To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the original Doom, Bethesda Softworks relaunched Doom II for iPhone and iPad. It promises “more demons, more weapons, more action” — just like it did back in 1994.
If today’s release of Id’s mind-blowing, Wasteland-themed Rage: Campaign Edition first-person shooter on the Mac App Store is any indication, the days of your mouth-breathing PC friends making fun of you because “you can’t play games on your Mac” may be numbered.
The best-looking game to ever hit iOS has now arrived on the App Store: id software Mutant Bash TV (based on an engine derived from their forthcoming next-gen shooter Rage, and taking place in the same universe) has just hit the App Store.
Back in August, Doom creators id software promised to blew us all away with a demonstration of their next generation Rage engine running on the iPhone 4 at sixty frames per second. It was just a proof-of-concept, but don’t worry, there’s a game in there… and it’s going to be called Mutant Bash TV.
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i31omgvWDTQ
Up until 1996, id software’s Doom engine was pretty much the de facto technology driving the best and most advanced PC computer games on the market, including Doom, Doom 2, Heretic, Hexen and Strife. Then id software released their next game engine, Quake, which boasted true 3D environments, and any game that still ran on Doom’s 2.5D engine was barely worth a laugh.
That was very unfortunate for HacX when it was released in 1997. The last commercial game using the Doom engine, HacX boasted some incredible enemy, weapons and level design, but was ultimately as ignored at retail (where it was passed over for flashier games running on truly 3D engines) as it has been forgotten by all but the most die-hard retro gamers.
I was delighted to hear, then, that HacX has gotten a new lease on life, as it has been ported as a free app for the iPhone and iPad. It’s still using the Doom engine, just this time it’s using the updated iPhone engine released by id software’s own lead programmer, John Carmack.
Here’s hoping that HacX can finally get some of the recognition it deserves this time around.
