DESCRIPTION

A landmark PC game goes portable with this release of Doom for the Game Boy Advance. As the title was converted to the handheld format, effort was devoted to maintaining the 3D environments, the 360-degree control, and the smooth, fast flow that became benchmarks for all the first-person shooters that would follow the original 1993 release. In a basic sense, Nintendo's 32-bit GBA features processing power roughly equivalent to the 486-class PC machines for which the original Doom was first developed. This release is designed to make use of that portable technology to re-create the experience that kept so many action gamers glued to their monitors in the mid-'90s.

Pixilated enemies and power-ups are stationed across textured, 3D-rendered rooms and hallways. Many areas are laid out in a labyrinthine fashion. Players must seek out hidden passages and secret rooms. Movement is actually in "two-and-a-half" dimensions, with the ability to look (and aim) left and right, but not up or down. Multiplayer games are supported through a link cable. As with the technological presentation and gameplay mechanics, this GBA release strives also to retain the style and story of the original Doom, sending the player to the very bowels of hell with the single-minded mission of eliminating as many evil, inhuman enemies as possible. Though earlier releases of Doom were rated "M" for "Mature" audiences, the ESRB assigned a "T" for "Teen" rating to this edition of the game. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide