Random Madness: Micro Doom

This post marks the return of Random Madness here on AAA. I had some inspiration recently.

Windows XP has been around for a long time. I was just reading on Joystiq the other day in an article where it was said that it is in fact ten years old as of last month. After so many years of using Windows XP myself, I recently made the jump to using another version of Windows. On the laptop I acquired recently, I have installed on it Windows Vista. True, it’s not the latest Windows, or the best. Some call it the black sheep in the family.

Anyway, I had read about a feature that was first introduced in Vista that obviously wasn’t in any previous Windows that we know of: User Account Control, or UAC. Basically it ensures that programs run only when you want them to and that any sort of malware that attacks your system doesn’t have full control over what goes on, even if you’re running an administrator account.

Now the gamer in me instantly thought of something else when I read that acronym. The UAC is instrumental in the storyline of the Doom series. It stands for Union Aerospace Corporation. Now while the UAC’s background was only really expanded upon in Doom 3, it existed all ready in the original games in the early-mid 90’s.

Now knowing my inquisitive mind like I do, my thoughts started to wander if there was some sort of link or is it just coincidence? This wouldn’t be the only time there was a possible link between id Software’s Doom and Microsoft. More than a decade and a half ago, Bill Gates promoted Windows 95 by superimposing himself in to Doom and blasting some zombies. Doom was originally programmed to work in MS-DOS when released in 1993, but was still massively popular even years later.

Maybe this UAC feature was an homage of sorts to Doom. Windows UAC tries to limit malware attacks, much like Doom’s UAC tried in all Doom games to date to prevent the demonic invasion from hell – ultimately (get it? The Ultimate Doom?) it failed every time.

But seriously, don’t quote me on this. It’s all rubbish. Interesting to think of, though.

Random Madness: Micro Doom

The Dark Mod Halloween Competition is now on

It’s been dry over at The Dark Mod HQ for months now. The version 1.06 update was in June, and the last fan mission released was in July. And it finally happened: I finished almost all of the TDM missions out there, save for a few, which I didn’t like.

But I happened to check the main page yesterday, and noticed that there’s a new competition on. It’s the Halloween Speed Build Contest of 2011! I’ll be lazy and quote the text from the website, which explains it all perfectly:

“A new Halloween speed-build contest is underway! There are at least half a dozen mappers participating, including heavyweights Melan and Bikerdude.

The mission must have at least one element that evokes Halloween. Scary missions will be preferred but things like: playing tricks, finding candy, fall decoration (Gourds, Pumpkins, etc), Pagan harvest festivals, etc ... are all acceptable ways to evoke the holiday. Missions must be completed by October 31th.”

The “Halloween Speed Build Contest 2011” is the 4th contest hosted by the TDM team. The others in chronological order were “Grand Christmas Contest ‘09”, “Summer Vertical Contest ‘10”, and “Seasons Contest Spring ‘11” (which took place earlier this year).

At least this means that we’ll get some more good missions by the end of next month, and I have a reason to fire up TDM again! Like I said, I’ve finished most of them, even replaying them on different difficult levels, but I soon tire of doing the same mission again and again. My replays of Thief or Thief II were at least a year or two apart, until I discovered the FMs for T2, of which I’ve played a few.

Source:

TDM - TDM Halloween speed-build contest forum thread

The Dark Mod Halloween Competition is now on

New Review Published: The Dark Mod

You didn’t really think that verbose series of posts about this mod was the end, did you? Shame. You wanted a review; “ask and ye shall receive”. This will be the last time for the foreseeable future I post about this mod. Promise… until the next version of it comes out, anyway.

After playing Duke Nukem Forever last month, I decided it might be time to play something a little more intelligent – perhaps even subtle. What could be further from in-your-face, all-out action than a Thief title?

But The Dark Mod isn’t a Thief title – not officially. But it’s damn near the closest thing available out there for the time being, next to playing one of the original games or the numerous FMs for them, anyway.

Despite being released originally nearly two years ago in October 2009, I’ve only just played the mod - really a total conversion for Doom 3 – in the past month. This was version 1.06, released on June 19, 2011.

After spending some time getting reacquainted with sneaking through a place instead of shooting everything up, I set about writing a review of it over the past while, and assembling everything on HubPages just recently before publishing it. I’ve now got the piece up if you’d like to have a look – some of you all ready have. ;)

New Review Published: The Dark Mod

The Dark Mod Experience: Part II

After the reformat, I obviously had to get everything in working order on my system. After some trouble with some programs, including the ATi drivers for my graphics card (I eventually had to roll back to a previous version), I was about ready to install Doom 3, and then after that, put TDM on my HDD. So after about half an hour or so, I had it all set up, and then ran the TDM launcher. I was at the main menu of this mod, which had eluded me for nearly two years since its release – and I’d craved to play it for about twice as long.
The only game I’d wanted longer than this was Duke Nukem Forever, which I also managed to play last month – and if you were wondering, sort of inspired this two-part series in a way. Yatta over at duke4.net wrote a series called “The DNF Experience”.
But there were problems once I tried to actually play the game. After installing one of the FMs and attempting to play it, the screen froze once the game was restarted, and I also noted that the Doom 3 intro screen flashed in front of me at one point. So I had to hit alt+ctrl+del and go back to the desktop. I tried firing up the launcher again, but then I ended up with a blank screen.

After this, I ran Doom 3 itself, and tried loading the mod from there, but that was also a no-go. I couldn’t figure out what to do.

I perused the TDM forum online to see if anyone else had the same problem, and came across some similar ones, and there were several suggestions thrown out – some pertaining to ATi drivers and other similar issues.

I really need to get rid of this graphics card and go back to nVidia. I rarely had any problems back then.
But I thought that since I’m only running v 1.3, I should really update it to v 1.6 to see if that would fix the error – I’d read of others having fixed problems this way. So I waited nearly another month.

A month later; I hadn’t played any games for weeks and I was starting to feel the strain. I needed a break from reality. I had just under half of my data left, so I took TDM off my HDD and put a clean version on there in the Doom 3 directory and ran the updater. It was so slow; it would have taken hours to get the process done. Even though I’ve since learned that the updater can resume downloads, I didn’t know that at the time. So I cancelled, and instead waited until the next day.



On the Monday, I ran the updater, and it was much faster. I was able to get all of 340 MB down and installed within an hour and a half. It only took longer than that, because while I was in the bath that evening (it’s winter here now – I don’t shower this time of year), my firewall started blocking the TDM updater’s access to the web. After allowing it through, it finished up, did a bit of housecleaning and patching, and it was done.

I then backed up the full v 1.6 and all the FMs I had at that point (about 35+). I wasn’t too sure if this would fix the problems I had with it, and instead of trying it, I left it for that night, instead opting to play some DNF.
Then the following night I had the courage to fire up the TDM launcher, and got to the main menu again. It had been weeks since I’d last been here. I installed just the included training mission, without loading in all the FMs to the appropriate folder, and TDM restarted. I was anticipating yet another blank screen or something. Then I saw a loading screen for the first time.

“I haven’t got this far yet,” I thought.

I crossed my fingers and waited. Bloody long loading times.

To my amazement, it happened - I was in the game. I was in the training mission – in the room with doors all around me. I couldn’t believe that running the updater actually worked! I thought I’d at least have to try the torrent again, or perhaps run the updater and grab the full 2 GB of TDM that way – which I hear is the most painless way of going about it.

I played the training mission a bit, and exited. I wanted to see if I could get back to the main menu again and not see a blank screen. I could.
It was working just fine.
____

I always find that when I’m so eager to play a game or mod, then it’s like life chucks everything in front of me, not allowing me to have any fun. Whereas all the games I’m not so amped about work fine. Murphy’s, or Sod’s Law, I guess: if something can go wrong, it will.

But now I don’t play TDM. It sits there on my HDD. At first I didn’t want to play it or install any more FMs because I might’ve broken something, and I’d have to reinstall and it wouldn't work… again.
From the screenshots, you can obviously tell that I have played the mod, and at least several of the missions. But now I have TDM and all the FMs out there, and everything’s working – I’m not interested anymore. I spent nearly two years trying to get the mod - jumping through all sorts of hoops, getting around tons of obstacles.

The chase is better than the catch, as they say.

The Dark Mod Experience: Part II

The Dark Mod Experience: Part I

I finally played The Dark Mod the other night.

I first spied The Dark Mod as an interesting project back in 2007, after visiting Thief-The-Circle, which is part of the TTLG network of sites. But the project started way back in 2004, after the somewhat disappointing Thief: Deadly Shadows was released the same year.

I immediately began downloading all of the screenshots and videos that were made available, and viewed them continually for months.

Years passed, and in 2009 the first beta release was out, after approximately five years of work. I wanted it - but at the time, here in the third world, I still had a dial-up connection, which meant it would take at least a full month of downloading to get this mod – and the only way you could get this mod was by running one of those online updaters, which have to run while you’re online, obviously. It would have taken days.

So I had to put it on the backburner for a while.

At about the same time however, I started using data bundles with my Smartphone. I thought about how much it would cost to buy a 2GB data bundle to get the mod. I could easily afford it, but the only thing is that data bundles, with the network I was on at the time, had to last 60 days (it used to be 30). So after downloading the mod (which I think was about 1.2 – 1.5 GB at the time), I’d have to be very frugal with the rest of the data. I could have done it - barely - in hindsight, but chose not to.

Instead, I tried petitioning (or nagging) to get the mod on the Cover DVD of NAG – a local gaming magazine. The DVD is usually full of rubbish including mainly trailers and videos and the like. I thought they’d be thrilled to put something on the DVD. But no – it was the same excuse: “It’s in the queue”. I even tried to get NAG to do a preview of TDM before that, but there was absolutely no interest whatsoever.

If you were to dig around on this blog, you would see that I’ve written about all my frustrations in trying to nab it several times in the past. I do know for a fact that the TDM community stops by here every now and again. Even a TDM developer of sorts caught on and went over to the NAG forums, promising to get a proper direct download package up and running – even with some FMs. That still hasn’t happened.

                    Would you care for some screenshots, young thief?

Fast forward to 2011, and I was using 1 Day uncapped broadband bundles with my 3G provider. I found that not only do you have an option to run the updater to download everything, but you can also download the torrent. I gave that a try. Hell, it was slow – it was barely any  faster than my dial-up connection – partly because the network I was on throttles you after using only 150 MB of bandwidth. It said it would take 20+ hours to download. I had 24 hours until the data bundle expired. I gave it a try, but barely got half-way before calling it quits. I wasn’t going to get it done. When I bought another 1 Day uncapped data bundle and tried to resume that download, I couldn’t because version 1.5 was out, and the torrent I tried to download was v 1.4. The torrent was taken down or something, by the look of it.

It was this year that my dial-up deal was coming to an end, and I had to look elsewhere for options. I spotted a Wi-Fi deal that gives you a modem and 5GB of data per month. I thought that would be ideal seeing as I would be able to use up half through the month, and then have enough to download The Dark Mod as well as all the FMs available, which stood at about 40+ at that time.

I tried the torrent, but once again it said that I would have to wait about 20 hours or more to get the thing. There were barely any people seeding it, and no peers. It initially ran at about 100 KB/s, but dropped to half that, and less, in no time.

“Why can’t they put a direct download up somewhere for Chr*st’s sake?” I thought. Then I actually checked, just out of curiosity, to see if there really is such a thing. I saw that some people had uploaded versions of the mod to Rapidshare and MegaUpload and so on. But I spotted something even better: there was a download available at Gamefront through the Dark Mod’s ModDB page.

I downloaded that instead. It wasn’t the full version 1.5 (at the time), but it was v 1.3, which was close enough. I figured I’d just run the updater later and get it up to v 1.5. Anyway, the download took 4 hours instead of 20, which made me happy. The modem held up under a storm outside which lasted the entire time. I was on edge that afternoon because I wasn’t sure if the server supported download resume. If the connection was dropped, then I might have to start over. Luckily that didn’t happen by some miracle. That modem usually drops under even a hint of bad weather.

I downloaded about 30 of the FMs, until my data reset – it was the end of the month. I left it until the last bloody minute to do all this. I immediately set about backing up all the files, in case something happened to them. I was damned if I was ever going to do all that again.

I ended up making two or three discs with the mod on it. One or two of those discs had some sort of write failure, because there was an internet security program interfering with Nero. I uninstalled the interfering program, and then I managed to get one successful write out of three.

After that I reformatted my HDD, which I’d been planning for some time, after just getting fed up with all the issues I’d been plagued with.

___

End of Part I – look out for Part II soon.

The Dark Mod Experience: Part I

Features that Every Game Should Have: Full Body Awareness

I remember one of the first times I encountered this feature in a game. It was Thief: Deadly Shadows, back in 2004. Now it might not have been the first to use it (that would be Trespasser: Jurassic Park, apparently), but it was likely one of the first I encountered. Certainly most of the other major titles of that year, like Doom 3, Half-Life 2, or Far Cry, didn’t incorporate it, as far as I know.

What is this feature? Full Body Awareness. And to date only 30-odd games seem to have this feature.

There have been other titles from around the same time that did too, like the excellent Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay, and most of the games in the F.E.A.R. franchise, starting with the progenitor of the series back in 2005, as well as Condemned: Criminal Origins – a game by the same creators of the previously mentioned series. Other more well-known examples would include Dark Messiah of Might and Magic.

Full body awareness is a feature that when, in a game, you look down, and you can see the character’s legs and feet as well as their arms and hands. It adds to the realism of a game. And it seemed to be a big thing a few years ago, but nowadays it just doesn’t really make it in to many games. One exception would be Mirror’s Edge, a game by DICE – but that was released a couple of year ago now… in 2008.

A lot of games released before the time period described above, and a lot of titles today, have that disembodied set of arms and hands holding a gun. When you move the mouse downwards, you see nothing. Some games might have a shadow or something on the ground, but few actually go to the lengths of having a chest and a set of legs which makes it seem less like you’re barely a torso with arms and a camera for a head, floating in mid air. And when you realise this, it kind of lets me down, for one. This is what I call Lack of Legs syndrome, or “LOL” for short.

“Hey, where’s my legs?! I can’t feel my legs!” - Lack of Legs [LOL] syndrome as demonstrated in Metro 2033 [2010]

There are those games that make up for this lack of realism by being able to switch to a third person view – like Fallout 3 or Oblivion – where you can see the character move and so on. But still, it seems like a cop out, especially when you factor in that sometimes the animation of the characters in third-person, or just the animation in general, isn’t all that good; something that a game like STALKER has a problem with.

Some other games cheat in a way by not allowing you to look all the way down to the ground, but less than the full 90 degrees.

A title like Thief: Deadly Shadows does both first-person and third-person, as well as full body awareness to boot. It’s one of those games, that although not recognised as one of the greatest games of all time, or even within the series, does something right; and that was one of them.

Full Body Awareness in Thief: Deadly Shadows [2004] – image courtesy of Giantbomb

I don’t know why this is. It’s a small thing that I often find myself checking with new games from time to time. It’s like a test on my checklist, and I’ll be going along in Modern Warfare 2 or Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and after being wowed by the gunfights, and the explosions, and the destructible environments, I’ll be like: “Okay, this all seems to be in order. I’ll just take a look down here, and… oh, dear. FAIL.”

Like I said, it’s a small thing, but something that I often think about. Full Body Awareness was a small but thoughtful addition to games and realism a few years ago that seems for some reason to have gone out of style, and developers just don’t go to the effort anymore. I don’t know if it’s a lot of effort to put it, seeing as I’m not a programmer or an artist or any sort of game developer, but still. They claim that leaving out the legs is a sacrifice in order to enlarge upon the quality of weapons and items that the player holds.

Needless to say, it’s a little thing that I would like to see make a comeback, and become a regular feature in not only first-person shooters, but in RPGs, and so on, to add that extra little bit, so a game gets an A+ instead of an A- for realism.

Check here over at Giantbomb for more on FBA, or Full Body Awareness.

Features that Every Game Should Have: Full Body Awareness

The Dark Mod Coming to A DVD Near You… Hopefully

I decided I would put the now occasional post up here. I went over the NAG forums today and saw that the August DVD request thread is still open a month later, probably soon to be locked and the key thrown away.

Anyway, I saw an interesting post there that talked about The Dark Mod – something I’ve wanted on the NAG DVD for months now, since last October.

The poster is a member of the TDM development team, who arrived over at the NAG forums, likely thanks to one of my posts here on the blog talking about wanting the mod on the DVD.

This poster talked about putting the mod into a more accessible form – right now it’s one of those install while online things which I dislike, so I understand. But that might change seeing as they might make a regular installer that can be downloaded in its entirety and run offline, which will come bundled with some of the current maps available off the website.

Related to this, a version 1.03 is on the way, likely to be released within the next few months, which will have even more fixes and so on for the mod. And there’s also talk that after id Software releases the source code for Doom 3 or id Tech 4 engine, likely next year after Rage comes out, the mod will be looking at running standalone, without the player needing Doom 3, like it currently does. And of course there will be messing around with the graphics, features and so on too.

“I noticed thanks to referrer traffic that NAG had a few posts over the last few months asking for The Dark Mod (TDM) to be put on the DVD, and as I don't exactly follow NAG, but seeing as I'm part of the TDM dev team, I'd like to offer to put it into a more accessible form if you guys are interested. At the moment the maps are separate from the installer, and the installer requires internet access. I'd be happy to roll an installer and include a handful of the 25 odd missions (40 hours+ gameplay) that we have so far had released.

It would however most likely be left for a later date when you can spare the space and once 1.03 comes out, we should have HDR and a lot of AI/gameplay fixes. Failing that, Carmack has told us that the Tech4 source will be released shortly after Rage (he seems to have permission from Zeni, yay), so early next year we can look at a full distribution, without the need for doom3 and with increased graphical goodness and performance.

Just an offer if people are still interested.”

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Source: August DVD Request Thread [NAG Online Forums]

The Dark Mod Coming to A DVD Near You… Hopefully

The Dark Mod Version 1.02 up for Download

By now you’ve surely heard of The Dark Mod: a Thief-inspired mod for Doom 3. Recently another update for the mod was released, bringing it up to version 1.02 now. What’s in this new update: new textures, models, AI fixes as well as some new vocals for the guards and so on.

The download weighs in at 500 MB. There’s a mew trailer to show off some of the new features as well.

There’s also some new Fan Missions [FMs] that have been released, including most recently “Alchemist”, just the other day.

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Source: The Dark Mod [via Doom world]

The Dark Mod Version 1.02 up for Download

Trent Reznor not Working on Doom 4

It’s a long way off until Doom 4 will ever see the light of day, seeing as Rage – the title that id is currently working on – will only arrive next year as it is.

Still, there were those who probably wondered whether Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails fame would be working on Doom 4 as far as sound and music goes.

The answer it turns out, is “No”. Apparently he said that he doesn’t have the time to work on the game.

"I haven't been contacted by them and find it unlikely that I would have time at this point."

Trent previously worked on the music in Quake, and also did some work on Doom 3 that didn’t even make it into the final version of the game.

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Source: Trent Reznor Unlikely to be Involved with Doom 4 [1UP]

Trent Reznor not Working on Doom 4

Thievious Update: Medieval Magical Mayhem

Thievious is another Thief-inspired mod for Doom 3, much like The Dark Mod. Except it’s aim is to be a multiplayer coop game, and in addition to this, the latest update for the game sees you using magical powers, perhaps inspired by the Pagan Shamans and Hammerite Priests from the Thief series, or even the Imps from the Doom series. Who knows? Maybe both.

These powers include the conjuring of fireballs, like the picture shows, as well as manipulating the environment with telekinesis.

The picture above likely looks a little fuzzy because it might well be a screen taken from a clip of the gameplay. Either that or it’s a LQ screenshot.

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Sources:

Thievious Work In Progress Update 3 [ModDB]
Thievious Update 3 [PlanetDoom]

Thievious Update: Medieval Magical Mayhem

AAA – Now Playing: Doom 64

Well, actually it’s the TC for the PC called Absolution. It’s years old now, and I haven’t played it for a long time. I didn’t get around to finishing it either.

It’s not considered apart of the main Doom series, or even canon, by some; it lacks some of the demons from Doom and Doom II, and the existing ones had a makeover. And there are other things that make it feel like it isn’t really Doom. It does feel more like a Quake game, now that some people mention it. But it’s still good, and still worth a try.

One of these days I also want to try out Doom 64 EX, which is a “more accurate” direct port of the game, rather than a TC like Absolution is, for Doomsday, or JDoom, I believe.

I remember seeing Doom 64 for the first time when I was a child, and I read about it in an issue of some magazine. I can’t even recall the name. But there was a massive preview of it with plenty of screenshots and so on. I wanted it so badly. Who knew that it would be ten years later after that, in 2007, that I actually got around to playing it. I downloaded the TC, the maps, the soundtrack pack, and after that I think I just lost interest. Weird.

Now after having played through Doom 3 again, I thought: why not? So I got everything set up again just this week and started it up.

AAA – Now Playing: Doom 64

The Most Irritating Demons of Doom of all Time [List]

Seeing as I’m all about Doom nowadays, as I’m playing Doom 3 again and loving it, I thought about making this list. In fact, I remember talking about it in another post, when I mentioned that Imps are one of the most irritating creatures in the entire Doom universe, irrespective of which game.

Well, here I have decided to post a list, in no particular order, of the most irritating demons of all time, in all of the Doom series. I thought it was also quite appropriate as the 15th anniversary of The Ultimate Doom was just the other day.

                                                      

Imp

Imp in Doom 1 and 2, Doom 64, and in Doom 3

Probably one of the only demons on the list to make it into practically every Doom game there ever was. They are the basic demonic creature that crops up everywhere throughout the series. Think of them as Hell’s ground infantry. These horny, thorny buggers can scratch the hell out of you up close, and also like to hurl fireballs at you for ranged combat.

This essentially makes them the smaller relative of the Hell Knight or the Baron of Hell, who also like to throw balls of plasma or fire at you. But those dudes are big and scary, and deserve respect.

In Doom 3, they become even more cunning and annoying, as they can crawl on walls and ceilings, and pounce on you as you open doors and so on, going right for the face. And not to mention that in both Doom 64 and Doom 3 you also get Nightmare Imps, which are either a different colour or nearly invisible, depending on the game. Perhaps nothing is more satisfying than putting an Imp down and sending it back to hell where it came from.

Trite

Trite in Doom 3

These are actually spiders, but are massive compared in size to the garden variety around your house. They have an upside down head mounted on to their thorax, and in addition to looking rather creepy, they also have a nasty bite. This was all to overcome the name I guess, seeing as Trite means shite – as in unoriginal. And as would be expected with spiders, they can jump at you too. They also often tend to attack in groups, crawling out from vents and so on. If they surround you, it can be a one way ticket to hell.

You also get Ticks, which are like Trites, except they explode once they get close enough – as in right up your leg.

But still, it could be worse, seeing as these Trites essentially replace the Arachnotrons from Doom II and Doom 64. And those were cybronic spiders with plasmaguns, as well as big brains… and cold blue eyes that turned red when they cut you down with rapid fire. And then there’s the Spider Mastermind…

Cacodemon

Cacodemon in Doom 1 and 2, Doom 64, and in Doom 3

These big ugly looking sons of guns have also been in every Doom game ever, just like the Imps above, although they’ve changed form in almost every incarnation, particularly in Doom 64.

They’re big, red, one-eyed, and smile a lot as they hurk up lightning balls at you. Not only this but they can fly too, making hitting them even with rockets a bit tiresome as you run out of ammo.

When they die however, it’s quite a sight, as it looks just like a big heap of spaghetti and meatballs. Dibs on that delicious eye!

Arch-Vile

 

Arch-Vile in Doom 2, and in Doom 3

These fellas weren’t in the original Doom, and thank god, or whoever, because they can be hell to deal with. They made their debut in Doom II: Hell on Earth, and you quickly learn to fear them. In a combat scenario, they will not only conjure up a firewall which dishes out massive amounts of damage as it rushes towards you and often sends you flying up in the air, but also have a nasty habit of resurrecting their fallen demonic brethren that you’ve wasted.

Make sure to kill them first before the other demons, otherwise things can get out of hand.

The Arch-Vile was mercifully left out of Doom 64 because of the developer’s penchant for creating nightmare versions of Imps and Pinkys as well as other demons; claiming that there wasn’t enough space for Archie on the cartridge. But we know that’s a lie. Archie was just too tough, scary, and annoying to put him in the game.

He did end up in Doom 3 though.

Cherub

Cherub in Doom 3

These little bastards only ever cropped up in Doom 3, but I wish they hadn’t sometimes. They start to pop up further into the game, and make their first appearance about the same time that you battle the Mancubi [Mancubus x 3].

The look like a cross between a baby and a wasp, mixed with a bit of crab, and maybe a moth too.

You can usually tell when they’re around because of the baby noises they make, as they cry out “Mama!” They’re fine to shoot from afar, but let them get close enough, and they’ll flutter about with their little wings while they tear at you with their rather sharp claws. And if a gang of them swarm you, then you’re in a lot of trouble.

Former Commando/Heavy Weapon Guy

 

Former Commando in Doom 2, and in Doom 3 [2 types]

The commando turned up in Doom II as a fat, bearded black man [from what I could tell in the days of those grainy sprites], who packed a big gun… ahem, a chain gun, that is. That was all fine and well, but after taking a hiatus in Doom 64, he came back in Doom 3 with a vengeance, and a lighter complexion. and this time, instead of just carrying a chain gun, Commandos also came in the tentacle variety – and these are the irritating ones as far as I’m concerned.

They have a long tentacle which acts as a whip, which can bitch slap you from ten metres away, and once they get up close, they will unleash a flurry of kicks, punches and shoves and so on, which makes them a major pain. Also, they happen to be some of the ugliest creatures you will come across in the game, with some major dental problems, and unnaturally asymmetrical pectoral muscles. Oh, and when they catch sight of you, they don’t just walk up to you like other zombified humans – they shout “Die!” and run at you full speed. Terrifying – especially when you’ve only got your flashlight in hand.

Lost Soul

Lost Soul in Doom 1 and 2, Doom 64, Doom 3, and Doom 3: RoE’s Forgotten One

These little flying, screaming, flaming skulls have been in practically every Doom game, except perhaps for Doom 3 [more on that later]. They fly about and will dash at you out of nowhere and take a big chunk out of your face. They also happen to scream and are on fire – could be a relation there somewhere, like cause and effect.

Now, why I say they didn’t really make it into Doom 3 is this: they technically didn’t, because the Lost Soul in Doom 3 wasn’t really the same as the original designs in games before it. You might have noticed that they lacked the horns that the Lost Soul typically has. They did have bloody sharp looking teeth to make up for it though. It was in Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil – the expansion – that the Forgotten One came along and replaced the Doom 3 Lost Soul as the true Lost Soul… if that makes sense.

Revenant

Revenant in Doom 2, and in Doom 3

Revenants, just like the Commando and the Arch-Vile, only appeared in Doom 2 and Doom 3, as they were all cut out of Doom 64, and didn’t appear in Doom 1.

These revenants look like bony supermodels with their long legs and non existent skin, and the weird gait, but they pack more of a punch than you’d think – literally. Get too close, and they will knock you down with a big fist full of bone. And if that’s not enough, then take into account what really put them on the list: their annoying habit of launching missiles at you from shoulder-mounted rocket launchers that resemble water wings. And those missiles are homing, or heat seeking missiles, and will follow you if you try to run or dodge them.

Spectre

Spectre in Doom 1 and 2, Doom 64, and Doom 3

You get the original Pinky Demons in Doom, and they’re fine. Not too hard to dispatch, and not too bright either. It’s the Spectres that you need to watch out for, and have been in basically every Doom game.

They look similar, and sound similar to the Pinky, but, like the name, they are nearly invisible, and can blend in with the fuzzy looking environments [especially in the first Doom games], camouflaging themselves in with walls and the background. The only real thing to do is blast them with the auto aiming rockets of yours.

If they get up close, they’ll start biting you, and it can be hard to actually even see the big wide gaping mouth chomping on your shoulder, as ridiculous as it sounds. But you will feel it.

Pain Elemental

Pain Elemental in Doom 2, and Doom 64

This is the irritating cousin of the irritating Cacodemon. But if you thought Cacface was annoying, then prepare to meet this fellow. He won’t attack you directly, but he likes to burp Lost Souls that will come out and attack you for him. That’s both rude and cowardly. And even in death, he will still crap out a couple of the things that will come after you.

In Doom 64 he had a bit of a makeover, as he tried to look more like his cousin, and grew a long mane. He also has two new arms that resemble mouths, and out of these he shoots those lost souls, but his time twice as many.

He wasn’t invited to the party in Doom 3 thank goodness, as he has foul table manners.

- So that’s it. The top ten most irritating demons in Doom - in no particular order, because that would have taken longer. But if you want, you can list them the way you want in the comments. You can of course add other demons that you feel would be on your list, that aren’t on this one, like the Hell Knight or Baron of Hell, because they are two of my all time favourites.

Here’s the shortlist just for reference:

Imp
Trite
Cacodemon
Arch-Vile
Cherub
Former Commando/Heavy Weapon Guy
Lost Soul
Revenant
Spectre
Pain Elemental

THE END

The Most Irritating Demons of Doom of all Time [List]

Working on Another Article: Most Irritating Demons in Doom

Seeing as I’m all about Doom nowadays, as I’m playing Doom 3 again and loving it, I thought about making this list. In fact, I remember talking about it in another post, when I mentioned that Imps are one of the most irritating creatures in the entire Doom universe, irrespective of which game.

That’s why I’ve been a bit slow on posts recently seeing as I’m working on this article, or list. At the moment, I’ve got the rough ready, and just adding some pictures and beautifying it a bit. I should have it published by Friday this week.

Working on Another Article: Most Irritating Demons in Doom

AAA - Now Playing: Doom 3

True to my word, like I said the other day, I ended up installing Doom 3 again on my PC. I fished out the “Best of” DVD box that I bought for Christmas years ago, which saves me having to patch the game endlessly. I also installed a few mods, but I don’t know how many of them are actually working since at least on of them is a standalone one, not meant to be played with others.

But I am trying out AMS, or Allied Squad Marines, a mod which enticed me into playing the game again in the first place. Those dudes, like the one in the picture above, aren’t so smart it turns out, and will often not follow you like they should, or get stuck in walls, or fail to move out the way in a critical moment and you end up getting killed by a trite [spider thing], or they end up killing you by shooting you in the back, but anyway… fun.

When I first played the game years ago, brand new off the shelf, my system could only run it at medium in terms of graphical beauty. Now I can play the thing at ultra quality. That’s what I like about playing the classics. The characters are still bloody ugly though.

AAA - Now Playing: Doom 3

Video Game Character Lookalikes: Dr. Betruger [Doom 3]

This might seem obvious to some of you, but it’s been niggling at me for years now. I have to say it. Dr. Betruger from Doom 3 not only looks like this man, but he sounds quite similar to him too, even though he was voiced by Philip L. Clarke.

Who am I talking about? Sir Antony Hopkins. The Welsh actor whose most famous role is likely that of Dr. Hannibal Lecter, or “Hannibal the Cannibal” in films such as Silence of the Lambs, Red Dragon, and Hannibal.

     

                           Dr. Malcolm Betruger and Dr. Hannibal Lecter

Video Game Character Lookalikes: Dr. Betruger [Doom 3]

Rage gets a Release Window, New Screenshots, Similar to Borderlands?

On this day: 5 May 2010 - May Day; 5 May 1992 – Wolfenstein 3D

All has been quite on the subject of Rage – id Software’s first real developed game since Doom 3, and the first original IP since Quake.

But some news hit recently about the post-apocalyptic themed title, and it was concerning a release date.

Bethesda, the publisher says that the game should be out next year. In other words, 2011. For a while there we were expecting it to come this year. All the versions of the game – PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 – will be released simultaneously.

Tim Willits of id Software gave reasons why the title would not see 2010:

“Because we haven’t even hit alpha on this thing yet. But we’re working very hard and we’re getting close to that. But it’s important that we get this right. There’s nothing worse than pushing something out before it’s ready.

And the great thing about Bethesda and Zenimax is the executive management has the faith in us to give us the resource that we need to do the right game. Because, trust me, it would be horrible if we were to release it and it was bad.

As you saw, it’s running well on the 360. There are some graphical things that John’s working through, that he’ll get fixed. But the engine’s pretty solid.”

There was also talk about the fact – and I’ve thought this for some time – that Rage looks quite similar to Borderlands. I also thought Fallout 3 as well, seeing as some claim that’s the game that clinched the deal between id Software and Bethesda’s parent company, ZeniMax, last year.

But the Design Director on the game, Matt Hooper, stepped in to give his take:

"I can see fans drawing comparisons -- and people naturally want to draw parallels between existing things -- but no, we're not just making another 'Doom' here. It's something new for us."

Rage is not a procedural landscape with heavy RPG elements and a billion weapons. It's a very crafted, focused, action shooter with a level of attention to detail that's just off the charts."

We knew we wanted to have vehicles, and that we could make a kick-ass shooter, so the two came together in a very natural way for the team."

We've got a finely crafted weapons, really creative engineering items like deployable turrets and remote controlled bombs. It's all about creating a rich universe to use the array of weapons and options at the player's disposal."

It's not a bad thing that people draw comparisons. I just hope that people get more information and see demos and really realize what makes Rage so unique. Even if this post-apocalyptic wasteland seems familiar at first."

In addition to all this, there’ve been some new screenshots released for the game as well.

 

By the way, if you local SA gamers, or those in the UK even, happen to watch GameFace on Tuesdays, last night you would have heard from Julia Hardy that they will doing a feature on the game sometime soon.

---

Sources:

RAGE Gets Release Window, New Screenshots [Shacknews]
Rage delayed until 2011, confirms id Software [VG247]
'Rage' Developer On 'Borderlands' Similarities [multiplayerblog.mtv.com]

Rage gets a Release Window, New Screenshots, Similar to Borderlands?