Doom II

Doom II: Hell on Earth is a first-person shooter video game created by id Software. It was originally released on the IBM PC on September 30, 1994. It is the sequel to the popular and revolutionary game Doom, which was released a year earlier. In 1995, Doom II won the Origins Award for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Computer Game of 1994. Unlike Doom which was initially only available through shareware and mail order, Doom II was a commercial release sold in stores.

Story

Immediately following the events in Doom, the player once again takes the role of the nameless space marine (although named "Flynn Taggart" in the Doom novels) who has proven too tough for the forces of Hell to contain. After being teleported from Phobos, and subsequently fighting on Deimos which is hanging on top of Hell itself, the Marine is back home on Earth, only to find that it too has fallen victim to the hellish invasion.

The player progresses through 30 levels (not including two secret levels), and on the way he learns that the remaining survivors of Earth's population are being held in a space port and must escape via transporter. Once humanity is finally evacuated from the ravaged, infested planet, the Marine is the only human left on Earth. He sits and waits for death, content in the knowledge that he has saved his species, giving them a chance to continue on elsewhere. Only minutes pass before the Marine receives an off-planet transmission - humans in orbit have managed to find out where the armies of Hell are spilling from. If the Marine can reach this gateway, he can thwart the invasion once and for all.

The Marine wearily pulls himself to his feet and moves off to the portal, cutting a swath through the demons in his path before finally arriving at the gateway. He sees no way to close it on this side, and so he grits his teeth and dives through to find a solution. In the game's own words, "what do you care if you have to go through Hell to do it?"

The Marine finally reaches the home of the "largest demon has ever seen." Once the player fires enough rockets into the exposed brain of the demon, dodging constant attacks from lesser demons the larger one summons, the demon (known as the 'Icon of Sin') explodes, devastating Hell in its death throes. When the chaos finally ceases, Hell is in ruins, the invasion permanently halted. The Marine wipes his brow and begins the long journey home, looking forward to helping to rebuild Earth.

Gameplay developments

Doom II was not a dramatically different game from its predecessor. There were no major technological developments, no major graphical improvements, and no real changes in fundamental gameplay. The game still consisted of the player negotiating non-linear levels, picking up keys to unlock new areas, and of course shooting down hundreds upon hundreds of monsters.

The main additions to the game were the additional monsters available for the player to fight. The new enemies are as follows:

The Hell Knight.
The Heavy Weapons Dude.
The Mancubus.
The ''Revenant.
The Arachnotron.
The Pain Elemental.
The Arch-Vile.
The end boss, called the Icon of Sin / John Romero.

The SS trooper from Wolfenstein 3D appears in the two secret levels, which are throwbacks in design (and music) to the Wolfenstein 3D game. Also, a hanged Commander Keen figure makes a cameo in the second secret level.

The only new weapon addition was the double-barreled shotgun, which could fire out 20 pellets instead of the regular shotgun's seven, making it very useful in dispatching Demons, Cacodemons, and any form of medium-sized monster.

There was also one new item created, the Megasphere, a tan sphere that could give the player 200% armor and health.

A small change in gameplay was instituted. Instead of the player playing through three related episodes, gameplay takes place over one giant episode, albeit there are interludes for when the story develops. Instead of watching the player's progress on a map (as in the original episodes of Doom), the screens between each level simply show a background. It also meant that the player would not have to start over with a pistol every nine levels or so.

The level design, much like in Doom, was supposed to mimic the areas the player was going into. Now that the game was taking place on Earth, a real-world look was attempted, with some levels taking place in certain kinds of military installations, and others taking place in residential areas. Some areas do resemble places on Earth (like Downtown), but most simply seem strange. Eventually level designs no longer attempt to appear realistic, like level 23 (it starts in one big room, randomly filled with explosive barrels, and a mancubus behind you) but by then the player has reached a place where Hell is merging with human reality, thus some form of logic is employed.

In general, Doom II was well-received and went on to sell 2 million copies, making it the highest-selling id Software game to date.

Elements from the game would be used in Final Doom.

Levels

A * denotes a non-redundant track

Name	Level design	Music
MAP01: Entryway	Sandy Petersen	Running from Evil
MAP02: Underhalls	American McGee	The Healer Stalks
MAP03: The Gauntlet	American McGee	Countdown to Death
MAP04: The Focus	American McGee	Between Levels*
MAP05: The Waste Tunnels	American McGee	DOOM
MAP06: The Crusher	American McGee	In the Dark
MAP07: Dead Simple	American McGee/Sandy Petersen	Shawn's got the Shotgun
MAP08: Tricks and Traps	Sandy Petersen	The Dave D. Taylor Blues
MAP09: The Pit	Sandy Petersen	Into Sandy's City*
MAP10: Refueling Base	Sandy Petersen/Tom Hall	The Demon's Dead
MAP11: Circle of Death/The 'O' of Destruction	John Romero	The Healer Stalks
MAP12: The Factory	Sandy Petersen	In the Dark
MAP13: Downtown	Sandy Petersen	DOOM
MAP14: The Inmost Dens	Sandy Petersen	The Dave D. Taylor Blues
MAP15: Industrial Zone	John Romero	Running from Evil
MAP16: Suburbs	Sandy Petersen	The Demon's Dead
MAP17: Tenements	John Romero	The Healer Stalks
MAP18: The Courtyard	Sandy Petersen	Waiting for Romero to Play
MAP19: The Citadel	Sandy Petersen	Shawn's got the Shotgun
MAP20: Gotcha!	John Romero	Message for the Archvile
MAP21: Nirvana	Sandy Petersen	Countdown to Death
MAP22: The Catacombs	Sandy Petersen	The Dave D. Taylor Blues
MAP23: Barrels o' Fun	Sandy Petersen	Bye Bye American Pie*
MAP24: The Chasm	Sandy Petersen	In the Dark
MAP25: Bloodfalls	Shawn Green	Adrian's Asleep*
MAP26: The Abandoned Mines	John Romero	Message for the Archvile
MAP27: Monster Condo	Sandy Petersen	Waiting for Romero to Play
MAP28: The Spirit World	Sandy Petersen	Getting Too Tense*
MAP29: The Living End	John Romero	Shawn's got the Shotgun
MAP30: Icon of Sin	Sandy Petersen	Opening to Hell*
MAP31: Wolfenstein	Sandy Petersen	Evil Incarnate*
MAP32: Grosse	Sandy Petersen	The Ultimate Conquest*

MAP31: Wolfenstein

Level 31 is the infamous secret level along with its follow-on MAP32: Grosse. This level was created by Sandy Petersen. The Nazi enemies were borrowed from Wolfenstein 3D, a game by id Software and published by Apogee Software.

This level was inspired by the first level on Wolfenstein 3D except that there are parts of the level with varied altitudes. This level can be accessed via MAP15: Industrial Zone. It is missing in all German releases of the game, as it features certain symbolism banned in Germany (swastikas etc.).

MAP32: Grosse

As with Level 31, Grosse contains Wolfenstein tilesets and is not included in German releases; it may be accessed from Level 31 in most versions other than the German and Playstation releases. It is notable primarily for its inclusion of four hanging images of Commander Keen, which the player must shoot to exit the level.

Both of the secret levels appear on the Gameboy Advance editions, however, although some Nazi-symbols may now be removed.

References

Level credits: "Doom Credits" (last updated 7 January, 1998, retrieved 27 October, 2004) by John Romero, available as part of the archived copy of Lee Killough's Doom pages on Romero's website.

External links

Official product websites

Databases

Fan sites

Doom Wad Station - Extensive fan site with thousands of downladable maps/reviews, shareware, utilities and more.
ClassicDoom.com - Portal covering Doom games on many gaming platforms
The Doom Wiki - Wiki-based Doom knowledge base
Doomworld - A community-driven portal with news and resources
NewDoom - Another portal
OldDoom - General information, guides, and resources for Doom and Doom II.
Doomworld's web interface to the idgames FTP archive
The Page of Doom - a website with information about the game and its history
PlanetDOOM

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