Now that DOOM: The Dark Ages is coming to current-gen consoles, I thought it was finally time to give this rebooted series a shot. The praise for DOOM 2016 and DOOM Eternal is pretty high, with plenty of love given to their fast-paced gameplay. As someone who doesn’t always like first-person shooters, it took a deep discount before deciding to give this game a shot.
After purchasing the first game on Switch for a discounted price of $5, I can finally say that the critically-acclaimed DOOM 2016 is, in fact, an excellent game. Even on the current Nintendo Switch model, this shooter kicks all kinds of demon butt and feels good while doing so.
When the game opened with your character skipping exposition and shooting their way out, I knew that this was going to be a great shooter. The lore of this series doesn’t interest me, so seeing the game actively ignore it was great. It meant no time for yapping and plenty of time for shooting, which is this shooter’s biggest strength.
Going to rooms filled with enemies ensured non-stop action wherever my protagonist went. Just having to shoot my way through demons was incredibly satisfying, making each kill feel better than the last. Maybe it’s seeing their heads explode or the sound effects that come with killing these fools, but I couldn’t put this down for hours on end.
The Glory Kills feature was also amazing to use. On paper, constantly using this mechanic should be repetitive since you’ll see a lot of the same animations over and over again. Conceptually, Glory Kills in DOOM 2016 are genius because using them not only grants us a neat animation, but also leads to dead enemies dropping ammo and health. Because a lot of the enemies get tougher later on, this mechanic becomes a must-use and always feels good, especially with those rewards after.
It’s also great seeing a game as gritty and dark as DOOM 2016 not take itself too seriously. The tone of its story might be “serious,” but players can explore areas, do platforming, find a bunch of collectibles, and just have fun killing demons. After the series tried to go for a horror vibe with DOOM 3, this was probably the right direction to take, considering it received a mixed reaction.
click to enlargeAs for playing this game on the Switch, it’s a pretty pleasant experience, and the devs deserve praise for making it play well on such an underpowered device. Some fans might point out that the shooter will look better on Steam Deck, but there’s still something special about seeing a port like this look and play so good on weaker hardware.
DOOM 2016 is excellent, even on Switch. Fans don’t have to wait for a Switch 2 port, because the game already runs well on an original Switch. Of course, they can also get it on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.