Doom Eternal

Genre: First-Person Shooter

Players: 1-3 Team Competitive (Online)

Game Company Bad Behavior Profile Page: ZeniMax Media Inc

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in the physical-only Compilation, Doom Anthology, along with Doom (1993), Doom II Classic, Doom 64, Doom 3, and Doom (2016).)

Doom Eternal is a First-Person Shooter released early in 2020 for multiple platforms, and later that same year for Nintendo Switch. This is the follow-up to 2016’s Doom reboot, and builds on both the gameplay and story introduced in that game, with the Doom Slayer now faced with an all-out invasion of Earth by the demons of hell.

So… this is a game I’ve honestly felt a little apprehensive about reviewing. Those who have been following my reviews for a while may recall that Doom 2016 is a game where my opinion on the Nintendo Switch port seemed to differ from the overwhelming majority of people. In short, I thought it was a terrible port, with blurry visuals that made the game’s fast-paced gameplay an eye-watering pain to play. What’s more, when it comes to modern graphically-demanding shooters, we saw just how a bad Nintendo Switch port can affect the gameplay in the recent release of Apex Legends, which was crippled in its release on Nintendo Switch in a way that essentially broke the game.

It bears mention that all of the ports I’m talking about here were handled by the same company, Panic Button. So trust me when I say, I was prepared for Doom Eternal on Nintendo Switch to be yet another case of a disappointing modern First-Person Shooter port on Nintendo Switch, especially after it took far longer to see release on the Nintendo Switch than the developer initially intended.

But… actually, no. I am delighted and relieved to say that Doom Eternal on the Nintendo Switch is a fantastic port.

Okay, I need to qualify that somewhat. To be clear, this is absolutely a visual downgrade from every other platform that plays Doom Eternal. If you have another platform to play this game on, you should absolutely play it elsewhere. But considering that this a visually top-notch shooter released on the Nintendo Switch the same year as its PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One counterparts, it is nothing short of a technical marvel that it is not only one of the most ambitious Nintendo Switch ports that Panic Button has ever attempted, but I would argue it is their most successful. This game puts to shame the blurry mess of the Doom 2016 port and the terrible port of Apex Legends, and it even outpaces the solid Wolfenstein ports.

In terms of numbers, you’re looking at a resolution of 720p to about 540p in docked mode, 600p to 360p in handheld mode, with the game running at a very steady 30FPS (thanks to Digital Foundry for the numbers!). Again, this is unquestionably a downgrade from other versions of the game, where you’ll be looking at much better resolutions and twice the framerate. This version also reduces texture resolutions and ditches some atmospheric and particle effects from other versions of the game. However, the framerates here are far more stable than any of the other Panic Button ports, and the game doesn’t feel like I’m playing it with vaseline smeared over my screen in the same way that Doom 2016 did. And while the lower resolutions and texture resolutions can certainly make enemies and objects in the distance a bit more blurry, the game is still perfectly playable even with the visual downgrade, and the Nintendo Switch version even adds in some very good gyroscopic motion control, for those who are inclined to play their Nintendo Switch shooters that way.

I keep talking about the Nintendo Switch version of this game being “inferior” and a “visual downgrade”, but make no mistake, Doom Eternal is an absolutely gorgeous game, even on the Nintendo Switch. Large, detailed environments and enemies, superb character animation for both enemies and your own actions (including multiple unique “glory kill” animations for each enemy type), and everything moving at a super-fast pace that makes for some of the fastest combat you’ll find in a modern First-Person Shooter.

This is one of Doom Eternal’s core strengths – its combat is designed to heavily encourage the player to keep moving. I always felt like I was limited in ammo and just a few hits away from death, but at the same time, the game’s systems ensure I was also just one move away from refilling my health by getting a delightfully ultra-violent “glory kill” by using a melee attack on a flashing near-death enemy. And I could pretty much always refill my ammo by using my chainsaw to slice through another enemy. A part of the strategy of combat in this game is pacing your combat so you’re moving back and forth between blasting away at tougher enemies and then picking off smaller enemies with one of your melee attacks to refill health and ammo. The game does a good job of ensuring these easily-offed mooks are always hanging around, and you quickly learn to see them as salvation during a tough spot rather than an added obstacle.

Doom Eternal goes even farther than its predecessor in encouraging players to keep moving, introducing a number of new mobility options, such as a mid-air dash, poles to swing from, and a grappling hook. All of these tie pretty well into the fast-moving gameplay, requiring players to be mindful of the environment as they dodge gunfire, unload on larger enemies, and hunt down smaller ones to cull for pickups. This results in some really satisfying core gameplay that maintains a good amount of variety while keeping that emphasis on the fast combat that this series has made its calling card.

The game’s single-player campaign is supplemented here with a clever 2-vs-1 multiplayer mode that has one player fighting as the Doom Slayer while two other players try to take them down with the demon of their choice, along with the ability to summon other demons as backup and use defensive and offensive area control abilities. I absolutely love how thorough and well thought-out each of the half-dozen or so demons’ abilities are, and making demon players responsible for summoning their own horde is a clever way to add a unique element to this game. The online multiplayer doesn’t seem like it has a great number of players, but there were enough present that I was able to get in some time both as Slayer and as a Demon, and in my limited time playing I have to admit I felt like the demons had a bit of an advantage, especially if you get two demon players who know how to cooperate and coordinate strategies. However, as either side it was still a blast to play, and the unique asymmetrical nature of the multiplayer makes it an experience like nothing else out there.

There’s tons of other stuff I haven’t even gotten into here – the fantastic soundtrack that mixes elements of rock and metal with a “metal choir” that not only perfectly fits the game, it elevates it (check out The Only Thing They Fear is You and Meathook for a few great examples), really getting the blood pumping. There are tons of secrets hidden throughout the game to find, including poorly-emulated versions of the original two Doom games (hey, it’s a bonus – if you really want to play these games on your Nintendo Switch, they each sell separately for $5), skill trees to customize your character in numerous ways, tons of lore to read… this game really feels like the full package.

Welllll… maybe not full package. Given its late arrival on Nintendo Switch, one could always hope that Nintendo Switch owners might be tossed a bone by including The Ancient Gods expansion. Sadly, no such luck.

In the end, I think that how you’ll feel about Doom Eternal on Nintendo Switch will come down to how realistic your expectations are. If you were wanting something on par with the other versions of the game, well, you were never going to get that on a portable game system. And I’ll say again, if you can get this game on another platform, every other platform is going to offer you a better version of this game. However, if you play primarily on Nintendo Switch, this is an absolutely phenomenal port of Doom Eternal that retains much of what made this game so great on other platforms, and it is without question an absolutely sublime First-Person Shooter that any fan of the genre absolutely needs to play. Whatever platform you get it on, do not miss it.

tl;dr – Doom Eternal on Nintendo Switch is, of course, a huge visual downgrade from other versions of the game, but it still looks great, is perfectly playable, and not only a more ambitious port than Doom 2016, but a far more successful one too. This is a solid version of a truly phenomenal, visually-stunning (yes, even on Nintendo Switch) First-Person Shooter with great, fast-paced action and a clever and inventive online 2-vs-1 multiplayer mode. If you can play this game elsewhere, definitely do. But if Nintendo Switch is your platform of choice, know that Doom Eternal is a must-play First-Person Shooter that doesn’t lose much in its transition to the handheld platform.

Grade: A

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