"Cool, now I don't have to shell out 29 bucks for a lousy 486 PC! What!?"

The reason why this game was ported to so many consoles is one of the unsolvable mysteries of life. Oh well, if anyone actually attempts to solve this mystery, smack them upside the head for me and tell them to stop wasting their time, because ultimately, the ports exist, and will continue to exist for all eternity. The 32X version was heralded as one of the better Doom console ports and for good reason; It's very playable and captures the essence of the PC version well.

Story: 5
A space station has been overrun by devil worshipping...um...devils. You must kill them (aren't they already dead?) by shooting them with various powerful weapons of mass destruction. Interesting plot, eh!? :)

Gameplay: 10
Like I said, it plays just like the PC version. This is obviously a good thing, because Doom rocks even today. You get all the weapons, items, enemies and levels from the original three episodes of Doom 1.

Graphics: 7
The exact same detail and resolution of the PC version. The framerate is even quite decent! That little graphics chip inside the Genesis really gets to show off how much it can do when given more RAM and better CPUs to throw commands at it faster. Be that as it may, you will still get better Doom graphics from a 486 DX2/66 with a 1 meg ISA video card.

Sound/Music: 5
Wow...the sound effects and voices are actually the same quality as the PC version...no graininess...WOW! I never thought it would be possible. The effects and voices get a 10 for authenticity, but the music gets a 1 for lack of authenticity. Ugh. This game really shows off how old the Yamaha synth chip inside the Genesis is. You'll almost feel like borrowing your dad's gun, removing the Yamaha chip from your Genesis, taking it out back and putting it out of it's misery. Since you can't actually do that, it's a good thing you can turn the music off.

Control: 8
Just fine, but because you can't use a keyboard, you have to cycle through your weapons to get to the one you want, which is tedious and may cost you some health if you need a powerful weapon in a pinch.

Replay Value: 7
It's DOOM! Doom is always fun. Enough said!

Bottom Line?
Well, if you hate computers for some reason or don't have at least a 386/486 PC, you will enjoy playing this PC port of one of the most important, classic FPS games of all time. id Software gets mad props for squeezing their awesome game into a 32X cartridge while preserving a darn good amount of it's original quality, which is why I give it a 7.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/27/01, Updated 08/27/01