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.

E3 Recap

While many of the industry greats attended Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011, I sat back in silence and observed. Most of the time while tenting my fingers.



So, here's my honest opinion on how the three main companies did this year.

Microsoft:
Even before E3 began I had a gut feeling that Microsoft would not be bringing anything new to the table this year. Sometimes I hate it when I'm right. There were a bunch of casual/family-oriented Kinect games, a few sequels, an HD Remake... and that was it, really.


Underwhelming.

Of the Kinect games, none were particularly notable: There was a Fake-Disneyland Exploration game, a Star Wars game where you wave your hands around and shout "Lightsaber, on!" which is supposed to be cutting edge when it's been done since at least 2003 (the earliest example that I can call to mind is Rainbow Six 3: Lockdown for the Xbox, and at least that you could control your whole team instead of just turning a lightsaber on).

Then, there was the announcement that we all knew would be coming at some point: New Halo trilogy. I'm skeptical about it quality-wise, but I'm willing to give the new dev team the benefit of the doubt until I see a reason not to. There were also the two givens: Gears of War 3 (which we all knew was coming anyways and who's presentation contained Ice-T for some reason) and Forza Motorsport 4 (which will always be Microsoft's answer to Gran Turismo and nothing more, customization options aside). The most shocking announcement revealed that Minecraft would be coming to Xbox and would have Kinect support. While the fan-made hack of Minecraft to support Kinect amounted to waving your arms to chop materials, here's hoping that they'll think of more innovative uses than that, and it's always good to see an indie developer get the recognition he deserves when making such a great game.

Sony:
If E3 was a competition, Sony would have won by default because of Microsoft's falling flat on its ass and Nintendo's newest console being difficult to place bets on as of yet, as well as containing the least-stupid name of the new consoles. The long-rumored PSP successor was revealed as being the PS Vita, which, hardware-wise is one sexy piece of machinery. Dual and improved analog sticks, dual touch-screens, a camera, and processing power that very well may surpass the Wii's... at only $249. Yes, you read that right, $249.

Sony's third-party support came through once again, with Irrational Games revealing a BioShock project. Also announced for the new handheld was an Uncharted game, a WipeOut game (CROSS-PLATFORM MULTIPLAYER WITH WIPEOUT HD), and a few others. Irrational also announced that their upcoming title, BioShock Infinite would not only support the Move peripheral, but would also come with the original BioShock on the same Blu-Ray. There was also more footage of games like Resistance 3 (also Move-enabled), the SSX reboot, and Need For Speed: The Run.

Nintendo:
When it comes to E3 showcases, Nintendo certainly knows how to be classy. The Nintendo showcast opened with a live orchestra playing tunes from the Zelda series; effectively opening with the very same strategy that they seemed to use during the presentation: Banking on nostalgia. After the opening ceremonies, Nintendo unveiled their latest console. Hopes were high for this new console. After all, people got over the Wii's stupid moniker pretty soon, right? Nintendo had to have learned from their mistakes and make a new HD console, right?

Well, both yes and no. The HD is there, the processing power seems to be there, but the stupid name remains: the Wii U.


More like No U, amirite?

The controller has a big-ass touch screen smack-dab in the middle of the controller. One design decision that I find baffling is that they put the buttons BELOW the analog sticks.


Nintendo knows best.

For games, all the obvious entries were there: Mario, Zelda, Metroid, generic party games along the lines of Wii Sports, and so on. The surprise here is that The Wii-U has more solid third-party support than its predecessor, with Gearbox, EA, and Sigil Games all hopping on the bandwagon, stating that the Wii-U is a graphical powerhouse and even more innovative than the Wii. Unfortunately, when footage of some third-party Wii U games was shown, this footage was revealed to be PS3/360 footage. Not a good way to unveil your new console.

So, during E3 '11, there were many new products unveiled: Some destined to be a towering success, some potential blunders, and one thing that most of us aren't even sure to make of yet. Either way, the next year will be a very interesting time for the industry, in more ways than one.