"Cool game, crappy port"

Okay, its completely unlike me to do a scathing review on one of my favorite games of all time, but the 32X is one of the worse ports. Why?

Story- 6/10
You're stuck on Mars' UAC port that is invaded by demons of hell, ah screw it. You shoot stuff and it dies in cool ways. If you don't know the plot of Doom, you'd be lying.

Graphics- 7/10
Eh, the graphics are pretty mediocre. They're pretty nice compared to another 32X game, but they are pretty poor compared to another port. Another one of the problems is the enemies. They're only drawn from the front, which means that it looks like a enemy is strafing. This renders monster infighting impossible. Additionally, the status bar face doesn't change in look, except when you pick up a weapon and when you look around.

Controls- 5/10
Another poor part of the 32X version. Strafing and moving is simple enough, but in the heat of battle, changing weapons is poor. The weapons are cyclic access only. So if you want to change to your rocket launcher when you use the pistol, then you're in for some controller chaos.

Sounds-2/10
Worst part of the 32X port. Your guns sound just fine, but the music is just plain killed out. E1M1's music sound right, but E1M2...ugh, man. The music is more of block sounds than heavy metal. If that doesn't do the job? The music, quite literally, gave me a headache.

Gameplay-7/10
The game itself is way too short. It is Doom, so you just kill monsters, get keys and get to the exit. But the game is missing vital details. There is no Cyberdemon, save feature, Spider Mastermind and the 3rd episode. if that doesn't do it, there is no BFG9000, and NOBODY likes that.

Overall-4/10 (Not averaged)
Buy or rent? Neither. No one buys a 32X and you can't rent one. I would try using an emulator. However, even then, the port is no good. Do yourself a favor and get the GBA or PC version.

Pros: ...Not the worst Doom port...
Cons: Atrocious controls, really bad music, missing alot of features

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 07/18/07