Doom 64

"Pretty enjoyable"

This game isn't too bad. It's actually pretty enjoyable, if you ask me. Sure, there's not a lot of weapons like in Goldeneye or Perfect Dark, but the ones that are in Doom 64 are pretty cool. I mean, you can saw your enemies into shreds, explode them with your berserk-fists, or rip through them with a chaingun, plus more. Not to mention, in the game, you're all throughout hell, and the enemies of hell are pretty neat.

Gameplay (9/10):
The gameplay of Doom 64 isn't bad. Strafing goes rather quickly, and it's not that hard to avoid monster attacks. But some of them are simply nearly unavoidable. The worst part of gameplay comes when you need to get somewhere really quick after flipping a switch and you become stuck on something. But nothing too bad.

Story (5/10):
I don't really remember the story to this, but you're basically in hell, and the rest of your marine buddies are dead. You have to go through a ton of hellish levels and beat all of the evil. Not the best storyline, but not the worst.

Graphics (8/10):
Doom 64's graphics aren't bad at all. In fact, much better than any other Doom game I have played (I'm unsure about PC though, because I have not played PC Doom). Gunfire is pretty good, except the pistol and chaingun fire look a little cheesy. The death animations are very nice as well. The only beef I have with the graphics is the fact that the dead bodies are 2-D. When you kill them, they look the same from any angle. Freaky.

Challenge (9.5/10):
Doom 64's challenge level is insane. The easiest mode, like it says, is easy. I haven't experimented with the middle two difficulties. The hardest difficulty is absolutely insane. In the easiest mode (Be Gentle!), for example, you might fight one Hell Knight in an area, and if he hits you, he takes away about 10-20 health. In the hardest level (Watch Me Die!), you would fight three Hell Knights and take up to 60 damage from each shot. I myself have not gotten past level six on Watch Me Die! difficulty, and I must say, this game has a lot of challenge.

Replay Value (9/10):
This game has a lot of replay value. First of all, there are like 25 regular levels, and add to that seven or eight extra levels that are not easy to unlock, and are insanely difficult. I mean, if you can unlock Playground, you start the level in the middle of this arena-type place, and immediately, something like nine Arachnotrons start shooting the heck out of you. And even if you can do all of this, there are four different difficulty settings to play on.

Buy or Rent?:
Rent first. It couldn't really hurt to buy it, but there's a hodgepodge of different things in the game that could interest you or deter you.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/05/01, Updated 07/05/01