2007 review by me of Commander Doom 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 These posts are under the label: Outdated articles and works.

Today’s' review will look at a mod that one can definitely call "different". It is an RTS (Real Time Strategy) mod for doom 3. It allows the player to control demons and production of demons to achieve a goal such as capture bases or hold bases for a period. The story is basic in that war has broken out in hell. You are in command of one side of the demonic force and using that you re-take the bases. This mod is fast paced so you won’t have time to think "Where is Lucifer while all this is going on?"

The mod has all the original Doom 3 characters and weapons; however some of the characters have been modified to produce new looking characters. The game has capture points that look like a permanently-on transporter beam. The colour they glow is a representation of the team that holds it. The game has interfaces that can be called up during game play to perform various functions, RTS style.

To re-iterate, the game is fast paced. However I could only find "easy" difficulty setting, but there are 3 blank squares where I suspect more difficulty settings will be available in future releases. I recommend reading the included readme to pre-familiarise yourself with the interface, because if you don’t and jump right in, you will wish you had. For all the sophistication this mod has, the mod writers make the game play very simple and interesting. When the level starts, it looks like normal FPS Doom 3 excerpt for the HUD. That HUD adds to the strategy and allows you to decide which way to go, or focus your attention. Pressing TAB brings up tech-tree/tactical map functions that allow you to control hordes of zombies etc, or you buy yourself more weapons/ammo. Yes folks, I did not see a "run over and pickup ammo/weapon" scene.

There are a LOT of things to like about this mod. The RTS style game play, the RTS style interfaces, the simplicity with which you execute your evil scheming ways. However the best thing I loved about it was the control of my hordes of hell spawn and that the idea, "the best defense is a good offense", works well in this mod. There is, however a requirement for this mod, and that is to upgrade your doom 3 version to patch 1.3.1 BEFORE running the mod, otherwise it will not load and give your errors.

The mod and video trailer can be located at: http://dungeondoom.d3files.com/commander_doom/index.htm

Reviewed by --Shadow Master.