Enthusiasts of the Discovery channel’s long-running urban legend-debunking series Mythbusters are no doubt familiar with the many “themed” episodes that the show has featured over the years, in which hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman tackle myths based on various pop culture works such ranging from films like Jaws and Indiana Jones to animated cartoon shows like The Simpsons. Last week’s program marked the first airing of a video game-themed episode, with Doom and Fruit Ninja getting the treatment.
One might think that this was just a bid to stay relevant as the show enters its thirteenth season, but the amount of sheer research and accuracy put into the Doom segment is staggering to say the least.
With the myth of a marine being capable of carrying as many weapons as Doom‘s protagonist being put to the test, Adam and Jamie went full-bore in their pursuit of the truth, creating an original level that wouldn’t seem out of place in the famed FPS from scratch within an abandoned military base. They even went as far as enlisting the aid of id Software’s creative director, Tim Willits, who helped them design the “level” and rendered a fully-playable version of it on a PC in order to test its practicality and faithfulness to the source material.
The final test came down to having former football player Brendan Schaub navigate the twisted maze while carrying over 80 pounds of weapons, ammunition and med kits and fending off actors portraying various demons. His final time? Just over four minutes, proving that the exploits of Doom‘s heroes aren’t as unrealistic as one might think.
You can watch clips from the episode on Discovery’s official site.
