Console Carnage Creation: DoomRL

 This is kind of an off format post for this blog. I've never done anything with a video game before, other than the mini reviews on the Star Wars blog. But, Doom: The Roguelike is on theme, a great game, and I spent a bunch of time the last couple days playing it instead of Shores of Hell.

Since this isn't a gaming blog, I'll throw out a quickie definition of "roguelike" games. As the name implies, they're (to varying degrees) based on/inspired by Rogue, developed in 1980. Rogue was one of the first games to do a whole list of things that aren't relevant here. Today, Roguelikes are generally defined as having:

1. Randomly generated levels that change every time you play

2. Permadeath: Once your character dies, you're out. No reloading a save.

3. Turn based, not real time.

4. Broadly based on fighting your way down levels through some kind of dungeon-like structure.

There's a whole lot of other characteristics that some people will include, distinctions between "Roguelike vs Roguelite", but that's a good enough for here. Doom RL checks all those boxes, though I'd argue it's definitely on the "lighter" side, compared to something like Nethack, which requires memorizing (or looking up) hundreds of pieces of information, and often years of practice to beat.

What makes DRL (as it's apparently called now, cause Zenimax) special?

The Doom theme is obvious, and it's a great starting point for a game. I talked a little about it in the first Doom entry, and I'll go into it more when I actually cover Shores of Hell, but the techno-hell sci-fi/fantasy mash up of Doom is a great setting. And, like any good non-commercial game, it's full of refences to other franchises like Warhammer 40K, Hellsing, Trigun, and Megaman. (This is one of my favorite things about  indie games. The old versions of Defense of The Ancients had Warcraft, Final Fantasy, Starcraft, Slayers, and who knows how many other franchises running around. Nethack has Tron cameos.)

It's a (mostly) ranged combat based Roguelike, which used to be very rare (and still isn't the default). That said, the variety of approaches supported is pretty wide. Melee challenges are common, as is pacifism. Different weapon families play differently (a bursty shotgun build vs a rev up your chain gun one) just like in the original game. And it does a great job of tracking all that with different modes, achievements, etc. 

More than anything, I think it's the pacing that makes it fun. A lot of Roguelikes are very slow, intentional games. Check the 15000 things going on, line up all your buffs, etc., etc. And that's fun sometimes, and you can play that way. But mostly, DoomRL is a run and gun kind of game, and it even has mechanics like dodging to emphasize that.

Honestly not really doing it justice here, and maybe I'll come back and edit this or do a second entry later. It's a Hell (HA!) of a good time, and it's free. What more do you really need?

Classic Comic Carnage! The Doom Comic

 Since I'm doing Episodes 2 and 3 as a single entry (and they're longer and harder than 1. I died!) I need some filler. How about the infamous/famous/legendary Doom comic?

There's a newer dub that came up first on Youtube. This one is better.

The comic has a somewhat checkered history that nicely lines up with the "generations" of Doom games. Probably rant about that later. It was released in 1996, at a time when not complete garbage video game tie-ins were just starting to become a thing. iD commissioned it as swag at E3 (RIP) 1996, and it's been rereleased quite a few times over the years. In the interest of giving a good community site some love, I'll link to Doomworld's Retrospective from 2003, when Doom was 10 years old. It's over 30 now. Man this game is old. Anyway, here you go.

Anyway, reception throughout the years. 1996: Bad! At a time when there wasn't a lot of Doom out there. Two games, some pseudo-expansion packs, and a couple strategy guides. And the first couple console ports, which were mostly bad. (The Switch version isn't as good as playing on my PC, but it sure is convenient. It's kind of wild that it took over 10 years to get a "faithful" port with the Xbox 360 in 2006.)

The comic is also bad. In about the way that you'd expect a freebie mid 90s comic to be. The art is inconsistent (and never really makes it beyond mediocre in the best panels), the dialogue is goofy, and the plot and game mechanics are mostly nonexistent. So most fans seemed to spend the first 10 years give or take mostly mad at it. 

But, in the mid to late aughts, the internet did what the internet does, and it became a meme. That's when the above video was originally released, and "RIP AND TEAR" got pasted into about a million forum sigs. I think most people still knew it was bad, they just wanted to have fun with it.

And then (somewhere around 2015), something really weird happened. Some genius (probably Hugo Martin) decided "rip and tear" was going to be the entire thematic basis of the new Doom game. And now Doom is written by a 12 year old who just heard metal for the first time. It's pretty bad, but people love it.

But this isn't a whine about the New Dooms post (which may or may not ever happen) it's a Doom Comic post. Here's the memes, and some advise on how to tastefully deploy them on the internet.

"Whos' a man and a half? I'm a man and a half!" I will say, not many comics manage such a famous first line. Do you know the first line of the first appearance of Batman or Spider-Man or Spawn or anything? Probably not. Acceptable any time you are as good as at least 1.5 other people.

Anything else in the first page and a half: When using a melee weapon in a game.

"Rip and tear" Previously, for doing stupid things. Now, probably best to take it out back and shoot it.

"Here comes the night train..." For rushing into a room.

"Feelings of invincibility fading..." Self explanatory

"Allow me to communicate my desire to have your guns!" When trying to acquire better weapons from an enemy.

"Might makes light! And I feel mighty!" There are too many exclamation points in this comic.

"At this particular moment in time I don't believe I have a healthier or more deeply-felt respect for any object in the universe than this here X..." For when you have successfully acquired your favorite gun. Or just one that does really well.

"Dance! Dance, bonedaddy!" While using rapid fire weapons.

"Now I'm X! That can't be good!" When something can't be good.

"Why can't we [...]Oh, the humanity!" Anytime a poorly written attempt at a political message is inserted into a piece of media.

"I'm all about that X! And baby, it's all about me!" Similar to (slightly less than?) "At this particular moment..." above.

"Wow! Now I'm in completely different place!" When you get lost.

"My cause is just... my will is strong... and my gun is very, very large!" Most advanced version of "At this particular moment."

More Doom... someday? I don't know, busy weekend.