billservo's Full Review: Doom for Game Boy Advance (GBA)
Most games come into your life, hang around for a few weeks, and disappear. But then there's some that stay with you, having changed your outlook on games forever. For me, one of these games is the original Doom. I remember back in 1993 being totally amazed by the level of immersion the game offered. Yep, I had played Wolfenstein and even Faceball, but neither of those games were convincing- I didn't get anything out of those games. But I remember scaring the hell out of myself playing Doom until three in the morning in my dorm room- after playing, if someone came from around the corner I'd almost jump. Games that are capable of evoking a physical reaction like that are rare. Doom not only did exactly that, but cemented the FPS as an established game genre almost overnight.
Since Doom, the genre has been pushed and pulled outside of its boundaries- the result being games like Half-Life, Quake, Unreal, and Halo. While most of these games feature in-depth stories, puzzles, and non-playable character interactions the original Doom had none of it, save for maybe a few "puzzles". Despite that, Doom is amazingly able to evoke almost as much anxiety as today's state-of-the-art FPS games.
While Doom may no longer be state-of-the art on PC, it definitely is on the GBA. In porting the game, very little has been changed. Doom still plays as it did 8 years ago. Again, levels are mainly action oriented so you'll be watching out for enemy placement and figuring out the most efficient way to dispense with whatever is trying to kill you in any given room. Doom is dotted with the occasional puzzle, but these are more about trying to figure out how to get into an area of the map. Very often, you'll see rooms behind windows which you'll have no apparent way of reaching. The in-game map helps out with these areas. Like in the original, the map can be put into follow mode allowing you to look at the map and your position while moving around. As you move, the map fills in areas that you discover. But usually, secret switches or doors embedded into walls along with a lot of patience are the keys to hidden areas. While going after these areas is not required to finish any level, it may get you that extra weapon or armor that'll make the rest of the level easier. Most of these areas are damn hard to get into, but at least you'll know if you've found it all. At the end of any level the game tallies up your stats. The percentage of items, enemies and secrets found are given along with the time it took you to complete the level.
This is all new to anyone who played Doom before. What is new is simply the fact that you can play it with your GBA. But not everything is exactly the same. Graphically, the game doesn't match up with the PC. The graphics have been reduced down to what may have been the lowest possible setting on the PC. It doesn't seem like a physical display limitation, either, but may have been done in order to keep the consistent framerate it does. To the portable version's credit, the game is running in widescreen, so there is more to render at once, but distant enemies can sometimes be indistinguishable from the background. Times like these mean you're going to take a sniper shot or memorize these locations and prepare for them. Close up, the graphics look almost as clean as the PC, though. The texture maps are the exact same as well as animations. The strobe lit levels are still there, too, creating amazingly disorienting levels. The effect is pulled off quite nicely by the GBA's dark display. In areas where the display is too dark, you can always use Doom's Gamma correction option- here it's been renamed simply as "Brightness". I keep mine at its max setting.
The sounds are mostly the same, too. Grunts, roars and gunshots all sound as they did in the original. Even the stereoscopic effect helps with the headphones on. The one thing that didn't sound right is the grunts that your character makes when he drops down a few stairs. You'll assume you're getting shot the first couple times until you realize he doesn't like the speed at which you take the stairs. I can't remember this being in the original, but it's pretty annoying and probably would be better out. The rest of the sound cues are beautiful, though. You can hear enemies behind walls, or door switches activating around you. Even the original music is back, and they didn't even drown out the effects with it.
The most obvious change, though isn't sound or graphics- but the control scheme. FPS modernists may be put off by the more primitive controls of an older FPS. You don't jump or crouch, just vertically line up your sight with baddies and blast them. In fact, all you have to do is switch weapons, fire your weapons, move, run, and activate doors and switches. It's almost laughable, then, that the GBA's paltry four buttons are still not enough for Doom. Just one more button would have done it, really, but as it is switching weapons is a chore. The shoulder buttons need to be held down in combination with up or down to cycle through weapons. This makes it impossible to switch on the run, also, since Doom doesn't skip emptied weapons you can find yourself in some real trouble if you need to do this in a crowded room. Another key combination task is running, but since Autorun is actually an option (thank you) it's something that gamers don't have to suffer through. Still, gamers that complain about FPS control on a dual analog stick won't be happy here. Strafing is done using the left and right shoulders with turning and forward and backward movement on the D-pad. It's not ideal, but it is perfect for the GBA. It's awkward and requires a bit of learning, but Doom's gradual challenge curve makes it a natural experience.
Nowhere is this fact more apparent than in a multiplayer game. That's right, even the GBA version supports multiplayer, up to four players. The downside is that the game requires a game pak for every player, but even so, Doom is the new multiplayer champ on the GBA. Death match and cooperative modes are there as in the original. During one of my sessions a friend and I got into a circle strafing loop as expertly as we would on the PC proving that the controls maybe awkward, but not overly oppressive. In cooperative mode resources are limited, but the ability to help each other out side by side is fun as hell- no type chatting required. And best of all, no lag or IP setup either.
Activision's Doom is simply amazing. No, not because it's something we've never seen before, but as it did for the PC 8 years ago, it signals a new genre for portables. No longer are they limited to platformers, puzzle games, or RPGs. Doom is proof that a solid FPS experience can be delivered on a portable- reason enough to add Doom to your GBA library.
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