Looking at: Brutal DOOM

http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/20/19741/Brutal_Doom_Cover.png

Holy shit what a terrible week I've had. I didn't write anything yesterday, and I've been down this whole week because of car troubles. I need a release, I need something simple, something requiring no mental stress. I need something... BRUTAL.


Temple of DOOM

http://media.moddb.com/cache/images/mods/1/20/19741/thumb_620x2000/BD_Pic_2.jpg

DoomGuy, showing why he's The strongest videogame character of all time.

Doom. DOOM.  Everyone knows Doom. Even if you don't play video games you probably know what Doom is. Its the daddy to every modern shooter, singlehandedly solidified the first person shooter genre, and the reason that when ID software talks you better listen.

 Its a simple game with a simple premise. You play as a nameless marine trapped in a research station on Mars when demons from hell start showing up. Being the sole survivor and complete badass you pick up your trusty shotgun and chainsaw and start going to town on the demons, eventually blasting your way in, and out of, hell itself.

It's fun to play, just mindless waves of enemies in expertly crafted levels. The only problem with Doom and it's sequel is time itself. By today's standards Doom is problematic, with only rudimentary mouse controls, no actual aiming abilities, and none of the traits of modern gaming. Take that for what it is, some people prefer that, but it's hard to play in the face of more modern shooters like Far Cry, Call of Duty, or Half Life. The greatest shooters of all time needed an overhaul, and there was no better way then to crank everything up to 11.


Huge Guts

http://media.moddb.com/images/articles/1/99/98013/AAAAAAAAAaa129846.jpg

Pure catharsis.

Beginning development in 2010, Brutal Doom is the game that Doom always wanted to be, the game Doom was meant to be. It was a blood soaked, swear filled, adrenaline fest and it's fun as hell. The basic gameplay is much the same, you progress through levels filled with enemies, hunt for keys or switches, and progress ever forward leaving a trail of bodies behind you. Where the "brutal" of Brutal Doom comes in is it's presentation and balancing. All of the guns handle more like modern shooters, including full 3D mouse aiming. You now have to actually aim at your target to hit, rather then the game just auto aiming for you. Movement has been re-mapped to WSAD and are customizable to your choice, and the game now features jumping and crouching. Occasionally these last two additions can break the game, particularly jumping which the original Doom didn't feature, but it's a minor complaint.

Besides, you'll likely need all the help you can get. Brutal Doom is certainly brutal. Its not Dark Souls hard, but enemies are smarter, they have better aim, and do more damage, even on the lower difficulties. You'll need to blast your way through them and make liberal use of the quicksave button to get through.

The new difficulty is balanced out, kind of, by the new weapons. Almost all of the vanilla Doom weapons have been changed, at least somewhat, and rebalanced. Your pitiful pistol is now an incredibly effective assault rifle, complete with iron sight. The shotgun now requires reloading, and can be aimed with the iron sights. The super shotgun of Doom 2 can now be fired twice with individual barrels, or can blast both barrels at once. The rocket launcher now requires a reload, as does the plasma rifle, which also sports a new flame-thrower mode. There's also a host of new weapons, courtesy of your fallen foes in the form of the flame shot and seeker rockets.  The only weapon untouched is the infamous BFG, which still obliterates everything its blast touches.

Rip and Tear

http://www.gamingmomentum.com/wp-content/uploads/brutal-doom-v19.jpg

Show those demons you mean business.

The other reason Brtual Doom earns it's name is through its... well, brutality. When Doom originally came out, parenting groups were shocked at the level of violence on display. Those people would shit bricks if they saw Brutal Doom. Enemies now explode into a bloody mess when you shoot them, often in different ways. Use the shotgun to blow off an imp's head? Watch as his body crumples into a bloody heap. Take of an enemies legs and watch as they crawl away, screaming in agony. Enemies will beg for forgiveness, only to meet the business end of your boot as you go all Edward Norton in American History X on them. The walls will be plastered by blood and guts after every firefight, and you'll wipe the mess from your face as you press on. It's bloody, it's gory, and it's awesome.

Rather then try and explain everything, I'm just going to post a few videos of the mod in action below.

From Brutal Doom's official youtube (NSFW):

A montage of best moments (NSFW):

   

And 16 minutes of things dying in various ways (Do I even need to say it?):

Doom 2 is one of my all time favorite shooters. It's simple, its fun, and there's an undeniable level of skill put into everything about it. But sometimes the best things just need to be a little better, and Brutal Doom is a great example of fans making games even better, and why every game should allow modding. Brutal Doom is the absolute best Doom related thing since the Doom Comic, and I love the hell out of it.