With DOOM 2 coming out less than a year after DOOM, id Software at first glance had just given fans more of the same. After all, DOOM 2 featured no major technological developments, graphical improvements, or substantial gameplay changes. Granted, it was still DOOM, so that same frenetic action and fun that had swept up PC gamers was back. Still, some critics dismissed the game, fun and addictive as it was, as a glorified expansion pack, and didn’t really improve upon its predecessor. Not so, I say! DOOM 2 took the original DOOM, and like all good sequels, improved upon it.
The story for DOOM 2 picks up after the events of the first game, with the player once again assuming the role of the Space Marine. Being the only survivor of the first game, the player is given leave to return back to Earth. However, upon returning to Earth, it’s discovered after that Earth has been invaded by Hell’s denizens. The world’s leaders have decided to use spacecrafts to transport the survivors of Earth’s population. However, the starport is the only way for the ships to depart, and the demons have protected it with a force field. It’s up to the player to infiltrate the starport, rip and tear, and save humanity.
Admittedly, from first appearances, DOOM 2‘s gameplay didn’t change much from the original (which was amazing). However, the changes that id did make added so much more to the action. For starters, the addition of the new enemy types – Hell Knight, Mancubus, Revenant, Arachnotron, Pain Elemental, Arch-Vile, and Chaingunner – varied up the action and set it apart from what was already established in DOOM. You now had enemies that could deal far more damage to the player, and in the case of Arch-Vile, resurrect enemies, or with the Pain Elemental, increasingly spawn Lost Souls to torment the player. The additions required the player to spend far more time trying to kill enemies (or provoking them to fight each other), as well as frantically moving around to try and avoid being caught by enemy projectiles.
To counter these new enemy types, the player is given the iconic Super Shotgun. When used at point-blank range, the resultant damage offset the increased damage from enemies. id simply upped the ante with the addition of a single weapon. Not mentioned as much but still a welcome addition is the Megasphere, which maxes out both the player’s health and armour to 200%. All of the original weapons and items are back from the original DOOM, including the beloved chainsaw (which you can find on the very first level).
Musically, it would be tough to beat what Bobby Prince did in the first game. And while not as memorable as the first game, Prince’s soundtrack for DOOM 2 has a few noteworthy tracks such as “Shawn’s got the Shotgun” or “Bye Bye American Pie”. Feeling more techno in some areas than heavy metal, Prince still manages to lift themes from songs such as Slayer’s “South of Heaven”, Black Sabbath’s “After All (The Dead)” and even Argent’s “Hold Your Head Up”. The music is less adrenaline-pumping, and more atmospheric this time around. There are also some tracks that don’t quite match up with the chosen level, but that’s more of a qualm against the artistic decision rather than the music itself. Still, what Prince manages to do is still engaging and accompanies the action most of the time.
Probably one of the most significant changes made in DOOM 2 was its level design and structure. It also led to big impacts on the industry as the a whole. id took advantage of new computer hardware and pushed their skills in level design even further, allowing the maps in the game to be bigger and more detailed. Things such as lights, windows and decorations have all been added to give the levels that much more variation, giving them all a unique feel. Unlike DOOM, DOOM 2 takes place over a single continuous sequence of linked levels. As well, the level structure was far more non-linear this time, allowing players to explore more of the maps. The player can carry his weapons throughout the entire game, rather than starting from scratch several times as one episode ends and another begins. As the player progresses through the game, the theme of the levels changes from the different military installations of the starport, to residential areas, to slowly changing into Hell itself.
While most of the levels were designed by Sandy Petersen, John Romero and Tom Hall also pitched in. However, American McGee, one of the newest team members at id Software, had the second most input in level creation. American McGee of course went on to create the American McGee’s Alice series, which holds a special place for many gamers. McGee and Petersen also created what many fans feel is one of the greatest deathmatch maps in MAP07: Dead Simple, due to its design and item placement. Another new member of the team, Shawn Green, only contributed one map to the game, but eventually went on years later to help create the Xbox killer app, Halo: Combat Evolved, whose multiplayer component helped bring consoles into the realm that was almost exclusively reserved for PC gamers.
Of course, multiplayer deathmatch was DOOM‘s bread and butter. DOOM 2 only made it that much easier for players to connect with each other for fragfests. The addition of LAN connections made it even easier for players to set up Deathmatches at work (and bringing network traffic to a standstill). Source ports would later increase the number of players supported (from the initial four) and several ports would also support custom player skins and skin colors.
In spite of all the minute changes, it all comes back to the question of if you could call the game an improvement upon its predecessor. On one hand, the increased action and honing of the level design are top notch. But on the other, the game admittedly is just more of the same as what we got in DOOM, with nothing significantly new added. And as mentioned above, some critics latched onto the latter as justification for their expansion pack claims. That didn’t stop the fans, however, as DOOM 2 sold over 2 million copies for id Software. And up until Rage in 2012, DOOM 2 was the highest-selling game ever for the developer.
25 years on, and it’s kind of a no-brainer to say that both games are obviously required playing if you’re into first-person shooters, and both still hold up today when it comes to gameplay. But, the debate rages on. Some will say that DOOM edges out because of the game design, while others will say DOOM 2 refined it. Regardless, even if you go with the view that DOOM 2 was just more of the same, was that so much of a bad thing?
