Review – DoomRL – moh0k – 04/02/12
You want to play a rouge-like style game, but you are sick of fantasy settings? You want to play Doom but you want a different spin on the game play?
The title screen. Very nice background art reminiscent of the original Doom box art
Enter DoomRL, a rouge-like game based on the Doom franchise made famous by the wonderful people of id software. DoomRL has been around for awhile now, however only recently has it been given graphics. Before that it was just simple ASCII characters. Oh man, do i love those 16 bit style pixel characters though. Makes the little retro gamer inside me all happy.
Hope this guy is a fan of combat shotguns...
Just to help give you an idea if you are reading this in the future (or the past, oh god no) This is based on version 0.9.9.6.
Invincibility has got to be the best powerup
So what’s it like? I personally have never made any real attempt at playing a rouge-like before, but oh boy do i enjoy this game! It’s a turn based game where each time you move, or shoot, or reload (yes, even that) you use a turn and every enemy on the map moves a tile or performs an action. This may seem slightly hum drum and boring but trust me, it’s heaps of fun. If you are already a fan of these style of games then this is a no-brainer, if you haven’t already played it, do so now!
The chaingun is a very useful weapon, still not as fun as the shotgun though
There are 3 player classes:
Marine
Scout
Technician
One the of the funnest parts of the game was an arena level i encountered during my trip through the Phobos levels and i willingly tortured myself with wave after wave of enemies just to see what i could obtain as a reward.
Welcome to Hell's Arena, mortal!
I’ll leave the surprise up to you, but I’ll just say it’ll help with the first boss fight, the 2 bruiser brothers.
These 2 guys can be pretty tough
So far the furthest i have gotten through is all of Phobos and then the last level of (maybe?) Deimos. I was last fighting the Cyberdemon. He handed my ass to me on a silver rocket to the face.
This guys is crazy, he doesn't mess about. He will kill you and everything you love
Another thing that i really enjoy being a Doom fan since the original is the inclusion of the original Doom music. It really sent shivers up my spine the first time hearing it again after so long and it really helps set the mood of the game.
I may cover the game more in a “What I’m Playing” article. For the moment that’s all i really want to say about it. If you want more of a feel of the game, feel free to have a look at a game play video I’ve recorded for your convenience:
If you would like another point of view, please visit phreakindee’s blog and check out his overview of it. His online show “Lazy Game Reviews” has been a favourite of mine for awhile.
If this seems like a good time (trust me it is!) Then just grab it from their site! It’s free! Grab it here.
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed! Please comment with any opinions or advice. Hope you visit again!
Video Game System 3000 
This looks a lot more awesome than the other Doom Roguelike I played. The graphics help 🙂
Other one? I’ve only played this one I’m afraid, but i can testify that it is indeed awesome. Give it a go!
There is also a side scrolling platformer too. I think I have it on my laptop from like 5 years ago if not longer.
Sounds like a must try! I haven’t touched Doom in a long time, and it’s for free so why not.
Scouts have the best intel.