Game Title: Doom II

Release Date: 5/26/2010

Genre: FPS; Action and Adventure

Developer: id Software LLC

Players: 1-4

MSRP: 800 points (Xbox Live MS Points)

ESRB Rating: Mature for violence, blood and gore

Website: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/d/doom2xbla/

The first FPS I ever remember playing was Wolfenstein on our families first computer. To kind of date it, the computer was DOS based and the hard drive was 80 MB and we thought it was gigantic. This game reminds me a lot of those first experiences with Wolfenstein. Doom II was brought over to the Xbox Live Arcade without any fancy upgrades to the graphics and it plays beautifully. If you are not familiar with the Doom title here is the summary given from its Xbox Live Arcade page mentioned above:

To save Earth, you must descend into the stygian depths of hell in DOOM II. Battle nastier, deadlier demons and monsters with your trusty Super Shotgun. Survive more mind-blowing explosions and take part in the bloodiest, fiercest, most awesome blastfest ever. Recruit your friends and plow through nine all-new levels in the new episode, No Rest for the Living! Play solo or multiplayer over Xbox LIVE with up to four players. DOOM II includes split-screen co-op over Xbox LIVE, game clips, 5.1 Surround Sound, enhanced graphics, and HD display support. • Legendary weapons: Arm yourself with the legendary weapons from the original DOOM, as well as the Super Shotgun. • New enemies and levels: Experience DOOM like never before, with six new enemies and 32 new levels. Play it alone or invite a friend to play in co-op mode via split screen or Xbox LIVE. • Bonus chapter: Brave the never-before-seen bonus chapter, No Rest for the Living, an Xbox LIVE Arcade exclusive. • Deathmatch: Jump into intense deathmatch action with up to four players via split screen or over Xbox LIVE. • Avatar extras: Outfit your Avatar with the old-school DOOM II T-Shirt or the full-body DOOM Marine uniform.

You have two campaigns to choose from when you start. There is really no story or plot as you go through the levels. The point of the game is to find a baddie, kill it, find the various keys to open up areas inside the level, kill more baddies and eventually find the exit. Rinse and repeat until your heart’s content. As you progress further in the game the enemies become bigger, and the levels become darker and more maze-like. Many of the original FPS’s were set up like this. More like mazes than open gameplay. They never get too bad and you always have access to a map by simply hitting the “X” button.

The controls are set up the similar to the way most FPS games are now. The right trigger shoots, left trigger allows you to sprint, left joystick moves your character and the right joystick moves the direction of where you are looking. The controls are very fluid and have no real hiccups other than the fact that you cannot look up or down and your character cannot jump. You sometimes have to use the sprint trigger to go from platform to platform as a “fake jump” option. You have to remember, the original game was designed before the mouse was in popular use, so the game was created with the arrow keys in mind for control.

If you are going to play this game looking for DOOM II with updated graphics, stop right here. The original pixelated graphics are used and they look exactly the same, except in HD. They did not do a graphic overhaul like they have done on a lot of the arcade titles.

The sound for this game is done in 5.1 surround sound and sounds great, but I think I am too used to the FPS games of today. If I hear a sound behind me I expect to see something when I turn around. There seemed to be some random noises every now and then in the game that created a sound that had no source, but sounded like it was behind you. It is easy to get used to and ignore, but is something that will throw you off when you first start playing the game.

Overall the game is pretty good. You just have to go in knowing that this is an older game being re-released. The levels can get hard at times, but you will have plenty of weaponry to support you and you are able to save at any point in the game. I went online, but only to check out how it was. I didn’t spend a tremendous amount of time playing it. There was some lag, but it was still playable. I just didn’t understand how this game could have any lag when the more modern games that are doing a lot more don’t have lag.

I don’t know if I will play it again now that the review is done, but I do like knowing it is there if I just want to quickly go blast some demons. When it comes down to my final recommendation, I would say try the demo and make your own decision on it. The demo plays the exact same.

Possible recommendations:

Buy immediately

Rent to own(Good, but try before buying, may not be for everyone)

Rent (good game, but not long enough to be worthy of a purchase)

Wait and get a cheap used copy

Avoid at all costs



Final Recommendation: Rent to own

Rating: