Doomguy

For those of you who have been living in a cave or sleeping for the last twenty odd years, Doom is an fps made by id software the creators of Wolfenstein 3D. You play as Doomguy a marine tasked with eliminating the demon threat before they reach their ultimate goal. Earth and the death of all the people on it.

The reason for me writing about this is to spread the word about this amazing old game and perhaps drive new players to try it. I recently played the classic again after over 15 years away and I never managed to complete it. This time, I was going to go in and show them why I'm to be feared. The ultimate goal was reaching the Spider-Mastermind the big boss at the end of the Inferno levels. It was no easy task going from start to finish over a few days against the horde of Hell but it was fun as... hell.

If you haven't played the old classics before, I can't recommend them enough. The Ultimate Doom contains all the old levels plus Thy Flesh Consumed bonus levels which are a serious challenge. With 32 levels to go through and 8 weapons at your disposal, Doom is a badass game that back in the '90s sparked controversy because of its violence levels and satanic depictions. Looking at the game now nearly 30 years later and comparing it to the new Doom games we have I think the people complaining back then would have a heart attack seeing this stuff.

For those who may be wondering, no the super shotgun (double barrel) doesn't appear in this game, it's in Doom 2. But the regular shotgun in this is still powerful and I found myself using it more than any other weapon. Partly because I liked using it and there was a lot of ammo for it. Plus it's a shotgun and you do feel like a badass. The chaingun obviously uses a lot of ammo and doesn't pack much punch but it's still fun to use. The rocket launcher was hardly fired or the BFG 9000. It did get more use when I almost died when a load of Pinkies and Imps filled the room. The Spider-Mastermind is when the BFG 9000 saw the most use. As for the plasma gun that was a beast. A monster of a weapon that eats power cells like the chaingun chews through bullets only this took far fewer shots to kill something. Plus you feel unstoppable wielding this even when a room full of demons appear as the walls drop. If you need to clear out a room, I highly recommend using the plasma gun or BFG, the rocket launcher is the last resort for myself because if you're too close to the target watch your health drop.

Each of the levels are amazing and surprisingly they don't feel the same at any point, each has secrets to be found and many have dark areas that will put you on edge. One moment you're running over to some ammo then a wall opens and several demons emerge and catch you off guard. A keycard may take you to the next area but picking it up could spell disaster too and often does.

The Inferno levels take you to Hell itself and those are the most challenging and coolest designed levels in the game. Playing on medium difficulty (Hurt Me Plenty) onwards makes for the best challenge and keeps you on your toes the most by throwing more enemies or even swapping some out for tougher foes. What was once a bunch of lesser enemies will now be replaced by a Barron of Hell. If you're looking for the ultimate challenge take on the game at Ultra-Violence or Nightmare for an experience where you'll likely throw your controller or mouse and keyboard across the room.

If you would like to try Doom or Doom 2 they're on Steam and GOG, GOG has more old classics than Steam but like Steam, these old games may not run properly on your computer. Usually, it's a quick fix found on YouTube, I didn't have any trouble trying to run them but Wolfenstein, Fallout and Fallout 2 gave me a heap of trouble.