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