Hell on Earth... and I couldn't be happier
As a lifelong Doom fan, I was extremely skeptical when I heard that the granddaddy of all first person shooters would be making its way to Xbox Live a few years ago. In the day of modern, twin stick controlled shooters, how on earth could Doom possibly hold a candle? Well, it ends up that good monsters, sweet weapons, and frequent white-knuckle situations still cut it. Doom managed to transfer very well to the Xbox Live Arcade. And now, several years after the original's re-release, the sequel enters the fray.
Coming in only a few months after the stellar re-release of Perfect Dark, Doom II gives shooter fans yet another reason to plunk down ten bucks on an Arcade game. This release sees the original Doom II experience (30 levels plus the two AWESOME secret levels) as well as an entirely new episode, exclusive to XBLA. The core Doom II experience added very little to the template established by its predecessor; the aptly named Super Shotgun was the only additional weapon, and several nasty enemies enlisted in the forces of Hell, including the grotesquely obese Mancubus, the pregnant-with-flaming-skulls Pain Elemental, and the utterly terrifying (and cheap) ArchVile. The new levels in the XBLA version do not add anything to the Doom II experience. At the same time, they ratchet up the challenge level immensely, throwing hordes of monsters at you from every nook and cranny. You will die. A lot. And that's on the easier difficulties.
Like any XBLA release, Doom II comes with 200 potential achievement points. Some of them are multiplayer related (rack up 100 total kills, etc) so if you're looking for those you'd better get a move on before the game becomes depopulated online. Both episodes can be completed co-operatively with a friend either online or in split-screen local multiplayer. Naturally, it wouldn't be a Doom game without some form of competitive multiplayer, but don't get your hopes up: deathmatch is just about all you've got. Currently, lag is a big problem in online multiplayer. In some games, it was so bad that a few players ragequit--a big deal when you're limited to a handful of players online.
Besides the limited multiplayer offerings and the technical problems (that should be addressed in a patch, I'd imagine) my only other gripe is how the game handles weapon selection. In the computer releases of Doom II, the player could toggle between the "nerf" shotgun and the Super Shotgun by pressing the number associated with that weapon (usually "3".) In the XBLA version, the Y and B buttons move you backwards and forwards among the weapons. The Super Shotgun, inexplicably, is not next to the shotgun in weapon selection. The process is somewhat easier when using the d-pad, which acts as a quick select, but weapons switching is still needlessly tedious and can really cost you dearly when you're in a pinch.
If you're looking for a wholesale reinvention or upgrade of the original game, a la Perfect Dark, you won't get it with Doom II. But you do get one of the best first person shooters ever made playable on a home console for the first time in a long, long time. Get it.
