"Being doomed has never been so fun."

Somehow the original doom was the first game I've ever played, and I loved it. When I found an updated version of it, I had to get it. While other games are splendid and all are in the running, I vote this game the best game of all time.

Story:10/10
The story is set in the far future, where you are stuck on mars, in some project with the UAC, a corporation who's messing with interdimensional portals. Unfortunately, something goes horribly wrong, and everything all hell breaks loose, literally. Deimos disappears right out of site, and demons come from the hell portal and slaughter everyone. Somehow, you are the only survivor. You head to the Phobos base, and the door closes behind you. It's you versus hell.

Graphics:10/10
I'm not sure what it's like on other computers, but on mine Ultimate Doom's graphics are superb. While not as good as many modern day FPS, for 1995 this is beautiful. The textures never disappear, the pixels are hard to see, and everything just looks great! Somehow, it keeps everything bright and dark at the same time.

Music:10/10
The music is very memorable. There are many themes that fit certain places. The empty base has the perfect theme to go with it, and hellish temples have gothic themes, and so on and so forth.

Control:10/10
The controls are simple and easy to learn. The arrow keys move, the ctrl key shoots, the alt key strafes, the number keys choose a weapon, and the shift key makes you run. It's easy to learn, and soon you won't even think about them.

Game play:10/10
Many FPS use the basic shooting engine, but almost all of them add on to it and fill it with reason. Not this game. It is a pure first person shooter, with nothing new added on. You choose from 5 difficulty levels. I'm too young to die, hey, not too rough, hurt me plenty, ultra violence, and the dreaded nightmare. Nightmare pits you against super-fast demons, double damage, and regenerating enemies, which only a true master may survive. The aim of each level is to solve the puzzles, blow away the baddies, and reach the end of level switch/teleporter. There are many demons waiting for you. I'm sure every doomer has had fear struck into there hearts by the thumping sound of the cyberdemon. There are also a huge array of weaponry to help you survive. From the useless pistol to the BFG 9000. What makes this new from the original is that it adds on a new episode. Episodes are 8 levels and 1 secret level each. The first has you exploring the Phobos base, the second has you being teleported to the lost Deimos base, and the third has you going through the inferno. Each has it's own theme, but they are all just more masterpieces of the same.

Replay value:10/10
The magic of the game is that it brings you back again and again. In the off chance that you finally get bored, there are thousands of custom levels made for this game and others.

Conclusion:10/10
While many are starting to walk away from doom to pursue other games, many still are playing this true classic. With that, please excuse me, as I'm off to play it again.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/26/05