Doom II

"Again, no bias, no crap, just the facts."

Hello again. Here is my ''Doom-purist review'' of Doom 2. It will not only cover the regular review stuff, but will pick at every bit of the game for those who wish to know how it compares to the original and other Doom ports, and more importantly, last year's GBA Doom.

Before I start, please don't take my tearing the game apart as complaining about the game. I just want to lay it all out on the table because, quite frankly, any one of these factors that I bring up could influence someone not to buy the game. I think Doom 2 for the GBA is one of the best games to come out for the system, despite the flaws. But, that's my opinion, and what I consider important in the game isn't what others find important.

With that said, onto the disection of the game.

MECHANICS, CENSORSHIP, AND CHANGES
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Ok, a VERY important part that no-one ever touches upon, that's a very important part of a port. What has changed? What has stayed the same? Everyone asks these important questions, but no one answers. This is where I come in.

Unlike last year's GBA Doom, this engine isn't a port of a console Doom game, but the PC game itself. It uses a hybrid of the awesome Duke Nukem Advance engine. Expect smooth scrolling, lots of enemies without slowdown, high hieghts and low pits, and awesome gameplay.

The game features ALL of the enemies, ALL of the levels, and ALL of the weapons from the PC version. And I mean ALL. Every shred of the PC game is here. The Cyberdemon, Spider Mastermind, the Arch-Vile, and yes, even Baphomet. The Wolfenstein levels are there too.

But what can you look for? What has changed mechanics-wise from the original PC version and last year's Doom?

Here's the changes, some glitches, some to make the game faster:

-Disappearing corpses are back, sadly. They simply disappear, but the markers are still there. They were taken out to cut down on the sprites in the level, thus making the game as fast as possible. For some levels, like the first level, it's definitely not needed, but other levels, with 100+ enemies, I can imagine tons of sprites killing the framerate and gameplay. Having 10 Revenants coming at you at full speed is a rush indeed. :P The reason why the markers are there is so that the Archvile can resurrect them.

-Bodies disappear (but markers still exist). First to keep the framerate up, which is awesome. Having 10 Revenants coming at full speed is great.

-Far away enemies can't see you. When you get far away from an active enemy they temporarily go into idle mode. Again, probably for smoothness issues.

-The Mancubi (that's plural for Mancubus. :P) can't shoot their fireballs up or down on angles. Just straight. Also, the Revenant's fireballs only home, instead of the guided or homing missiles of the PC version.

-The enemies DO run at full speed. The Arch-Vile and Revenant are still the fast buggers from the PC version. Put your fears of slow enemies (like PSX Doom) to rest.

-The armor percentage is glitchy. Most of the time, the armor doesn't go down. Obviously a glitch.

-Flying enemies, like Cacodemons, tend to get stuck in pits. Stuck as in once they go down the pit, they can't rise back out. Two examples. At the end of The Waste Tunnels and the ones around the island in the Pit.

-Some levels have added columns, walls, etc so that the enemies don't see you and slow down the game. It's not too much though. An added column in The Crusher, some walls in the Gauntlet. Nothing major, but it should be mentioned.

-Gore is kept to a minimum for a lower ESRB rating, thus allowing id to sell more copies. That means green blood, no gibbing, and no hanging body parts.

-Wolfenstin textures are replaced by Return to Castle Wolfenstein images. However, the levels are still the same, and the SS Soldiers still speak German. Again, this was done to get a lower ESRB rating.

-All levels are included and rock. No cut-up levels like the PSX.

-Industrial level is split into 2 parts. First being the half before the river, second being the river and the other side. The Chasm is split up by the blue door. Of course there's new parts to the levels. :) This was done to keep the level sizes down for memory and smoothless issues. But it just shows how much Torus cares about bring EVERYTHING over from the PC version.

-The game's locked up a few times on me. Barely happens though.

-Sometimes, some sound effects, like your weapon don't get played. Pausing and unpausing fixes the problem. This also happens on PSX Doom in the Computer Center.

-Revenant and Archvile move as fast as the PC. The Cacodemons are as slow as the PC, not the speed demons from the first GBA Doom. :(

-There ARE crushing ceilings.

-The graphics changed a little. Obviously, the deaths now have green blood. However, all of the textures are there, in the right spots. Some enemies, like the imps and zombies, have an angrier look to them when they attack.

-The dynamic lighting (no static lighting this time) actually effects the sprites in the area.

-The options rock. Turning sensitivity, brightness, sound and music volume control.

GRAPHICS, FRAMERATE, AND SMOOTHNESS
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Everything from the PC is here. All textures, all lighting, everything. The resolution is slightly higher than the first GBA Doom. The framerate is sweet, the game runs incredibly smoothly. If there was any worries, they're put to rest. Torus definitely knows what they're doing.

My only gripe is that the graphics have a darker, dirtier look. They're still awesome, but it takes a while to get used to.

Multiplayer rocks as always. Blowing up your friends is always a blast. Up to 4 players deathmatch, and 2 player co-op.

CONTROL
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The default control style is great. Autorun is on, the D-pad turns, goes forwards and backpedals, B shoots, A opens doors, L and R strafe left and right, select is your map (which can also be selected from the pause menu) and start is pause. Again, switching weapons can be a pain in the heat of battle. It's done by holding A and L or R. I was hoping for the awesome pop-up weapon changing like in Duke Nukem Advance, which had holding select bring down your weapons, and left and right changed the weapon. Oh well.

Also, it should be mentioned that turning isn't as intuitive and somehow doesn't feel as smooth as the first GBA Doom or PSX Doom. There IS a sensitivity setting in the options which helps. Not to worry though. Once you're used to it, it's second nature.

SOUND AND MUSIC
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Here's where I was worried. Most FPS games (well, most games in general) on the GBA have unbalanced quality. A flaw in the architecture I'm told. You can only get the GBA to concentrate on one thing at a time. Most of the time, the music and sound take a hit. Every GBA FPS game except for Doom is music-less, and GBA Doom definitely has inferior music, though it was still good.

I don't know how Torus did it, but they pulled it off. The music is of exceptional quality. It sounds as good as a PC with a Sound Blaster Live doing the classic midis. They have to be heard to be believed. The only missing tracks are ''Between Levels'' and ''Getting Tense''. And yes, the music is on the right levels, unlike the first GBA Doom game.

**SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT!!!**

In fact, download the music from GBA Doom 2 and every other Doom game from my site, the Doom Depot. (http://depot.wrong.button.com/) It's under the Doom Music section.

**END SHAMELESS PLUG**

The sound effects are all there, sounding as great as ever. There's only 4 sounds missing. Slop, Arachnotron walking, Cyberdemon walking, Spider Mastermind walking.

The sound is great.

OVERALL AND CLOSING
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The overall score is 10. Heck, this is pretty much tied in my books for the best portable FPS right next to Duke Nukem Advance. It's not absolutely perfect, but games seldom are. This game is defitely a gift from heaven, delivered by the gaming gods, Torus Games, themselved. Hats off you you guys, you have my respect, right up there with Hammerhead (PSX Quake 2), and Lobotomy (Powerslave, Saturn Duke3D, and Saturn Quake).

Yes, it's Doom. No, there's no objectives. Just pure action, and simple switch and door puzzles. The kind of gameplay that requires more reflexes and skill than a game with slow, dumb, boring enemies, and simple objectives that are supposed to add substance to a game. Just good old Doom. And I wouldn't have a FPS any other way.

Pick up this game right now. You won't be disappointed. It doesn't get much better than this.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/14/02, Updated 11/14/02