"Despite
some graphical problems there is still a lot of fun to be had with this
game."
When I heard
that this game was coming to the Gameboy Advance I thought it was crazy
talk. First person shooters seldom translate well onto a console, trying
to squeeze such a game onto a tiny portable with nothing but a
directional pad and a couple of buttons looked like it would have a
questionable outcome at beside. Surprisingly, this edition of Doom is
actually quite good. It comes onto the handheld relatively intact, and
the controls are solid, providing a fun, but certainly not perfect,
experience.
The
presentation of the game is serviceable, but far from exquisite. The
visuals are far more pixilated than other titles on the GBA, looking
like the old PC game that it is. Handheld games are not known for their
pristine graphics, so this can easily be overlooked, however there is
some slowdown and choppiness that cannot. It largely happens in areas
where there are lots of enemies to deal with at once as well as in some
of the bigger environments in the game. This is the sort of thing that
is quite annoying under normal circumstances, but combine this with a
lengthy road trip and a pension for motion sickness and we've got
trouble with a capital T that rhymes with P, that stands for
"puke". So, provided you haven't just downed a tall, cool
glass of curdled milk and have set out with your buddies for that 3
hour drive to the ski lodge, Doom's visuals get the job done.
Gameplay, though, is what carries Doom. The blasting is still as fun as
it ever was with the expected weapons: chainsaws, shotguns, and, of
course, the BFG, among others, and an equal number of evil
monster-types with zombies, demons and such. Don't expect adaptive,
highly intelligent enemies though, the monsters here are gluttons
for punishment who can't seem to get enough punishment, well, at least
until they're blown to bits. I was quite pleased to see that the
controls work well for Doom on the GBA. After being reduced to a
whimpering heap on countless occasions playing various FPSs on consoles
skepticism ran high before playing this game in regards to controls.
Everything is responsive and straight to the point, just run around
blasting stuff. At its core there's nothing but shooting at anything
that moves, nice and primal.
There
are some notably absent aspects to the GBA version of Doom, that being a
few of the levels and a boss being cut from the roster simply out of a
lack of space for them on the cartridge. It's hardly the end of the
world, but worth noting.
If platforming, strategy, racing and such just isn't doing it for you
and some mindless blasting looks like the order of the day then Doom is
definitely one to look for on the GBA. Despite some graphical problems
there is still a lot of fun to be had with this game.