Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7422 in Video Games
• Released on: 2001-10-25
• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Platform: Game Boy Advance

Amazon.com Product Description
Doom for the Game Boy Advance retains the immersive 3-D experience and onslaught of horrific demons that made the PC version a classic. It pits you against cyberorganic creatures and nightmarish fiends as you blast your way through 24 levels. Armed with eight weapons, you must navigate treacherous architecture, avoid traps, and use power-ups in a battle of skill and firepower. The game features multiplayer support through the Game Boy Advance Game Link cable. Two to four players can test their mettle through all of the single-player levels and an additional eight dedicated multiplayer levels. Or two players can team up to blast their way through single-player levels in cooperative mode.

Amazon.co.uk
If you don't know what Doom is, you must be one of those weirdoes who had something better to do with their time in the summer of 1993 than play PC games. Doom is one of the most influential games of all time, popularizing the whole first-person shoot-'em-up genre, and is thus the spiritual granddaddy of classics like Quake, Half-Life, GoldenEye 007, and even the more recent Halo. Indeed, the major draw for this portable version of Doom is the cloying wave of nostalgia it brings to hard-core gamers as they set about fighting the hordes of hell with a shotgun and a chainsaw. This is an almost perfect conversion of the original (or at least the original running on an average-speed PC of the time) that even manages to include a four-player deathmatch and a cooperative two-player mode.

The music is the same, the level design is the same, and, best of all, the gameplay is the same (strafing works surprisingly well on the GBA's shoulder buttons). The only problem with the game, other than the inexplicable use of green blood even though it has a 15 rating, is that the graphics are a bit jerky in places. This is presumably why the developers had to ditch the two huge end-of-level bosses from the second and third episodes. In general, though, this is a technical tour de force that will have any remaining GBA doubters reaching for their wallets. --David Jenkins

Customer Reviews

A Diffent Point of View
If you browse the reviews just like I did before I bought the game, then you notice one thing in peticular: Most reviews compare this version of Doom to others (most commonly the PC). I never owned any other version of Doom. I never even played any of them before. So I hope some words from a non-expieenced Doom player will help you.

I own many GBA games, but this is by far my best game. The graphics are AMAZING, considering this is a GBA. The sound is EXCELLENT, all the moans, grunts, shrieks, gunshots, doors, and other effects are crisp and clear, and by far the best sound I've ever heard on a GBA. The movement is very fluid (I thought a first person shooter on a handheld system would be slow and jerky). So overall, this is a great game will no flaws.

This game is one of the best I have ever seen for this console. I recommend this game to anyone who wants a great time (it is violent, and you must be able to stomach the carnage).

Doom
Many a year have a dreamt of the time when I could play my all time favorite game anywhere, anytime. So maybe I still can’t play it anywhere (like in the dark), but still this is close enough to make me very, very happy. A direct port of the original doom this is not, but very close. Any long time doom fan will notice right away that details from the original PC doom are missing, a pool of blue goo here, a pillar there, but nothing to cry over and it is still very close to the original. That said, the game is amazing! I had my doubts that the GBA could handle Doom but it seems to just fine (though I have yet to try the multi-player mode). Every once in a while you might notice the frame rate drop but it is nothing that will hamper the players enjoyment. The game has always been dark, but the developer has addressed this issue very well by give player the ability to lighten or darken the game to suit there lighting situation and also by allowing you to turn of the in game dynamic lighting. I will post an updated review as soon as I have a chance to beat it and try all the features.

good much fun
Quake, Unreal Tournament, Half Life--and even Bungie's Halo--owe their prominence to a single early 1990s PC game: id Software's Doom. Although prefaced by Wolfenstein 3D in 1990, id's 1993 release of Doom defined the archetype for all subsequent first-person shooters. Texture-mapped surfaces, mazelike levels, gory monsters, and seamless multiplayer gameplay helped Doom and its sequels leap onto no less than 10 different gaming platforms. Now, thanks to Activision and David A. Palmer Studios, the game that coined the term deathmatch is now available on the Game Boy Advance.
On the Martian military colony of Phobos, a horde of hellish demons has obliterated the entire human population, save for one lowly space marine--you. Stranded alone, you're out to reap some revenge and flee with your hide intact. The single-player portion of Doom features 24 full levels of shotgun-toting, plasma-blasting 3D shooter action--but that's not all. Each level also supports four-player deathmatch or two-player cooperative modes with the use of a link cable. Despite a few minor alterations from the PC version, this handheld port contains the same gory gameplay that helped its ancestor launch a genre.

To be fair, Doom isn't an exact port, nor is it flawless. Although the majority of the game's 24 levels are straight out of the PC version, three were axed and one was heavily edited in order to cram the game onto a single cartridge. The massive Cyber Demon and Spider Mastermind bosses are missing as well. Other changes include green-toned blood and enemies that dissipate after death. Generally, the music is the same, although some selections are played out of order. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Doom and its progeny, this means action-packed, stylized MIDI and tons of synthetic bass. The sound effects are loud and ugly--highlighted by shotguns, grunts, growls, and an assortment of samples you've probably heard in recent car commercials.

In terms of setbacks, the game's overall resolution is somewhat pixilated, similar to the PC version on its lowest setting. There is also a noticeable amount of slowdown and choppiness in large areas, and it's compounded further in spots loaded with monsters. The presence of brightness and lighting toggles is a welcome addition, although the muddiness of textures is more obvious with dynamic lighting disabled. The GBA's button layout presents another obstacle to overcome, mainly because it's not as responsive as a mouse or analog controller. However, the controls generally lend themselves to Doom better than they would its successors--mainly because the game itself predates the vertical aiming of modern shooters.

Regardless of its shortcomings, Doom's strength lies in its raw gameplay. There are eight weapons to use, including your fist, a chain saw, the pistol, a shotgun, the chain gun, a rocket launcher, the beautiful plasma rifle, and the beautifully devastating BFG-9000. Conversely, there are seven monsters present in various quantities just waiting to absorb your ammo. They include former humans, zombie sergeants, ghoulish imps, pudgy demons, ghostly lost souls, floating cacodemons, and the Minotaur-like barons of hell. Even though the aim of most levels is tediously searching for keys, the cathartic release of blasting heads is a great equalizer. On the game's toughest difficulty setting, nightmare, there are more than 3,000 enemies to obliterate.

Cool 3D visuals and violent gameplay aside, the best way to play Doom is to enlist a few friends and take part in its multiplayer features. All of the game's single-player levels are available in both deathmatch and cooperative varieties--provided everyone has his or her own cartridge. Even with four human characters and scads of monsters onscreen, the frame rate never stutters any more than in a single-player match. There aren't any onscreen indicators in the multiplayer modes, but the action is so fast and the overall effect so priceless that you won't mind.

For those of you who are totally burned out on everything Doom has to offer or who have totally abused the GBA's multiplayer capabilities, Doom may be a bit too dated and/or simplistic to draw you back in. However, if you appreciate the beauty of straightforward gameplay, happen to have a few feisty friends, and absolutely adore your Game Boy Advance, Doom is an excellent choice.