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Doom Nintendo Switch Review

Developer: ID Software

Publisher: Bethesda

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Release Date: 10th November

Price as of Article: $59.99 USD, £40 GBP (buy here)

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You are a marine who has been set loose to take down the hordes of demons unleashed by the Union Aerospace Corporation.  Based on the future set colonisation of Mars. With the words “Rip and Tear” ringing in your ears you set off on a fast-paced brutal adventure which hardly ever lets up. You are the man to put a stop to these demons by any means necessary.

The music on Switch is of course as good as it was on the PS4, Xbox one and PC versions of the game. The music made by Mick Gordon is one of the best soundtracks to have graced a game. It is the perfect accompaniment to the action, I would go as far as to say it has a life all of its own and I could not imagine the world of Doom without the pulsating rhythm of this absolute masterpiece. Sound effects are just as good to the rip-roaring sound of your chainsaw cutting into the flesh of demons and tearing them in half to a well-placed shotgun shot to the head.

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I did encounter some sound problems every so often with the game and these were prevalent in glory kills where an auto animation takes over. During these kills I experienced all manner of weird stuff going on. Sometimes the volume would drop or others the sound would disappear altogether. I must stress while it was noticeable it wasn’t something that was a deal breaker by any means but certainly something to be aware of and I would expect a patch in future to sort this out.

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The visuals here of the levels landscapes are incredible with cool stuff always going on in the background, Demons look, well scary and animations are for the most part fluid.

The benefit I guess of not having had the game provided to us early was being able to see and hear everything that people were not happy with or what people were comparing. One of the obvious comparisons we are going to make here is against the PS4, PC and Xbox One versions of Doom.

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To do this, however, in my opinion, is just a waste of time. This runs in at 30 frames per second and if your one of those people who likes to play games on a big TV at 60 FPS then this is not going to be for you. If your lucky enough to have one of the other consoles or a decent specked PC then I would say buy this game now on one of those systems because the game is smoother and the visual fidelity is better of that there is no argument here and for me to say otherwise would be a complete fabrication.

The game runs at 720p in both docked mode and in handheld and so it’s pretty noticeable playing on a larger screen that everything is that little bit muddier but in handheld, it looks great for sure. I would also say if you have never had the pleasure of Doom on another system and this is your first time then even better as you would not notice these differences so much. In any case, it’s like comparing apples and oranges, in my opinion, you just cannot compare the systems in that way as the majority of people will buy this version to have the option of portability.

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This game on this system serves a completely different purpose. At the weekend I went out with my channel partner James and some family. You cant take any of the other consoles on the move and playing it in the car on the way to the shops, i can tell you now on the smaller screen I didn’t give a monkeys about the graphical fidelity or frame rates because it runs fantastically well. Playing the game in the lift on the way to do the weekly shop perhaps? How about when walking around the shops with the Mrs getting bored and busting out the Switch whilst looking at food, does graphical fidelity come into it then? What about when your mate is taking an inordinate amount of time looking for a birthday card, could you not just play Doom for 5 minutes? Get one of those runes perhaps. Now I know people are going to say this is completely unsociable but I am making my point, how about at a family birthday party meal and busting out doom to show off to your friends? Last but not when nature calls, well you know!

My point is playing Doom on the move is a marvel, the Switch a magical box of tricks where I asked myself how did Panic button do such an incredible job of porting this thing? How do I now have the flexibility to play Doom on trains, planes and automobiles! The previous two I was unable to provide footage of as I am not a big fan of public transport.

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Yea there were times where frame rates went missing and there was a bit of slowdown when hordes of Demons wanted to do nothing better than rip me to pieces but this was absolutely forgivable to have this game portable and that’s the question here.

Are you willing to forgo performance and graphical fidelity for portability? and are you willing to pay triple the price for that? Only you can answer that.

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doom switch review
The gates to hell – now on the move!

I played Doom and completed it back in 2016 and here on Switch, it’s as fun as ever, in fact, I had forgotten just how fun it was which is the beauty of the Switch at the moment. It’s bringing older games to the system that many may have stopped playing only to be re-enthused to play these games again. For first timers, it’s brilliant as you may have missed or not had the opportunity to play some of these brilliant titles so it now gives you a reason to play them.

It’s as fast and as frantic as ever. If you are a first timer then this is classic Doom. There are no Cover mechanics here, this is just you, with an arsenal of weapons and your suit which are upgradeable.

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Its then up to you to deal as much damage as possible and take down every Demon you come across. Most of the normal moves which you are used to are here, Crouch, jump and grab to higher platforms, and move quickly while dodging demons laser beams, fireballs and all other sorts of menaces. The beauty for me is the plethora of different demons and the AI. You have your Demons which are just cannon fodder, there to toy with and practice. Shoot demons enough and when they turn orange you can go in for a special melee attack where you will do all sorts of beautiful kills from smacking Demons skull against a wall and crushing it to just ripping their arms off and punching their heads it. The fun you can have with the chainsaw is just pure smile-inducing and I am not sure whether that makes me a very good person or not but then I remind myself this is just a game!

Whats really fantastic is the variation fo Demons, you get ones which jump all over the place and will fire magical attacks at you too, ones which fly and summons more demons. Then you get your tanks which are a right pain to kill, Demons with shields where you will have to find a way to get behind them to kill. There are all sorts here and the AI will keep you on your toes.

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The main campaign here is around 8-10 hours long over 13 chapters and of course, you can play this on different difficulty levels. Hurt me plenty was enough for me but no doubt I will return again. You can upgrade your suit by looting dead bodies of Praetor tokens and other places too but I’m not going to spoil it here. Each level has a number of objectives which are pretty simple and you will have to stop the demon portals by ripping out what I can only describe as hearts within these hell gates. you have your health bar and armour bar which you will need to keep topped up if you are to survive the scourge.

There are lots of secrets too and the game will let you know how many you missed at the end of each level. Runes will require you to complete mini-games like shoot 30 barrels in 10 seconds with each barrel you shoot giving you an extra 2 seconds or killing 15 demons within 10 seconds. All these need to be found as well and if a rune is equipped will give you various upgrades. A couple of the first you will come across is dazed and confused and Vacuum one giving you the ability to make demons remain in a stagger state for longer or the latter will allow your character the ability to absorb dropped items over a longer range which is quite useful if equipped. Later you will come across Rich get richer which I won’t spoil as to what that does.

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You can also mod and upgrade your weapons and these are earned through your performance during combat of which you can earn up to 5 of them. The more you upgrade a certain weapon the more expensive it becomes to upgrade the next time around. In terms of mods which are secondary upgrades to your weapons can be done when finding floating bots around each level.

There is also a multiplayer mode with Deathmatches which you can play and as you level up Halo style you will unlock further goodies as well as the ability to play as certain demons which is cool. It works well actually and you can choose to play with friends which is welcome for sure. Maps are nice and small which allows for good contact instead of being to spread out. Multiplayer will require an extra 9 gigs of space on your switch apart from the main cartridge so take this into consideration.

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I purchased this game from Amazon which you can get now for £38 with Prime or £40 without. If you compare to other consoles as the game is a year old you can pick up for £10-15. So is the extra money worth it to you? Well the charts are already showing that people are willing to buy this in digital format where the game is even more expensive at £49,99 and the game is 2nd in the charts so to many people it’s a game worth it to them for the portability and to me it’s worth it as I bought it not just for review but for my collection. If I am at home it’s super convenient for the family to watch the TV and for me to play for a bit on the sofa if the TV is out of commission. I love playing this in portable mode so for me it worth the money. It’s missing snapmap the level editor but it was not something I ever used on other consoles. If this is something you wanted then be aware it’s not here.

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