Doom

"It's Doom on the go"

Since the beginning of FPS, one name has always stood out above the others, Doom. Doom has been on many different systems but the one that interested me the most was the release on GBA. As soon as I had heard of its release, I instantly went out and picked it up. It was the first time that I had really gotten the time to play Doom, and I'm glad that I did. As far as I am concerned it's one of the best games out on GBA, and one of the best FPS of all time. There has always been something about FPS's that has gotten people hooked on them, maybe it's the suggestion of being in the game, maybe it's the fact that you feel like you get to do the dirty work and not some dorky character. I don't know for sure, but Doom captures that effect on a hand held.

Things just clicked for this game and made things so enjoyable. It is a part of the original with more than 25 levels and 5 difficulty levels. Each level ranges from super easy to impossible. The difficulty levels stagger up so it isn't a direct jump up to hard. All of the levels are different both style and in length with secret passages in every area. The levels of the game give off a gothic feeling filled with gothic-like monsters. There is a variety of monsters in the game, but not a wide variety. There are only about 5 different types of enemies, all equally stupid in intelligence. They are hell's demons with death wishes that won't ever give up. They all will try to kill you or die trying.

There is a unique way of representing life, health, armor, and keys in the game. You're in scene menu at the bottom shows your health condition, armor condition, and how much ammo you have. Your current status is represented by your face in different faces ranging from good health to dead and covered in blood. This little icon also helps you find which way you are under attack at. Along with the basic health pack pickups, there are ammo clips, gun pickups, body armor, and a few extras. One extra that is available in almost every level is berserk mode. In this mode you are temporarily super powered and can kill enemies with a punch of your fist, but you still aren't invincible. But, with the invincible pick up, you become temporarily invincible for a short period of time. There is also a hazard suit pick up to protect you temporarily from the lava pools that you so often need to cross.

The game shows off its glory with its great selection of weapons that you find through the game. Everything from a regular pistol, to a shotgun, to a huge plasma gun can be found spread out over the levels. Just as in real life, the more powerful the weapon the more damage that will be dealt out.

Story 10/10
The game has that classic arcade feel to it with a classic story. The Earth is being over run by demons and it is up to you to rid the world of the demons, working from the Earth down to the source of the problem: hell.

Graphics 8/10
Even for GBA, the graphics are still lacking the shine that we know from some games. It is rough around the edges and could have used a few more days in development for that final polish. But despite that, the game looks excellent on the hand held and takes full advantage of the Game Boy's SNES like graphics. The arenas for both the main game and 2 player games look pretty good. The weapons look different from each other but are still rather blocky in shape. The demons in the game all look different and are pretty realistic looking in a cheap horror movie. Colors are accurate on each animation. Overall, not the best, but a real good try.

Sound 5/10
The sounds in Doom are very, well, cheap. Not a lot of time was put into this, IMO. Everything sounds a lot like. Groans from the monsters, the background music, it's all too much alike to be called spectacular. The game really deserved better effects than it got. The guns sound pretty weak, like popguns almost, instead of double barrel shotguns.

Gameplay 9/10
Let's be honest, any game where you get to blast the crap out of something is fun, same with Doom. Level by level, blasting the crap out of demons, trying to find the keys needed to find the exit to the level. Each level offers its own challenges but it can tend to get boring after a while. But behind it all, It's just plain fun to shoot things over and over. There are two games inside the one game, the main single player game and then the 2-player game where you can link up your GBA with friends and play them in a death match game. The game runs pretty smooth for the most part, there is some slow down from time to time, but its not to noticeable.

Controls 7/10
When any game is ported from computer to another system, there's difficulty with the controls. Same with this game. But the only big downside to the controls is the method to change weapons. You have to hold down both L & R then the weapons. It's a minimum down set but not enough to kill the game.

Replay Value: High
Yeah, it's fun and all but it just doesn't stand out above the rest like I would have hoped that I would. But the game is still equally fun. I just can't think of anything else to say but damn, it feels good to teach those daemons a lesson.

Final Impression
The game is good over all but things such as graphics and sounds are left to be desired. Things could have been perfect then if those few things had been changed. That and also the fact that you have to change contrast in the screen to see the screen other wise everything's dark, very dark. But hidden behind it all lies your best bet for a FPS on GBA.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/05/03, Updated 03/05/03