So what I got for the price of 8 euros?
Ultimate Doom, Doom 2, Master levels for Doom 2, Final Doom, Doom 3 and Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil
Excluding the Doom 3 series, the other ones are pretty much the same game with different levels and monsters/guns(I´ll get to that later). In total, those "original Doom games" consist of more than 150 levels. I don´t think I`ve ever bought anything as cost-effectively.
Being a person who likes challenge in videogames, I decided to play through the older games with "Ultra Violence" difficulty. There actually is a harder difficulty level, Nightmare, where random enemies keep spawning as you kill them.(I still prefer UV, what is dead should, preferably, stay dead)
Ultimate Doom Episode 1: Knee-Deep in the Dead
When the first level began and the music started playing...I smiled the whole level through...I mean, how can you not? I give you a link in the spoiler, it is a masterpiece+ Show Spoiler +
Episode 2: The Shores of Hell
I had not played these levels before, so everything from now on was new to me. There is one new weapon in this episode(The plasma rifle) and 2 new enemies (Cacodemons and Lost souls) as well as the boss monsters of episode1(Barons of Hell) are now normal enemies. The levels weren´t too difficult but still harder than the ones episode 1 had. At the end of the episode there also is a real bossfight, which was also cool.
Episode 3: Inferno
The last weapon the original Doom is introduced in this episode: The BFG9000. There are no other new enemies except the final boss of the episode. Again, harder than the previous ones but nothing I couldn´t handle.
Episode 4: Thy Flesh Consumed
Ok, here is where progressive difficulty scaling goes to Hell. This episode was harder than everything I had experienced before put together. I literally made it out of the first level with 2 hit points left as I ran past the few demons guarding the exit. Later I discovered that the hardest map of the Ultimate Doom was the second map of this episode. I made it eventually, thinking it wouldn´t get any harder than this. I was wrong.
Doom 2: Hell on Earth
The basic gameplay of Doom 2 is exactly like the original, with new things added: (I´ll spoiler this to keep it clean)
+ Show Spoiler +
One new weapon, the Super shotgun, one powerup Megasphere and a bunch of new monsters:
-Chaingun Zombie
- Hell Knight(smaller version of Baron of Hell)
-Revenant(Skeleton with shoulder-mounted rocket launchers firing guided rockets)
-Mancubus(fat brown demon firing barrages of fireballs)
-Arachnotron(smaller version of the boss Spider Mastermind, fires plasma rounds)
-Pain Elemental(Round flying monster that spits out Lost Souls)
-Arch-vile(Spellcaster demon with high-damaging fire attack as well as power to resurrect dead monsters)
-Chaingun Zombie
- Hell Knight(smaller version of Baron of Hell)
-Revenant(Skeleton with shoulder-mounted rocket launchers firing guided rockets)
-Mancubus(fat brown demon firing barrages of fireballs)
-Arachnotron(smaller version of the boss Spider Mastermind, fires plasma rounds)
-Pain Elemental(Round flying monster that spits out Lost Souls)
-Arch-vile(Spellcaster demon with high-damaging fire attack as well as power to resurrect dead monsters)
There are no episodes in Doom 2. Instead you just play around 30 levels straight. The difficulty increases pretty rapidly from easier early levels to slightly more harder than the episode 4 was. The hardest part for me was to learn how to deal with the new enemies. There are considerably more monsters in each level than in the previous game and the level design is more advanced.
Having completed Doom 2, the next thing in the list was Final Doom. Final Doom consist of 2 parts of 30+ missions: The Plutonia Experiment and TNT:Evilution. The game is essentially a map pack for Doom 2. I decided to play PE first.
Final Doom: Plutonia Experiment
This set of levels is the hardest thing in these 3 games, clearly shown in these results of scientific research + Show Spoiler +
The Doom Difficulty Scaling-O-Meter
EP1<EP2<EP3<<<EP4<<Doom 2<<<<<<<<<<<<TNT:Evilution <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<Plutonia Experiment
EP1<EP2<EP3<<<EP4<<Doom 2<<<<<<<<<<<<TNT:Evilution <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<Plutonia Experiment
Eventually I made it. Every last one of those 422 Revenants is dead. Every...last....one...
Just to show you the most ridiculous map this set had, have a walkthgrough(not me playing)+ Show Spoiler +
Final Doom: TNT:Evilution
While not being as hard as Plutonia, these maps still were a challenge. The level design is more complex and a few times I got stuck for many minutes not knowing where to go next(maybe just me).
Finally I was done. I had beaten the original Doom series on Ultra Violence.
So onto this
This game was released in 2004 and was considered to be one of the greatest achievements graphics wise up to that date. It still looks good.
The one thing that comes to mind for most people who have heard of Doom 3 is darkness. That game is dark. As in, it is hard to see things. Doom 3 is sci-fi/horror/survival fps that is known for pitch dark corridors filled with demons waiting to ambush the player. Player can still use a flashlight but not while using a weapon.
I had no expectations when starting this game. I haven´t really played any horror-games, classic Doom is not horror in my opinion. Overall, my experience turned out to be quite positive.
Unlike the previous games, this one also has an actual story in it: it is year 2145, UAC research center developes teleportation technology on Mars, something goes wrong, they manage of open a portal to hell, hell breaks loose, it is up to you to save the day.
When the game begins you(nameless, silent space marine without a personality) arrive in the UAC labs. After getting introduced to characters and walking around the labs for 15 minutes the action begins. You´ll get your first heart-attack around the 16 minute mark.
Difficulty levels in this game only alter the % of incoming damage from the enemies. I intended to play this with hardest one but after getting brutally murdered in the first level while having a pulse of 200 I did reduce it.
There are 27 levels in Doom 3, most of them are pretty linear, filled with dark corridors. There still is a reason to explore everything as the levels are filled with hidden ammo and weapons.
The gameplay is considerably slower in Doom 3 than in the older games and very repetitive(personally I dont really care, older Doom games are even more repetitive tbh)
Most of the classic Doom monsters and weapons can be found in the game as well as a bunch of new ones. The biggest change however is that Cacodemons are no longer cute+ Show Spoiler +
This game also has deathmatch-style multiplayer but nobody really cares about it at all.
Without making this a complete review Im just going to list a few more things liked and didn´t like in Doom 3 + Show Spoiler +
What I liked:
-Almost all of the weapons are fun to use
-Story
-enemies
-bosses
-interraction with control panels/security lockers
-PDAs
What I didn´t like:
-basic grenade is the most useless and badly designed weapon in the whole Doom-series
-the darkness(I did not hate it but still would prefer more light)
-slow gameplay(gets better later in the game)
-corpses of dead enemies disappear instantly
What I did not mind:
-Constant ambushes
-Scripted events
-(over)use of horror clichés
So all in all, I enjoyed the game. Total heart-attack count: 459.
Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil
So the story continues with 12 more levels, translating to 3-5 hours of gameplay.
To keep this short, some new monsters and weapons(super shotgun is the best thing ever) and more fast-paced levels. Excellent expansion to the game. I finished this game today.
And now I´m done. Almost + Show Spoiler +
If you followed closely, I skipped Master levels for Doom 2. I have played some of them but not all of them yet. Very challenging and enjoyable levels
This pack costs 35e on Steam right so if you are interested in these games I suggest you to closely follow Steam sales in the future. You might get the best deal of your life.