The Joystiq Free Game Club: Urban Brawl

by Justin McElroy { Sep 15th 2008 at 8:00PM }

We bet when you woke up this morning, "Playing a mod of Doom 2" was probably pretty low on the list of things you thought you'd be doing. But believe us when we tell you that you absolutely shouldn't miss out on Action DooM 2: Urban Brawl. It's free, it doesn't require Doom 2 to run and it's really, really good. We swear.

You play a washed up cop who's forced by tragedy to take to the streets and fight through an army of thugs. The story is related to you through Sin City-inspired cut scenes that have some of the best writing you'll see in a game this year. Yeah, we know, we found it pretty hard to believe too.

As for the actual action, it's a beat 'em up/FPS hybrid, somewhere between Double Dragon and Condemned, with a colorful visual style that really pops despite the graphical limitations.

We should say up front that it's pretty hard and doesn't make a lot of allowances for modern FPS conventions (you will, for example, have to press a button to enable mouse looking) but the whole package is so shockingly good we hope you won't let those hurdles keep you from the goodness within.

[Via IHTP]

Tags: action-doom, doom-2, free-game-club, urban-brawl

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Titanium_Orchid @ Sep 15th 2008 8:21PM

first thing I thought was Condemned meets MS paint. I'll check it out though.

Da @ Sep 15th 2008 8:25PM

I'm glad this got picked up, really would have been a shame to let it slip because its 'a doom mod'.

Da @ Sep 15th 2008 8:27PM

Sorry for the double post, but there is an option under mouse controls to set mouse look as always on.

KeenCommander @ Sep 15th 2008 8:38PM

And, given the above piece of info, I guess I'll actually be playing this one.

I so hated button activated mouselook.

Da @ Sep 15th 2008 8:49PM

Yeah, I suggest going into options before playing, and adjust the controls.
I play with a WASD setup, E to open, Q to discard melee weapon, and mouseclick 1 and 2 for primary and secondary fire.

Andy @ Sep 15th 2008 9:23PM

Little gameplay video I made... check it out... pretty fun game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWKKr2VL-uc

Da @ Sep 15th 2008 10:34PM

You missed the gun! Open the filing cabinet.

wertt @ Sep 15th 2008 9:45PM

that music just earned it a download.

Seanross @ Sep 15th 2008 9:51PM

I'll give it a whirl

KeenCommander @ Sep 15th 2008 10:13PM

But no, it's a DOOM movie...err, mod. I bet Duke Nukem doesn't love you modders either.

http://www.strifestrips.com/Strifetoons/Index.aspx?ep=0#FlashTop

m-p{3} @ Sep 15th 2008 11:58PM

Wow, I didn't have that much fun since Duke Nukem 3D. Nice freeware !

Lavat @ Sep 16th 2008 1:43AM

I have no idea what I am suppose to do in that abandon house with that dog I just killed...This game is pissing me off not having any directions or hints...

Brother Haas @ Sep 16th 2008 3:37PM

There is a shovel and a breakable wall in the basement me thinks.

Dartmerc @ Sep 16th 2008 6:40AM

Go back in the path that you found the cop tied up in. Pretty simple stuff really.

CaramelZappa @ Sep 16th 2008 6:40AM

I love the doom games (except for 3)

I got in the habit of playing with one hand for some reason, and got really good at it. (I can beat Doom I on ultra-violent)
WASD is forward/back and strafing, while q and e are turning left/right. Space is fire and F is use. I think it gives you a lot better control than the default controls, and it allows you to drink something with your other hand.

Dartmerc @ Sep 16th 2008 11:27PM

Well if you were lucky enough to start playing after they added editable key bindings maybe.. :p

t_m @ Sep 16th 2008 9:01AM

Heh... I've actually been playing Doom2 all week, and really loving it. (the level design was so much better than most of the games we get now).

Game and gameplay holds up really well.. and the Doomsday Engine helps boost the graphics.

I'll check this out as soon as i finish Iji (from big download's freeware recommendation. )

Pimliconite @ Sep 16th 2008 10:02AM

Gosh, not one mention of Final Fight. The enemy characters, their names, their attacks... it's pretty clearly Final Fight over Double Dragon.

Dartmerc @ Sep 16th 2008 7:25PM

If you go to the games site (or even the source at the bottom of this article), you'll see mention of Final Fight.
I don't understand some people on this internet, ONE game was mentioned as a starting point for people to get their head around what this game is like, it's not like 50 games were listed and FF was skipped.