The Nintendo Switch has gotten a plethora of third-party support from developers and publishers that some would never believe would invest in the company’s latest hit console, which has just reached 10 million units in sales. Bethesda has shown Nintendo support though, bringing DOOM and Skyrim over to the system, as well as releasing their latest hit Wolfenstein II in early 2018 on the Switch.
While DOOM is a one-year-old game (roughly) and a reboot of sorts of a longstanding franchise dating back to 1993 and is one of the best shooters of this generation. Many gamers who own Nintendo consoles have never gotten to experience it before, so bringing it to the Switch was a very smart move on Bethesda’s part. While it played great on its predecessors, is DOOM a must-have for Nintendo Switch owners who need their First-Person Shooter fix?
Hell on Mars: A Fast-Paced Adventure
The plot of DOOM is pretty simple. You’re on Mars and hell demons have been unleashed. Your job is to wipe them out. It’s simple but it works. There’s more to it than just that, but the game isn’t about its plot. This game harkens back to the old days of PC shooters. The game is hectic. There are enemies lurking at every corner and the camera moves incredibly fast. There’s no aiming down the sites or anything like that. It’s classic shoot-and-hit. From that respect, I would compare it to the early Halo games, only in its shooting mechanics. It feels so rewarding.
Throughout the adventure, you encounter areas with demons and have to wipe them out. This is pretty common, but in addition to that, there’s a lot of exploration and even platforming to be done. It’s a very diverse game. There are a lot of collectibles you can find for the codex, as well as points that can be used for powerups for weapons and your armor. You also collect new weapons as the game goes on. It’s all very well done and thought out. Still though, the game moves so fast, and at times it’s just hard to put down.
The Switch Version
Obviously, the Switch version doesn’t look quite as good as its counterparts, but that’s okay. It’s running on a console/portable hybrid and sometimes visual sacrifices have to be made. Panic Button has stated it took a lot of effort to bring this game to the Nintendo Switch, solidifying their support for the system. The game does look very good though. There are little to no framerate drops, both in portable and docked modes. Whether it runs in 720p or 1080p or 4K, honestly, that doesn’t matter. The game looks great.
There are three controller options in DOOM for the Nintendo Switch: The Joy-Cons, the Pro Controller, and the controller grip. The game does have some motion controls if you use the Joy-Cons, but at best they’re a bit gimmicky; kind of cool, but ultimately thrown into the game for the sake of it. Basically, you can use them to perform glory kills and melee attacks. It’s cool, but the Pro Controller is the best way to play the game. I just recently got one (the limited Xenoblade edition), and playing with it just feels right, especially if you play a lot of shooters. It’s also best for multiplayer mode.
Multiplayer
The multiplayer in DOOM is actually a lot of fun. There are a lot of different game modes; modes for beginners, team-based and objective-based modes, and a free-for-all mode. As you level up, you are able to customize your armor and unlock your own loadouts, much like Halo.
The multiplayer is not the staple of the game by any means: this is a very single-player based experience. That being said, DOOM’s multiplayer is a lot of fun and allows users to get more of their DOOM fix in an online multiplayer setting.
The Bottom Line
If you already have DOOM on the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, this game isn’t for you, unless you want to be able to play the game portably. If you’ve never played the game, like myself (I have played some when I briefly owned it for the Xbox One but not enough to say I truly experienced it), this game is for you. It’s a fantastic port with a multitude of different control options and it plays and looks incredible. There are a few things, like the sound cutting out, that needs to be fixed (hopefully with a patch) and the text can be too small to read at times, but that doesn’t take away from the experience as a whole.
DOOM is an incredible, hectic, old-school type game for the Nintendo Switch that every First-Person shooter fan who has the console needs to own. The action, exploration, the variety of the levels, and even the multiplayer experience are reasons enough to label this as one of the best shooters of this generation. It offers an incredible experience on the Nintendo Switch that is enough to set it apart from its counterparts.
DOOM is perfect for the Nintendo Switch. It’s wicked fun with its frantic pace, and isn’t fun what Nintendo software and hardware are all about?
- It looks great on the Nintendo Switch.
- Frantic/Hectic gameplay which is a ton of fun.
- Multiplayer mode is fun and better than some make it out to be.
- The text can be too small to read at times.