Doom

"Bam! Another bunch of pixels goin' down, bathing in green blood..."

This portable Doom version is a great way to receive some handheld FPS fun, but it has many, too many weak points.

I played the original Doom on the PC, And I loved it, but I wasn't a fan. Now, this game is also great to play but at times it's rather annoying to shoot at a blurry thing...

Gameplay 7/10
This game has all of the 3D shooter basics. Nothing more. With 7 weapons and just a few different enemies, this game has not many diversity to offer. You can also not jump or climb. Sometimes, this makes the game unrealistic. A good point are the secret areas. There are enough of them, and sometimes difficult to find.
There is not one boss, too. Barons of Hell are the strongest enemies, and those are rather easy to beat. But what did they in place of bosses? They simply put a bunch of Barons together in one room. Yeah, this makes the game waaay more cooler and attractive... Ahem. ~_~

Graphics 6/10
A GBA can do more. Even my sister is capable to design those walls and ceilings. The 3D view is a bit unrealistic, and when you're playing, you feel short-sighted: Everything could be more detailed. Horrible. The dynamic lightning and dead bodies slow down the game? No problem. Disappearing corpses and a static lighting option do the job. Good points go to the well-detailed enemies (at close view).

Sound/Music 5/10
Not good at all. Compared to the original music, this is dirt. The sound effects are better and much cooler, but after a while they become repetitive and sometimes annoying.

Controls 7/10
The game uses all of the buttons, and sometimes this causes confusion of switching weapons, the automap, etc... but you can choose your control preferences. First I hated the controls but later on I got used of it.

Replayability 6/10
When you finish the game (this takes 8 hours or less), you will never have the courage to start again. Even not at the hardest mode. But the multiplayer (I only have tried the 2-player) is quite good. It can be fun, though there are better multiplayer-games for the GBA. 0 points go to single, 6 to multiplayer.

Fun 6/10
Fun is undefined, so you can say letting an enemy following you through the whole level is fun. No! The enemy AI is just took weak! The really are retarded! Bringing all of the enemies on one place and shooting them all so you have a room full of dead bodies can be called fun. No! The corpses disappear after a few seconds! There is a fun factor, shooting enemies is fun. Especially when you're drunk.

+/-

+ Great monster design
+ Cool weapons and monsters
+ Enough levels
+ Decent amount of secrets
+ Somewhat good sound effects
+ Nice Multiplayer
+ It's Doom.

- Disappearing corpses
- Green blood (Although it looks funny)
- No Spectres, Cyberdemon, Spider Mastermind
- So, no bosses
- Two levels missing
- Blurry, pixelated graphics from afar
- No jumping
- Too repetitive
- Ugly title screen
- Horrible music...
- ...even with ear pieces
- Weak enemy AI
- It isn't Doom anymore.

Rent or buy?
Rent it. If you really like it, buy it. If you know a friend who has it, and a link cable, buy it. If you are a Doom freak, buy it. Otherwise simply don't.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 05/08/02, Updated 05/08/02