Doom 64
Reviewed by Scott McCall
Oddly enough, while Turok: Dinosaur Hunter disappointed me to
a certain degree, Doom 64 was just the opposite and surprised
me a little. Considering Midway's recent in-house track record (MK
Trilogy, Cruis'n USA, anyone?), one could only hope the developers
got a better grasp of the N64's hardware. Fortunately, it looks
like they learned quite a bit.
Doom 64 is easily the best-looking version of the game ever.
The game moves at a constant 30fps, if not higher, and never
slows down, even with tons of enemies on the screen. All of the
N64's built-in hardware effects are put to good use here, too.
Nothing gets pixelated like the previous versions, and the real-time
lighting effects are very cool. But then there is the character
animation. However, I must point out that despite the characters
only having a couple frames of animation, I never really noticed
because I was too busy killing them or running away from them.
Speaking of running, Doom 64's control is just great. You can
customize the buttons to do whatever you want. But it's the
analog control that makes the difference here. Much like Super
Mario 64, press the Control Stick a little bit and you'll walk,
but press it all the way and you'll run without the need of
holding down a button.
To my surprise, the level design in Doom 64 is quite cunning.
They truly stand up to some of the best Doom levels ever made.
Not only are the levels well-designed but they are quite challenging,
too. Pump up the difficulty level, if need be, and these could be the
most difficult levels any Doom fan has ever faced. And the puzzles
are perplexing right from the beginning of the game.
What about the sound? Well, let's just say it could be worse. The
music has gone from being rocking to being more "mood-setting."
Of a more ambient nature, the music in Doom 64 tries to be more
haunting. This works on some levels, but a faster, more rocking
beat would be better on other levels. And the sound effects are
generally the same the previous games. Too bad they didn't add any voice.
Now for the complaints. First of all, the game is way too dark in
some parts. Yes, I know there is a brightness setting. But I had
to play with all the lights out and the brightness all the way up
to just barely see where I was going on some levels. Second,
saving in this game is not that good. You can only save after
you complete a level. Plus, it always puts you at the beginning
of the level (you cannot save wherever you want), and it does not
save your configuration settings; it only saves your health,
armor, weapons and ammo. Third, the cool animation for the shotguns
is gone now. Fourth, some of the cool enemies from Doom II did not
make it into Doom 64. Fifth, what would be a review without
mentioning that there are no multi-player deathmatch or cooperative
modes?
All in all, this is a bigger, better and faster version of Doom. The
gameplay may seem quite dated by today's standards, but the "kill it
before it kills you" formula is still as fun as ever. If you're still a
Doom fan, then Doom 64 just might provide you with some of the
most fun and challenging gameplay you've experienced on the
Nintendo 64 thus far. But if you don't find Doom that fun anymore,
then don't even bother with this one.
Graphics: 3.3 out of 5
Sound: 3.4 out of 5
Control: 3.9 out of 5
Gameplay: 3.6 out of 5
Lastability: 3.4 out of 5
Overall: 3.5 out of 5