The Glorious Return of Doom

By TOA_Sephiroth, elsewise know as Lady Nightshade
Doom is... an incredible game. It just keeps changing shape. There are countless .deh, .bex, and .wad files out there that the game is still so friggin fresh you could use it to clean the air in your car. The level editors are numerous in shapes and ablilities, and people who are adept at coding can even slap together a megawad.

But now... only a short time after Id made the absolutely INCREDIBLE move of releasing the source code for doom... comes an entire SLEW of new mods, source port modifications, and megawads, ultimately leading to the rebirth of the father of a great gaming genre. If that wasn't enough, Doom 3 (That's the working title, or so I've heard...) is slated for release in 2002. Not too far away, ne?

But waiting can be hard, as all true gamers know. The cool thing is, tho, that a lot of these severely gifted and dedicated Doomies have laid countless hours on the line to bring us some truly wicked Dooming. Here, on this page, is a look at some of the more awesome of these mods, and soon I hope to compile a list as well as screenshots and reviews of the best TCs. So, without further ado... hitch up your pants, hoist your boomstik, dust off your green pock-marked armor and get ready to delve, once again, into the depths of DooM!

ZDOOM v 1.22

This one is, without a doubt, by far the best and most adaptable Doom port so far. With a slew of options, screen resolutions, and gameplay modifications, I would say this one is going to be the forerunner of a ton of new mods. Already, 4 other major mods use it as a base. The only thing killing it, is that by itself, it does not support Open GL. But, you can change the resolution to a nice 600x400, and that makes it all veeeeeeerrryy nice on a fast comp. Plus, with a Quake-style console, a whole bunch of new options are available. Plus, the in game options you can change include Falling damage, Infinite Ammo, Spawn farthest (DM), and many other Deathmatch oriented flags.

PROS: Increased resolution, MAJOR compatability, Speedy, Console, JUMP! You can JUMP!, Martix-style deathmatch thru low gravity; a Doom first, Chasecam, Translucency effects instead of dispersed pixels, Almost full BOOM support.

CONS: OpenGL is only available through a different mode of ZDoom, slightly buggy and can crash on a whim, it's a true bitch to set up Multiplayer.

RATING: 5 stars(out of 5)

NSQUAD - WEAPONS MODIFICATION FOR ZDOOM

Oh... my... god.... I can't say enough COOL things about this kick ass mod!!! The weapons are... abso-fu**ing-lutely amazing! And the modifications to the engine are quite astounding... you actually have to reload now! Not only that, but there are a TON of new weapons, including;

Also, there is a new weight limit system; no longer can you carry around all the weapons in the world. Certain weapons can be carried in your sidearm holsters; others must be slung; and the AARDWILF and Autogun must be carried without switching weapons.

All in all, this mod makes the game a hell of a lot more fun.

PROS: TONS of weapons, reloading, damage parameter tweaks, zoom, scouting binoculars, and a medical kit! It was soooo obvious, but no one was able to do it before.

CONS: Shotgun guys can now kill you instantly!!! No fair...

RATING: 4 stars(out of 5)

DOOMBOT - AN IMPOSSIBLY DIFFICULT BOT MOD USING ZDOOM

My god... Not since playing CS with a non-functional mouse have I gotten my arse beaten so bad... These bots will chew you up and spit you out; and don't laugh, either... these bots act HUMAN.

They'll camp, hoard weaponry, snatch up health, stalk you, strafe, and simply pound you into the floor- especially Frag-god.

This one is a lot more than a trainer too... It has a great capture the flag modificiation, but it can be a little tricky at times... There are currently 2 capture the flag maps for Doombot, Toofort and Yards. They're both quite nice, and are symmetrical for balanced gameplay.

This one is just an all around great way to see ZDoom's multiplayer capabilities, as well as get a nice pop to an inflated ego.

PROS: An extremely useful tool for honing deathmatch skills, quite a few new options, is packed with quite a few .bat files to get newbies up and running.
CONS: These bots know no fear! Dont expect to win, unless you do one on one. There are a few glitches, and the Cap the flag can be quite twitchy.

RATING: 3 stars

This is just part one of my coverage... part 2 will come in a couple o weeks... to be included will be BOOM, MBF, Edge, and of course the ever so kick ass SKULLTAG!

Till next we meet, seasoned Doomies.... ^_^

~Sephiroth/Lady Nightshade