Doom was one of my favourite games of 2015 and the Switch is my favourite console of this generation, so naturally this was a highly anticipated port for me. 2015’s Doom reboot brought new life into the franchise as an intense, first person shooter where you play as an unnamed space marine combating the forces of hell.

Doom on the Switch is every bit as fun as its versions on PS4, XboxOne and PC. The gameplay is hectic, visceral and incredibly satisfying. Where many first person shooters often encourage cautious gameplay, Doom rewards you for moving fast and playing aggressively. This is embodied in the Glory Kills mechanic whereby you regain some of your health for performing over the top, gruesome melee kills on enemies. This works  well in the flow of combat as it allows you to keep the pressure on  and to never stop moving.

From a presentation standpoint, Doom is a technical marvel on Switch. The fact that such an incredibly beautiful game runs at 720p and 30FPS on a portable console is amazing. That said, I did encounter some heavy dips in framerate in one or two of the more chaotic battles, but it was a rare occurrence and never really hurt the experience. The sound is amazing too, with guttural weapon noises, the screams of the demons and a heavy metal soundtrack meshing with the intense action wonderfully.

For those who have already played Doom, there is still an incentive to pick it up again. The online multiplayer, which was frankly lacking on release, is much improved.  On top of that there is a new arcade mode where you do speed runs of the levels and get score multipliers for avoiding damage or chaining kills together. This mode makes the whole campaign feel fresh again and works nicely with Doom’s frenetic gameplay.

All in all, Doom is a great port of a great game. Its frantic gunplay is great on the go and runs remarkably well on Switch, with tons of new content worth checking out even for Doom veterans.

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