The original Doom is one of the most influential games of all time, bringing First Person Shooters to the mainstream and more. Doom will continue to be a paragon of how the FPS genre began. Released in 1993; the game is set on Mars, and pits the lone protagonist, affectionately named Doomguy by fans, against the very hordes of hell.

Brutal Doom is a mod created in 2010 by Marcos “SgtMarkIV” Abenante, a Brazilian computer programmer. The latest version, released Dec. 31, 2015, is packaged with a slew of improvements and features for the game, including a map pack specifically built for the mod.

The campaign starts the demonic genocide on Mars and ends with players decimating your way through the unholy horde on earth. The music is either original rocking tunes or remixes of classic Doom melodies. The mod itself makes the enemies harder and the weapons more realistic. All weapons now have smoother sprite animation, added reloading animations and most guns have new designs.

The awful pistol has been replaced by an all-rounder assault rifle. chance of sniping enemies or having any accuracy while still moving at full speed. The rifle can be aimed down the iron sights to deal with distant enemies with more accuracy while still moving at full speed. If you grab enough ammo, you can even dual wield a second rifle; which isn’t all that accurate, but it’s great for those badass one liner moments. (I find it best to quote something from the Doom comic).

The good ole’ Shotgun is still the bane of any demon you come across. Its range is as ridiculous as it ever was, making the weapon somewhat over-powered against the few enemies it can one shot kill. For some reason, it also has iron sights, not that you’ll need them. Ever. The shotgun is great for dealing with hordes of imps and possessed humans.

The chaingun is now rightfully a heavy weapon, unlike in the original Doom. The gun has a spin-up time before it can start firing, but the alt-fire mode allows players to keep the barrels rotating for quick reaction. The chaingun’s rate of fire is high enough to stun some enemies. The weapon is wonderful against Spectres and large hordes of demons.

The super shotgun, a double-barreled version, has a more realistic range, even in vanilla Doom. Each barrel can be fired either individually, to deal with smaller threats, or simultaneously for more stopping power. The super shotgun is great for all the bigger enemy killing needs, so shop smart, shop S-Mart.

The rocket launcher doesn’t really have anything new to it, other than actually being able to harm the player with splash damage. The rocket launcher is great for reducing large groups of enemies or bigger monsters to bloody gibs.

The plasma rifle has been upgraded substantially. Its plasma discharge of death is significantly faster, it has a secondary fire mode that acts like a plasma shotgun, and it can be dual wielded. The shotgun fire first charges up for a second or two then blasts a pellet-like discharge at enemies, killing Hell Knights and Revenants with ease. The akimbo mode is great for when a CyberDemon has decided to grace your presence and you don’t have the BFG9000 to grace him right back.

Finally, the greatest weapon known to video games and the creator of a word in the dictionary, The Big Fraggin’ Gun 9000. Mine eyes can but weep as they bear witness to the majesty. This plasma cannon works like a plasma rocket launcher and can clear a large room of enemies and does wonders against boss demons. Its green, exploding orb of death can harm you in Brutal Doom, so keep your distance.

Now, onto the new weapons the mod added. The Revenant’s shoulder rocket pack and Mancubus’s flamethrower can now be taken from their demon corpses to use.

The rocket pack locks onto enemies and is good if you need to strafe around a bigger enemy, though it doesn’t do as much damage as the rocket launcher. The flamethrower works like one would expect (it throws flame) and has a secondary fire mode that blasts the projectiles Mancubuses use. The flamethrower option makes most enemies go crazy and run around. (an appropriate reaction I suppose. You’d think demons would have fire resistance, but whatever.) One problem with the flamethrower is that the flame blocks the entire screen.

There are actually melee weapons, believe it or not. You have your natural Marine-trained guns and the great communicator, the chainsaw.

Doomguy’s fists have some weak jabs and mean right hooks, which can be combined with a kick. They aren’t very strong normally, but with a berserker pack Doomguy can straight up gib an enemy. With the berserker pack, he can also use third-person executions against any non-boss enemies. The executions are specific to that enemy, so the Hell Knight and the Baron of Hell have different animations.

Finally, there is the chainsaw, a good weapon to use against smaller enemies. It can be thrust into enemies or slash through them, cleaving quickly through hordes of baddies. It’s the most fun against possessed marines and imps, but it does stun normal sized enemies.

With Brutal Doom, the amount of gore is ramped up to insane levels, adding in insanely detailed blood and dismemberment effects that also affect gameplay. One can tell that Abenante is dedicated to modding one of his favorite games for a long time. As a reader may have noticed, I have neglected any time to talk of a story. Well, Doom is known for what little story is there. In fact, John Carmack, one of the original developers, commented on his position of video game narrative. To summarize it, he compared video game narrative to “adult” movies, saying “…It’s expected to be there, but it’s not important.”

As much as that statement personally miffs this critic, I can’t say that Doom would have been better with a good story. The most you get of story in Doom’s standard campaigns is some text boxes at the end of some episodes (campaigns). It doesn’t do much, but the Hell on Earth Starter Pack has story, and actual voice acting that’s pretty good for what it’s used for (which amounts to freed marines you can find in some levels or that come with you to eventually die). Given the time and work put into Brutal Doom, I recommend this mod fully. It rejuvenates an old game that had archaic controls (you used control to fire a weapon). It makes what was an intense game, all the more intense and fast-paced.