2006 review by me of Phantasm mod on GameSpy's PlanetDoom

The writing contained here is years old and GameSpy no longer exists but they are a reflection of the work I used to do then. Some of the links found in these posts will no longer work however they will remain as part of the original work. These posts are under the label: Outdated articles and works.

I was feeling in need of a little creepiness so I found this mod, the Phantasm mod version 1.2. This is another mod by the author Bladeghost that is based on a movie, in this case, Phantasm. I have to confess I have not seen the movie yet so I had to hunt for the movie information on the World Wide Web.

This mod has almost all new textures, but keeps the simple playability of Doom 3. The guns are the same and only a handful of creatures are the same. The other creatures are phantasm creatures, and even the “tall man” is done well. The level design is beautifully achieved and in particular when outdoors, and the nicely modeled car (which you can’t drive unfortunately).

As mentioned, this mod keeps the playability simple like Doom 3 but packs a lot of surprises. It feels like playing through a dream with mind altering scenarios. The game starts slow paced but picks up very quickly. You will need to have your wits about you and be able to respond in a blink. Those floating ‘cranial drilling orbs’ have no mercy given their small size and speed of attack. This mod will keep you on edge start to finish.

There are a lot of things to like about this mod. The beautiful level design, the textures, the new creatures, the eerie, creepy, downright mind altering atmosphere, and pace.  I believe the quote form Bladeghost in the readme file of the mod says it best, “This Mod was created as an artistic creative expression of my art and 3d modeling skills, and as a homage to Phantasm, a great movie classic and it's sequels”.

In conclusion, I would say stop reading about it, go download it and play it now. See for yourself what a well designed mod this is. It has already got me in the mood to hunt the video stores for the movie to see what the movie is like.

The mod can be found at: http://www.doomwadstation.com/doom3tc/phantasm/