Doom

The Good
Doom needs no introduction so I'll assume that you've played it in some form or another and deal with this review as a comparison to the original PC version. If you haven't played Doom then hang your head in shame! :) The levels are nearly all in here with the odd exception or slight alteration here and there which have more in common with PSX Doom than PC. Visuals are near to identical to the PC original which is pretty decent for the little handheld. The fact that Doom is running this well on the system proves there's more power in it than we originally thought and we might well see some pretty amazing stuff in the future. No cutbacks have been made in regards to the floor and ceiling texturing and it all zips along pretty nicely. Gameplay is spot on and seems to have been ported directly to the advance so all the mayhem of the original is in here. Sound effects are identical and music is pretty similar too and serves its purpose well. Great news also is that the multiplayer aspect is intact! You can have four player Deathmatches and 2 player co-op with the right number of systems and carts. This alone is worth getting Doom for if you have GBA owning friends. Finally, lets face it, the fact that you can have a copy of Doom that fits in your pocket and can be played anywhere is a dream come true for any fan of the game, and there are quite a few of those.

The Bad
Despite being a pretty good conversion there are a few issues that may have you screaming bloody murder. The levels as I said before are pretty close but there are a couple of omissions that really detract from the experience. Most notably the lack of boss encounters for episode 2 and 3. You heard me. The Tower of Babel level that occurs at the end of episode 2 is completely changed and most horrible of all is that there is no Cyber-demon in sight! The Cyber-demon is in my opinion, the coolest and best monster in all of Doom, EVER! and they chopped it out! But that's not all, the Spider Mastermind (final boss) is also gone! Some other stages in episode 3 have been chopped out entirely. Throughout the levels there are also changes, most notably the censoring of all gore to green blood. Come on Nintendo! Grow up, it isn't real! Masked walls are also gone which removes some nice detail (also a PSX problem) and there is the mystifying alteration of a lot of texture work. Including the removal of those creepy grinning skin walls (sniff).

The Bottom Line
While it's no perfect version of Doom, the gameplay is intact and the trade-offs are acceptable in exchange for having a mini version of Doom you can take with you anywhere.