"Wild puzzles and a flesh tearing chainsaw...on the Jaguar...for fifty cents? Sold!"

Doom is one of those first person shooters that just seems to transcend time without falling down on its face. Pitting you in a first person shooting situation in which you battle your way through several levels of Hell, this game is an Id cash cow that just seems to keep producing more variations and off-shoots than the Street Fighter series! In this outing, you take control of a Marine stranded on a strange planet and must battle his way through several levels of literal Hell through waves of mutated creatures and huge bosses. However, Jaguar also ports over the problems with pixels and over abundant darkness that can hinder your progress as well as a control setup that is clumsy and hard to understand without having to look at the control six times every ten minutes or so! It's classic gaming, but at a cost and Doom fans will recognize more problems than merits, even though it is a rather good title to play for a trip down memory lane.

-Game Play 7/10-

You're trapped on a planet of demons, where the only way off, is to kill everything. Think of Hell, and this is where you're at. Giving you several different demons to fight, ranging from the easy to the ridiculously hard, you'll find that if you're ganged up on, you'll find that getting killed is all too familiar, and you'll find the computer A . I. {even on easy} is rather cheap. Add in a few puzzles to the mix, and you're looking at a partially solid game! There are secrets to find, but you're not unlocking anything important by finding them. Most of the game is about killing off enemies and finding keys, weapons and opening doors to be able to proceed. Unfortunately, once you've killed off all the monsters, you'll be wandering around looking for a door to get out, and the stages can be massively intense! The wide variety of weapons that you'll find here are the same as they have been in every other version of Doom, and all of them have a particular function and purpose, even though you may find that ammunition is located in strange places. You'll have to do plenty of exploration, so grab a six pack of soda and some munchies, cause you're in for a long ride!

-Control 5/10-

Even though there is an insert with the game that utilizes the numerical pad on the front of the controller, you'll find that it will take plenty of getting used to in order to use it properly! If you're one of the unlucky ones that doesn't get this little insert, you'll find that the game takes on a whole new meaning of annoyance, in which you'll have to write down all of the numbers and their functions in order to proceed with weapon switching and auto map features.

-Visuals 7/10-

While not a complete wash, the amount of darkness and shadows here is ridiculous! You'll see shapes lumbering after you out of the darkness, but in the far distance you can't see or even aim fast enough to hit whatever it is that is taking pot shots at you. The stages have all been returned from the PC version, and the detailing there is absolutely amazing. Well, what you can see of it! The gore and blood has all been returned, and even though it looks cool, you'll find that the overall amount of death in the game doesn't look quite the same way as it did on the PC, but it does leave something of an impression.

-Audio 7/10-

Ported directly from the PC, all of the stage music is here, but without any noticeable changes save for occasional skipping or muting that the music takes on. I'm not completely positive that this might have been a glitch in my copy, but what did come out sounded damned good! The sound effects from the blast of your shotgun to the war cry of demons stalking you all sounds great on a stereo system, and there is nothing that can replace the sound of the buzzing chain saw ripping through evil flesh!

-Overall 7/10-

While it's not perfect, Doom for the Jaguar is a decent first person shooter game that has plenty to offer for a Jaguar owner. However, in this day and age, finding this game with the little pad slips intact as well as a working copy at all is almost impossible because game stores and retailers stopped carrying this system and games years ago. If you can find a copy and you have a Jaguar, it's well worth it's weight, and the price tag of fifty cents isn't all that bad either!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/12/01, Updated 10/12/01