Okay, wow. So this is Action DooM 2: Urban Brawl. It’s the prequel to Action DooM which, back in the day when I was (a small) part of the doom community, was a total conversion that redefined the boundaries of what was possible with the doom source code.

Lucky for me, tonight, I was bored with the games I have and was browsing the web for free stuff. I realised the doom community is always full of some really fun, really free, content. So I headed over to doomworld.com.

So imagine my surprise, as with completely no knowledge that it had ever been in Scuba Steve’s head, this absolutely kick ass mod drops itself onto my PC.  I was a bit worried that i’d have to install zdoom and track down my doom2 wad – but the download came in a package containing everything.

Urban Brawl is the prequel to the events of Action DooM, but instead of takings its cues off run n’ gun gaming, it follows in the sweet ass footsteps of classic 16bit era beat em up’s.

The game mixes comic inspired graphics with awesome 80s video gameish music tracks.

Ten years before the events of the Uac Site 4 disaster, you are a former law enforcement officer, laid off, drunk, miserable, and raising your daughter alone. 

When contract killers kidnap your daughter, it’s time for action.

The description in the readme doesn’t paint it, but the story really is no slouch. Told panel by panel in the intro, and extended through the game by your character’s narrations, it’s compelling and surprisingly well written.

I’m willing to wage this is one of the coolest things you’ll play this year.