I guess I might as well start by explaining what's the main purpose of this blog.
DOOM, considered by many to be the first true First Person Shooter game (made in 1993) has been one of my passions since my birth. Hell, I started playing DOOM when I was 2!
Many of my friends come up to me and ask: "Hey, why the hell do you still play DOOM, man? It's OLD and there are so many better games nowadays! You have an Xbox 360 and a good computer! Play the modern games!"
Well, that's exactly what makes DOOM such an appealing game. It's old but it also has a thriving community, an enormous fanbase, a multiplayer group that is littered with different clans and, the most interesting of all, even though the game designers have not released a new classic DOOM expansion pack or series of levels in a while, they made the source code and game design system quite easy to find and relatively simple to use (if you have basic knowledge of game design, of course!). As a result of this, many, many players have made their own levels.
These levels (or WAD's as they are called {which according to the DOOM Bible stands for "Where's All the Data?"} ) are very different from each other and each one has its own flair and feel to it.
There are, basically, these types of WAD's:
- Commercial WAD's
- Joke WAD's
- WAD Series
- WAD's with new monsters
- WAD's with new maps
- WAD's with new weapons
Some WAD's I like more than others. I try to like them all as I have tried to make my own maps and I know how long and frustrating it can be to create a map. Therefore, even the WAD's that I consider to be a waste of time playing, I try to enjoy to the fullest extent I can.
This entire blog was made with one simple purpose: I am going to play many WAD's. Play some new ones, replay one's I've already played and, basically review them.
The reason? Well, like I said before I really like playing DOOM. I sort of want to interest more people to try it out or, if they already play DOOM, to try out some new WAD's.
Maybe now would be a good time to introduce newcomers to the very basics of DOOM. I'll talk about the Weapons and Monsters here.
Monsters
(Note that these go from the weakest to the strongest)
Zombieman
The weakest dude. Basically a posessed little foot soldier with nothing more than a little rifle. You can even take one of them out by punching. Just be careful of them in large groups. You gotta admire his awesome green hair, though. I know I'd like a green crew cut one day...
Shotgun Guy
Similar to the Zombieman but bald (is that why he's more aggressive?). Dies easily too, but you might not wanna punch him due to the fact that he's armed with a (surprise, surprise!) shotty.
Heavy Weapons Dude
These guys can be a pain in the ass. They carry a chaingun and can fill you full of holes in a second if you're not careful. The most dangerous 'human'-type monster. Dies easily two, but try using a shotgun of your own to take them out. The good news is you've got a chaingun if you kill them!
Imp
Not the scariest thing to see around. The only problem with them that you've got, really, is dodging fireballs when there are lots of them.
Demon (a.k.a. Pinky)
Fast, but easy to take down. Plus, since they only bite, you're o.k. if you're not standing right next to them. Just beware (again) of large packs of them.
Cacodemon
Big red balls. Full of horns. A big mouth. An evil eye that shines when they spit plasma balls at you. Try to kill them fast, they do have quite a strong layer of skin so they're not so easy to take down. Oh, did I mention they FLY?
Hell Knights
Minotaurs that have rabies. That's a pretty good sumarry I think. They run at you, scratch you if they're close and throw green fireballs at you if you're far.
Barons of Hell
About the same as Hell Knights except for three things. They're pink not white. They hit you twice as strong. They have twice as much health.
Arachnotrons
Kill them fast and, preferably, before they see you. If they do, then they won't stop shooting plasma at you until you're out of their sight. And it's pretty hard to dodge Arachnotron plasma. Fortunately they go down relatively easily.
Revenants
If you thought rockets were bad and if you though undead skeletons were bad then you don't know anything about the Revenants. Skeletons with rocket launchers attached to their shoulders. They have two types of rockets. One type flies straight. The other is heat-seeking and will follow you until it hits you or you outsmart it into hitting a wall (or some other obstacle).
Pain Elementals
Like Cacodemons except that they're brown, have arms and they spit out Lost Souls. They don't really attack you. Their lost souls do. Another bad thing is that when you kill them they'll still explode into up to three more lost souls.
Lost Souls
Flying skulls on fire. They hurt quite a bit. Good thing is that if they charge at you and miss, they can't stop until they hit something solid.
Mancubus
Big, fat, ugly monsters. They are equipped with a pair of flamethrowers on their arms and fire in pairs, three pairs in sequence. One ball is always aiming at where you're standing and the other is either to your left or your right. Choose carefully which direction you dodge to.
Arch-Vile
Practically a sub-boss. Fast, hard to kill. They can also resurect their fallen friends and will try to hurt you. They set you on fire a lot. A good thing to remember is: if they see you, they CAN hurt you!
The Spider Mastermind
Imagine an arachnotron but it's way bigger and has an enormous rotating gattling gun attached to it's chasis instead of a plasma rifle. What does this mean? Well, you can dodge plasma, but can you dodge bullets? One of the two bosses of the game.
The Cyberdemon
It's like a big minotaur with one robotic leg and a big rocket launcher. You might survive on rocket. But two? Personally, I've never seen it happen without the use of cheats. Tough to kill and one of the two main bosses of the game.
I should really be getting some sleep now since it's very early in the morning but I can't stop this until I've finished. Know what I mean?
Weapons
Since the Zombiemen die quite quickly but the Cyberdemons take quite a long time to hit the dirt, you need different weapons to match each one.
Fist
No limbs are lost or gained in DOOM. Therefore, you start with your fist and you never loose it, either.
Pistol
You start with one of these. You'll probably find it useful at the start, but after you get past the pinkies you might want to consider getting something better.
Shotgun
We start getting better weapons here. This one's a pretty balanced weapon and can be used for a lot of things. It is, however, worse than the...
Super Shotgun
Basically, a sawn-off double-barrelled shotgun. Packs a lot more of a punch than the previous shotgun but at the same time consumes twice as much ammo in each shot.
Chaingun
Basically just a pistol with a much faster rate of fire. All purpose weapon, pretty much equally as useful against any type of monster (except for bosses and maybe Arch-Viles).
Rocket Launcher
Pretty useful at taking out the bigger and badder of the monsters. Despite looking pretty nasty, it'll still take a few dozens of rockets to take out a Cyberdemon or Spider Mastermind. Oh, and please be careful not to fire that thing where the blast radius could really maim you.
Plasma Rifle
Just the thing to use if you want to give those aliens a taste of their own medicine. The shots aren't so different to that of the Arachnotron.
BFG-9000 ("Oh Yeeeees!")
Big Fxxxing gun. Use it if you want to paint the walls with the insides, blood and guts of your foes. Just remember that it uses the same ammo as the plasma rifle and each shot consumes 40 rounds. Don't mind shooting it at point-blank range, either: the blast doesn't seem to even bother you.
