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Hell is unleashed on the Zodiac. Id Software’s Doom was famous for its incredibly quick and frantic gameplay, as well as its contributions to the online multiplayer and user modifications (“mods”) areas. Id Software simply pushed the PC to its limits with Doom and capitalized on its success with Doom II.
The game on Zodiac is very much like the one that hit the PC some ten years ago. It is largely move and shoot, often with many enemies on screen forcing you to react very quickly or risk death. Thankfully, Doom II is a very large game. There are some thirty levels to get through and each of them takes much a while to get through, very unlike Duke Nukem Mobile’s minute-run levels. As I mentioned above, there isn’t much going on besides running, strafing and shooting although some rudimentary puzzles show up from time to time.
Much like the PC version, you’ll find many enemies in this version of Doom II. All of the favorite weapons return, as well. This includes the pistol, shotgun and double-barreled shotgun. There is also a chainsaw to have some fun with, in addition to, the rocket launcher and BFG (Big F-ing Gun).
The only real problem with Doom II (besides the graphics, which I’ll get to in a bit) is that the controls are a bit weird. There seem to be problems turning properly, or at least the controls don’t work as you would expect. Once you get used to its quirks, it’s very easy to frag away.
Unfortunately, Doom II doesn’t feature any multiplayer at all, which is really disappointing for two main reasons. The first one is that Doom II just begs to be played on multiplayer, as all other ports of this game have allowed you to. The second is that the Zodiac’s Bluetooth wireless multiplayer capabilities are put to waste.
To sort of make up for that fact, the game is still very mod friendly. The Zodiac community has been active in reworking classic Doom II mods to work on the handheld. ZodiacGamer.com’s message boards have a complete listing of which mods work and which don’t. It’s nice to see strong mod support present in this version since it was such an important aspect of the original release.
Visually, the game is really showing its age. The game is still as fast as ever, probably the quickest game I have seen on the Zodiac but it just doesn’t look all that good. Everything in the game - the weapons, enemies and explosions - is incredibly pixilated. This is a problem confounded by the game running at an estimated 320x240 resolution stretched to fit the Zodiac’s 480x320 display. Even when compared with other Zodiac first person shooters, like Duke Nukem Mobile, Doom II is painfully lacking in the visuals department.
The game’s soundtrack is lifted right from the PC version and fits the game very well. Everything from the score, to the various screams and weapon effects will bring back fond memories to gamers who experienced Doom II when it was first released. Custom soundtrack via the Zodiac's MP3 utility is supported, as well.
Doom II is still a very solid game. Even after all these years it’ll provide hours of brainless fun for the average gamer. Nonetheless, it’s a bit disappointing that MachineWorks Northwest didn’t put more effort into porting the game to the Zodiac. With a better resolution, the graphics would have looked better and with some multiplayer, Doom II would have been a must-have for Zodiac gamers. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Aug 27, 2004
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