BFG (weapon)

The BFG is a fictional weapon found in many video game titles, mostly in first-person shooters such as the Doom and Quake video game series.

The abbreviation BFG stands for "Big Fucking Gun" as described in Tom Hall's original Doom design document and in the user manual of Doom II: Hell on Earth. The Quake II manual says it stands for "Big, Uh, Freakin' Gun". Another expurgated version of the name used in the Doom motion picture is "Bio Force Gun". The versions found in the Doom games are called "BFG 9000" and those in Quake "BFG 10K". In mods, various other versions made by fans can be found.

Appearances

The first appearance of the weapon is the press beta release of Doom. In that version, the BFG 9000 released a cloud of 80 little plasma balls (randomly green or red) per shot.

In the first commercial Doom game, the BFG 9000 is a large energy weapon that fires giant balls of green plasma. The most powerful weapon in the game, it causes major damage to opponents and can clear an entire room of foes in one use. A direct hit from it is often an instant kill. The player is unaffected by the splash damage, which makes it possible to use the BFG 9000 safely in close quarters, unlike some of the other powerful weapons. In the first Doom the weapon can only be picked up in the third and fourth episodes. The BFG 9000 also appears virtually unchanged in Doom II: Hell on Earth, Final Doom, Doom 64, and Doom RPG.

In Doom 3, the BFG 9000 is a charged weapon: holding down the trigger causes the weapon to accumulate energy before release, resulting in a more powerful shot. Overcharging the BFG too much will cause it to overheat and explode, killing the player instantly.

Quake II and Quake III Arena pay homage to the BFG 9000 with a pair of weapons both called the BFG 10K. The Quake II version fires a slow plasma glob that fires rays at any enemies in range and line-of-sight. The Quake III Arena version of the BFG fire a series of fast plasma orbs, and acts quite like the Rocket Launcher (Rocket Jump can be done also with the BFG 9000). BFG10K from Quake 3 also appears in OpenArena (different look, but same behavior) and Quake Live (with slightly modified characteristics). Rage also pays homage to the BFG 9000 with a weapon known as the "Authority Pulse Cannon", which fires "BFG Rounds".

In the Doom movie, the "bio force gun" fires a bright blue projectile which appears to burst on impact and spray a caustic substance over its target and the surrounding area.

In the Gauntlet Legends and Gauntlet Dark Legacy games by Midway Games, the Archer character can do a special attack referred to as the BFG.

Reception

UGO.com ranked the BFG 9000 at number two on their list of top video game weapons of all time, stating "it was marvelous and complex, and we should not hesitate to put this weapon down in history as one of the best."^[1] X-Play ranked it number one on their list of top "badass" weapons, stating that while "not as fancy as the gravity gun", it was the first weapon that "really made us swoon".^[2] IGN also listed the BFG as one of the ten best weapons in video games, placing it at number ten.^[3] Machinima.com named it number one on their list of top video game weapons, stating "Do you really need a reason why this tops the list?"^[4]

See also

• Leyden ball

References