What, no cyberdemon! (Doom (GBA))

Name: BOBBOB

Hello doyoo user, You have to be logged in to use these functions... Login or register Close window

Send message to member

Product:	Doom (GBA)
Date:	27/09/02 (213 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Demonstrates good graphical potential for the GBA., good levels, Supposedly good in multiplayer

Disadvantages: mono sound, no cybie!, cut-down version

This is as intense as portable gaming gets. The game is an almost exact conversion of the P.C. hit doom by id software. It's been cut down and re-branded as doom advance to bring one of the most favoured PC classics to the GBA. You may have already heard to death how doom started it all with its first person shooter and its brilliant multiplayer mode, etc. The game was first released way back in 1995. Very few had PC's then. I remember my uncle having one with doom on it. It graphics and just the concept of playing a game from the viewpoint of an individual was amazing. There had been wolfenstien before then but the graphics represented a more cartoon-y aspect of gaming. Doom had differing heights of the floor\ceilings and had textures on the walls, which varied from level to level.

Its now 2002 and doom makes its way through the PC\jaguar\snes\playstation and now onto the gameboy advance. Which version is the best is up to you. I would say the PC version is the best, due to its cheapness (free off the internet). However the gameboy advance does a good job at handling this title and has the added bonus of being portable.

There are several differences between this version and the original PC version. For starters the menu is a bit different. Several new options, which you might expect, are included, such as controls. There are 6 different handling methods. I would suggest using control set B, which is the easiest. As PC doomers will know there are lots of buttons. The gameboy advance has too few buttons to accommodate for all the features. The way around this is to use multiple button presses, EG:- Button A is used in conjunction with another button (L or R) to change between weapons whilst button A by itself can be used to open doors. A new option in the options menu is also present, a difference in lighting options. You can choose between dynamic or static lighting. Static lighting is used to smoothen the game up by giving a higher frame r
ate. This is good but has the flaw that the whole level is at a constant brightness throughout. Dynamic lighting uses the original lighting and gives bright and dark spots throughout a level. In some levels the brightness can be pitch black or flashing as a strobe. This is a great effect but has the effect of slowing the game down ever so slightly. The game therefore runs brilliantly in both modes however with dynamic lighting on in some spots where a multiple amount of monsters are there can be a slowdown in the game. When starting the game you'll see the 3 episodes you can play. Starting from episode 1 would be advisable as after completing episode 1 you will keep any weapons you may have obtained through to episode 2 along with your health, etc.

After selecting your episode you can select the level of difficulty to play on. The original 5 levels of difficulty have been reduced to 4 levels with the final level being a cross between levels 4 and 5 on the PC version. The hardest level will not have monsters re-spawning but the amount of damage they inflict on you is still as much as it would have been. Fewer monsters are also present.

When starting the game you'll notice that the music sounds in the background have been re-arranged in order. Also the sound is not in stereo. This doesn't do the game any favours, as the game being in stereo would add a lot more atmosphere. The graphics have been doubled up vertically. This means that the resolution is less then on the PC and may appear blockier, although the game is still extremely playable. As a rule of thumb you should goto the options and switch on the autorun mode otherwise your movements will appear to be slow, and tapping the run button can be tedious and difficult to achieve due to the restricted number of buttons the gameboy advance offers. You'll notice that when you kill monsters the blood is green and not red. Also monsters can't be gibbed (see their insides spill out)
instead there is only one death sequence, which is not as satisfying when you kill a monster with the famous rocket launcher. You will also notice some graphical differences. In the original PC version of doom some walls had transparency effects, which meant you could see through specific parts of a wall. This cannot be achieved on the gameboy advance and just a hole is left in its place. The conversion is still brilliant and the gameplay is as good as the original...


BUT...

Well, no game is perfect. Many fans of the original will remember getting to the last boss and meeting one hell of a challenge. Well this last boss isn't there!!! They have replaced the favoured spider and cyber demons with just lots of ordinary monsters. The ease of these levels is too easy too, even in nightmare mode.

Many of you may also see many more graphical errors such as monsters being at a uniform level, no matter what the room's brightness is and the disappearance of the spectre (a type of semi-invisible monster).

Unfortunately I havn't tried multiplayer mode yet, I will be sure to update this opinion when i have tried it out, and ill alter the rating accordingly.

All the weapons from the original are there and 1 out of the 3 bonus levels are also present. Due to the major cut-down of this game I am forced to knock 1 off of the full 5/5 rating. If you want my expert advice then I suggest you don't buy this game and wait for DOOM2 coming soon. This will have the cyberdemon boss in! If you do really want this game you should be able to pick it up for £10 from HMV but don't spend more than that.

Summary: