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'Brutal Doom' Creator Reveals New Footage from 'Brutal Doom 64' Mod

New footage shows early alpha gameplay from upcoming mod.

Last year, back when I first had a chance to play the new Doom scheduled for release on May 13, I vividly remember a player at the table during my multiplayer match yelling out "Brutal Doom!" It's a reference to the popular mod of the same name created by Brazilian modder SGtMarkIV for the original 1993 Doom, which helped revive widespread interest in id Software's groundbreaking demon shooter. And SGtMarkIV is inspiring that same yell-it-out enthusiasm again, this time with footage for his upcoming Brutal Doom 64 mod, a PC port that builds off the Nintendo 64 release of Doom from 1997. It's not quite ready to compete for players' time with id Software's flashy new Doom just yet. As SGtMarkIV says himself, the footage mainly focuses on "some basic stuff such as gibs, lightning effects, and brightmaps." It's still just a "very early alpha."

But it's clear the same spirit responsible for the success of Brutal Doom is alive and well here. As we said a year ago, Brutal Doom improves on the experience of the original Doom by letting players blow the limbs off demons rather than simply watching them fall over upon defeat. Elsewhere. blood splatters from the walls and ceiling. Shotgun blasts have extra bass. Not only do such effects cater to the tastes of today's gaming generation, but their excess also helps capture the shock value Doom had back in the days when Depeche Mode was still topping the US music charts and Britney Spears was still singing about Mickey Mouse.

Currently there's no release date for the mod, and its early state suggests it won't be out until after id Software has a chance to win over audiences again with its new take on its storied franchise later this spring. In the meantime, though, if any of the above sounds interesting, you can check out the original Brutal Doom here.

On the other hand, if '80s action heroes are more your thing than buckets of blood and guts, you'd do well to check out modder JohnnyCee's recent mashup of Duke Nukem 3D and Doom that works surprisingly well.