Doom

This is the game I was expecting back in November. Now I can finally recommend DOOM to friends without having to append a mountain of caveats!

Technically this port is so impressive that sometimes it’s hard to believe it actually exists. It’s the game itself that I have some issues with, as in my opinion its campaign is encumbered by elements that sometimes unnecessarily slow down Doom’s fantastic pace.

It’s not a perfect port. For those looking to play DOOM purely on the big screen, the Switch version’s janky visuals make it difficult to recommend. Yet, if you’re looking for a portable version of one of the best shooters in recent memory, DOOM thoroughly deserves to be the blood-soaked outlier lurking in your Switch library.

Despite these bugs, I’m still impressed with the quality of Doom on the Switch. The singleplayer campaign – with it’s replay value and multiple difficulties – easily makes it worth the price tag. It is a must play for Switch owners clamouring for some hyperviolence on their train rides.

DOOM left an amazingly good impression, and became my favorite shooter since... hmmm... Black or the Killzone trilogy? That sounds right; first-person shooters or games that are violent simply for violence's sake fell out of my favor in my 20s, so it is rare than one gets anything more than a passing "meh" from me. But DOOM is really something special. It's faster than 95% of the shooters I've played, and more intense than nearly all of them. The exploration, huge stages and mountains of collectibles and upgrades set it aside from the average "kill everything, move on" shooters, and the glory kills make dispatching bad guys as satisfying a treat as it's ever been in any other game before it. The in-game map is a huge pain and the multiplayer is a GB-hogging snoozefest, but those are literally the only downsides I see. Every adult Switch owner except for the most squeamish, should have DOOM in their cartridge slot or installed on their SD card. In a whirlwind year for the Switch and AAA releases, DOOM stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the big boys, and missing out on it would be a crime.