2016’s DOOM was a masterpiece and its port to Nintendo Switch was a technical marvel.The Switch is not as powerful as the PS4 and Xbox One, let alone high end PCs, so there was reason to be concerned it would not perform well. As such, its great performance is notable, and while sacrifices were made to ensure optimal performance, the game is still there and still feels as fast paced and smooth as ever. It may be half the FPS of the other versions, but still retains the feel of intensity.
The multiplayer was not gimped in any way, which ensured that the Switch would have a great multiplayer shooter and DOOM was THE multiplayer shooter to have besides Splatoon 2 at the time. This was mainly due to the lack of competition in the market, but I was shocked how well fans took to it. It helps that it had the benefit of including the later improvements to multiplayer made after the original release and that helped ensure it would be well received. The developers even went a step further and added in new features like gyro controls and aiming, months after release and kept ensuring the game would look and play fantastic.
DOOM is a great game and an amazing port on Switch. It may not have Snapmap but it has everything else and it plays great. Even the arcade mode just works well when you want to play for a few minutes while on the go. Portable DOOM wasn’t thought to be a good idea, but Bethesda and Panic Button proved everyone wrong. This brings me to the Switch Lite. I briefly got some time to play DOOM on it today and had to share my thoughts. DOOM looks even better on Switch Lite, due to the smaller display. That may sound a bit contradictory, but the reason it looks better is that the game’s visuals now look a lot sharper and more refined. I tested it against the Switch revision and found this is still the case. This is no small matter, and it is interesting to see how the slight changes made a big difference. Now I am wondering what the result will be when DOOM Eternal comes out, as well as how other big name ports will stack up, inlcuding Skyrim.
What we have now is a truly portable DOOM experience that should not be possible but is, and looks amazing. This shows just how much work was put into DOOM’s port and also how the Switch lite can actually make you perceive games a bit differently. I suggest trying this one out on Switch Lite, in order to truly experience handheld action bliss.