Doom is a landmark 1993 shooter, produced by ID software. It was released one year after the success that was Wolfenstein 3D, and brought just as much controversy due to its satanic imagery, and graphic violence (for the time). Doom was programmed by John Carmack, using the "Id tech 1" Engine.
Story
The player takes control of a space marine who is trained readily for combat. After assaulting a senior officer when told to fire upon civilians, the space marine was sent to imprisonment on Mars. While there, he worked along with the UAC (Union Aerospace Corporation), a multi-planetary conglomerate and military contractor that is experimenting with interdimension travel. Not all goes to plan after the creatures from hell go through the portals throughout Phobos and Deimos, and wipe out almost everyone on the moon base. After signal communications die down and the disappearance of Deimos comes into question, the marine is set to escape the complexes of Phobos.
During Episode 1: Knee Deep in the Dead, the marine first notices the bodies of his once fellow soldiers dead on the ground. Not long after that, the player realizes that the once comrades, are now undead creatures, possessed from what hell brought upon them. After traveling further in, he realizes that Phobos is now home to not only home to undead comrades, but many demons that won't stop to kill the marine. When the marine reaches the analomy that has a portal connecting Phobos to Deimos, he must fight through the powerful Barons of Hell that guard it. After that, the Marine progresses onward to a portal that takes him to a nest full of demons that almost completely kill him.
In Episode 2: The Shores of Hell, the marine fights his way through the pandemonium that is Deimos. The command facilities that took place on Phobos, have been now altered with demonic and satanic symbols and imagery. The sky is no longer grey, but is now red. An appropriate fitting. At the end of the episode, the player will have to pass through the Cyberdemon, which is the most powerful enemy the marine must face. The marine now comes to realize that Deimos is now floating above hell itself.
Finally, in Episode 3: Inferno, which no longer takes place anywhere by Mars, but in Hell. The Marine fights through hell-themed capitals and palaces crawling with demonic architecture. This doesn't stop him, as he fights his way up to the Spider Mastermind that controlled the whole invasions. The Space Marine emerges victorious after all, claiming himself "too tough for hell to contain".
The Space Marine goes through a door back to Earth, curious on what is happening.. The Ending shows a nice, plush field with a rabbit in it. All seems well, that is, until the screen scrolls over to show a city being attacked, along with a rabbits head on a stake. This rabbit as it turns out, is the Space Marines pet. There will be hell to pay.
If the player happens to own "Ultimate Doom", then Episode 4: Thy Flesh Consumed will appear on the game as well. This episode takes place after the third episode, and just before Doom 2. The ending to this episode shows an angry Space Marine (without his helmet) grasping his once living pets head, hungry for vengeance.
Gameplay
The gameplay in Doom is very similar to Wolfenstein 3D. The player is required to search for keys throughout the level, no doubt encountering a bunch of monsters, and find the exit at the end of the level to proceed to the next (an exit sign is usually put in front to signal to the player). The player at times will be required to press a switch in a certain part of a level, and followed by the sound of a door opening, even though the player on many occasions, won't really know which door opened. A new element brought into this game was the map feature (You could see this by clicking "tab"), which shows which sector the player is in, and if he/she finds the power-up that resembles a computer, then the player will see all the sectors in the stage. This will help the player on where they are in each stage.
Along the way, the player can gather items that can either boost up their ammo, health, armor, and can also pick up power-ups to make the player invincible for a short period of time, or invisible.
Characters and Monsters
Protagonist: This is the character you play as in the game. His name has not been referenced here, but fans mostly call him, "Doomguy", or "Space Marine". In the novels, he was referred to as "Flynn Taggart". He looks strikingly similar to the B.J. in Wolfenstein 3D, although there is no connection between the two characters. He has a pet rabbit named "Daisy", whose head turns up impaled on a stake on the ending sequence (it was speculated that it was Daisy and not just any other rabbit).
Weapons
Items and Objects
Power-ups
- Radiation Suit
- Berserk Pack
- Light Amplification Visor
- Blur Artefact
- Invulnerability Artefact
Ports
Doom was widely known for its vast amount of versions and ports after its successful release. It had a high release of ports to different consoles, that includes the SNES, playstation, and much more.