DooM 64 - Darker and edgier before it was cool

Naw, that's not foreboding at all...

Wait, what am I doing?  Didn't I just review DooM?  Isn't this just a port to a new system?  Well...yes and no.  Yes, DooM 64 is a port of DooM for the Nintendo 64, but it's also a separate game in its own right.  Also, technically, I'm not reviewing DooM 64, but a massive total conversion mod for DooM II called the Absolution mod, so really it's totally diffrent.

Wait...what?

START TALKING SENSE OR I'LL BITE YOU 'TILL YOU DIE OF IT.

Ok, someone decided that DooM 64 was amazing, and needed to be put on a computer.  Rather then just emulating it, they gutted a copy of DooM II and refitted it with all the DooM 64 art, sprites, and soundtrack.  What you have now is a copy of the game that is even bigger and cleaner then the original.  Gotta love geek dedication.

DooM 64 takes place between DooM II and III.  After butchering your way through the legions of hell twice, you are looking forward to some quality laying the hell down.  However, it turns out that not everything died.  One, ONE demon survived, heavily wounded, slowly mutating from the radiation and hellish energies left over from the invasion.  Its monstrous regenerative powers cause it to be even more powerful than before, and it starts to seep in to all the blasted, rotten corpses.  Soon the whole facility is swarming once again, and your reactivated, and sent out to do your duty for humanity.  Again.

That's it, this time I turn everything in to chili.

This should just be a set up for more DooM, but it's not.  It is dark, creepy, and atmospheric.  The music is mood setting, rather then midi rock and roll.  Levels are bigger, more complex, and in some cases deeply disturbing.  The enemies, while similar to your old favorites, are slightly different.  Many are bigger, stronger and faster, more damaging or with wholly different attacks.  This is not, at all, a tooth-cutting game.  Demons shoot fast and true, traps are unfair and merciless, and every level makes a godmode cheat that much more appealing.

I feel this game really bridges the gap between DooM II and III.  It sets up the darker, more unsettling side of the invasion, and shows off the "culture" of hell more.  Plus, the bump up in graphics makes a big difference.  What I find most amazing is the amount of boss-level challenges you face.  It's not uncommon to be fighting six spider-legged horrors with twin plasma cannons while also trying not to get fried by acid-chucking hell knights.  The towering, missile-toting horror of the Cyberdemon is also used without restraint, much to the pants-crapping horror of unwary players.

Uh...I...was just...I....aw crap.

I love this game, even though I didn't expect to.  The opening few levels are kinda dull, but once you start hitting the corrupted and hell levels, it really shines.  The gore is a lot higher, enemies are (slightly) smarter, and it's just generally a very tight, well-done game.  I remember playing this back on the N64 with my buddy, and having to cheat our butts off to really get anywhere.  To my credit, I got 9/10ths through before cheating this time...

Jump over here and grab a copy, and kill some demons and/or time.  For god's sake, there's a dual-bladed chainsaw, what more do you need, honestly?

BRWEEEEEEEEEEEEE  BREEEE BREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE...wait...what time was I supposed to be at work...