10 Awesome Video Game Characters REPLACED In Sequels

4. Doom Slayer (Doom 3)

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iD Software

If a series reboot is itself rebooted, was the series ever rebooted at all? Such philosophical ponderings are, of course, the bread and butter of the overtly highbrow Doom franchise.

Oh, wait, hang on. No they're not. The Doom games are about bombing through sci-fi landscapes and eviscerating demons with wildly entertaining weaponry. A point missed entirely by the series' abysmal third entry.

A dull, ponderous slog through endless series of gunmetal grey corridors, Doom 3's problems are embodied by its protagonist - a no-name marine completely overshadowed in the personality stakes by a face in a status bar.

The original Doom Slayer's face was an ever-present part of the original games' HUD, and its changing status (depending on how the player was faring) brought a welcome touch of personality to Doom 1 & 2. By contrast, Doom 3 gave us little reason to care about its nameless marine. So little, in fact, that the developers dropped Doom 3 entirely from the series' timeline and brought back the original and best Doom protagonist.

Tl;dr: Doom Slayer's replacement embodied Doom 3 in a nutshell - a colourless, charisma-free bore that fans and developers alike are happy to pretend never existed.

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Hello! My name's Iain Tayor. I write about video games, wrestling and comic books, and I apparently can't figure out how to set my profile picture correctly.