Time for another look? (Final Doom (PC))

Member Name: ironfrost

Product:	Final Doom (PC)
Date:	21/08/02 (199 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Huge amounts of fan-created enhancements

Disadvantages: Still not as good as more modern games

Everybody remembers Doom. It was the game that introduced a generation to gaming, and gave birth to a whole genre of imitators. Similar games had existed before, but it's not too much of an exaggeration to say that Doom was the game that started off the massive explosion of first-person shooters that we know today. But that was many years ago, and most people now would say that Doom is massively dated, and far outclassed by its more modern competitors.

However, what most people don't know is that development work on Doom didn't stop when the original game and its sequel had been released. An army of dedicated fans have been working since the game came out creating all sorts of modifiers, add-ons and whole new engines for the game. The amount of fan-made content is gobsmacking in both its range and its sophistication.

The first fan-created content to appear for doom was new maps and missions. This has been mirrored in most subsequent FPS games - if you go to a website dedicated to any such game, you'll be able to find hundreds of new levels, ranging in quality from professional to pathetic. With the age of the game, it's natural that there are a large number of good free-to-download levels available, made with a variety of mission editors that you can also download. There is now even a program available that will generate a level for you itself - and it does a surprisingly good job.

There are also a number of files available that modify the game in a number of basic ways, such as changing the weapons or the look of the enemies. Again, there are a wide range of these, as with most FPS games, ranging from simple changes like changing your character to Pikachu or Lara Croft, to total conversions of the game to a Star Wars or Doctor Who theme.

When more advanced games started to come out, the fan-developers turned their atention to mimicing some of the aspects of these other games. The multiplayer capabilities of th
e original Doom were sadly lacking, but programs have been made that allow full and easy internet capabilities - there are probably several online Doom games in progress as you read this. For people that don't have internet access, most modern games allow you to play a multiplayer game against computer opponents called "bots", so fans have made a large number of add-ons to doom that put these into the game. The best known examples of this are DoomBot, CajunBot and a relatively new project called Skulltag.

Something you may remember about Doom is that you had to control it by the keyboard, and weren't able to jump or look up or down. Not any more. Projects such as Doom legacy allow Doom to be controlled in the same manner as games like Unreal Tournament. This is further proof of the great skills of the fan-developers.

Most people's main complaint about Doom is that the graphics aren't as good as more modern games. Here as well there have been huge improvements made since the game was released, and there are many programs available that will let you run Doom at far higher resolutions than the original game - again, bringing it close to the standard of modern games. How this has been done a complete mystery to me, but I'm happy to just play it.

The Doom engine itself isn't actually fully 3D - instead of 3 dimensional models for the enemies and items, sprites were used instead. Although most of the development projects keep this basic engine, there is a project called JDoom that brings Doom completely into 3D. Also incorporating dynamic lighting and other such advanced features, it makes oom look stunning - although some of the monsters do look rather laughable in 3D.

Although the system requirements for Doom and Doom 2 are very low (the system requirements are between 1 and 2 percent of the power of new PC's) some of the more advanced modifiers are more memory-intensive. Still, anyone with a PC l
ess than 5 years old should be able to run the vast majority of the programs I've talked about.

A good place to start looking for these modifiers is www.doomworld.com - which is also one of the major fansites of the game. It has a large number of links that you can further explore for even more Doom-related fun. Programs to look out for are ZDaemon (for running doom multiplayer), ZDoom or Doom Legacy (for overall improvements such as up/down support and better graphics) and Skulltag (for excellent botmaches). If you don't already have a copy of the original Doom or Doom 2, you can grab it from a number of "abandonware" sites for free, or just find a friend who has a copy. Enough people bought it when it was released that there's bound to be someone.

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