IPHONE GAME REVIEW
Doom ClassicRaising Hell |
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Product: Doom Classic
| Developer: id Software
| Format: iPhone
| Genre: Retro, Shooter
| Players: 1
| Networking: wireless (adhoc)
| Version: US
| App version: 1.0
No amount of debate could convince a sceptic of the existence of Hell, just as it couldn't alter a true believer's resolute faith.
Doom Classic fortifies such partisanship by delivering a superb port of the definitive first-person shooter complete with an array of control options. Faithful followers are unlikely to be deterred, however, by the absence of a couple features that makes it less attractive to anyone not as devout.
It's kill or be killed in Doom Classic. As a Marine stationed at the Union Aerospace Corporation's Martian outpost, you're the lone survivor following the opening of a portal to Satan's domain. With all manner of monsters and hellish creatures flooding the facility, it's a fight for survival.
Escaping the base is done via touch controls, of which you're given three configurable options. The default ranks among the worst of the three, tying movement and the camera together in a single D-pad. Unsurprisingly, it's a clunky solution that feels particularly unnatural given the game's PC roots.
There's an alternative option that places a wheel for controlling the camera opposite the D-pad. Bizarrely, it functions just like a steering wheel: rotating, not sliding, adjusts the camera left and right. It's a nightmarish setup that frankly doesn't even deserve inclusion.
That leaves the preferred D-pad and horizontal analogue stick scheme. With this setup, you're given an analogue stick with which to control the camera left and right. While it may seem odd that you can't look up or down, it's a feature (or lack thereof) held over from the original release.
Of greater concern is the omission of sensitivity settings in the options menu. The default rate of movement is unnecessarily fast. After a few missions you learn to adjust, but there's no reason to have left out the option to reduce the rate of movement and sensitivity of the camera stick.
The ability to configure the head-up display and move the D-pad, analogue stick, and 'fire' button around is welcome. A double-tap to fire option would be nice, though the freedom to reposition the 'fire' button is an acceptable consolation.
Short levels make Doom Classic an ideal portable game since it takes mere minutes - sometimes less - to complete a mission. In fact, each level comes with a par time that you're encouraged to beat by racing through, killing enemies, flipping switches, and finding the exit as fast as your can.
A quartet of difficulty modes cater to noobs and hardcore gamers alike, each gradually increasing the challenges across the game's 36 missions, all of which are unlocked from the get-go. Once you get a handle on the controls, there's some good, fast action to be had. It comes as no surprise given the iconic weaponry and enemies that have shaped shooters ever since that humble PC release.
Three friends can join in on the action thanks to support for local wi-fi multiplayer. The App Store listing misleads by stating that the game features "wireless Internet" multiplayer, but only local wi-fi competitive deathmatch rounds and cooperative missions are offered. Both are great, even if we'd like to see id make good on their claim of wireless Internet play.
Nevertheless, this is a game that remains playable more than a decade later, its go-to-Hell gameplay still shaping the genre it helped create. Without online play and a bigger suite of control options, Doom Classic isn't a convincing enough re-release to sway anyone who doesn't know its history.
Doom Classic |
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A competent, though not a convincing enough re-release without online multiplayer and a wider slate of control options to bring a new generation into the flock of Doom faithful
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Mr Slinky Spring | 1 November 2009
Nice review Tracy, I'm loving Doom a la Iphone and it's re-igniting all the feelings from the, 'good old days' a good few years back. Let's hope Mr Carmack gives us sensitivity options and proper multiplayer via an update sooner rather than later eh.
But on the whole- Brilliant port ID and thanks :-)
Joined:
Dec 2008
Post count:
947
Are all the cheat codes usable still?
lopoz | 1 November 2009
Are the Wolf3D controls available?
What wrong with accelerometer strafing, left thumb camera rotation and shooting with the right thumb? That's IMHO the best control system..
Mr Slinky Spring | 1 November 2009
I like control set 2 with the shoot button moved down a bit to the middle right of the screen.. Feels like a slightly more sensitive version of Modern Combats. I've gotten used to it but would still like the bizarrely ommited sensitivity options.
As for the cheats maybe they could be inputted with a four finger press on the screen during gameplay.. Though I daren't try it as it may be irreversible without a re-install?!!
Rick | 1 November 2009
Still no sign of Red Alert for iphone........ :/
Joined:
Dec 2008
Post count:
947
So whats up with the SEGA project on Sonic CD and the new Sonic? Those are the games that I can not WAIT to buy!
A Sonic made from the ground up for iPhone is my dream!
tim
Joined:
Feb 2009
Post count:
261
Red alert is out!
It will be out at midnight on the 1st of November whichever app store you're on.
dumas1000 | 1 November 2009
Overpriced. As is Red Alert. Doom Resurrection, however, was not. For the price of Wolfenstein, perhaps I would buy it. But for the same price as Real Racing, Dungeon Hunter, Modern Combat, and Gangstar, forget about it. Gameloft overhauled Earthworm Jim, meaning that they reworked the graphics and included additional content, and still they charged only 4.99 for it. But this, on the other hand, is essentially a straight port of an arcaic game, for 6.99. I'm 30 years old, so I know exactly what doom is. Still, not worth the price relative to its competition.
GEO33 | 2 November 2009
If anyone wants to know about cheats you just have to put 4 fingers on the screen and then type the cheat Ex.god mode
