Doom 2: Hell on Earth

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Doom 2: Hell on Earth
Studio id software
Publisher cdv software entertainment
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 September 30, 1994
platform MS-DOS , Windows , Mac OS , Game Boy Advance , PC-98 , Tapwave Zodiac , PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360 , PlayStation 4 , Xbox One , Nintendo Switch , Android , iOS
genre Ego shooter
Game mode Single player , multiplayer
medium CD-ROM , originally 3.5 ″ floppy disk , download
language English
Age rating
USK approved from 16
PEGI recommended for ages 16+
information Indicated from 1994 to 2011, USK classification followed

Doom 2: Hell on Earth ( germ .: 'doom', 'disaster', 'corruption', 'Doom, doom' or 'evil fate') is a first-person shooter and the second part of the Doom -Computerspielreihe . It was released for MS-DOS on September 30, 1994 and ported to numerous other platforms. As the successor to Doom , which made an important contribution to 3D graphics in computer games, it hardly differs technically from this and only offers new missions and some new content.

action

The plot of Doom 2 connects directly to the predecessor. After the player-controlled Space Marine escapes from Hell , he goes back to his home on earth. There he finds out that the demons have already gained the upper hand here too, and so he sets out to free the earth from the creatures of hell. After all other people have been evacuated onto a spaceship, the player sets out to find the portal through which the demons came to earth. When he finally found this in the heart of his hometown, he realizes that it can only be closed from the other side, and so he enters the hell dimension one more time to save the earth.

For this purpose, the player has the same weapons as in the first part of the series. In addition, there is a double-barreled shotgun that can be exchanged with the single-barreled version. Doom 2 consists of thirty normal and two "secret" levels. The first 20 levels take place on earth infiltrated by demons, the rest in hell.

It wasn't until almost 24 years after its publication that the game's last puzzle was solved in August 2018 and official access to a previously inaccessible secret area in a level was found.

Gameplay

Doom 2 is not fundamentally different in terms of play from its predecessor. The player again directs his character from the first person perspective through nested levels that are populated with opposing creatures. The aim is to defeat the attacking monsters and find the exit to the next level. In order to be able to achieve this, small switch puzzles have to be solved as the game progresses and up to three key cards have to be found, which are hidden in the levels and make locked areas accessible. Unlike in the predecessor, the levels are not divided into different, individually selectable episodes, but form a continuous campaign of a total of 30 levels (plus two secret levels). To fight the opponent, the player can use all weapons known from the predecessor and, as an innovation, a double-barreled shotgun. Some new enemy types, new environment graphics and new background music have also been added.

development

music

Like its predecessor, the music for Doom 2 is based on metal pieces like South of Heaven and Behind the Crooked Cross by Slayer , the intro to After All (The Dead) by Black Sabbath , Them Bones and Angry Chair by Alice in Chains . Keith Murray of Console Arcade described the music for Doom 2 as “'chugga-chugga' MIDI sound” and saw the background, which is displayed when completing a level, similar to a Slayer record cover .

Publications

After the Wolfenstein 3D sequel Spear of Destiny, Doom 2 was the second first-person shooter from id Software to be sold conventionally. Other games were previously distributed on a shareware basis in order to market a full commercial version. The German distribution was carried out by cdv software .

After the takeover of id Software by ZeniMax Media , the port of Doom 2 for Xbox Live Arcade , which has often surfaced in rumors, was confirmed at QuakeCon 2009 .

reception

Reviews

reviews
publication Rating
PC Games 82%
PC player 83%
Power play 82%

In the test of the German computer game magazine PC Games section Doom 2 with a rating of 82% worse than its predecessor from (95%). The reason given was the little progress compared to the predecessor. It was also criticized that the second part was no longer offered as shareware.

“Would I buy Doom 2 privately? Hardly likely. Nothing is more annoying than slow graphics, and the game has plenty of that. In addition, the outrageously high level of difficulty ensures that you drown in your own pool of blood after just a few steps without the corresponding cheat. The 'old' game plus a dozen clever shareware levels makes me happier than part 2, which was basically only artificially stretched with a few new super bastards. "

- Petra Maueröder : PC Games

Age rating

In Germany, Doom 2: Hell on Earth as a direct successor of the recently indexed Doom also in December 1994 on the list for Media Harmful to Young the federal inspection station for youth-endangering writings (BPjS) set and was not allowed to be advertised business in the subsequent period in Germany (for details Reason for indexing in the article Doom ). On August 4, 2011, the games were removed from the list following a request from the rights holder. Doom 2 was then approved by the USK for ages 16 and over.

The US version was excluded from this, however, as it contains two secret levels, which are almost complete copies of levels 1 and 9 from Episode 1 of Wolfenstein 3D . These represent areas of Hell that are populated by Nazis and therefore contain swastikas and Adolf Hitler portraits, and have been removed for the version marketed in Germany. At the end of 2019, the US version was also removed from the index after 25 years had passed and Wolfenstein 3D had previously been removed from the index.

Speed ​​runs

Similar to its predecessor, there is a " Speedrun " scene, but it is shrinking as technology and gameplay are out of date. Compet-N is the oldest database for speed runs, in which individual levels, level sections or the whole game - worldwide - are played in best times with different restrictions. In 1998 Thomas "Panter" Pilger started a run on the highest level of difficulty Nightmare for the first time . There are officially eight people who have mastered Doom 2 on this difficulty.

Nowadays, the records for Doom 2 in all categories are hard to beat, that's why communities are forming around individual mods such as Hell Revealed and Alien Vendetta .

successor

In 1996, id Software released the series version Final Doom developed by TeamTNT . It contains two new episodes ( TNT: Evilution and The Plutonia Experiment ) with 32 levels each and is based on the same game engine as Doom 2 . The game runs independently and was sold together with the port for Windows 95 ( Doom95 ). In addition to the PC version, Final Doom has also appeared on the PlayStation . However, this console version contains different levels and level sequences than the version published for the PC and has a specially composed soundtrack.

In 2004, id Software released Doom 3, a direct successor, the content of which is a retelling of the first part.

Adaptations

GPL projects

FreeDoom

The source code of the engine - except for the actual game data, such as B. Graphics and Levels - was first released in 1997 under a proprietary license. In 1999 the release license was changed to the GNU General Public License . Since the release, various projects have taken on the program, e. B. to bugs and limitations of the graphics engine to remove. By publishing the source code, the game could be ported by programmers to other platforms.

Some ports have OpenGL and DirectX support, so the graphics could keep up with later titles. These further developments continue to work with the original graphic and level files (WADs), but the Sprite graphic can optionally be replaced by polygon models as used in the titles of the Quake series.

Comic

The Doom comic book is a sixteen-page comic book , which was founded in 1996 by Steve Behling and Michael Stewart written by Tom Grindberg drawn and colored. It was produced by Dana Moreshead for Marvel Comics as a promotional item for a video game fair . The story is based on the plot of Doom and Doom 2 and revolves around a soldier who is looking for a strong armament to defeat a cyberdemon.

There are two known editions of the comic. The first was the original print as a promotional gift, the second version was produced for the id Anthology collection.

Novels

Between 1995 and 1996, four novels about the game were published that were officially licensed by id Software. They were published in German translation from 2005. The author of the novels is Dafydd from Hugh , who was already known in the Star Trek scene through book publications. While the first two parts of the series are still very much based on the classic games, the last sequels go completely new ways.

literature

  • David Kushner: Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture , ISBN 0-375-50524-5
  • Friedemann Schindler, Jens Wiemken: DOOM is invading my dreams - Why a violent game achieved cult status , in: Handbuch Medien: Computerspiele , BpB 1997, ISBN 3-89331-302-8 ; Online version

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Zero Master: Pain Elemental reveals the last official secret of Doom August 2, 30, 2018, accessed September 2, 2018 .
  2. ↑ ???? ?????? on Twitter . In: Twitter . ( twitter.com [accessed September 2, 2018]).
  3. ↑ The Doom 2 tracks .
  4. ↑ Keith Murray: Review - DOOM II .
  5. ↑ QuakeCon: Doom II for XBLA presented
  6. ↑ a b c Doom 2: The PC Games Test from 1994
  7. Jump up ↑ Doom 2: Hell on Earth
  8. ↑ The Number of the Beast: Hell on Earth
  9. ↑ "Doom" removed from the list of media harmful to minors. (PDF; 80 kB) (No longer available online.) In: BPjM-Aktuell 3/2011. Federal testing agency for media harmful to minors , archived from the original on October 18, 2015 ; accessed on October 17, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bundespruefstelle.de
  10. ↑ Report on gamesaktuell.de
  11. ↑ http://www.schnittberichte.com/news.php?ID=2918
  12. ↑ https://www.schnittberichte.com/news.php?ID=15460
Doom
Main series

Doom • Doom 2 • Doom 3 • Doom (2016) • Doom Eternal

Offshoot

Final Doom • Doom 64 • Doom RPG • Doom Resurrection • Doom 2 RPG • Doom VFR