Even if you’re not a fan of turn-based RPGs, DOOM RPG: Evil Unleashed should be on your list of games to play before you’re worm food. Why? Well, between the intentionally retro visuals, great use of music (from a few sources) and reworked art assets from the original game and a solid level of difficulty, the game is a pretty nice surprise that will eat up your free time. Created by thespazztikone in the nicely versatile open-source game engine O.H.R.RPG.C.E. (Official Hamster Republic Role Playing Game Construction Engine!) and hopefully going to get polished up a bit more and updated with more episodes, the game hooks you in right away with a surprising amount of voice acting and a nice, slow buildup to the actual gameplay. Once you get into the combat and hear that familiar level end tune when you’re victorious, expect a grin to spread as the hours fly by.

It’s simply awesome to see all those familiar enemy sprites here and the game is indeed quite difficult if you’re not prepared. Grinding for levels is recommended, but only after you’ve passed the first map and find the first shop terminal where you can stock up on ammo and healing items. You start the game with a combat knife, and yes, all the familiar weapons from the PC classic turn up as you play.  Of course, you’ll need to find key cards, flip switches to reveal hidden areas and deal with a number of brutal bosses as you explore the demon infested maps. As encounters are random, you’re always kept guessing as to what you’ll run into, but the game actually warns you ahead of time for the first major boss battle. While your walking speed is relatively slow, holding down SHIFT lets you run everywhere and makes the game more enjoyable.

Unlike the FPS, you’re not going it alone unless you forget to rescue your fellow space marines and poker buddies. The inclusion of these party members is a great touch, as each adds much-needed firepower against the hordes. I liked that one of them (in fact, the first marine you rescue) is a gal, Lorelai, who’s great with rifles and other ranged weapons. It takes a bit of work to track down your other teammates, but that game is never dull despite a few rough edges. The maps are quite sprawling, some to the point of ridiculousness, but you get the feeling of being in a complex that’s not just a bunch of tight corridors. There is at least one wacky hidden area where you need to travel outside one map’s borders to discover (looks for the giant fish in the blackness) and a handy glitch when you find the chaingun that gives you ammo endlessly when you keep walking over the pickup (oops!), but again, if you’re playing the game and find this stuff, you’re most likely hooked in for the long haul.

There’s more here, but I’ll shut up and let YOU discover what’s what for yourself. That link above is to the game on RPG Maker,net, but based on the video above, you may want to download the game from the SlimeSalad page HERE and compare the two versions. I just saw this link, so I’ll be doing that and maybe updating this mini-review at some point. Ok, I’m now hooked on looking up more OHRRPGCE games, particularly RPGs or action games that bring back the classic 8 and 16-bit days. I’ve found a bunch of awesome games on a few sites while writing this article, so BOOM goes my free time and crap… so much for my world domination plans, grrrr.  It also looks like enough of a solid engine that anyone could make their own games with some practice, so who knows? Perhaps I’ll dip a toe into the homebrew waters (well, if I can find the time with all these games to play piling up!).