Get The Playstation Version Instead
The Playstation version of Doom was a great way to set off the Playstation back in 1995, because at the time, Doom was an absolutely outstanding game in almost every way. Midway had improved the visuals by including lighting effects and upgraded textures, recreated the soundtrack, added new sound effects and moulded the game to also include link-up two player co-op and death match modes.
What made the Playstation version of Doom standout from all the others as well was that it was complete with Doom 1 & 2 ,and most important of all, could play nearly all of the levels in both games at their smoothest. However Sega gamers, who eagerly hoped to be on the same kind of action with the new Saturn, were forced to miss out on the fun as the machine. Two years later though they got their port, only now there was a serious dilemma. Its 1997, we had seen Duke Nukem 3D, we had seen Quake around the corner was Rareware's Goldeneye 007, Acclaim's Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and Epic Megagames' Unreal.
Yet age was the least of Saturn Doom's problems. Remember Daytona USA? Remember how sluggish it ran, how it was barely playable at the Sega Saturn's launch? Doom is no different, heck, it's worse, it's so slow and sluggish that the game's almost unbearable, if not, unplayable. Saturn Doom plays tremendously rigid in comparison to its Playstation counterpart even when there is little movement on screen. That isn't necessarily to say that the gameplay isn't effected by on-screen movement though as the speed will somehow make further a turn for the worse, dropping as low as 10-15 frames per second when the screen is flooded with demons, projectile attacks and open spaces towards the middle of the game. Developers Rage should of done so much more and it's annoying because they completely had the time to do it. Rage even tore away the lighting effects that were included in the Playstation version, which weren't necessary but definitely pulls away the game's quality especially when the horror soundtrack and effects are still included in this edition of Doom.
And worse still, they didn't fix the more niggling problems found with the Playstation version anyway. For example, Doom on Sega Saturn is still dependant on passcodes in order to save progress in the game, and that is a real bummer as the Saturn not only has memory cards available for storage but internal memory too. Bearing in mind Internal memory comes complete with the console there is no excuse not to cater for save functions of any sort. There are also some smaller, but very apparent, glitches like enemies appearing through walls which should've been fixed during testing.
Still, Doom can be an entertaining title for Sega Saturn even with the enjoyment grinding negatives that find themselves slipped into this edition of the title. While Doom on Saturn is moves slower than a tortoise, it is still a playable game, just. Since this is perhaps the most famous first person shooter ever, you're probably are bound to enjoy the various guns that you get to use ranging from shotguns to plasma rifles and even a chainsaw. Doom is perfection in this category as they all feel good to use and the adjusted ammo count and feedback from each gun is a pleasant feeling. There are lots of baddies to fight, less than there were in the Playstation version, but the favourites from PC are largely present on Saturn. Plus, with the amount of playable levels on offer (as this game features both Doom 1 & 2 complete), multiplayer modes like Deathmatch and Co-Op, Doom's problems can be less a chore to deal with.
It's like you're enjoying a great game but the great game is sadly hidden underneath a ton of stinking rubble, and that rubble happens to be the bad conversion itself. Yet while some games have a diamond in the rough, there is far too much to salvage out of Doom's technical issues on Saturn to really save it. The game is by no comparison to the edition that is on Playstation or perhaps even Super Nintendo for that matter. Either way, Doom doesn't come recommended. It's a terrible mess of a truly monumental game. Had it been built from the ground up this predicament might of been avoided, yet as it happens this is not true. Not true at all.
