom II: Hell on Earth!)

The Ultimate Doom also features five difficulty levels. The first time through, you'll want to play on the ''I'm Too Young to Die'' setting. But once you are comfortable with the game, you'll only want to play on the ''Ultra-Violence'' setting.

What else have I missed? Oh yeah... how does a great variation of weapons sound? You start off with just a pistol, but sooner or later, you'll have everything from a chainsaw to a Plasma Rifle!

What else? How about a customization box that opens up before starting a new game? From this box, you can optimize your settings. You can configure the keyboard, edit monster behaviour, and even load up custom WAD files!

And before I forget, DEATHMATCH! This is the ''ultimate'' The Ultimate Doom experience! You get to stay up late killing your friends! What on Earth could possibly be more fun?

SOUND 7/10: The sound is great. All the monsters have their own little howl, and every weapon has a distinctive crack.

MUSIC 10/10: The Ultimate Doom features some of the best video game music of all time! These tracks have stood the test of time, and are still ambient and amazing to listen to!

VERDICT
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Story - 5/10
Graphics - 10/10
Gameplay - 10/10
Sound - 7/10
Music - 10/10

PROS
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-''The Ultimate Blastfest''!
-36 levels!
-Gotta love the new fourth episode, ''Thy Flesh Consumed''!

CONS
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-Can be frustrating on high difficulty settings.
-Game can be very dark at times.
-Game itself is not the easiest game to find in stores.

FINAL WORD: You need The Ultimate Doom. This is the grandfather of all things FPS. Without this game, there would be no Quake, Hexen, and all those other FPS. Just a note, though. The Ultimate Doom itself is very hard to find in stores, so I recommend you go with Doom Collector's Edition, which comes with The Ultimate Doom, Doom II: Hell on Earth, and Final Doom. You could also go with the Depths of Doom Trilogy, which comes with The Ultimate Doom, Doom II: Hell on Earth, and Doom II: The Master Levels. Enjoy!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 10/06/03