Xbox Live Arcade Review: Doom

Recently the Arcade has been stormed by a series of 'classic games' such as Pac-Man, Galaga, Time Pilot etc, however at 400 or 800 Microsoft points a pop, these games simply aren't worth it. With the promise of 100 Xbox Live Arcade games by the end of the year, and the Xbox Live Wednesdays feature in place, Doom is the next game in line.

Doom was the game that many saw as the game to 'make' First Person Shooters. It was one of the first games of it's kind and at the time boasted mind blowing graphics and stunning 3D gameplay. It has now made it's way over to the Live Arcade, but has this classic stood the test of time?

All of the original singleplayer levels are intact and with 4 episodes to play with. There are no cuts or extra features- it is exactly how it was back on it's original release. As you'd expect it runs very smoothly and with no apparent glitches and they have implemented the control system to work well on the Xbox 360 controller, it's very smooth and easy to use. The gameplay is simple. You run around, blasting monsters and evil dudes with a whole variety of weapons, and there's even a chainsaw! It's run and gun gameplay at it's best, however crank the difficulty up to 'nightmare' and it adds a major strategic element as the number of enemies is increased, they are much stronger, and some even respawn- it's extreme!

Probably the best feature is the ability to play the game online with 4 player deathmatch or 4 player co-operative modes. Unfortunately, this isn't as smooth as the singleplayer and sometimes suffers from a little lag, although it isn't anything to make the game unplayable. Doom on co-operative mode really is a lot of fun, and for a lot of people, will make the game worth the 800 points. Deathmatch is a nice feature to have and works well, with a good selection of levels to choose from (re-worked from the singleplayer.)

All in all, Doom is one of the better titles to grace Xbox Live Arcade. It's also, for the moment, unique as it is the only FPS on Arcade. It's every bit as good as it was originally, and the added co-op online feature makes this a must buy title.

The good: great online co-op mode, and the game now runs in HD!
The bad: sometimes suffers from slight online lag
The ugly: the graphics (although to be expected, given the game's age)

(Doom is now available to download from Xbox Live Arcade for 800 points. Agree/disagree with this review? Leave a comment.)