This review first appeared in E16, published in January 1995.
Ever since Doom appeared on the PC, console manufacturers have been falling over themselves to get a slice of the action on their own machines. Nintendo has bought the rights to the game for a custom Ultra 64 version coded by Williams; Sega has acquired it for the 32X; and the Saturn is getting Doom II.
But the first past the post is the Jaguar version, programmed by the original game’s creators, id Software. The importance of Doom to Atari can’t be overstated. If any game is a guaranteed hit, it’s this one, and a hit is what Atari desperately needs if it is to have any chance of salvaging the Jaguar. (In fact, id could have finished the game long ago, but it was held back by Atari to give Wolfenstein and Alien Vs Predator a fighting chance.)
Jaguar Doom is actually a hybrid of Doom and Doom II. The original game’s tiered structure has been jettisoned, which means that when you enter a new section you don’t lose all the weapons you’ve accumulated. The level designs have also been revamped to include the greater variety of scenery in Doom II – some sections have been altered beyond all recognition. Id has made other changes, too. Six levels have been dumped altogether, while several new, monster-filled locations have been added, all of which are predictably fiendish. Two end-of-level bosses have been removed – the Cyberdaemon and the Spider Mastermind – but unfortunately, none of the monsters from Doom II have found their way into the game.
Just as Doom pushed the PC’s graphical capabilities to their limit, it also demonstrates the power at the Jaguar’s command. Doom runs at about the same speed on the Jaguar as it does on a 486/50 PC – in other words, fast. Even more impressive is the fact that there’s virtually no slowdown, even when you’re belting about in the biggest, most complex rooms, firing wildly at hordes of rampaging monsters. (This contrasts favourably with Alien Vs Predator, whose frame rate is at best half Doom’s.) In fact, in terms of graphics, Jaguar Doom is virtually indistinguishable from the PC game.
One of the biggest worries about transferring Doom to the Jaguar was the control mechanism. As aficionados of the game will confirm, the best way to play Doom is with a mouse and keyboard. Obviously, this isn’t possible with a joypad-based system, but id’s solution is acceptable, if not perfect. Most of the standard manoeuvres can be executed with ease, although you can’t turn around and run away quite as quickly as you’d like.
One of the main advantages of playing Doom on a console is that you can view it on the biggest telly you can get your hands on, rather than a cramped 14” PC monitor. And Doom is one of the few games that benefits from the speaker being turned up to full volume. Id has managed to retain all of the original game’s glorious sound: blasting an imp with a rocket still produces a wonderful squelch as its insides erupt, and there’s nothing more satisfying than the sound of a powered-up chainsaw.
Given Doom’s unmatched reputation, it would be a surprise if the Jaguar version wasn’t a success. Whether it will attract new adherents to Atari’s machine is a matter of conjecture, but given that the game previously needed a grand’s worth of PC, it’s an impressive endorsement.
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