Most Metal Video Games (Part 2)

Hails and pixels metalhead gamers! It's been awhile but here's another installment of the Most Metal Video Games series! Last week I debuted the series with Too Human, a futuristic-cacophony-Norse-Mythology-Diablo style game.. This week's most metal video game is none other than:

DOOM


The granddaddy of all first person shooters; Wolfenstein 3D and others might have come before it, but no other game revolutionized gaming quite on the level as DOOM. Why this game is metal is pretty much a no-brainer. You are a lone-ass-kicking-soldier against the infinite denizens of Hell with some bad ass space-age and not so quite space-age weaponry like the shotgun and in the sequel, the almighty double barreled shotgun. With it's creative creature designs and fantastic labyrinth levels, it's no surprise why this game helped kick start shareware and make the mod community what it is today. Of course this game also has a great soundtrack even if it is pretty much ripped off.

Bobby Prince, who was originally a lawyer; what he practiced is beyond me as it's not stated on his Wikipedia page, composed the soundtrack. It's been said that due to his law background he was able to get away with much of the copyright infringement because he knew how much constituted substantial similarities to the source material. Personally, even though I'm not a high-priced-city-slicker-fancy lawyer I can definitely hear the similarities between the original songs and DOOM's versions.

Granted most of DOOM's songs play the main riff for a few bars then move that same riff up a few steps to create repetition; at least he took from some great source material. Slayer. Metallica. Pantera. Alice In Chains. Despite the seemingly infringement going on, I have never heard a lawsuit peep from any of the bands. This is particularly surprising as Metallica is involved and we all know how protective Lars Ulrich is about his music. Regardless, the music fits the intensity of the game and it has withstood time by being continuously covered and rearranged by musicians the world over. To close out this post, I'd like to share my favorite medley of DOOM music performed by Finnish symphonic metal band: Epiclore.



Currently Listening To: Black Sabbath - The Mob Rules

Most Metal Video Games (Part 1)

Hails! Now we begin an ongoing, indefinite length of time to determine some of the most metal video games out there. What makes a video game 'metal'? Well for my arbitrary definition it has to encompass the metal genre. The game has to be aggressive, uncompromising, evil, over-the-top, controversial, cheesy, a breaker of barriers and be fucking cool. Or whatever I decide is a metal video game.



Too Human



What Makes It Metal?

It's Norse mythology with robots! The Norse mythology alone would qualify it as being a metal video game since enough bands dip into the mythos, especially Amon Amarth. Speaking of which, I have no idea why that band was not asked to compose music for Too Human. With song titles like In Pursuit of Vikings, Valkyries Ride, Guardians of Asgaard, With Oden On Our Side and more they were basically a shoe-in for the game!

Instead we get generic metal riffage from 3volution Productions, started by former Fear Factory drummer Raymond Herrera no less. Sure there was some epic music in there but when it comes to action music, Amon Amarth would've fit right in.

Another reason the game is metal is because it's fucking hard. Especially when you're in the Ice Forest and surrounded by Cripplers, Stalkers, Spiders, Skullhammers and other mechanical machinations. However the Valkyrie that takes you to Valhalla is not metal. Well it is, but not when it takes 30 minutes to complete the sequence before you can continue again only to suffer at the lengthy sequence again. And again. And again.

Either way, I did enjoy the flawed game, especially in Co-Op. I was ultimately let down as I was excited for this game ever since I saw a preview for it in an old EGM years ago for the Playstation One. I'd still love to play that rendition of the game.