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Apple continues to position the iPhone/iPod Touch as a game machine to be reckoned with by adding another big franchise name to stable, none other then the game that started the FPS genre, Doom. Doom Resurrection is billed as a totally new chapter in the Doom saga optimized just for the unique features of the iPhone and promises all the thrills, chills and action of it’s PC cousins. Does it succeed? Well, that is a loaded question…

The game definitely has the look and feel of Doom. The zombies look wrong in the right way, and the weapons ring true to the franchise. The storyline is also classic Doom. A somewhat twisted but mysterious science complex overrun by unfed zombie-demon things due to an experiment gone horribly wrong, yadda yadda yadda. You are the last survivor of a military recon team that got surprised, overwhelmed and noshed on by the monsters. Your new mission…get the hell out of there.

The main area that this game falls down is in the environment. Oh, it looks great with lots of spooky looking shadows and mysterious doors and boxes, zombies or power ups could be lurking anywhere….the only problem is you can’t explore them to find out. You are on rails, the game moves you along to the next place you should be and you can’t free roam the map. What in other Doom games are areas to interact with, easter eggs to find and stuff to break in Doom Resurrection is just set dressing. That was VERY disappointing to me. There really isn’t much to do in Doom Resurrection except to blow the crap out of whatever the game points you at….but it does that one thing very very well.

The game mechanics, specially designed for the iPhone, work well, with fire/reload/change weapon controls in the four corners of the screen. You don’t have control over movement, but you aim the gun sight using the accelerometer, which you can recalibrate at any time. One nice touch is that to break loose from clinches with snacking zombies, you have to shake the iPhone. This system works quite admirably, but I usually prefer to have the option of using an on screen virtual D-pad rather than accelerometer to avoid stares on the bus…or at least more stares than normal

Doom Resurrection is available for 10 dollars from the AppStore. It is a very competent shooter for the iPhone, but is it worth that price? If you are into zombie blasting and shooting games or are a big Doom fan, then I would say yes, definitely. More casual gamers however might be better off using that same money for several games which may hold their interest longer.

(Screen cap credit: IGN)