Action DooM 2: Urban Brawl

3 Streets of Doom? Doom of Rage?
I’ll give SoD one thing, it’s got a phenomenal sense of style about it. The psuedo cell shading is atmospheric, and the faux comic feel to the game is very well done. In addition, they’ve really pushed the engine – at times I felt like this was a mod for Duke Nukem 3D, and not just Doom.

Now comes the downside of my review, and that’s the fact that this game has all the flaws of Doom, and that includes – surprise – horrible melee combat. It consists of running up, hitting someone, and darting backwards before they can hit you, and that doesn’t exactly make for a compelling mechanic to base a whole game around. Don’t get me wrong, you can do it, and it does have a certain challenge to get the timimg right – the game is ruthlessly hard – but it’s still a bit frustrating. The main reason I kept playing ended up being my obsession with finding new weapons, which was just plain FUN. Wrenches, chain whips, beer bottles, the list went on, and it was pretty frelling awesome.

So the long and short of it is that Action Doom isn’t a phenomenal game, but it’s definitely one of the more inventive Doom mods, and well worth a once-through. Kudos to Scuba Steve for trying something new, even if it came out with mixed results.

5
Really a great homage to SNES-era beat-em-ups. The designers missed no details when it came to paying tribute, and the game is very detailed. The tropes are all here—the wide array of weapons to pick up and use, the destructible scenery, the katana-wielding ninja girls, the branching storyline, the bridge level with a sunset background and holes into oblivion. Everything is here in full cheesy glory, but at the same time, like the games it seeks to emulate, it takes itself as seriously as it needs to—which is to say, it can be satisfyingly gritty, but also pokes fun at itself when appropriate.

The unusual choice of engine, aside from being really charming, is something of a mixed blessing. The combat can be awkward at times, but the Doom engine also allows for plenty of unexpected features that add to and round out the game without taking away from the beat-em-up feel. The sense of atmosphere, of being in the environment, is surprisingly strong. There are tons of secrets and easter eggs. If you take a wrong turn, you can find yourself in a legitimately creepy survival horror game.

The music is excellent, and the story is well told. Playing through multiple times to get the different endings gives it more depth—and I found the game engaging enough to be replayable.

There are lots of retro games, but few are as classy as Urban Brawl.