The Best Doom Wads - Metroid Dreadnought

Long time no see! And I mean that literally... the last post on this dust-covered blog was in December of 2014! We all celebrated Christmas and New Years, and forgot about allllllllll about this little blog didn't we? DIDN'T WE??!!!

Of course we fucking did. We all have lives I think, and that gets in the way of writing about shit no one will ever read anyway. I'm definitely guilty of that one. It's been a rough year already. Nothing really compares to LAST year, but this one was starting to get right up there.

This is 100% accurate.

I'm not going to talk about my shitty situation, because that's not why we are here! Besides, that is what Facebook is for these days. Instead, I want to talk about two of my favorite video games. It's a little interesting this time around however, because for once I can enjoy both of my favorite franchises in one neat little package!

HOW SO? Well I'm glad you asked! It's pretty well known that I loooooooooove Doom. I literally love it. If I could legally marry Doom I would. It is the only game that I know of that still has an active community of modders who love it more than me. I'm fucking serious. Mods are still being released for this goddamn game! Whether it's a high resolution texture pack, 3D models, or just altering the gameplay entirely, Doom is still quite relevant these days.

Hey you! You know what else became relevant recently? Oh yeah, Metroid did. And not in a good way. It seems Nintendo is intent on shitting all over one of their best franchises ever. Just fucking watch that so called "trailer" for Metroid Prime: Federation Force. I really have no idea what's going on over there at Nintendo, but I can say with confidence that, AS A FUCKING METROID FAN, THAT IS NOT WHAT WE WANT!

Seriously??? I know Metroid has never been a best seller for Nintendo over the years, but it has always been a game of 100% quality. Even Other M kept the spirit... sort of... But this game? A multiplayer Metroid game? Didn't Hunters try that on the DS already? And guess what? That game was pretty decent for an early DS game! Federation Force isn't even out, and already it has garnered so much hatred from long time Metroid fans.

I can't make this shit up!

Yeah, that's a petition, and you know what? I'm almost supportive of it. I have been waiting for a new Metroid game ever since I loathed through Other M, and Nintendo decides to come out with this shit? It really isn't that hard Nintendo. Make one a classic 2D side-scroller but with 3D, in the same vain as Zero Mission or Super Metroid, or you know... JUST MAKE ANOTHER FUCKING METROID PRIME!!!!!!

It really aggravates me to no end! It isn't rocket science! They know the formula to make a classic Metroid game, so why they won't make one is just mind boggling. As for Federation FARCE, why slap the "Prime" moniker on it? Why tarnish a great series?! WHY NINTENDO?? WHY?!!!! I could make so many arguments as to why Metroid is not a multiplayer game, but I'm about to prove myself wrong.

Remember earlier how I mentioned Doom? I'm sure you do... I mean, the title mentioned it. You had to have seen that... Let's get to the good stuff finally!

METROID DREADNOUGHT - A WAD BY TerminusEst13

As a guy who has played hundreds of WADs, it's a little hard to name off my favorite ones. Wild Weasel's Diaz WAD was my number one for a long time. Combined with the Equinox level set, it was pretty great. Then Brutal Doom took that shit over for the longest time. I just found this quite recently, and it just instantly took the cake. Terminus hasn't created a total conversion... he hasn't even made any levels for this mod. It's strictly a gameplay mod, but a fucking fine one at that! Some serious love went into this mod, and it really shows.

Thanks to Zandronum's ZDoom ACS scripting, this is a true Metroid mod. From the beams, the missiles, morph ball and bombs... even the goddamn movement is true to Metroid Prime in every single way. Jumping has the floaty-ness of Prime, and even the sounds. It really feels like Metroid Prime! I can't stress enough how cool that is, considering the fact that we are dealing with a game that is, oh I don't know... FUCKING 22 YEARS OLD.

That's it... take it allllll in. Look at that screenshot. That is a multiplayer map, perfectly re-created from Metroid Prime Hunters. Notice the visor, and the overall HUD. It's fucking beautiful. Terminus has somehow combined the essence of the Prime games with Doom, and it works! All the classic beams are here: The Power Beam, Spazer, Plasma, Ice, Wave, and even the Long Beam. Samus starts with some of her latent abilities such as the Morph Ball, Bombs, and the Charge Beam. Morph Ball works exactly like it did in the Prime games, and it is re-created in Doom really well! You can still charge your beam and roll into a ball to pop out a bunch of bombs. You can dash in Morph Ball form, just like in Prime. Spring Ball is here as well. It's so fucking incredible that Terminus did this AND kept the spirit of Metroid in a Doom WAD.

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL FOLKS! We also have the Space Jump. Just like Prime, it acts as a double jump. Included with that power up is the Wall Jump ability, and it works so goddamn good. The Speed Booster is here as well, and while it cannot be charged into a Shinespark, it can be used to mow through enemies. There's a special effect when it is used, and it looks great.

All the beams are beautiful, and representative of their classic counter parts. Even better, you can collect the Energy Converter, which works similarly to the Diffusion missiles from Metroid Fusion. When a beam is fully charged, you can use alternative fire to fire a beam/missile combo attack. For example, the Ice Beam's combo freezes multiple enemies in a certain radius, and keeps freezing them. The Spazer combo shoots fast and wide, and cuts through enemies. Each effect is amazingly done, and is absolutely beautiful. On top of the classic beams, Terminus has also added two secret ones: The Chroma Storm, and the Doom Cannon. The Chroma Storm is interesting in that it rapidly shoots small projectiles from each beam. As you hold down fire, it randomly cycles through your current collected beams. It's really neat. The Doom Cannon is basically a shotgun, and it's fucking powerful. It's super secret though, and can't be used unless you use a console command. Still, it's interesting to see Samus shooting bullets from her Arm Cannon.

All of the expansions are here. You can find missile expansions, super missile expansions, and even Energy Tanks. It's so fucking good... I can't stress it enough.

Oh wait, yes I can, because I'm forgetting to mention something... This is on Zandronum. That means you can play this in multiplayer, up to a fucking legendary 64 player deathmatch. Currently, there are only three measly maps for deathmatch, but this is the way to do Metroid multiplayer. I really can't describe it in words; It has to be experienced.

So you might be asking, is there ANY downside to this fantastic WAD? Unfortunately yes... Terminus is no longer developing it. I've done some serious Google searches for levels made for this WAD, and there is NOTHING. It's so heartbreaking... this would shine in single player. Doom has support for hub based levels, and this WAD could benefit from something like that. It could really become a great total conversion if enough people got on the ball and started making levels for this. I would love to see actual Metroid enemies added, and more abilities added. Everything else works flawlessly, so I could only imagine what Terminus could do with say, the Screw Attack!

This WAD is fun in Doom, but gets boring quick without a dedicated level set. The closest you can really get to the Metroid experience with this WAD, is to pair it with TeamTNT's Daedalus WAD. They work quite well together surprisingly, despite the lack of Metroid-type enemies.

But hey... what can you do?

Nothing...

Wait, what am I talking about? YOU CAN DO SOMETHING. You can make some levels for this magnificent bastard! I will really actually pay you to do it! Maybe! Probably not, but someone should do it! It is too good to NOT happen. I know it's an old game, but come on! FUCKING DO IT.

Now I am fully aware that there is a Metroid Prime mod for Halo on PC, but it's strictly multiplayer. This WAD has potential to be something great. Something that would rival Nintendo's efforts. I'm fucking serious. This could be right up there with Super Metroid. IT'S THAT GOOD.

You really need to find out for yourself! Download it here at ModDB. If you like it, try pairing it with TeamTNT's Daedalus. Wanna play the deathmatch maps online? Get them here.

Thank you Terminus. I love you.

Mercenary Kings Review

Continuing on the update train.  Over the summer and up til now, I've been apart of a YouTube channel that debuted called WinLoseTie.  The updates have come twice a week, and our first major playthrough has been a Randomized race of Pokemon FireRed.  We plan to add more randomization to each race we do in the Pokemon series, so by the time we hit Gen V, things are going to be wonky.

In addition to that, I've had my own Twitch.tv channel.  Over there, I spend time playing games like Doom, Hearthstone, Just Cause 2, Diablo 2, and a few other games, including practicing speed running Pokemon Red.

Streaming is an interesting experience.  I never get (m)any viewers, but it's always a joy to have someone in the chat to converse with.

A quick "programming" note.  For my personal writing, I'm going to try something new.  If you see an image or video embedded in the post, they'll be my own content, open sourced, or properly sourced (like the sprites from my Doom post).  I'll grab my own screen shots, and my own videos.  Granted, this may go up in smoke in a matter of posts, but it's an experiment I'm interested in trying.


Onto the task at hand.

The Game

Platforms - PC/Mac/PS4 (PC Played)
Developer - Tribute Games
Genre(s) - 2D Shooter/Platformer
Players - 1 - 4 Local and Online Co-Op

Elevator Pitch

"Picture 2D gameplay inspired by Contra mixed with the crazy guns of Borderlands."


Gameplay

So, we got the basics of the game down, let's flesh it out a bit.  I feel the Contra comparison is apt in terms of how the game plays, but not quite how the game feels, and that might come down to level design.  In Mercenary Kings, you may revisit the same levels over and over (and over and over), but each time the objectives will change.  The primary levels include a Jungle, War Torn City, Power Plant, Chemical Plant, and an ancient Temple.  There are a few variants for some of these (I know there are two different Jungles, and Power Plant-like maps, for example), which can help keep some of the monotony at bay.  Continuing along the lines of "different from Contra", you don't find guns in capsules or as random drops.  Instead, you use materials you find throughout the levels to craft your weapons.  You don't just build the weapons whole either, oh no.  You make monstrous creations of different parts to craft the gun that suits your desires.

Late Game Character With Lots of Parts

So, what are we looking at here?  Well, it's my pistol Sniper with a Machine Gun stock.  You have a lot of stats to consider when building your gun, as changing something as simple as your magazine can affect more than your capacity and reload speed.  Some guns don't play nice with other parts, and as a general rule, the more bullets you carry, the less damage you do per shot.  The main gun stats here are

POW - Power - Determined by Receiver (type of gun you're using), Barrel, Magazine, and Ammo
RNG - Your Range.  Primarily Dictated by Barrel type
SPD - How many Rounds Per Second you fire.  A line of "--" means semi-automatic.
RLD - How long it takes to reload, if you don't try for the reload timer (more on that later).
CAP - Capacity, how many rounds you can fire before reloading.
ACC - Accuracy.  100% means you fire in a straight line, lower accuracy has more spread.
WT - Weight.  Determines your movement speed.

That's just the base stats.  As you can see, there's two more stat blocks we need to talk about. First though, I want to expand on the Reload Timer.

Early Game Character with poor Reload Speed.

Your reload time is how long it takes for the needle to travel the length of the whole bar.  If you have say a 6 second reload gun, that can take forever.  See those two colored zones though?  If you hit the reload button again in the yellow space, you reload right then, instead of waiting the remainder of the timer.  If you can hit it in the green though, not only do you reload now, but some of your next shots will be powered up, dealing more damage.  This is incredibly useful for reloading long reload speed guns, because you can avoid having to wait without your weapon.  If you hit the reload button at any other point in the bar though, you effectively jam your gun.  This means you can't fire your firearm for roughly twice the length of your normal reload time.

Back to the top image, looking at the second box on the left, we have our elemental damage.  Going clockwise from top left, we have Incendiary, Cryogenic, Electric, and Caustic.  Elemental damage is done on top of your base damage of the weapon, so my gun above does, roughly, 65 Cryogenic damage on a shot.  Breaking down the elements quickly looks like this...

Incendiary - Strong against human/plant enemies.
Cryogenic - Has a chance to freeze enemies solid for a few seconds.
Electric - Good against robotics.
Caustic - Good against enemies with heavy armor (my favorite element).

Caustic can allow you to deal damage to non-boss enemies who have shields, or other invulnerable states.  There are basic troops that carry a riot shield, so they reflect most bullets.  Caustic though, deals however much Caustic Damage your weapon deals, so you can deal a sort of chip damage to him.  Caustic has a secondary effect though: it can dissolve those shields, which makes the dude panic, and fire six shots in a row, and then reload for awhile.  When I first found this out, I laughted to myself, because it was such a neat touch.

The final box on the left is the really interesting one.  These are your weapon's ammo proficiency.  Get your weapon up to 100% in an ammo type, and you can equip it.  So, now for the ammo type breakdowns, starting from the top left, going clockwise...

Armor Piercing - Travels through walls and enemies.
Magnum (What I call it) - Larger rounds and deals more damage.
Spread - Shotgun ammo.
Missiles - Missiles with a homing property, no explosions on contact.
Shrapnel - Projectile that when it hits an enemy, wall, floor, or ceiling explodes into tiny shrapnel that travels in 8 directions.
Ball - Ammo that travels in an arc, and bounces upon contact with walls and floors.

During first few ranks of the game, you'll be mainly using default ammo with maybe different elemental properties, an ammo type that all weapons can use, but once you get about 2/3 through the game, you'll start to see ammo that combines two ammo types to make some hilarious combinations.  For example, the weapon in the first picture has Shrapnel/Ball ice ammo.  It travels, hits the wall or enemy, then shoots off 8 bouncing balls that can deal extra damage (both regular and ice) in addition to the impact damage.  One weapon I built uses what are called Sniper Missiles, missiles that have the Armor Piercing property.  Oh, and it was fired out of a machine gun.  So I was rapidly firing missiles that would find enemies through walls with a light homing capability.  Accuracy was truly overrated.  

Shrapnel Ball Ammo Bouncing Around.

If it feels like I spent too much time talking about the weapons, well, that's kind of the main draw of the game.  You spend a good portion of the game busting open item chests, picking up spoils, and taking on extra, hidden objectives on missions in order to earn more supplies to craft your weapons and armor (increases your health).  Late game can get repetitive because you need to fight bosses repeatedly to get the items you need.  

Repetition is a factor with this game.  You will be seeing the same level repeatedly, and you will be fighting pallet swap enemies.  This includes some of the bosses as well.  There is the Steel Soldier, which is a big walking knife/sword robot that's only vulnerable when you dodge his attacks or from behind, and 4 variants of him for starters (one for each element).  This goes on for quite a lot of the bosses actually.  The only really unique bossfights are the Violence Kings (Two sword fighters that work in tandem), the three different dog bosses (I'm drawing a blank on all of their names), and the Final Boss.  If enemy variety is something you crave from your games, you may want to pass this one over, unless the other factors draw you in.

Aesthetic

The art style is very reminescant of the Scott Pilgrim vs The World game, which may be due to the fact that the same team worked on both games.  I enjoy the almost caricature style portraits and sprites.  I'm a huge fan of aesthetics over fidelity, and this game has a style that I really dig.  

Music-wise, we get some chiptune styled tracks that vary from merely OK to pretty-toe-tappin'.  

Props to jhparktc for the upload.

That's more-or-less what you're going to get from the game audio wise.  

Sorry, what can I say, I'm not great when it comes to talking about graphics and music unless I absolutely love or hate them.  

Conclusion

I've enjoyed the game, as is apparent 40 hours I've put into it.  It's a fun little romp that's great with friends, but awfully grindy.  It's a fun enough game where you can turn off your brain and gun through things, and then experiment for 25 minutes on different gun combinations.  It's got a $20 price point, which some may think is too high for an indie game.  Personally, I feel like I've gotten good value from it, but I can understand how some would rather be more frugal.  

Get it here: Steam - Playstation Store