Brutal Doom: Knee Deep in the Dead Longplay (PC)
75Developed and released by Sergeant Mark IV in 2016
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I think it's fair to say that when id Software released the original Doom for the PC back in 1993, it was nothing less than revolutionary - whilst I agree with just about every superlative you could express about the game, that's not the focus of this video and review.
In fact, I didn't actually set out to make a video about Brutal Doom, but I had such tremendous fun with the game that I thought some of you out there might enjoy it - if you do want to see the other episodes, be sure to let me know in the comments, or 'like' the video.
Despite being nearly a quarter of a century old, there is still an active modding scene for id's masterpiece. It's fair to say that there is a huge amount of chaff amongst the wheat, but there are some real gems out there. I remember seeing footage of Brutal Doom online a few years back and thought it looked great fun, but I could never really work up the enthusiasm to download one of the modern, open-source Doom engines and get it running.
Well, that changed after finding myself at a loose end and not really knowing what to do with myself. I downloaded GZDoom, the Brutal Doom mod and, after a while tinkering with it to make it work, spent the next few hours with a big grin on my face as I reduced demons and zombies in into huge, bloody chunks with a range over weaponry.
Of course, thanks to the efforts of the modding community, these modern engines support full 3D acceleration, as well as other modifications. I found that GZDoom allows integration with external MIDI software engines, so what you're hearing here is music as it would have sounded on a Roland Sound Canvas SC-55, an external MIDI unit offering that I would have had absolutely no chance of affording back in the day!
Even so, the real star of the show here is the mod itself. Whilst Doom was (in)famous for it's gore and demonic symbolism back in the day, Brutal Doom turns up the gore to 11, before ripping the dial out and gouging you in the eye with it! If the default level of blood is not enough for you, you crank it up even higher!
Most of the weapons from the original game feature here, but everything has been tweaked and refined so that when you fire them there's always a great sense of satisfaction when you reduce the enemy to a bloody stump.
On the subject of death, all of the enemies have had additional frames of animation added to their routines. No longer do they just slump over, they'll often end up coughing blood from a sucking chest wound, writhe in horror as one of the limbs gets blown clean off or look on in disbelief as you rip off their limbs and beat them with the soggy ends in one of the gruesome 'fatality' moves - if nothing else the game lives up to it's 'Brutal' moniker.
Other new additions include new enemy behaviours, new attacks and even CPU-controlled marines that can be rescued, fighting by your side until they too meet a grisly demise.
I think why the mod works so well is that it manages that difficult balance of retaining everything that was so great and memorable about the base game, but just making it better. It doesn't try to make changes just for the sake of it, but the new features always help improve the experience in some way. Purists might turn their nose up at the ability to look up and down, aiming down sight and reloading weapons, but I would argue that gamers have become more discerning in the intervening years to the point where to NOT have these features would make the game feel archaic, rather than simply being retro.
Ultimately, Brutal Doom is a fantastic mod and, if I'm honest, is the way I would recommend the game to be played - if the original game were to receive a 'Remastered' release, this is certainly how I would go about doing it.
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