The
first Doom trilogy
In 1999, Graham Nelson announced the release of several games ported to Inform. He described the original games with this:
The central computer of Cambridge University, England, an IBM mainframe usually called "Phoenix" after its operating system, was one of those to receive "Advent" (a.k.a. "Colossal Cave") and "Zork" (a.k.a. "Dungeon") in the late 1970s. Two graduate students, Jon Thackray and David Seal, began a game called "Acheton" in 1978-9: with the aid of Jonathan Partington it expanded for another two years. Possibly the first game written outside America, by 1981 it seems likely that it was also the largest in the world (it has 403 locations). "Acheton" was written with a game assembler contemporary with Infocom's proprietory "ZIL": unlike ZIL, Seal and Thackray's game assembler was available for public use, the public in question being all users of Phoenix c. 1980-95. "Acheton" and a number of other titles migrated to commercial releases: some by Acornsoft for the BBC Micro, the local Cambridge-built microcomputer; some later by Topologika for a wide range of systems, so that these games are often called "the Topologika games". However, not all the Phoenix games had a Topologika release, nor vice versa.
So, Cambridge University had a cohesive, active hobbyist scene, fondly remembered by many, long before the rest of the world. It could be said that without Phoenix stoking Mr. Nelson’s enthusiasm for the medium, he would not have gone on to write Inform; I have no idea if that’s true, but it
could be said.
Anyhow, one of these “Phoenix” games was one called Brand X, cowritten by a fellow named Peter Killworth. Killworth actually released a book on IF Theory in 1984 called “How To Write Adventure Games” (although I have yet to read it). Later on, he released a “Doom trilogy” for that previously-mentioned company, Topologika (the first game in the series, Countdown to Doom, had been previously released for the BBC Micro).
Around 1999 and 2000, unlike most IF authors from earlier eras, Killworth was very enthusiastic to partake in the (then) current IF community. He even hand-ported his own Doom games to Inform 6. Personally, I thought his commitment to the medium was incredibly admirable and was happy to have him with us. At the time, though, I only got far enough in Countdown to Doom to appreciate the few puzzles I could solve, eventually putting it down.
Years passed. At some point, I was saddened to hear that Killworth, aged 61, had passed away in 2008 from an ongoing battle with motor neurone disease.
I did eventually play the games, though. These are my thoughts.
Introducing the whole trilogy-
Years before “Doom” was associated with a hell-gate on a Martian moon, it stood for Doomawangara, a remote, dangerous planet that has been the final resting place of adventures foolish enough to seek out its treasures. Of course, in the Doom trilogy, you play just another fool in that queue, but you have advantages over those previous visitors- namely: game restarts, game saves, and unlimited UNDOs (depending on your interpreter).
The Doom trilogy is not fair by today’s standards. You will not beat the games on the first playthrough (nor the 30th, most likely), and each of the games has at least one puzzle edging on “completely insane”. Still, if you are okay with insta-deaths, mapping (including some mazes), and don’t get too ornery when you have to hit up a walkthrough (luckily, there is one for each game on the IF archive written by Richard Bos), there are enough nice, satisfying moments that I’d still recommend it to people looking for a fun, old-school distraction.
Still, it’d probably be best to give some advice on how to play these games-
1. These games continue the Phoenix tradition of not using “EXAMINE” (or any variation thereof) for looking at objects. Everything you need to know about an object is listed in its room or inventory listing.
2. Map everything, even when it costs you life to do so. The games are very much designed for trial-by-error.
3. “Rods” are supposed to be wands, I guess, and as such, they are meant to be waved.
4. There are several chemistry-related puzzles, so keep that in mind.
5. Read closely. Sometimes your one hint concerning something will be some throwaway bit of text that is printed and never mentioned again.
6. Figuring out the order of doing things is often part of the puzzle.
7. Type “HELP” early on to get an overview of any game-specific notes or commands.
Ok, let’s go into the games themselves.
Countdown to Doom-
Countdown to Doom has its share of issues working against it. Of the three, it’s the only game with an actual timer (400 moves, I think), adding an extra bit of pressure where there is enough already. The timer doesn’t end up being a huge deal, as one spends most of his or her time figuring out how to solve individual puzzles, and figuring out the most efficient order is a kind of fun last puzzle (and the timer isn’t so strict that I felt like my order-planning was even all that necessary).
There are two mazes, but all mazes in the series have a logic to them so figuring out that logic can be satisfying. Still, they will require mapping.
Speaking of mapping, CtD does the thing where exits to one location are not always the opposite direction to get back. That alone can drive me crazy, and in this case, it is exacerbated by the fact that “can’t go” messages often take up a turn (besides the aforementioned mazes, there are several areas that you only visit for a limited amount of turns, and there is annoying trial-and-error as you discover which exits are even available).
Still, the animal life (which, throughout the series, is often comprised of dinosaur-like species or other well-known tropes) and the variety of locales are interesting and imaginative enough to keep one going. There is also some usage of “action sequences” (my term, not the game’s) that are used to even better effect later in the series.
My rating-
I feel like I should only give at least three stars to games that I can recommend to any player. As such, I can only give two stars to Countdown to Doom, as I think its difficulties make it largely inaccessible to the modern IF gamer. That said, though, I’d recommend it to people looking for an engaging but challenging distraction.
Notes on this version-
I personally had to cheat at a couple points, and more so than the other games, I found variations in walkthroughs (from different versions) on the net, so if anyone would like a hint or nudge, feel free to send me an e-mail at roody.yogurt at gmail .
Maps-
For anyone who wants to cut down on the mapping (or get an idea on the amount of mapping involved), I’ve uploaded my own map, made in GUEmap 2. You can download the GUEmap version
here or as a PDF
here. Be warned that the map *is* spoilery, though, and it doesn’t even cover the most devious maze in the game.
Return to Doom-
Return to Doom, as one might expect, continues our adventures on Doomawangara. This time, though, it’s a rescue mission. Early on, the game is injected with death- and not just deaths of our fair protagonist- which successfully ratchets up the sense of dread. Getting to the midgame is quite an ordeal in itself.
Once there, there’s a nice Wishbringer-esque mechanic that allows the player to get past puzzles he or she otherwise can’t, but that mechanic can only be used once (and in most case, shouldn’t be used at all). Still, it’s an interesting way to inform the player of normally-inaccessible areas.
The game *must* be played with a transcript on, or at least, keep certain info available in your scrollback, as several puzzles (some horribly obscure) hinge on several facts given in one infodump (a repeatable infodump, but still). Also, there are a lot of options to explore when one gets to the midgame, and finding the areas to solve first takes a somewhat unfair amount of floundering.
On the plus side, this game has even more dinosaurs and even <spoiler>EVIL ROBOTS</spoiler>. There’s even some quite exciting action sequences, given you have the right objects to survive them. Without saying too much about it, Return to Doom adds a Floyd-like character that brings its own usefulness and personality to the table. Despite the lack of direction in the midgame, lost time spent exploring the wrong area is still decently enjoyable.
Still, Return to Doom has probably the most unforgiveable puzzles. I’ll take some time here to list the worst to save future players the trouble:
1.
I seesaw what you did there. For a game series that has a fair amount of chemistry and physics (although admittedly, it doesn’t take either very seriously), I was particularly annoyed by a seesaw mechanic where you have to throw a heavy rock to the other end of the seesaw, where this rock is supposedly heavy enough to force the seesaw to propel you across a gap.
2.
Oh, look, another rod! It’s not a big spoiler to say that in this game, waving the magic rod produces some oily black smoke. At least one of the locations you use it was fairly nonsensical, I thought.
3.
No you tornadon’t! There is one scene where you are walking among poisonous, thorny bushes while a cyclone is approaching. Somehow, walking in the right direction protects you from getting pushed into poisonous thorns. Even with a walkthrough in hand, I couldn’t understand the logic of the scene and it was largely trial-and-error.
4.
Unfair weather fiend. There is a machine with several unmarked buttons. Pushing each button will cause a weather phenomenon X turns later. Of course, this is only visible in outside locations, of which the weather-machine is not among. Worse yet, each button can only be used once.
5.
Pterribly unclued. At another part, you are being attacked by a pterodactyl-esque dinosaur. The correct way to survive this encounter is to >THROW a glass disc, which is basically a CD-ROM in the game world. Completely unintuitive.
6.
The Daffodil maze - At one point, you are traversing a maze of giant plants. Stay in any room for longer than a turn and you die, and there’s basically no logic as to which direction you can successfully go in. Luckily, it’s not a very large grid, but it’s still a pretty dumb part that can only be solved by trial-and-error.
7.
Passwords - There are a couple passwords in the game. How one is used is adequately clued, but the other just seems to be “use on a random forcefield 20 rooms away.” If there was a clue, I missed it.
This list ended up being longer than I initially thought it would be. That said, I’d still say that, for the most part, they didn’t detract from my enjoyment too much.
Notes about the port-
Not being familiar with the original, there *were* some messages that seemed a bit like porting mistakes, including one important bit of text that was missing completely (judging by what happens afterwards, it’s easy to guess what the missing text was about). If one cared, they could play the original (which is also available for free on the IF Archive) in DOSbox. That said, I doubt it’d be worth it to be deprived of various z-code interpreters’ unlimited UNDO capabilities.
My rating-
As I did with Countdown to Doom, I can’t give this game more than two stars as I think it’ll only appeal to a certain type of player. Still, despite its weaknesses, I’d say the high points are even better than the previous game.
Mapping-
This time around, I used Trizbort to map the game. Trizbort allows for writing objects on the map and generally makes prettier maps. You can download the Trizbort file itself
here or a PDF of it
here. Warning: the map will contain spoilers.
Last Days of Doom-
Here we are at the final chapter of the Doomawangara trilogy. The help text describes the game as the darkest chapter yet. Maybe fittingly, the story moves the focus away from the wilds and towards Doomawangara’s civilization. Like the previous game, the intro has a fair amount of frustration but nothing that a bit of exploration and perseverance won’t solve, and exploration is a bit more lax in the midgame. Overall, this game is, by far, the fairest of the three.
It is always interesting to see narrative and characterization explored in old games, and in this case, it is done to good effect. Not only that, but there’s a nice range of puzzles and adventurous, action-packed scenes. There is not a shortage of imagination. All in all, it’s a good payoff for sticking with a difficult series.
I imagine Killworth already saw his game as making steps towards interactive-fiction-as-literature. Even the original 1990 version doesn’t keep a game score for the first time in the series. Honestly, I found myself missing scoring points when solving puzzles, but one has to respect the ambition just the same.
Gripes-
There were only a couple things that really stuck in my craw this time, like the glass enclosure that you have to >BREAK (but can’t >HIT) or some mysterious objects whose utility are only discovered by dropping.
Mapping-
Now, I mapped Countdown to Doom in GUEmap and Return to Doom in Trizbort. This time around, I made a map of LDoD in each, so people can get a idea of how the two programs compare. Personally, I think maps are quicker to throw together in GUEmap, and if you are looking to print out your maps, GUEmap will print your map out on fewer sheets of paper (it is possible to compress the PDF that Trizbort makes to use fewer sheets- at decreasing quality, of course). Trizbort, on the other hand, is somewhat more useful in its ability to list objects, and being able to have different sized shapes for rooms helps lend itself towards art-ier maps. I can’t say that I am ready to commit to one or the other. Anyhow, we have the Trizbort version (
Trizbort file,
Trizbort PDF )and the GUEmap version (
GUEmap file,
GUEmap PDF). As always, the maps contain spoilers.
Final verdict-
This last entry of the series nudges its way up to three-star territory. It still has a lot of the trial-by-error design that would prevent me from recommending it to someone with little patience, but given it largely lacks the screamingly-unfair aspects of its predecessors, I feel content to bump it up to three stars. Of course, ideally, one would have played through the earlier games to fully appreciate the overall development of the story, but I wouldn’t say it’s even particularly necessary.
Final verdict for the series itself-
As someone who enjoys both Phoenix-game-style puzzles and storytelling in IF, I am happy to have finally played through this series and seen the fine mix that it is. There were frustrations, sure, but the distraction was enjoyable enough to merit the time spent on it. Personally, I’d recommend the games to anyone who enjoys sci-fi and exploration in their IF, as long as they are ok with dying a lot. For the times that they were written, they show great foresight and are highly ambitious. I can’t imagine many people today would stick all the way through them, but I feel that those that do will be glad they did. Good job, Mr. Killworth.
