Final Doom (PlayStation, 1996)

In October 1996, almost a year after their magnificent Playstation conversion of Id Software's Doom, Midway's port was still considered the best first person shooter (FPS for short) on the console. Subsequently, it made sense for Midway to take advantage of the gap in the market for another great FPS game. From a gamer's point of view, the dream game to do this would have been Quake.

If you don't know, in May 1996, Id Software released Quake for the PC, and it rapidly became widely regarded as the best, most technically advanced, FPS game around. However, due to concerns about the game being too technically complicated to convert (which would later be proven to be unfounded, as the Playstation managed to handle a port of Quake 2), Quake on the Playstation was deemed not to be. So, since Midway already held the rights for a Doom game on the Playstation, and since they had already done well in porting Doom, it's not hard to see why they chose to make Final Doom, which had been released on the PC at the same time as Quake.

To keep the quality of the levels as high as possible, or to find some more levels that the Playstation could handle properly, Midway chose a number from another PC title, The Master Levels For Doom 2, and used these for the first episode of Playstation Final Doom. Used as second and third episodes are similarly cut-down versions of the two original episodes from the PC version of Final Doom, TNT: Evilution and The Plutonia Experiment.

Story

This game has practically no story-line. In fact, about the closest thing to a 'plot' there is, based on the section of the manual labelled "Object of the Game", can be quoted here, to illustrate: "Your mission is to shoot your way through a 30+ level, monster-infested Hell... Living to tell the tale if possible.". This seems rather meagre in comparison to the reasonably-sized slab of text that provided a back-story to the PC version of Final Doom. But considering how memorable that introduction wasn't, the fact that it's omitted from the Playstation version is basically irrelevant.

Anyway, as you've probably already realised, Final Doom is not about character development, exciting plot twists and turns, or clever metaphors about deep philosophical issues. It's about finding the coolest weapon you can lay your hands on and blowing the living hell out of anything that moves with it.

While this review of Final Doom has been fairly critical, I actually liked the game. Even if you already have the PC games upon which it is based, it's superior presentation makes it a worthwhile experience. While there isn't a particularly great quantity of levels in comparison to other versions of Doom and Final Doom, there's enough gameplay here for the game to be worth the price-tag. And in terms of quality of gameplay, it does beat the first Playstation Doom game, slightly.

Of course, it would have been nice to have some new content in the game. Some new weapons, monsters, or play modes wouldn't have required that much effort. Perhaps Midway didn't want to run the risk of spoiling the classic Doom gameplay after it had been proven to be so popular so many times. You can judge for yourself whether or not they made the right decision by playing Doom 64, in which they really made an effort to enhance Doom, by releasing their own creativity.

The best thing about this game was that it contained both Doom I and Doom II in one cd. Also, it had over 50 levels and several cheat codes to help anyone beat the game with great ease. Even though the game is old, it is still one of the more fun games to play especially when you can take a chainsaw to a demon's face.

evreything was perfect. EVERYTHING!!! PRICES RIGHT. SHIPPED VERY FAST. GAME IN EXCELLENT CONDITION. CAME WITH ORIGINAL CASE AND INSTRUCTION BOOKLET. WORKS GREAT. I MISSED THIS GAME. ONE OF MT FAVORITES.

It's almost imposible to find in my country, so after a look on eBay, I finally found it! It's one of the PC and PlayStation classic, and without a PS1 Mouse or a PC mouse adapter for PS, is almost imposible to play...but you can never regret for this purchase!!!

the shooting,nothing that i dislike about the game.I was looking for to buy one bc i never had this one at all.

my son wanted this game after all these years even though he has a xbox 360 and a nintendo wii as ewll! i guess you cannot beat out the classics! it actually made us laugh that he said but ma this is one fo the best games i ahve ever played! you cannot top the oldies!

what is having doom without having final doom? i love this game and feel alot better now that i dont need to borrow it from another.

I had this game before. I still love it. It has the master levels and the last 2 episodes of Doom 2. It was worth getting it again.

Final Doom is one of the most excellent Doom games around! I will admit it is harder than the others! An excellent sequel to the original! Highly recommended!
Fun if you like death matches!

This game is long and challenging!!!!!!! This eats you up and spits you out!! It is one of the best copies you will ever pick up!!!!!!!!!!!! Personally I give it an A++!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!