Fully titled Doom II: Hell on Earth, Doom II is the 1994 sequel to id Software's legendary Doom (though I hardly think I have to mention that), published by GT Interactive. As the title implies, the rampaging demonic horde that the player fought off Phobos, Deimos, and Mars, is now rampaging on Earth. Unlike what Raven Software did with the Doom engine for their game, Heretic, id didn't make any really noticeable improvements upon the engine. Nevertheless, Doom II was more popular than the original with more levels, monsters, and a double-barreled shotgun.

Doom II abandoned the nine-levels-in-each-of-three-episodes format that its prequel and several other games in the first-person shooter (FPS) genre used. Instead, all the levels (save the two secret levels) were presented one right after the other. This removed having to start stripped of weaponry every nine levels as the player started a new episode.

Doom II's two secret episodes were recreations of the first and last levels of the first episode of Wolfenstein 3D (an earlier id Software FPS in which the player battled Nazis). Wherever there was a brown-uniformed, pistol-brandishing soldier in Wolfenstein 3D, there were four blue-uniformed soldiers with a submachine gun each. The sprite representing these soldiers firing is actually flawed: Regardless of which direction they fire in, they always seem to be facing the player when they shoot. The German Shepards found in the first level of Wolfenstein 3D were replaced with Doom's bull/pig-like demon. The guy wielding two chainguns in one of the Wolfenstein 3D levels was replaced with Doom's cyberdemon. There were also a few secrets and Doom II weapons added to these levels. Due to a ban on Nazi material, the German version of Doom II lacked these two levels as they contained graphics of swastikas and giant portraits of Adolf Hitler.

The levels of Doom II were, for the most part, much tougher than those of the original. Doom II's weapon arsenal was the same with the exception of the addition of a double-barreled shotgun. A few new monsters were added but otherwise the goodies and baddies were all familiar to anyone who had played Doom. The player begins level one with the brass knuckles and pistol.

Weaponry:

  • brass knuckles:
    Ammunition: none
    Range: up close and personal
    Damage: low (increased to that of the rocket launcher with the use of a bezerk pack)
    Rate of Fire: moderate
    Weapon slot: 1
  • chainsaw:
    Ammunition: none
    Range: up close and personal
    Damage: moderate
    Rate of Fire: constant
    Weapon slot: 1
  • pistol:
    Ammunition: bullets
    Range: unlimited
    Damage: low
    Rate of Fire: moderate
    Weapon slot: 2
  • shotgun:
    Ammunition: shells
    Range: unlimited (shot spreads out as it travels)
    Damage: moderate
    Rate of Fire: moderate
    Weapon slot: 3
  • super shotgun (double barreled):
    Ammunition: shells (uses two per shot)
    Range: unlimited (shot spreads out as it travels)
    Damage: high
    Rate of Fire: slow
    Weapon Slot: 3
  • chaingun:
    Ammuntion: bullets
    Range: unlimited
    Damage: low (same as pistol, speed makes up for damage)
    Rate of Fire: fast (fully automatic)
    Weapon slot: 4
  • rocket launcher:
    Ammunition: rockets
    Range: unlimited (splash damage can harm player at close range)
    Damage: high
    Rate of Fire: moderate
    Weapon slot: 5
  • plasma rifle:
    Ammunition: plasma
    Range: unlimited
    Damage: moderate
    Rate of Fire: fast (fully automatic)
    Weapon slot: 6
  • BFG 9000:
    Ammunition: plasma (40 cells per shot)
    Range: unlimited
    Damage: very high
    Rate of Fire: very slow
    Weapon slot: 7

Power-ups:

  • Armor:
    Appearance: glowing green, squished V-shape
    Effects: Instantly grants up to 100% armor.
  • Backpack Full of Ammo:
    Appearance: brown backpack
    Effects: Doubles maximum amount of ammuntion that can be held (only the first time, additional backpacks do not raise the max. any higher) and gives a small amount of assorted munitions.
  • Bezerk Pack:
    Appearance: black first aid kit
    Effects: Instantly restores player to 100% health and increases the damage of the brass knuckles considerably.
  • Helmet:
    Appearance: a helmet (duh)
    Effects: Instantly grants an additional 1% of armor (up to 200%).
  • Invisibility:
    Appearance: multicoloured sphere
    Effects: Temporarily renders player partially invisible (enemies will have a harder time aiming at the player)
  • Light Amplification:
    Appearance: brightly coloured, 3D glasses
    Effects: Brightens all surroundings to maximum light level temporarily.
  • Map:
    Appearance: small computer screen
    Effects: Reveals entire map (unseen areas in grey) of current level.
  • Medikit:
    Appearance: large first aid kit
    Effects: Instantly grants 25% health (up to 100%).
  • MegaArmor:
    Appearance: glowing blue, squished V-shape
    Effects: Instantly grants up to 200% armor.
  • Megasphere:
    Appearance: white face within a sphere
    Effects: Instantly grants up to 200% health and armor.
  • Potion of Health:
    Appearance: small, dark blue flask
    Effects: Instantly grants an additional 1% of health (up to 200%).
  • Radiation Suit:
    Appearance: white, full body suit
    Effects: Temporarily makes player immune to the damage caused by acidic surfaces.
  • Supercharge:
    Appearance: blue face within a sphere
    Effects: Instantly grants an additional 100% of health, up to 200% maximum.
  • Stim Pack:
    Appearance: small white box with a red cross
    Effects: Instantly grants 10% health (up to 100%).

The Bad Guys:

  • zombieman
    Undead or possessed human carrying a rifle. Each shot does as much damage as a shot from the pistol. Has low hitpoints and bad aim. Leaves a clip of bullets behind after death.
  • shotgun guy
    Undead or possessed human carrying a shotgun equivalent to the player's (single-barreled) shotgun. Has low hitpoints and decent aim. Leaves a shotgun behind after death.
  • heavy weapon dude*
    Undead or possessed human carrying a chaingun equivalent to the player's chaingun. Has low hitpoints and good aim. Leaves a chaingun behind after death.
  • imp
    Humanoid demon. Can attack up close with its claws or from far away with a small, slow moving fireball. Low hitpoints and good aim. Leaves nothing behind after death.
  • demon
    Gorilla sized, bald, pink bullish creature. Moves quickly and bites hard. Can take two to three shotgun blasts and leaves nothing behind after death.
  • lost soul
    Floating, flaming skull. Its attack is slamming into you while screaming. Can take a couple full shotgun blasts and leaves nothing behind after death.
  • cacodemon
    Bubbly, multicoloured, floating head with one eye. Attacks by launching a multicoloured bolt of bad stuff out of its mouth. Can take quite a bit of damage before death and leaves nothing behind once dead (but it looks cool when it dies).
  • hell knight*
    A pale, short-horned minotaur that can launch a powerful, green goo at its target or use its claws up close. Can take three direct hits with a rocket launcher and leaves nothing behind after dying.
  • baron of hell
    A pinkish, stronger version of a hell knight. Can take five direct hits with a rocket launcher. Also leaves nothing behind after death.
  • arachnotron*
    Electronic, eight-legged body armed with a plasma gun and holding up a huge brain with eyes. Very dangerous and usually found in groups. Leaves nothing behind after death.
  • pain elemental*
    Huge floating, groutesque head that spits lost souls out of its mouth. Uses the lost souls it creates to attack, as it has no direct forms of assault itself. Quite a pain in the ass. Upon death it releases three more lost souls.
  • revenant*
    Tall, reanimated skeleton that can pack quite a punch up close and launch some type of homing missile from afar. Can't take a reasonable beating and leaves nothing behind after death.
  • mancubus*
    Huge, blubbering... thing... with cybernetic fireball launchers on its arms. Very tough, very mean, and very disgusting (as disgusting as it can be in a 256-colour 640 by 480 resolution that is). Leaves nothing behind after death.
  • arch-vile*
    Sleek, tall, somewhat skeletal creature. Can take quite a beating and dish one out as well. Its attack is slow, fortunately. Unfortunately, an arch-vile can resurrect any fallen monster that leaves a body behind (with the exception of its own kind, the spider mastermind, and the cyberdemon). Leaves nothing behind after death.
  • the spider mastermind
    Gigantic (in size and hitpoins) version of an arachnotron with a chaingun instead of a plasma gun. Leaves nothing behind after death.
  • the cyberdemon
    Humungous minotaur with a rocket launcher strapped to one arm. Has the most hitpoints of any creature in the game. Unlike the spider mastermind, the cyberdemon isn't so large it seriously restricts its own movement. Leaves nothing behind after death.
  • Nazi SS solider (secret levels only)*
    Human. Wears blue. Looks Aryan. Carries a submachine gun. Relatively weak. Decent aim. Leaves behind a clip of bullets after death.
  • hanging Keen (second secret level only)*
    Four of these must be destroyed at the end of the second secret level. The graphic is based on that of Commander Keen, a little kid character in a series of games id Software made in the days of EGA graphics.
  • John Romero's head on a stick*
    The final boss of the game is a gigantic demon's head upon a wall. Its brain is exposed and it can spawn most of the creatures listed here. To kill it, the player must launch a few rockets into its brain. Using the cheat code that allows the player to walk through walls, one can see that the target within the demon's brain is a sprite of the head of John Romero, an employee of id Software at the time, on a stick. Haters of Daikatana will probably enjoy seeing this.
*Asterisk indicates creature was not in the original Doom.

Cheat codes:

  • iddqd
    "degreelessness mode" (god mode) toggle
  • idkfa
    all weapons, keys, and full ammo
  • idfa
    all weapons and full ammo
  • idclip
    "no clipping mode" toggle (walk through walls)
  • idclevX
    level warp (where X=a number ranging from 01 to 32 - 31 and 32 are the secret levels, which are also accessable wihtout cheating in level 15)
  • iddt
    toggle map mode (regular, show entire map, show entire map with sprite locations)
  • idmusX
    change music (were X=a number ranging from 01 to 32)
  • idchoppers
    Gives player the chainsaw.
  • idbeholdY
    Gives player a certain power-up. If Y equals...
    • A then the map power-up is activated.
    • I then the invisibility power-up is activated.
    • L then the light amplification power-up is activated.
    • R then the radiation suit power-up is activated.
    • S then the beserker pack power-up is activated.
    • V then the invunerability power-up is activated.

Doom II requires either MS-DOS 5.0 or higher on a 386DX 33MHz system that supports VGA graphics with at least 4MB of RAM and 20MB of hard disk space or Mac OS 7.1 or higher on a 68040, 68LC040, or Power PC system with 8MB of RAM and 17.2MB of hard disk space.

Thanks Master Villain for reminding me about idbeholdL.