Doom II
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Doom II, also known as Doom II: Hell on Earth, is a first-person shooter video game, the second title of id Software's Doom franchise. It was originally released for MS-DOS computers in 1994 and Macintosh computers in 1995. Unlike Doom, which was initially only available through shareware and mail order, Doom II was a commercial release sold in stores. Master Levels for Doom II, an expansion pack with 21 new levels, was released by id Software on December 26, 1995.
Due to its success and popularity, Doom II was later released on the Game Boy Advance in 2002, the Tapwave Zodiac in 2004, and on Xbox Live Arcade in 2010. The release of the original Doom source code has facilitated ports to many other platforms, including the Apple iPhone and several other types of cell phones. On August 13, during the Quakecon 2009 media conference, it was announced that Doom II would be ported to Xbox Live Arcade, and was released in May of the following year.
Why It Rocks
- The game takes advantage of the game's engine and uses it to create more expansive and creative levels.
- Great soundtrack which is inspired by heavy metal and hard rock songs from Metallica, Alice In Chains, Pantera, Slayer, etc.
- The graphics for 1994 are very good, although it does not differ from that of its predecessor.
- While all the weapons are the same one new weapon is introduced: the Super Shotgun. It uses the same ammo as the shotgun but at twice the rate. It also kicks twice as bad, which doubles your recovery time between shots. On the upside, however, it offers three times the stopping power.
- Introduced several new enemies.
- Heavy Weapon Dude/Chaingunner: They're just like the other Zombie Soldiers, but instead have a chaingun. This enemy's attack does slightly less damage per bullet than the player's chaingun and has a slower rate of fire. Once the Heavy Weapon Dude begins to fire, it continues until its target has been killed or left his line of sight, or has been stunned (causing it to move immediately afterward) or killed.
- Hell Knight: It is a weaker version of the Baron of Hell, with tan rather than pink skin, and different sounds when alerted or slain. Although it is much easier to kill, its attacks are just as potent as a Baron's. Being functionally equivalent to the Baron of Hell except for having only half as much health, the weaker Hell Knight serves better as a medium-strength monster, falling more quickly to small arms fire such as from the shotgun or chaingun, or offering some resistance without slowing the action down, against heavier weapons.
- Revenant: They take the form of very tall animated skeletons with golden-brown bones, in metallic silver body armor equipped with shoulder-mounted missile launchers, and blood and gore running down their ribcage and legs. They're fast runners, but unlike Demons or Spectres, run directly at their target rather than zigzagging aimlessly, and are also quick to fire their missiles or punch any nearby targets, making them quite dangerous due to their speed. They fire two sorts of missiles; unguided and homing. During melee combat, they can also strike a blow with one of their large fists.
- Mancubus: A horrendously large, cybernetic humanoid monster shambling about on sturdy, stumpy elephant-like legs with six toes, three on the front and three on the back for each, glaring at opponents through hateful green eyeballs without irises or pupils, while dribbling the remains of dead victims from its lusting mouth, displaying sharp yellow fangs. They are slow, and make large targets, but have a flamethrower that shoots fireballs at the player.
- Arachnotron: A spider-like cyborg monster, similar in appearance to the Spiderdemon, but smaller and with large eyes that change color depending on the monster's current state (moving, hurt, or attacking). It is supported by a metal chassis and a body that consists primarily of a large brain, along with two small arms. Instead of a chain gun, it wields a powerful plasma gun that fires bursts of yellow and green energy.
- Pain Elemental: It resembles a Cacodemon, but brown, with a larger red eye and a pair of arms. Its primary attack is launching Lost Souls, large fiery flying skulls with horns, from its mouth.
- Arch-vile: A rare, but very dangerous enemy. It is the second fastest enemy, almost twice as fast as a Lost Soul that isn't charging and only 1-speed unit slower than a Cyberdemon, can resurrect all monsters that leave corpses except Cyberdemons, Spiderdemons, and other Arch-viles, and has one of the deadliest attacks. Their attack consists of a unique ability to immolate their enemies in flames by raising their arms up, summoning fire upon the targeted foe, regardless of range. They then hunch over and clap their hands together, causing the fire to erupt, usually sending the enemy flying into the air while causing up to 90 points in damage. This attack will always hit the enemy as long as there is a line of sight between the Arch-vile and the target and can be avoided by getting out of the Arch-vile's line of sight, which should usually be relatively easy since it takes the Arch-vile about three full seconds to do one attack, from when it first calls the fire to when it sends out the blast.
- Icon of Sin: The final (and only) boss of the game. It appears as a massive, goat-like biomechanical head on a wall, with an exposed brain that allows it to spawn endless scores of demons. The only way to kill it is by hitting the exposed brain with well-timed shots and the use of an elevator.
- It features two secret Wolfenstein levels. The first is a remake of the first level, the other is an arena with SS troopers and a Cyberdemon.
- It introduces us to a new powerup called Megasphere, which brings your health and armor up to 200! (And gives you the blue Megaarmor too if you don't have one)
- Many easter eggs to find such as the decapitated head of John Romero hidden inside of the Icon of Sin.
- Doom's multiplayer functionality was greatly improved in Doom II, including "out of the box" support for a vastly increased number of dial-up modems. The two-player dial-up connection allowed one player to dial into the other player's computer to play either cooperatively or in deathmatch-style combat. There was also Local area network (LAN) functionality added, which was improved upon as patches and updates were released. This functionality was later incorporated into the original Doom. As with the original Doom, multiplayer games used to be played using the dial-up or LAN by the internal setup program (setup.exe), through the online service DWANGO, or with once-popular programs like Kali and Kahn (using SPX) in Windows 95.
- The game, along with its predecessor received a 2024 remaster titled "Doom + Doom 2", using Nightdive Studios's Kex engine, has new games called No Rest for the Living and Legacy of Rust, with improved controls, achievements, a remixed soundtrack done by Andrew Hulshult, widescreen support, tons of graphics, and audio options, updated game code, includes the three previous expansions as an integral part of the original 1993 game.
Bad Qualities
- Missed Opportunity: The game doesn't take advantage of its Earth-based setting, aside from having a few levels near the middle portion that vaguely resemble cities and residential areas; with the opening act following a "starbase" theme that could have been set on any planet. If it wasn't for the title and intermission text you wouldn't even know you're on Earth, and even the few levels that are supposed to be city areas look nothing like they're supposed to be (e.g. Suburbs just have a few wooden structures that do not look like actual houses, in a large open brown area). Although, you could blame the limitations of the original idTech engine for this.
- Difficulty Spike: This game never becomes a particularly difficult game on UV difficulty, but map 7 "Dead Simple" marks a noticeable uptick in difficulty, where from that point forward you start having to deal with the game's bigger and more advanced bestiary regularly - it's level to introduce both the Mancubus and the Arachnotron - while having to fight larger hordes of enemies in general, with the next level afterward having the infamous horde of Barons surrounding the game's first Cyberdemon.
- Two levels are considered the worst in the game.
- "Map 10: Refueling Base" is swarming with former humans, which means that bullets will come flying at you in large quantities. In Doom, hitscan enemies are usually the easiest to kill but are ironically some of the most challenging foes. Refueling Base also has the greatest number of preset enemies of any Doom II level.
- "Map 24: The Chasm" can be confusing to navigate, and often forces the player to navigate balance-beam rails surrounded by hazardous waste. The first time you play, it is very possible to spend too much time figuring out where you have to go next within the massive structure. For the extra kicker, the ending sequence of the level has the player run over a thin maze-like rail that decreases in width the closer it gets to the end (to the point that it becomes nearly invisible from how thin it gets) while being assaulted by a bunch of Lost Souls from all directions, over a nukage pit that the player cannot get out of should they fall. So you play through this long, confusing, boring level, and then have to restart it at the end because you got hit by a Lost Soul or made a misstep off a stick-thin railing. It doesn't help that this level is so short on ammunition pickups and long on enemies that it's one of the few places in the original two games where a player on a full campaign playthrough is in danger of running out of ammo. On the Speedrunning front, the treacherous rails make it very easy to make a mistake as well and their presence alone is almost universally hated among speedrunners.
- The game's level design and whether or not Sandy Petersen is a good substitute for John Romero is the subject of many debates.
- A significant amount of people consider levels from Doom II way too gimmicky and inconsistent, especially compared to the now-legendary level design of the original Doom, as well as thinking that the maps are too plainly textured and just ugly, with an overuse of brown. Some people only take issue with Sandy Petersen's maps, which have an abstract feel to them and aren't necessarily up to par with the style or quality of the rest of the maps. Others appreciate Doom II for being very creative and exploiting tricks and ideas that could be executed with id Tech 1 - something that was further explored by fan mapmakers. However, people tend to agree that the new monsters and the Super Shotgun are very welcome additions to the game's variety.
Reception
Doom II received overwhelmingly positive reviews, with reviewers saying it refined everything that made the original Doom good. According to Dragon, "if mindless but intense carnage is what you want, you'll get your money's worth. It's not just a must-have game; it's a keep-on-the-hard-drive-forever game. If you need to have more Doom, get this." Writer/game designer Chris Crawford used the level "Barrels O' Fun" to illustrate a point about death in video games, explaining he chose the level as his example because it is "one of the most complex and sophisticated challenges in one of the very best games of the 1990s". Next Generation reviewed the PC version of the game, rating it three stars out of five, and stated that "Now that the first person interface has become the design of choice for the entire industry, Id will need to find new innovations, or it will quickly find it's playing catch-up in its own game niche.
Doom II won the Origins Award for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Computer Game of 1994.
Sales
According to David Kushner in Masters of Doom, id Software shipped 600,000 units of Doom II to stores in preparation for its launch. This initial shipment sold out within a month on shelves, despite its being expected to last for three months. Pre-orders for the game were so massive that it was difficult to buy from a store. The game products were displayed on pallets rather than shelves. The game was the United States' highest-selling software product of 1994 and sold more than 1.2 million copies within a year. It placed 10th for 1996, with 322,671 units sold and $12.6 million earned in the region that year alone. According to PC Data, which tracked sales in the United States, Doom II sold 1.81 million units and earned $74.7 million in revenue in the United States. This led PC Data to declare it the country's third-best-selling computer game for the period between January 1993 and April 1998. Its revenues in that country ultimately reached $80 million, while those in Europe reached $20 million. Of the latter figure, Kushner wrote that "30 percent...came from Germany—a country that had banned the game from its shelves."
In Australia, the game sold 10,000 copies in the first two days of its release.
Trivia
- Like the first Doom, most of the music is inspired by several heavy metal and rock bands of the time.
- John Romero's head is hidden inside the face of the Icon of Sin. He can only be seen using noclip. Killing him will finish the map.
- The Icon of Sin's speech is a reversed and distorted voice clip of Romero saying "To win the game, you must kill me, John Romero".
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