Developer: id Software
Publisher: Bethesda (2019)
Rated: M for Mature
Released: 1993 (Original)/2019 (Port)
Completed: February 9, 2020
I'm a sucker for a good value proposition. Despite owning DOOM on half a dozen consoles already, including the original PC releases, when I saw that the 2016 soft reboot was repackaged as the Slayer Edition, complete with digital codes for fresh new ports of DOOM, DOOM II, and DOOM 3, on Xbox One, I couldn't resist.
When they were first released, these latest ports received quite the thrashing. First for requiring the player to sign in to Bethesda.net, which was an ill-advised attempt at DRM, then for a multitude of technical issues. Music played at the wrong pace, the original lighting was broken, sound effects were missing... It reeked of a quick cash-grab, and was not befitting of a bonafide classic that defined a genre.
After several patches, however, the recent ports of classic DOOM have become one of my favorite ways to play them. Nothing will beat the PC versions, or their many source-ports and mods, but fans and newcomers alike should definitely give these a second look now that Nerve Software, who developed these latest ports, has ironed out the technical problems and eliminated the DRM. You can still choose to sign in to Bethesda.net, and doing so will even grant you some cool additions like level packs including Sigil, the megawad created by DOOM co-designer John Romero, but it's not a requirement.
I feel like describing the game is a little redundant at this point. If you haven't played OG DOOM by now, you just have to. That's all there is to it. You run around levels, shoot monsters, and find keycards. It's simple, but what makes it such a classic are the incredible level designs and thrilling combat. Few games can match the sheer intensity of DOOM's frenetic combat, especially on higher difficulty settings when even more monsters are packed into the levels.
Rather than spend time telling you about the game itself, let's focus on the quality of this port. As I said, Nerve Software has really done a nice job fixing it up. The convenience of having DOOM installed on my Xbox One hard drive for whenever the urge to play it hits is great, and now it's a much better representation of the game.
It's not a 1:1 port. Graphics are clearly higher resolution than the original games, and they have added a proper 4:3 mode instead of the stretched 16:10 of the original release. For those of us who are not horrible monsters and prefer our old games to display in their original aspect ratios, this is much appreciated. The game also now runs at 60 FPS, instead of the original release's 35. While this is technically not how the original game ran, it's a much closer approximation of how it appeared to your eyes than the first release, which felt slow and juddery.
The lighting has also been fixed and now works as it did in the originals. That means you will enter rooms that are completely pitch black at times, illuminated only temporarily by a pulsating light source. Lighting was one of the most critical parts of the DOOM experience. It's what made the game truly scary in 1993, so it's great they took the time to fix it here.
Sound has also gotten a huge boost. Music not only plays back at the correct speed, it's been completely re-recorded from an actual Roland SC-55 sound module. What that means, kids, is they hooked up an old piece of equipment from the 90s and recorded the game's audio from it. You see, back in the day, nothing was standardized and the quality of the sound and music in your PC games was dependent on what hardware you had. I'll always love the old SoundBlaster tunes, but I must admit the Roland MIDI soundtrack is a big step up in terms of quality and instrumentation. It sounds like there were even some additional surround effects added to the mix in these ports. It's not true surround sound, but it gives the illusion of it as it engages the rear speakers, which is a nice touch and adds to the immersion.
There are even some tweaks to the control scheme. You can now use the d-pad to select certain weapons, though the ability for the user to decide which ones would have been nice. Swapping weapons the original way now brings up an overlay, making it easier and faster to find the gun you want. There are no additional traversal options, however, so don't expect to be able to jump like you can in some of the PC source ports such as zDoom. The goal was the keep the experience as vanilla as possible, so there's no looking up or down either.
The biggest addition are the mods. Currently there are only a small handful, which include the two Final DOOM wads, and John Romero's Sigil for the original game, but Bethesda promises more will be added. Again, the PC original has over 20 years of fan-made content and some truly crazy stuff - such as a Castlevania mod - but this is a nice (and free) bonus when they could have done nothing at all.
I played through all four of the episodes in the base game, which includes Thy Flesh Consumed. This episode was added for the Ultimate DOOM retail release, and is sort of a "Master Levels" episode. It's notably harder than the original three episodes, even if playing on the same difficulty all throughout, and often features frustrating level designs with tiny walkways it's easy to fall off of. As such, it's easily the weakest of the original four episodes, and it feels at odds with the perfect balance of the other three.
There are various other tweaks, which you can hear all about in this fantastic Digital Foundry video, but suffice it to say the work done to bring these ports up to speed is much appreciated. Nothing will replace the PC versions, but if you're looking for a quick fix, these have become my preferred way to play. As a game, DOOM is as addictive as ever. I often find myself jumping into it while downloading or installing other games on my Xbox One, and before I know it, hours have passed and I've completed the whole game again. There are even achievements, for those who care about such things. It's also worth mentioning these are available on the Switch, if you crave DOOM while you're on the toilet or laying in bed. For the meager asking price of $5, there's really no reason not to buy them.
DOOM Episodes 1-4 were completed on Xbox One X with no cheats.
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