A mod for Doom II: Hell on Earth
Pirate Doom is a megawad and partial conversion for Doom II. It is heavily inspired by the Monkey Island series and features reskinned enemies, custom music and new weapons as well as new textures and 18 new maps. It was created by Arch, also known as Darch. The full version was released on the 4th September, 2013 and received one of the 20th Annual Cacowards, with the final update being on the 6th June, 2014.
Reviews View More
I love the concept of this game. As neither the most skilled nor the most patient nor the most competitive gamer, I tend to steer clear of most Doom mods that dial the difficulty way beyond what the base game intended - but a Doom mod with pirate-hat-wearing imps, eyepatch-wearing demons and revenants that shoot homing parrots? Count me in!
Pirate Doom is apparently heavily inspired by the Monkey Island games (note to self: check this series out ASAP!) and its new tilesets and graphical changes bring a unique and slightly lighthearted mood to the table. There are plenty of unique coding tricks and truly strongly-designed maps too! My personal favorite is the circus: a brightly-lit series of setpieces that include having to slowly walk across a tightrope while taking out enemies that spawn on both sides, a giant trampoline sequence that adds an element of chaotic verticality unlike any other map I've played, and a 'freakshow' segment which uses coding tricks to create weird monsters like a two-headed imp.
Unfortunately, Pirate Doom suffers a bit from 'Plok syndrome', where an otherwise-excellent game takes its most obnoxious element and then iterates on it and doubles down on it. Pirate Doom overuses darkness to create difficulty, with certain encounters taking place in nearly pitch-black rooms. It's a baffling design decision at odds with the brighter palette and more colorful tilesets, akin to applying the lighting and cinematography of the Battison movie to the 1960s Batman show. And it only got worse as I went on, with sometimes entire levels being so dark that even with brightness turned up I couldn't see enemies standing right next to me!
Some of these levels were long, sprawling, nearly impossible to navigate, and had me being hit by enemies that I couldn't even see - this might have been effective in a horror-themed wad or 'challenge mod', but Pirate Doom doesn't come across as either. It's just an unfortunate quirk that brought my enjoyment level of the game from 4 stars (after the opening few levels) steadily lower and lower as I played. Which is a shame, because the good maps are really really good!
Favorite maps:
45 - Barnacle Bar
46 - Circus
50 - Lost City
57 - Grog Factory
Pirate Doom is apparently heavily inspired by the Monkey Island games (note to self: check this series out ASAP!) and its new tilesets and graphical changes bring a unique and slightly lighthearted mood to the table. There are plenty of unique coding tricks and truly strongly-designed maps too! My personal favorite is the circus: a brightly-lit series of setpieces that include having to slowly walk across a tightrope while taking out enemies that spawn on both sides, a giant trampoline sequence that adds an element of chaotic verticality unlike any other map I've played, and a 'freakshow' segment which uses coding tricks to create weird monsters like a two-headed imp.
Unfortunately, Pirate Doom suffers a bit from 'Plok syndrome', where an otherwise-excellent game takes its most obnoxious element and then iterates on it and doubles down on it. Pirate Doom overuses darkness to create difficulty, with certain encounters taking place in nearly pitch-black rooms. It's a baffling design decision at odds with the brighter palette and more colorful tilesets, akin to applying the lighting and cinematography of the Battison movie to the 1960s Batman show. And it only got worse as I went on, with sometimes entire levels being so dark that even with brightness turned up I couldn't see enemies standing right next to me!
Some of these levels were long, sprawling, nearly impossible to navigate, and had me being hit by enemies that I couldn't even see - this might have been effective in a horror-themed wad or 'challenge mod', but Pirate Doom doesn't come across as either. It's just an unfortunate quirk that brought my enjoyment level of the game from 4 stars (after the opening few levels) steadily lower and lower as I played. Which is a shame, because the good maps are really really good!
Favorite maps:
45 - Barnacle Bar
46 - Circus
50 - Lost City
57 - Grog Factory
these doom wads are really getting out of hand...
Originally posted here: https://cultclassiccornervideogames.wordpress.com/2017/09/19/mod-corner-pirate-doom-doom-ii-hell-on-earth-review/
Pirate games are far and few between, and good pirate games are even fewer, probably few enough to be counted on one hand, maybe two. So when Pirate Doom came along, it was definitely a breath of fresh air.
Released on fourth of September, 2013, the majority of the mod was created by one guy nicknamed Arch AKA Darth. The plot is simple, you find out that someone has stolen your treasure and turned all of the pirates into monsters, and you have to fight your way through hordes of them to get your treasure back.
The mod is heavily influenced by the Monkey Island series, and its pretty obvious, with some of its graphics and music taken from the series. The mod also borrows from several other games, but I’ll let you discover these on your own. They all work together pretty well, so no complaints there.
Enemies have been dressed accordingly, such as the zombies (and the doomguy) wear eye patches, Arch-viles being voodoo doctors, the Revenants shooting parrots instead of rockets, Hell Knights and Barons of Hell having tattoos, and Imps looking like pirates. Even the Arachnotrons have their mechanical parts placed with steampunk technology. There are also a few new enemies, such as pygmy type people.
Graphically, the mod looks good, with levels set in a atmospheric graveyard and fog with the ghosts of dead pirates, a moody sunken ship and its former crew, and a Circus that contains a freak show. The game even has a level where your firing canons on a boat, destroying other boats. It is limited by the engine, but its an addition that adds greatly to the mix. There is a lot of variety in the visuals that prevents it from getting old really quickly.
It also has a lot of small details that add a lot to the game. When you shoot mirrors, they crack, there are a lot of pirate tropes and cliches packed into each level, and when you kill Imps, their tricorne’s are knocked off and float back down to the ground in a comical way.
Levels are well designed, feeling fair with it’s monster placement, even on the higher skill levels. The weapons are also designed accordingly, which include a flint pistol, both a shotgun and double shotgun, fast and slow firing cannons, and even a dynamite launcher, which the BFG equivalent.
Weapons are given out slowly, but when you get your hands on them, you realize they would have made earlier levels a cakewalk.
There is little reason not to try Pirate Doom. Its tongue-in-cheek presentation is top notch, and mixed with Doom’s gameplay, makes for an excellent mix. Pirate Doom is definitely worth downloading.
Pirate games are far and few between, and good pirate games are even fewer, probably few enough to be counted on one hand, maybe two. So when Pirate Doom came along, it was definitely a breath of fresh air.
Released on fourth of September, 2013, the majority of the mod was created by one guy nicknamed Arch AKA Darth. The plot is simple, you find out that someone has stolen your treasure and turned all of the pirates into monsters, and you have to fight your way through hordes of them to get your treasure back.
The mod is heavily influenced by the Monkey Island series, and its pretty obvious, with some of its graphics and music taken from the series. The mod also borrows from several other games, but I’ll let you discover these on your own. They all work together pretty well, so no complaints there.
Enemies have been dressed accordingly, such as the zombies (and the doomguy) wear eye patches, Arch-viles being voodoo doctors, the Revenants shooting parrots instead of rockets, Hell Knights and Barons of Hell having tattoos, and Imps looking like pirates. Even the Arachnotrons have their mechanical parts placed with steampunk technology. There are also a few new enemies, such as pygmy type people.
Graphically, the mod looks good, with levels set in a atmospheric graveyard and fog with the ghosts of dead pirates, a moody sunken ship and its former crew, and a Circus that contains a freak show. The game even has a level where your firing canons on a boat, destroying other boats. It is limited by the engine, but its an addition that adds greatly to the mix. There is a lot of variety in the visuals that prevents it from getting old really quickly.
It also has a lot of small details that add a lot to the game. When you shoot mirrors, they crack, there are a lot of pirate tropes and cliches packed into each level, and when you kill Imps, their tricorne’s are knocked off and float back down to the ground in a comical way.
Levels are well designed, feeling fair with it’s monster placement, even on the higher skill levels. The weapons are also designed accordingly, which include a flint pistol, both a shotgun and double shotgun, fast and slow firing cannons, and even a dynamite launcher, which the BFG equivalent.
Weapons are given out slowly, but when you get your hands on them, you realize they would have made earlier levels a cakewalk.
There is little reason not to try Pirate Doom. Its tongue-in-cheek presentation is top notch, and mixed with Doom’s gameplay, makes for an excellent mix. Pirate Doom is definitely worth downloading.
Retro-FPS and point n’click adventures are my favourite video-game genres. Doom and The Secret of Monkey Island are, respectively, my favourite games from each genre. And someone decided to put them together in a doom conversion. It will be hard to play this game and make a serious review about it, because i’m completely biased even before playing it. Man just playing the first map got me super hyped for the whole thing.
Pirate Doom serves as a good example of how important art design is in a fps. I have this hot take: the doom engine is the best game engine of all time. Yet, honestly, it gets a little tiring to play Doom wads with vanilla textures. Like, sometimes you want something more besides classic archaic doom. And then when wads like Pirate Doom appear, they feel like a whole different game, even if you know the gameplay is exactly the same: you’re fighting the exact same monsters with almost the same exact weapons. But the change in mood, textures, sprites, music, sound, in concrete, the whole artistic side of it, has leveled up the experience and made it unique. Yes, you can’t go wrong with the idtech 1 or GZDoom engine, but you better get to work in the art department. This is how you know that FPS are not just simply about shooting things. Funny how a game whose whole mood is that of a comedy made me think about the essence of a whole genre.
Anyway, this game is not just a great use of sprites, textures and music: This has a fantastic gameplay. Level design is just perfect, the balance is so great, it even has a very progressive and well thought difficulty curve throughout the levels. No map here is bad. As for the weapons, you have a big arsenal that is inpired by the classic Doom arsenal, with sprite borrowed from Outlaw, but with a whole new different feeling. They’re just spectacular.
Oh, and i love the fact that this wad is only 18 maps long. I think the regular 32 map longrun ends up being a bit too much, most of the times, even in Doom II. 18 seems like a perfect number to me.
I recommend this game energically.
Fav maps: Map 5 Barnacle Bar / Map 7 Booty Bay / Map 10 Lost City / Map 14 Port Royale
Worst maps: Map 4 Sunken Ghost Ship (It’s not a bad map really, and it’s also pretty short, i’m just not fond of the underwater physics)
Pirate Doom serves as a good example of how important art design is in a fps. I have this hot take: the doom engine is the best game engine of all time. Yet, honestly, it gets a little tiring to play Doom wads with vanilla textures. Like, sometimes you want something more besides classic archaic doom. And then when wads like Pirate Doom appear, they feel like a whole different game, even if you know the gameplay is exactly the same: you’re fighting the exact same monsters with almost the same exact weapons. But the change in mood, textures, sprites, music, sound, in concrete, the whole artistic side of it, has leveled up the experience and made it unique. Yes, you can’t go wrong with the idtech 1 or GZDoom engine, but you better get to work in the art department. This is how you know that FPS are not just simply about shooting things. Funny how a game whose whole mood is that of a comedy made me think about the essence of a whole genre.
Anyway, this game is not just a great use of sprites, textures and music: This has a fantastic gameplay. Level design is just perfect, the balance is so great, it even has a very progressive and well thought difficulty curve throughout the levels. No map here is bad. As for the weapons, you have a big arsenal that is inpired by the classic Doom arsenal, with sprite borrowed from Outlaw, but with a whole new different feeling. They’re just spectacular.
Oh, and i love the fact that this wad is only 18 maps long. I think the regular 32 map longrun ends up being a bit too much, most of the times, even in Doom II. 18 seems like a perfect number to me.
I recommend this game energically.
Fav maps: Map 5 Barnacle Bar / Map 7 Booty Bay / Map 10 Lost City / Map 14 Port Royale
Worst maps: Map 4 Sunken Ghost Ship (It’s not a bad map really, and it’s also pretty short, i’m just not fond of the underwater physics)