Reviews - Phobos_Anomaly

Brutal Doom is an excellent, polished piece of work. It is quality, has the noticeable hallmarks of a labor-of-love creation, and oozes personality.

Many have complained about the manner in which it changes the gameplay. This is true, it does, but that's kind of the point of a gameplay mod, isn't it? The new weapon and enemy balancing changes encounters in The Ultimate DOOM and DOOM 2 that had become old-hat for me. It surprised me around every turn and forced me to rethink my tried-and-true tactics. This is what a good mod does, it makes you think, act, and plan differently, and gives you a new challenge and experience while doing so.

The art direction and design is superb. I've ran across a lot of gameplay mods that play well, but change the visual and audio style in a way that just isn't very DOOMy. That's all well and good, and sometimes I enjoy them, but when I want something that feels like DOOM, but newer, I always have a blast with Brutal DOOM. Most of the weapon designs feel like they came from the minds of the original id boys, with the noticeable exception of the Plasma Gun in the current version (v20b). Which, although pretty, doesn't really fit the rest of the aesthetic.

The new enemy abilities and animations looks like, what I imagined as a kid, these demons would really be like. They are slightly more aggressive, but your arsenal is a bit more powerful as well.

The Fatalities are what everyone seems to remember. They are fun to watch and fit the style and personality of the mod very well, but they are really a one-off, and although I like them, the real advantage of the Berserk pack is something I felt should have been a mechanic since DOOM was released: health regen after kills. A very nice incentive to use the fist.

I've read a lot about Sgt. Mark...people say he's an *******, a jerk, sexist, racist, selfish, so on.... Well, maybe he is, frankly, I don't care. It's irrelevant. I'm here to review the mod, not one of it's creators. I know many people were involved, not just Sgt. Mark, and many people, his supporters and detractors alike, seems to forget that. When I look at "Starry Night" by Van Gogh, I evaluate it based on its qualities. I don't sit there and ponder the ethics and morals of Van Gogh to decide whether I like it. Likewise, people should evaluate Brutal DOOM, not Sgt. Mark.

Overall, it's an excellent mod, with a few issues, but very few, and that is the point. It is solid, it is simple, and it does what it sets out to do.

TL:DR

Brutal DOOM is gr8 m8, I r8 8/8

or actually, 9/10.