To some, the idea of Doom II being commercially available for cash — again — might seem like a farce. Sources online can merit you a free copy, and the game has been around for a respectable 16 years, far long enough for the average shooter entrepreneur to own several copies. So why, pray tell, should you take any notice to Doom II’s release on Xbox Live Arcade? It’s Doom II, that’s why!

Not only was the Doom franchise touted as one of the goriest, explicit blood fests of the 1990s, but it paved the way for and influenced countless shooters in the ways of how to do a futuristic/demon invasion. Oh, and most developers who worked on some the biggest shooters of all time all give major props to Doom for showing them the ways of the shooting arts.

Basically with Doom II, you have the marine, the hell army and a worthy arsenal in which to “negotiate” a bit of “safe passage” ... safe after you’ve humiliated and blown apart every shell-sucking hell spawn, anyhow. There’s really no story, some quick little blurbs about freeing humanity from the clutches of hell’s oppression, coming up with an insane plot to over throw the demonic leader of the pit lurkers, but it’s merely to give you a small breather amidst all the carnage, which is absolutely fine. Doom II comes from a day and age when stories weren’t that fashionable, or even necessary for a game to kick complete ass.

From an almost unending vein of moving disposable gut piles, to a never-ceasing motivation to see the insides of every fleshy bit you encounter, Doom II will be sure to bring the bloodluster out in you and never let the adrenaline die down for a second. A classic design is the backdrop to every level you enter and creates hellishly fun playground inferno’s in which to fire any of the top-notch weapons available.

The Super Shotgun (an old double barrel boy) in particular helps through most of your violently entertaining purgatory. A dramatic shift in pacing from Doom to Doom II is in large success to how wonderfully this gun functions, despite its basic nature. I’m under the impression my two favorite parts of the second installment of Doom are, in fact, the left and right barrels of the Super Shotgun, and the weapon holds a firm place in my twisted little heart as one of my nearest and dearest gun friends of all time, bar none.

From the cleverly fiendish shooting ranges each level creates, to the incredibly satisfying task of testing each one with the likes of a chainsaw, a plasma gun and the originator of bad ass, the BFG 9000, you will never find a dull moment in the core experience of the 32 levels Doom II has to offer. To further sweeten the deal of this special Xbox Live availability, the kind powers that be use the original source code to bring you a brand new episode. No upgrade, no visual facelift, no huge overhaul, just pure, magnificent, unadulterated 32-bit righteous glory that continues the bloody adventures of Mr. Space Marine.

Although new content is nothing special to the PC crowd, as Doom stands as one of the most popularly modded games of all time, the addition of a brand new episode as a result of a collaboration between id and Nerve is nothing short of exciting. The extra content provides a fresh and incredibly engaging challenge for any Doom vet who has been around the sinful block. With pumped up difficulty — and a new style of intricate level design to boot — the experience of mashing your way through mangled corpse after hunk of meat is just as fun as it was 16 years ago. Expect a few really great secrets to come by in the new episode and a very memorable last level that tops even the best user-created content available.

I suppose at the end of the day, the only way someone could turn a blind eye to a reintroduced Doom II with live multiplayer support for versus and co-op, the original 32 levels of Super Shotty bliss or even the brand new content, which furthers the experience in the perfect way, is if said person were a graphics lady of the night and couldn’t enjoy anything that was rendered before the “retro” days of the PlayStation 2.

I pity those who would fault the experience for its dated graphic fidelity and hope they inhabit the very far depths of brimstone fame that Doom II is known for. Everyone else, on the other hand, can either remind themselves why id was the father of the FPS or dive into something they have too long been deprived of. Doom II is and will remain one of the best-designed shooters of all time and one of the ultimate “sit down and kick ass” experiences of gaming history.