Activision and Microsoft have just made this gamers day with the release of Doom for the Xbox Live Arcade. Taking full advantage of X'06 in Barcelona the announcement was made and the downloading started immediately. It's Doom, the original, no rock, no next generation gaming engine, just good old point and click demon slaying action. Ready your chainsaws here is our review of Xbox Live Arcade's DOOM.

Doom is a legend amongst the gaming world. The influence Doom has had is actually staggering; it's the first game to really mix horror into the First Person genre, it was a huge success. I'm sure you heard these names floating around over the years, John Romero and John Carmack, those two boys and a small handful of other built this baby from a modified Wolfenstein gaming engine. That's old school, now downloading it over a console is definitely the new school. That's where we are today, Doom available over the Xbox Live Marketplace. It sure is sweet and for any old school gamer or first person shooter fan this is baby, this is our Halo.

Doom could have gone the wrong way with a graphic update and extras added all over. I'm happy to report; it's true to the original besides the resolution being bumped up to 108i. Every faithful pixilated pixel on each demons head is even more clear then before. If you're not familiar with Doom, I guess their could be a few, Doom puts you on a Space station located on one of the moons from mars and you as the last Space Marine have to fight a legion of demonic forces from the depths of hell. If that doesn't sound like an idea situation for a shooter, I don't know what does. Doom is simple gets keys, kill demons and find the exit on each level. No fancy NPCs, squad based tactics, or interesting plot developments. Doom is a basic as they come, and yes, that is a good thing.

In Doom you have the choice of four episodes as you start, Knee Deep in the Dead, the Shores of Hell, Inferno, and Thy Flesh Consumed. Each episode is filled with multi-level mazes in which you fight against the armies of hell. If you're feeling brave you can pump up the difficulty to your desired skill, just note that Nightmare level, the highest level is really that, a nightmare. Doom can be excessively hard, or brutally easy, it's your choice really. Although the included an achievement for finishing one level in Nightmare, so I'm sure most Xbox gamers will be trying for this one.

Monsters, Demons, Freaks, whatever you call them are all over Doom and you'll have to do battle with them all. The A.I. is pretty non-existent, but it can be challenging when hordes are coming after you. The enemies in Doom always ramp up drastically, in the beginning you deal with mostly zombie humanoids armed with shotguns and pistols and Imps which are the brown human figures who shoot fireballs. Independent enemies are easy to dispose of unless of course there is a gang. Next it levels you up to Demons, or I call them dogs and Specters which are these dogs but vacantly invisible. The Demon Dogs take a few shots up close with a shotgun to do the trick; they aren't much of a challenge and can be given away by their snorting.

Amping up we have the flying skulls "Lost Souls" which are simple to work around but that a few shots to defeat. You also have the Dungeon and Dragon inspired Cacodemons which are the iconic floating red eye ball. Watch out for these sucks, keep your distance and put that chain gun to work. Now it's serious with the Cyberdemon, big dude with a rocket launcher and the Spider Mastermind which is a chain gun armed spider. The king bad dude in Doom has to be the Baron from Hell a big demon with a chip on his shoulder. You will need plenty of rockets to take this bad boy down. My advice run, hide and shoot.

When you're in hell in space you'll have a few weapons at your disposal. Two melee weapons your fist and the chainsaw which replaces the fist. It's not Gears of War, but it's still a freaking chainsaw. You also get to use a shotgun and combat shotgun, my personal favorite and the standard chain gun and rocket launcher. In a Sci-Fi twist you also have an effective Plasma Rifle and the big whopper, BFG 9000. Yea, I know you get what BFG stands for, it's really that big.

Doom also has some other elements like toxic suits, secrets and power orbs you can get from the world, turning invisible is another option, but basically you'll be headed in a straight line blasting anything that movies. It's the basic of basics, no up and down view point, no headshots, and its straight head full speed. If you can accept this is the from the yester year of gaming then you should find some enjoyment in Doom. It really holds up even after ten years.

There is no other shooter that could be more exciting to have on Xbox Live Arcade then Doom. Doom is a classic and like I mentioned above, it still holds up after ten years. If you at all interested download the demo, or plunge right in and start the demon slaying. You really can't go wrong if you enjoy classic games, or first person shooters. The gates are open, now go login and send those space demons back to hell.

Final Score: 9 / 10