A couple of weeks back Bethesda released a couple of awesome new updates to their awesome 25th anniversary editions of DOOM ($4.99) and DOOM II ($4.99) which added in a variety of new features across all platforms. Except that on iOS and Android the update wasn’t so awesome because it was actually totally broken. By that I mean that a new virtual control scheme was displaying incorrectly and completely blocking the view of the game, making it essentially unplayable. This was not good, and definitely not awesome. Bethesda acted quickly in pulling the games from the App Store while they got to the bottom of what was causing all the non-awesomeness. Well it seems they’ve figured it out and both DOOM and DOOM II have returned to the iOS and Android App Stores complete with that awesome new update that finally is actually awesome.
As mentioned the updates include totally revamped virtual controls, and man are these things good. They’ve tweaked the movement speed and momentum and whatever the heck they did made these games feel way more playable on the touchscreen. I mean, the old control scheme was FINE, but these new controls make you realize that you were definitely compromising in certain ways before whether you knew it or not. I think my favorite addition is a secondary fire button on the left hand side of the screen above the virtual analog stick, making it super easy to adjust your aim while continuing to shoot. Of course, even the best of the best in touchscreen controls won’t be adequate for some, and so this update also offers support for physical controllers.
Other highlights in these updates include proper widescreen formatting (which is optional, and original 4:3 is still there if you want it), options for 30, 60, or 120 frames per second on supported devices, and a handful of other nips and tucks that make these re-releases such fantastic versions. I know there were a lot of people who were really down on the controls for these games when they were first re-released in July of last year, and if that includes you I’d definitely suggest trying out these newly-updated versions as to me they feel like almost completely different experiences. Of course even more control options or the ability to fully customize size and placement would be great, but to Bethesda’s credit they’ve really poured the effort into whipping DOOM and DOOM II into shape on all platforms including mobile, and I’ll never get tired of being able to tote these classics around in my pocket.
