Final Doom

"Awesome But Too Short"

Final Doom - Playstation.

Introduction

In October 1996, almost a year after their magnificent Playstation conversion of Id Software's Doom, Midway's port was still considered the best first person shooter (FPS for short) on the console. Subsequently, it made sense for Midway to take advantage of the gap in the market for another great FPS game. From a gamer's point of view, the dream game to do this would have been Quake.

If you don't know, in May 1996, Id Software released Quake for the PC, and it rapidly became widely regarded as the best, most technically advanced, FPS game around. However, due to concerns about the game being too technically complicated to convert (which would later be proven to be unfounded, as the Playstation managed to handle a port of Quake 2), Quake on the Playstation was deemed not to be. So, since Midway already held the rights for a Doom game on the Playstation, and since they had already done well in porting Doom, it's not hard to see why they chose to make Final Doom, which had been released on the PC at the same time as Quake.

To keep the quality of the levels as high as possible, or to find some more levels that the Playstation could handle properly, Midway chose a number from another PC title, The Master Levels For Doom 2, and used these for the first episode of Playstation Final Doom. Used as second and third episodes are similarly cut-down versions of the two original episodes from the PC version of Final Doom, TNT: Evilution and The Plutonia Experiment.

Story

This game has practically no story-line. In fact, about the closest thing to a 'plot' there is, based on the section of the manual labelled "Object of the Game", can be quoted here, to illustrate: "Your mission is to shoot your way through a 30+ level, monster-infested Hell... Living to tell the tale if possible.". This seems rather meagre in comparison to the reasonably-sized slab of text that provided a back-story to the PC version of Final Doom. But considering how memorable that introduction wasn't, the fact that it's omitted from the Playstation version is basically irrelevant.

Anyway, as you've probably already realised, Final Doom is not about character development, exciting plot twists and turns, or clever metaphors about deep philosophical issues. It's about finding the coolest weapon you can lay your hands on and blowing the living hell out of anything that moves with it.

Graphics/ Sound

In terms of presentation, this version of Final Doom is practically identical to the original Playstation rendition of Doom; the graphics are faithfully ported over from the PC version's stylish originals (although they are noticeably lower in detail), and are, in general, smoothly animated enough so as not to affect the classic Doom gameplay. It should be noted however, that the levels in the first Playstation Doom game are generally less sophisticated than those in Final Doom; subsequently, the frame-rate sometimes suffers here as a result.

The subtly effective coloured lighting effects first seen in Playstation Doom make a welcome return, and once again, often actually make this Doom title look better than it's PC counterpart. Some beautiful new, Final Doom exclusive sky graphics also achieve a similar effect.

One other graphical feature that is returning from the original Playstation Doom game, and that is an improvement on the PC's versions of Doom, is the depiction of your character's face (shown at the bottom of the screen). It's worth a mention because not only does it look cooler in general, but it also features some new, Playstation-only frames that show it getting blown to pieces if you die in a particularly violent manner. Amusing.

The visuals of this game (and the original Doom) don't fair particularly well, however, when they are compared with those of other, similar games. The previously-mentioned PC version of Quake was far better looking, as were, to a lesser degree, later FPS games for the Playstation such as Quake 2 or Duke Nukem 3D. Indeed, if the Playstation Doom games are compared to games from other genres, such as Resident Evil or Tekken 2, they look very simplistic by comparison (obviously, this is because so many more different things are being rendered at a time in the Doom games; subsequently, no other action game manages to match it in terms of the amount of carnage you can wreak in a particular moment).

The sound effects are unchanged from the previous Playstation Doom game, which is a good thing. The weapons still sound fittingly, entertainingly powerful, while the monsters sound suitably fearsome and alien. The music is, as before, absolutely outstanding, and is incredibly effective at immersing the player into the game's setting.

Gameplay

As in the previous Playstation Doom game, the PC version's excellent gameplay is faithfully reproduced; blasting down monsters is as satisfying as ever, especially with the Playstation versions' enhanced sound effects. Exploration is also enjoyable, as there are many impressive scenes to be experienced, thanks to the stylish graphics and emotive music (one slight improvement over the previous Playstation game is that you can now use a mouse).

As noted in the introduction to this review, this game's episodes are lacking many of the original levels. This is unfortunate, because many of those omitted were highly rewarding (this problem is especially evident in the different levels used as the final levels for the PC and Playstation versions, with the Playstation's being totally lifeless by comparison).

Despite the fact that many have been omitted, the levels are still very good, and, on average, better than those in the original Playstation Doom game. They are challenging but fair, rewarding patience and practise rather than luck, so that when you finally complete them, you're satisfied with the experience. They're also original enough so that even if you've played through every level in the original Playstation Doom game, you should still find something worthwhile here.

The game as a whole is fairer and more balanced than the PC original, which contained a number of levels that forced the player to complete puzzles with frustratingly obscure solutions. One minor fault, however, is the lack of a learning curve; some of the earlier levels are just as hard as some of the later ones (this fault is partially solved by there being a number of difficulty settings to choose from).

Another bad point is that not only are there less PC levels converted, but many of those that are have been made easier by the removal of tougher enemies such as Cyber-Demons or Spider Masterminds. This really damages the game, because those enemies are perhaps the most enjoyable to come across, and add memorable impact to a level.

Replay Value

With thirteen levels from The Master Levels for Doom 2 (out of twenty-one originals), eleven from TNT: Evilution (out of thirty-two originals), and six from The Plutonia Experiment (also out of thirty-two originals), the Playstation version of Final Doom has a total of thirty levels. The reason that many of the original PC games' levels are missing may be because they were either too graphically intensive for the Playstation to handle (some of the original PC Final Doom levels were awe-inspiringly massive), or that they were judged to be too unbalanced in terms of the difficulty level (some of the original PC Final Doom levels were also awe-inspiringly difficult).

Regardless of the reasons for many of the PC levels' omissions, thirty levels is still a disappointing total, considering that Midway apparently had ninety-six available to convert over (it's especially disappointing when the back of the box for Final Doom on the Playstation claims, erroneously, that 'It's Doom with two new 32-level stories'). Also disappointing, in the long-run at least, is the fact that many of the levels have been toned down, difficulty-wise, because many of the more difficult levels from the PC version of Final Doom are actually very satisfying to overcome (obviously, this also affects the game's longevity).

Ultimately, in terms of replay value, the Playstation version of Final Doom is not particularly impressive, particularly in comparison to the Playstation's first Doom game, which had nearly twice as many levels. And the thirty levels there are aren't harder than many of that title's levels, meaning that Final Doom won't take long for any experienced Doomer to blast his or her way through. Still, the levels are enjoyable enough to be worth replaying (one entertaining challenge is to try and complete the game in an hour on ultra-violence), and multi-player deathmatch and co-operative modes do certainly add to the game's life-span.

Conclusion

While this review of Final Doom has been fairly critical, I actually liked the game. Even if you already have the PC games upon which it is based, it's superior presentation makes it a worthwhile experience. While there isn't a particularly great quantity of levels in comparison to other versions of Doom and Final Doom, there's enough gameplay here for the game to be worth the price-tag. And in terms of quality of gameplay, it does beat the first Playstation Doom game, slightly.

Of course, it would have been nice to have some new content in the game. Some new weapons, monsters, or play modes wouldn't have required that much effort. Perhaps Midway didn't want to run the risk of spoiling the classic Doom gameplay after it had been proven to be so popular so many times. You can judge for yourself whether or not they made the right decision by playing Doom 64, in which they really made an effort to enhance Doom, by releasing their own creativity.

Overall score: 8 out of 10.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/08/05