A Doom 2 remake has long been the dream of many a gamer and with this mod we get a taste of it being brought into the modern era via the use of Unreal Engine 4. Before I get the hopes up of those of you reading, I must say right off the bat that this is a bare-bones alpha build and is a dead project since October 2014, as Bethesda was understandably not too thrilled about this mod. I keep referring to it as a mod for lack of better terms to what to call it but it does not require you to own any of the Doom games, you just download it and click on the application to start it right up without any hassle.
We start off in the first level of Doom 2, there is no menus or even a pause key. One of the first things you’ll notice is that the 2 zombie soldiers from the original have been replaced with Imps. This is due to the Imp being the only character model that was added in before the demise of this project. They do not hurl fireballs, instead, they walk toward you in an effort to gauge your eyes out but unbeknownst to them, we are invulnerable from all damage. Not to mention that we also start off with the chain-gun, rocket launcher and plasma rifle that all possess infinite ammo.
There is no music or sound effects other than the weapon sounds lifted right from Doom 2. Each weapon looks very nice and the rocket launcher, in particular, is satisfying to use due to the gib effect. The chain-gun and plasma rifle both do the job as well but they are more of a curiosity before you switch back to the rocket launcher and abuse the fact that you can’t take damage to blast yourself out of a window to explore parts of the map you were not meant to. None of the secrets were implemented, so you’ll mostly be doing it to gawk at the scenery which looks quite awesome indeed.
As you blast away the imps and reach the end of the level, you will discover that there is no end. The area that leads to the end switch has not been implemented and is just a brick wall. In all reality, this is more of a proof of concept than something you can call a game and one that will only be interesting for Doom fans. It is such a shame this project was killed off so early on since it was shaping up quite nicely. Time after time talented game enthusiasts try to recreate old titles with new engines such as they did with Castlevania 1, knowing full well that it will very likely be killed off. Once again, it is understandable by the IP owners part but really has to make you respect the effort that the gaming community continues to put into their favorite titles. With that little ramble aside, this is still worth a download to see what could have been and then proceed to feel sad.
Mod link below:
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