Introduction
Doom and Doom2 were released by iD in the mid-nineties and turned PC gaming on its head. While Doom was not the original first person shooter (FPS), it basically defined the genre and introduced the world to the deathmatch.

Doom is all about atmosphere - pure and simple. It was the first FPS to provide an immersive experience - and it did this through great level design, use of sound and clever use of primitive behaviour logic for its imaginative and varied enemies.

The gameplay was brutally simple - find the exit. Some doors are locked and can only be opened by finding the corresponding key (doors and keys are coloured). The levels are of an inspired design with some simple puzzles using switches and shifting platforms which are pitched just right - not too complex to get in the way of the action.

The enemies range from zombie troopers and fireball throwing imps, through firey-skull belching floating demon heads and mechanized spiders to skeletons with shoulder mounted cannons and giant minotaurs. Despite this hellish look and feel - there is a certain element of humour in the game.

The graphics are crude by todays standards - textures become very blocky up close and the enemies are very jerkily animated - but its all part of the Doom charm and it is still a playable game today.

In all but the first couple of levels you are hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned even though there are lots of weapons such as shotguns, plasma rifles and grenade launchers lying around to use. Because of the limited AI of the enemies which basically works on line of sight, and the fact that you could save your status at any point, each level is perfectly "do-able".

Sounds in Doom are marvellous - you are surrounded by the howls and roars of the enemies and the sound of the mechanised spiders getting closer still fills me with dread!

Doom has been ported to anything that has a processor in it from digital cameras to the PS1 and GBA. The problem with these ports though has been the fact that it is still the same game with the same levels. If you have played Doom and Doom2 on PC, then there has been little reason to buy it again apart from a bit of nostalgia since you have seen it all before.

Along comes the Nintendo 64 version of Doom - I say version, not port - because this is an all new game.

Graphics
Up until Doom 3 arrived, Doom had never looked so good! The levels in Doom 64 look great - lots are well lit and boast a great variety of textures which is surprising for the N64. There are 32 of them (4 hidden) - AND THEY ARE ALL NEW. That's right - all levels are exclusive for N64 and have been vetted by iD for quality - so they are the real deal and are more interactive than the originals too with more moving sections etc. The levels are long... and tough.

The enemies look great too - although they are not polygonal - no doubt to allow the N64 to display lots of them at once. They look good even up close and for once the N64 filtering effects are well used. Unfortunately they are not as varied as original Doom - the skeletons, chain-gun man and giant spider boss have gone along with the rather annoying enemy in Doom 2 who could engulf you in flame from afar.

In an attempt to compensate, the imps and shaved bull creatures come in two types - normal and translucent who are harder to see in darker levels. The minotaurs come in 2 types as well - they look the same but the second type throw different coloured fireballs and are a lot tougher.

We still have the zombies and the two floating-head types - belching skulls and fireballs -each with their own look. The big wideboy with missile launcher arms is there, as are the arachnitrons, the barons of hell and the giant cyberdemon with his homing missile launcher arm. Apart from the lesser enemies, the creatures bear almost no resemblence to their PC Doom counterparts , although they share the same dodgy animation ! The final level has a new boss creature exclusive to this version.

Gameplay
This is still Doom however - no jumping - and no looking up and down. It is 1 player only too - no doubt due to the fact that this is a 1st generation title. But these shortcomings apart , it plays great. The puzzles are a bit more complex - not too much though - this is still the old Doom and for those who loved the original, this is just what we have been looking for. Another gameplay change is that you can only save your progress at the end of a level. Once you get by the first 5 or 6 levels they get quite long and really tough - so it can be heart breaking at times - this hurts the gameplay a bit, but you will keep going back.

The game supports saving to controller pak or passwords. The game makes good use of the N64 controller and analogue movement is supported.

The auto-mapper from the original is still there and you can view it in the classic Doom outline style or with textures.

Sound
The sound has improved - along with the great groans and roars of the creatures we now have creepy ambient sounds instead of the soundtrack of PC Doom. These sounds are amazing - there are grinding and scraping sounds going on - in one level there is what sounds like a baby crying in the background - quite disturbing. Enemies hit the deck with a great sounding damp thud when you take them out with the shotgun.

Overall
Despite its faults, Doom 64 is an old-school FPS with lots of atmosphere and character which is great fun - something that modern FPS developers seem to have forgotten about. It offers a great, tense 1 player experience and has the same feel of the original Doom but with a great new look and a lasting challenge. Highly recommended.