  |
 DOOM 1Reviewed By: John GockeUsed with permission from AlMenconi.com
Genre: First Person Shooter (FPS) As the player in “the Ultimate Doom,” you are a futuristic Space Marine on a rescue mission to a distant planet to find out why a Marine base has lost contact with Earth. When you arrive, you are immediately dropped into a pulse pounding war zone where the only way to stay alive is by blasting through a relentless army of bloodthirsty demons. The goal is to stay alive. The only way to do this is to kill the demons, pick up their weapons, and use them to kill other demons. VIOLENCE
When you end up being killed by the progressively bigger and badder demons on each new level, the screen pans back to show your dying body crumpled to the ground and the bloodthirsty demons eating you like a piece of meat. The game is completed only after you have survived a great number of levels, each requiring scores if not hundreds of hours to master. ILLEGAL/HARMFUL BEHAVIOR
LANGUAGE No discernable bad language is used in the game. Both the player and the demons scream when they are being dealt a deathblow. NUDITY/SEXUAL CONTENT None. OCCULT/SUPERNATURAL Most of the scenery is filled with dripping bloody pentagrams and upside down crosses as well as other overt satanic imagery. CONCLUSION This incredibly bloodthirsty game is literally a walk through Hell. “Doom” was the first popular “killing for fun simulations” and by today's standards, considered mild. At first the player is “grossed out” by the blood and gore, but as he continues to play, it becomes commonplace. Playing this game for one hour may be acceptable. Playing for many hours could be cause for anxiety and/or depression. Playing for hundreds of hours is getting you ready to take action against anyone who gets in your way. Doom receives a 41% (F) due to the abundance of violence, gore, and occult influence.Year of Release—1995 As a committed Christian (and a former player of this game), I see nothing at all constructive in going round a 3D maze overloaded with satanic symbolism shooting people for no good reason. True, we should take a stand against the kingdom of darkness as children
of light but the weapons we should use are not those of this world - where does using a shotgun to blast away demons figure in God's plan? I see absolutely no constructive Christian purpose for playing this game, nothing good at all can come from this, it should be avoided at all costs and so too should its sequels which are far worse! (Doom is quite
mild compared to some of the recent offerings from ID - Doom II, Quake etc and of course Quake 3 which I would utterly condemn! My Ratings: [1/3]
—Ian Hosier, age 31 …You do NOT get extra points for shooting enemies in the head and when/if you get killed the enemies do NOT eat your flesh or anything of the sort, they just continue to run around aimlessly… "When you end up being killed by the progressively bigger and badder demons on each new level, the screen pans back to show your dying body crumpled to the ground and the bloodthirsty demons eating you like a piece of meat." HUH?!? What Doom did you play…this doesn't happen! My Ratings: [3/5] There is much of Violence in Doom, but the point is that you destroy the evil. There is no friends in game, there is only you and the evil. You are in hell, and you are fighing your way through it. My Ratings: [3/5] "Extra points are given for a shot in the head." "When you end up being killed by the progressively bigger and badder demons on each new level, the screen pans back to show your dying body crumpled to the ground and the bloodthirsty demons eating you like a piece of meat." "When they die, you see their blood spatter on the dark and eerie
walls." - NONE OF THESE FEATURES are incorporated into the official PC release of
Doom. Doom, when I first played it, was scary. So scary that I could not play it until I learned how to turn off the enemies. Demons scare me terribly. There are a few aspects of gameplay that keep it from being labeled as “bad” in my opinion. -Regardless whether or not the enemies are/were your friends, they are all hostile and will kill you immediately if you don't kill them first. It is not heartlessly killing your friends; it is preserving your own life by killing demons that will torture human-kind if you don't stop them. -The satanic and occult-type symbols are portrayed as evil. If the game said, "Go to the pentagram and be happy," then I could see a problem; but rather the pentagrams usually cause a bunch of demons to come after you. You AVOID the pentagrams. So, in this game the player fights a furious battle against evil. If we
are to do some real role-playing, if you had the determination and ability would you just hide in a corner and let the demons destroy God's creation? I should hope not. My Ratings: [3/4] Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this Christian Spotlight review are those of the reviewer (both ratings and recommendations), and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Films for Christ or the Christian Answers Network.
Christian Spotlight Guide2Games is part of Christian Answers. Copyright © Films for Christ. • “Christian Spotlight’s Guide to Games” and “Guide2Games” are service marks of Films for Christ.  |
Instead of merely watching the violence, this game puts you into the violence. The player is seen as merely a hand with a gun ready to kill. At first you think your mission is to save your Marine friends, but you quickly find out that they are either already dead or under the demons' control. Your only hope for survival is to kill your friends or be killed by them. You are literally being trained to kill your “friends.” When they die, you see their blood spatter on the dark and eerie walls. You hear the demons growling and you know they are lurking around every corner. You can almost feel them breathing down the back of your neck. The fright is real! As you fight your way through each level, you notice many of your Marine friends disemboweled and crucified with pentagrams drawn on the walls in their blood.
It is not illegal to kill demons but this game definitely teaches to shoot first and ask questions later. As stated earlier your “friends” have now become the enemy and you must kill them to survive. Unlike police training where you are taught to identify “good guys” from "bad guys", anything that moves is your enemy and should be blasted instantly--even your friends! Extra points are given for a shot in the head.