Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Name: id Super Pack
Item: id Super Pack
Author: Retro Replay

The id Super Pack is a treasure trove for fans of fast-paced, run-and-gun action. From the whimsical platforming of the Commander Keen Complete Pack to the relentless corridors of Doom and its sequels, each title brings its own flavor of tactile, responsive controls. Whether you’re zig-zagging around aliens in Commander Keen, barrel-strafing through Hell’s hordes in The Ultimate Doom and Doom II, or grappling with the strategic spells of Heretic and Hexen, the core movement and shooting mechanics feel rock-solid across the board.

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Beyond pure run-and-gun, the pack includes a healthy variety of level designs and mission structures. Quake and Quake II, along with their mission packs, push players into darker, gothic environments that demand both trigger discipline and environmental awareness. Quake III: Arena and Team Arena flip the script with pure multiplayer mayhem, offering frenetic deathmatch arenas that still hold up online today. Wolfenstein 3D and Spear of Destiny deliver the foundational stealth-through-wallplay that defined early first-person experiences.

Doom 3 and its expansion Resurrection of Evil mark the pack’s most modern-feeling entry, with survival-horror pacing, flashlight-on–gun-off tension, and physics-driven encounters. Return to Castle Wolfenstein adds stealth and RPG-lite progression, enriching the simple core into something more varied. Across all 20+ games, you’ll find secrets to hunt, speed-runs to perfect, co-op runs to crack, and deathmatch bragging rights to claim. The depth and breadth of gameplay variety make this pack a bargain for any shooter enthusiast.

Graphics

Visually, the id Super Pack doubles as a mini-museum of FPS evolution. The sharp pixel art of Commander Keen and Wolfenstein 3D may look archaic by modern standards, but their colorful, blocky worlds carry timeless charm. Doom and Heretic usher in palette-swapped sprite characters, while Hexen’s hub-based levels introduced rudimentary dynamic lighting in a pre-OpenGL era. These games still shine under source-ports like GZDoom, which breathe new life into old assets with widescreen support and smooth frame rates.

When you jump to Quake and Quake II, you feel the tectonic shift to fully 3D geometry and real-time lighting. Simple textures and chunky polygons give way to more atmospheric environments, complete with flickering torches, slime pits, and Gothic arches. The pack’s jewel, Doom 3, flexes advanced per-pixel lighting, bump mapping, and volumetric fog, showing off id Tech 4’s horror-tinted sheen. Even Doom 3 looks respectable today, thanks to its strong use of shadows and moody corridors.

Across these eras, art direction remains consistent in delivering stark contrast, high readability, and memorable enemy designs. From the googly-eyed Vorticons to the towering Cyberdemon, each demon, imp, and warlock boasts iconic silhouettes and color cues that read instantly, even on low-res displays. The pack’s varied graphical styles—from 2D sprites to 3D polygons—create a fascinating visual timeline that hardcore fans and newcomers alike can appreciate.

Story

Story has never been id’s primary focus, but the id Super Pack offers enough narrative glue to keep you invested. Commander Keen’s lighthearted sci-fi romp features a plucky kid saving the galaxy with pogo sticks and rayguns, offering tongue-in-cheek humor and memorable bosses. Doom and Doom II deliver minimalistic plots—marine versus demons—with emphasis on emergent horror and level mysteries rather than deep lore.

Heretic and Hexen lean into dark fantasy tropes, presenting a war-torn world beset by the Serpent Riders. You’ll piece together clues from runes and NPC contraptions, culminating in ritualistic boss fights. Quake’s Lovecraftian overtones and Rune references add a cosmic dread that expands in the Scourge of Armagon and Dissolution of Eternity expansions. Quake II’s narrative ups the ante with Allied Marine campaigns against the Strogg, delivering in-mission objectives and voiceover interludes.

Doom 3 and Return to Castle Wolfenstein attempt more cinematic storytelling. Doom 3 plucks you from a UAC research station into a chaotic nightmare, complete with audio logs that flesh out the corporate malfeasance. Return to Castle Wolfenstein mixes historical fiction and occult intrigue as you hunt for secret Nazi experiments, weaving scripted set pieces and hub areas for exploration. While none of these stories rivals a triple-A open-world epic, they all enhance the action with just enough context to keep your boots moving forward.

Overall Experience

As a packaged collection, the id Super Pack stands out for its staggering value and historical significance. You’re not just buying games—you’re buying a slice of FPS history. Over 20 titles, countless expansions, and multiple genres (platformer, horror, fantasy, pure arena shooter) combine into a single Steam install that runs seamlessly with modern compatibility layers and community mods.

The pack’s longevity is remarkable. Each game has a dedicated fanbase that continues to build new maps, engine ports, and total conversions, meaning you can keep revisiting these worlds with fresh content. Steam achievements, Steam Workshop support, and optional controller tweaks bring these classics into the present, ensuring they feel at home alongside modern AAA titles.

For newcomers, id Super Pack is an unbeatable bargain—a crash course in first-person shooter design that shaped two decades of gaming. For veterans, it’s a nostalgic treasure chest, ready to reignite old speed-run records or co-op campaigns. Whether you’re mining for secrets in Doom, trading rockets in Quake III Arena, or sneaking through Nazi bunkers in Return to Castle Wolfenstein, this compilation delivers an embarrassment of riches for any shooter aficionado.