"Saigon. Always dreams of Saigon."
—Main Character
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Action Doom 2 Urban Brawl is a sequel to a Doom 2 Game Mod, made by Stephen "Scuba Steve" Browning, but this time released as a standalone game. It's available as a freeware download, but it can be also bought in a boxed version, which includes some extra goodies. As of now, the bonus levels included in the boxed version are now free to download off of the main site.
While the original Action Doom was an attempt to bring Contra-like mechanics to first person perspective, Urban Brawl is a nod to beat 'em ups like Double Dragon. You have a pistol, but most of the time, you'll end up fighting with melee weapons like two-by-fours, bottles or pool cues.
The game puts you as a grizzled veteran, living in a desolate, crime-filled quarter of the city, with only your daughter to keep you company and bring a point to your life. When she gets taken away by henchmen working for an unknown boss, you set on a quest to find her and take revenge on those responsible, while beating up tons of criminals along the way. The game is rather short, but there are multiple paths you can take, and quite a lot of interesting secrets.
Its homepage is here.
- Alone with the Psycho
- Author Stand In - Well, sort of. One of the enemies you fight is a scuba diver... named "Scuba Steve."
- Cel Shading
- Crosshair Aware: A brief moment at the beginning of the sniper sequence in the forest level.
- Does Not Like Guns - Averted; guns are the most efficient way to dispose of enemies. However, ammo is scarce.
- I Call It "Vera" - The protagonist's own pistol is named Sarah.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Zig-zagged. While the easiest ending to get is a bad one (you run out of leads and die in the subway) the good ones are only mildly easier. The by far hardest ending to get, which involves both going to the cabin in the forest and attacking the Phylex tower, is also a bad one (your daughter shoots you, after which you end up overdosing on painkillers in the hospital).
- Executive Suite Fight
- Homage - To old side scrolling beat 'em ups such as Streets of Rage or Final Fight, with an atmosphere and story telling style similar to Sin City.
- Hyperactive Metabolism - Cans of soda, chickens, etc...
- Improvised Weapon - A whole bunch of them! Pipes, 2x4's, bottles, chains, baseball bats, sledgehammers, shovels, statues ("Early Etruscan, I believe."), a chainsaw...
- Katanas Are Just Better: the bonus level "Samurai Showdown" has you pick up a katana and take on endless waves of enemies. The katana tends to wipe through them easily. This does not make the bonus level any less hard.
- Land Mine Goes Click - The forest level. Mines all over the place. Whoever set them all up here is a mystery.
- Lethal Joke Item - One of the strongest melee weapons in the game is a cardboard tube. Fear the tube.
- Minigame Zone: The casino floor in the Phylex tower, with gambling minigames. To the point that there's a bonus level that takes you right to it, gives you a ton of points to gamble with, and lets you play the games without worrying about enemies.
- Multiple Endings - One good (Obviously, you save your daughter), and three bad ones. (You run out of leads and are murdered by a random mook; the Big Bad arranges your arrest; the Big Bad tricks your daughter into shooting you, leading to you committing suicide in the hospital). There's also a Nonstandard Game Over if you attack the Big Bad before your daughter has fled the scene, as well as an alternate good one where you get sidetracked taking on Hugo, are unable to find your daughter, but end up starting a new family with the woman who rescued you from the subway station.
- Nintendo Hard - Some of the bonus levels are nasty shit.
- Non-Action Big Bad - Though you still get the satisfaction of punching him out a window after you've taken care of all his goons.
- Open Ended Boss Fight - The two gangsters at the end of the subway; you get different endings depending on whether you lose to them or not.
- Papa Wolf - Your character.
- Private Eye Monologue
- Recurring Riff - See its example on the trope page for details.
- The Reveal - The hero's wife had an affair with the Big Bad, and "his" daughter is the product of that affair.
- Serial Killer - The second path, reached by dying to the bosses in the subway, has the player take on one of these.
- Shout-Out - Each enemy you meet has a specific first name, which sometimes are references to prominent figures within the Doom community.
- "Rhaluka" is the name of John Romero's wife.
- One boss is Hugo Andore, who is in turn a Captain Ersatz of André the Giant. His "you're dead" message is simply "OBEY." [1]
- A cutscene before one of the boss fights... "He's huge. But that means he has huge guts. Rip and tear."
- One boss fight is against human expies of Bebop and Rocksteady.
- One of the bonus points pickups in the game is The Red Stapler, complete with quotation. Not to mention that you can find Daikatana (the game, not the weapon) as a points item too.
- Some of the ornaments hanging up in Peter Crisp's office includes the Master Sword and Cloud Strife's Buster Sword.
- Where Everybody Knows Your Flame - The first level ends in a gay-bar that fits this trope perfectly.
- Zombie Apocalypse - the "ZOMG ZOMBIES" bonus level.
- ↑ The OBEY Giant, meanwhile, was a modified version of a sticker fad starring, you guessed it, André the Giant.