September 10, 2008 - Highly controversial at the time it was released, Doom was one among the earliest first-person shooters to tip the scale with its over-the-top gory and violent gameplay. The game marked the first time I'd ever used a chainsaw to saw through the face of a zombie demon from hell - a practice that's becoming surprisingly more common than you'd think these days. For PC gamers lucky enough to have access to the technology and a group of pals, playing over LAN made sawing through your friends' faces equally entertaining.

Doom's laughably thin storyline was simply an excuse to propagate sprays of blood and limbs, satanic imagery, and big explosions. You're a space marine who's been deported to Mars…yadda yadda yadda…when all of a sudden a bunch of evil demons teleport in from nowhere and turn everyone, except you, into zombies. I didn't mind the campy plot, since you're basically given a blank check to blow up, shred, and obliterate all manner of evil creatures.

While the chainsaw provided some quality up-close-and-personal time, and other armaments like the chaingun and rocket launcher were equally satisfying, it was the infamous and aptly named BFG (Big F****** Gun) 9000 that stole the show. One blast from that big boy would turn an entire roomful of baddies into giblets.

This poetic snippet from a 1993 press release sums up the Doom experience rather nicely: "You're off to war with hideous hellish hulks bent on chaos and death! See your friends bite it! Cause your friends to bite it! Bite it yourself! And if you won't bite it, there are plenty of demonic denizens to bite it for you!"

"DOOM - where the sanest place is behind a trigger." I'll drink to that. Cheers.