Doom for G1 review

Doom is a game you've at least herd of despite whether or not you play video games. If you are a game player. It's a relic from the days when PC shooters were king, before having a story was a part of gaming, and before people figured out using a mouse with a keyboard was better for the genre. It's continued to reappear on different platforms throughout the years. Atari's Jaguar console was the first home platform to have it. I played it on a flight from Seattle to LAX on Red, Virgin America's in flight entertainment system. More recently, I picked it up on my G1 phone.

The game is the exact same as it has ever been. You start at point A, explore the level killing several demon sprites along the way until your reach point B and the game tells you how well you did based on the time it took, how many kills you got, and how many secrets you found. Then you're transplanted to a new level to do it all over again. This game was made before developers made shooters that gave you the ability to look up or down. It was when on screen targeting reticules were optional instead of standard features. It was before cover systems, and circle strafing was nigh impossible perform.

The version available for free on the G1 is the exact same game. It's actually a little surprising how well it works on the phone. It uses WASD for forward, backward and strafing with the tracter ball for looking like all modern mouse and keyboard shooters. This more modern control scheme makes it feel much easier to play and the G1 version controls are superior to the version I played on that Virgin flight. It runs much smoother on my G1 than the computer I played the original ran it several years ago. The sound effects are all there and provide a bit of nostalgia. There really is nothing bad to say about the it as it is a very well done port. The only drawbacks to it are the limitations of a game that is now over 15 years old. It's definitely worth a download.