Thought this'd be a port but it's a whole new game! And in Pico-8 no less. Limitations with color palettes and such set aside (or with such in mind - gives an even grittier oldskool/lowres impression) this is amazing.
Feels like the shotgun doesn't really pack the same punch/precision as with the real games, and no doubt I'm bound to run into plenty of similar dissimilarities down the line here, but the DOOM vibes definitely carry across! It sounds similar. It looks similar. It feels similar. It's both a blast of nostalgia and something entirely new at the same time... once you get used to the mouse + P2 controls, as you say, it's not bad at all. Just wish the 'action' button had a different key too. Feels like being able to open doors with say enter or space would be a bit more ideal. Possibility to map your own controls even more so.
But I shan't ask for maybe the impossible or unnecessary here! So far this is awesome. May revise review with additional notes a few playthroughs later... thanks for making this!
Edit: Played through and it was great. :) Though it seems the low resolution/design/mechanics bring in the motion sickness issues I get with certain old FPS games after a bit. Alas! Though it's not too long that you can't get through it anyway. Level design, weapon variation, soundtrack and all was great. Feels wholesome and polished, even with a smaller level selection/enemy selection/all selections really than with the original. Glad you got in the Cyberdemon at least. :) With a mastermind twist. And both enemies and weapons all require their own routine/have their own quirks. Feels like a balanced selection and appreciative new take on the one and only.
Regarding the shotgun punch mention above I felt the same applied especially to the RPG, when you sometimes need two rockets just to kill an imp! It seems distance may factor in to the damage all projectiles do here to a much bigger degree than in the original; maybe that's the nature of the engine? You get the hang of that too though/the new damage requirements and patterns are an appreciated difference as well. Wouldn't be as fun if everything was just like the original. Actually I should probably stop comparing this to DOOM so much, it clearly is a standalone game, albeit inspired by the legend!
A few things though:
- Seems medals aren't unlocking, and scores not working entirely either?
- It seems if you pick up one weapon in one level it sometimes doesn't always carry over to the next; you have to get it again.
- The 'Fullscreen' option via the ENTER menu doesn't work/messes up embedded resolution instead - though I guess you might not be supposed to use this option at all.
- Got used to opening doors with right-click too, works almost just as well. :) Now I just wish you could toggle between weapons without pausing the game too, via the usual numbers or other keys if that's not possible here...
- In regard to SPACE not working as the action key for me, I assume it might have to do with it being mapped to the main PICO-8 controls? SPACE/ENTER/ESC all seem to have do with the non-game menus.
-cd-