Doom 64(Playstation 5) Review

What I remember about this game was that it came free if you pre ordered Doom Eternal. Come to think, with the combine packaged of both this and Eternal, it might be the greatest pre order I ever did. Back on topic and spoiler alert, I mostly really enjoyed this. What was once a game that was considered "just an N64 port" turned out to be a "lost game" in the series.

Before I start with this review, the PS4 version of the save game menu is not very good. Yes, you can save anywhere but the menu itself never tells you the date and time you saved so when you die, you'll have to cycle through your saves to find the right one. It also doesn't organize the save games by latest adding more to the confusion. I still really enjoy this game but this save menu quirk can getting in the way from time to time. Might not be the case with other platforms. There is also no faster way to select weapons either.

First thing that is noticeable about Doom 64 is that it can have more of an emphasis on an oppressive atmoshphere rather than the upbeat, high octane, heavy metal feeling of the first two games. It can add to the idea of Doom 64 being a "lost" game since Doom 3 would later be focused on a darker atmosphere.

At times Doom 64 can feel like the original Quake with it's horror vibes. The redesigned enemies look a lot more intimidating by comparison to the past games.

I do love the redone weapons, I know the super shotgun reload has it's critics but it's clicking sound upon relading still sounds awesome that I don't mind the lack of an animation.

It does have my favorite reditition of the chaingun. Firing this version while taking out hordes and seeing cacodemons in so much pain upon landing shots along with the sound design makes it so such an awesome weapon to use.

The shotgun can feel like Quake's in that there's no pump time inbetween but it can kill basic enemies a lot better than it did in that.

One mistake this game makes that Doom 2 avoided was to have enemies of higher sightlines and elevation so you can actively switch between the two shotguns. Doom 64 goes back to more cramped mazelike rooms of the first game but with the addition of the super shotgun, it just makes the one shotgun that will actively be used.

The rest of the weapons behave exactly as you expect. There's a new weapon known as the "unmaker" but it was hard to use this over the BFG.

Rest of the game is typical classic Doom fare. Go through mazes, kill enemies, find keys, dodge traps, pick up ammo and health kits. It can be easy to see why at the time of release that this game can be viewed as "derivative" especially when Goldeneye came out the same year on the same system. However, I still liked the formula enough that I can take another familar romp. It's that kind of combination of corridors, lightning, enemies, and weapon line up that makes classic Doom timeless. There are a lot more Barons of Hell and Hell Knights this time around which makes the lack of a faster weapon switch all the more aggrevating. You can say switching to only super shotgun helps since it makes the close range decision making process faster.

There are some more puzzle like sections here and there. My favorite being "Unholy Temple" where you need to not only collect the keycards but then have multiple different orders of the colored switches in order to unlock other switches to open up the bars to the level exit.

Issues within the context of this game are that there are some switches that need to be shot at in order to progress. Duke Nukem 3D had something similar but I'd argue that game was more consistent with it and actively made sure to shoot switches to get anywhere. In Doom 64, you could go multiple levels without even shooting switch to progress furthur.

Other issues is that some parts of the level you can interact while others you can. There are some bars that Doomguy can lower by pressing interact and others he can only lower by pressing a switch in another part of the level. It can make for weird inconsistencies.

The final issue is that the final boss sucks. If you didn't do the optional levels, the best you can hope for is that you kamikaze it with the BFG and hope the credits roll a few seconds later. This is so terrible it makes the Icon of Sin look good and that was a terrible final boss in it's own right.

Overall, I played Doom 64 and really enjoyed and still do now. Out of the "mainline" classic games, 64 is my least favorite but that's like being the worst out of predescesors that were already excellent. Being the "worst" is just makes you least great but come on, you are still great.