Doom

Doom for PC is the fourth game in a series and a return to the origins, being a reboot of the highly acclaimed game that is something of the great-great grandpa of modern gaming – the first edition was released on MS-DOS in 1993, shortly after personal computing became widely normalised. There would have been no double click to access the game: instead, commands would have to be typed into DOS to start play, that’s how long ago that was!

About the Game

The player takes on the persona of an unnamed Marine (called, variously: Doomguy, or Marine, or even Doom Slayer) who is tasked with battling the inhabitants of Hell who have been unleashed upon a freshly colonised Mars by the evil antagonist, employee of Union Aerospace Corporation, one Olivia Pierce who has been promised wonderful things by Satan.

Fellow corporation employee, Samuel Hayden wants to stop her – but first he has to uncover her secrets, and for that he needs the Doom Slayer who swings into action, despatching demon after demon as he gets on the case.

Levels follow fairly predictable patterns: beginning with Samuel giving Doom Slayer his orders, and ending with a massive ‘boss battle’-type scene but this adds a reassuring structure to an otherwise zany game in which anything can (and sometimes does) happen.

Best of the Old/ Best of the New

The game has received enormous praise for recapturing the beloved atmosphere of shooter games from the 90s, while combining it with modern graphics and physics engines to satisfy our ever more critical computing tastes: the painfully slow dial-up connections of the 90s would certainly not appeal to today’s gamers!

Many of the weapons, too, have been lifted from the original game for a nostalgic blast, but these too have been upgraded and given new and nasty twists that probably would not have been thought of in the pre-Internet (well, it was there, it just wasn’t all that widely used) days of the 90s. Weapons can be improved and upgraded, so more experienced players have better skills and more powerful weapons: a kind of exponential benefit of playing.

In each level, you will find access to one of the old-school game maps that are hidden until you stumble across them. Once found, they fit themselves into the map menu under the title of ‘classic maps’.

Ways to Play

Single player: ‘badass demons, big * guns and moving fast’ is the advice given by the game developers when talking about this mode. Doom Slayer is agile, speedy and facing opponents who are also fast and cunning. He can keep the edge, but only by staying sharp and not letting them overwhelm him or sneak up on him all unawares. There are thirteen maps to play through, but watch out for Ultra Nightmare mode which can lose your save point!

Multiplayer: this mode opens up the Doom world to the player with a huge variety of ways to play against other gamers. Deathmatches, freeze tag, King of the Hill and even a Battle Royale style fight to the death are all amongst the offerings in this mode. Winning – even just playing sometimes – awards experience points, these add up to accessing new levels, which unlocks new skins, weapons and other customisation features

Level Creation Tool: this mode is called ‘SnapMap’ and it allows players to create, edit and shape levels according to their own preferences and logic. While building the level, the game offers an aerial view, and any missed connections will show up in a different colour, so the connections can be installed. Levels can be test played before they are published

Doom for PC is available for purchase on Instant Gaming for a fraction of its retail price. You will receive an official key and be able to play the game in seconds. Play smart. Pay less.