The last and best game in the Doom trilogy, Last Days of Doom once again casts you in the role of the intrepid space explorer who is the only human being known to survive Doomawangara, the most dangerous planet in the universe. This time, though, instead of contending with the hostile environment and aliens, your task is to save the planet from dying. Although set on the same planet as the first two games, Last Days of Doom feels very different: the atmosphere, for one thing, is not as violent as before (since you're trying to save the planet, not fight it), and there are less immediate dangers that require quick decision-making. Instead, the game is more of a pensive, thought-provoking exercise that you can unravel at your leisure. This should make the game more appealing to IF fans who prefer mental exercise over cliffhanging sequences, although there is still plenty of action. Your annoying sidekick (the robot dog) from Return to Doom is still around to give useless suggestions, and you still need to deal with renegade robots. The rest of the game features new challenges, though, such as time travel, slow beings, and a telepathic door. Peter Killworth's imagination is as fertile as ever, and the puzzles are still very challenging. In fact, Last Days of Doom is the hardest game in the entire trilogy, so you'd best finish the first two games first to get a feel for the kind of gadget-oriented puzzles that you will run into here. There are also new kinds of puzzles, including those that require interaction with your fellow crew members, although they are not as well fleshed-out as most Infocom games. The lack of the EXAMINE command (and the ability to look specifically at anything) is still annoying, but at least the descriptions are more detailed than previous Topologika games. Overall, Last Days of Doom is highly recommended for IF veterans who are looking for a difficult, but logical, challenge. It's one of the better "pure" puzzle IF (i.e. emphasis on puzzles over plot and character development) that should appeal to sci-fi fans. Thumbs up! Reviewed by: Underdogs |