Legions of demons are pouring out of the gates of hell. How? Well, mankind messed up. As usual. And surprise, surprise, only one marine can stop them. Why? Who cares! Time to rip and tear in MiniDoom 2!
Duke Nukem, Metal Slug, Contra – all classic run ‘n gun platformers, and games you really should play if you haven’t already. The same goes for first-person shooters Doom, Doom II: Hell on Earth, and of course, the 2016 ‘reboot’, DOOM. But before you do that, why not give the recently released fan game MiniDoom 2 a go? It’s free after all, and having sampled the goods for a bit, I can safely say that this is definitely a proper groovy blend of every Doom game before it. If said mix was in 2D, anyway. What, Doom 3? No. We don’t talk about that one. Ever.
MiniDoom 2, on the other hand – wow. It’s immediately apparent that Calavera Studio cares about the source material, everything from the old-school entries to the most recent title being depicted here. From the keycard nonsense to genuinely great things like various upgrades (yay, double jump!), a weapon selection wheel (from the console versions of DOOM, I believe), areas being locked down until every last demon has been dealt with, artefacts, runes, excessive gore, a rockin’ soundtrack – and much more. Basically, a love letter to classic platformers with a slice of Doom for good measure.
Plenty of levels too, full of fun platforming, and no less than six difficulties, nightmare being appropriately brutal, hits from even basic enemies taking away huge chunks of your health. But since this is 2018, there are without a doubt those out there who’ll laugh at even the highest difficulty level. This is where ‘hardcore mode’ comes into play: finite lives, no revisiting levels (so grab every last item/secret before leaving!), permadeath and… obviously, lower difficulties are unavailable. Yup. Personally, I’m quite content with ‘hurt me plenty’, balancing challenge and fun equally with a minimum of frustration. But at least that extra challenge is there for those who want it.
With proper tight controls and enemies that act like in the games they’re from, albeit in a 2D environment, you really only have yourself to blame for any failures. That and the difficulty chosen, unless, of course, it’s the lowest. In which case, well, don’t know what to tell you. Oh, wait: cheat! Cheat like it’s 1993 again. You do remember those codes, right? It has only been some 25 years, after all.
So, are you ready to… rip and tear?
(Thanks to Indie Retro News for the heads up.)
MiniDoom 2 can be freely acquired from itch.io, Game Jolt, IndieDB.