Format: iPhone
Release: Out now
Publisher: id Software
Developer: Escalation Studios

If you’ve viewed id Software’s most recent output as a jarring nexus of new and old – dazzling technology alloyed to faintly musty design – Doom Resurrection probably won’t change your mind. This is one of the most visually advanced iPhone titles yet made (not beautiful exactly, as gloomy greenish corridors set against the dull reds of both Mars and then Hell all tend to blend after a while) but that doesn’t mean it’s also one of the most memorable. Id and developer Escalation Studios have undeniably taken the iPhone seriously, with a solid eight levels of claustrophobic blasting built from the ground up to fit the quirks of a less-than-ideal platform. But while you can appreciate the care with which the whole thing’s been put together, the results struggle to entertain consistently over the course of its three-hour lifespan.

The most noticeable change to Doom 3’s basic design is a shift to on-rails shooting. With tilt controls handling aiming and on-screen buttons taking care of firing, reloading and weapon changing, it’s a stylish ramble around a familiar muddle of dank corridors and gantries, with an occasional dodge option cementing Time Crisis memories whenever projectile-hurling demons make a pace-changing appearance. But while the bobbing viewpoint might provide a jolt of drama, it also adds an element of frustration to much of the gunplay, and the sleepy reticule control doesn’t improve things. With enemies tending to attack in pairs, often popping up nearby or getting steadily closer, Resurrection lacks the precision of other more streamlined – and basic – shooting galleries available on the platform.

Despite that, the limited range of enemies call for a nice variety of strategies, and jabbing the screen for ammo pick-ups and health packs is given a pleasing urgency by the swiftly roaming camera. Equally, although the standard weapon feels about as exciting and empowering as wielding a ticket-punch, Doom can always be relied upon to break out heavier, and more explosive, ordnance as you get closer to the mouth of Hell itself.

But when the final effects die out and the last enemy has boiled away into a moody puddle, you may find yourself left with the lingering sense that Resurrection is a painstaking implementation of a wonky idea. With nothing as tangible as a mouse-click or a trigger, shooters have so far struggled to find a home on Apple’s platform, and whichever development team eventually solves the problem will probably do so through design ingenuity as much as sparkling graphics technology.

With no such breakthroughs, id’s offering is a strangely admirable bore: smart enough to take direct movement out of your hands, but not quite smart enough to find anything suitably enjoyable to replace it with. Never less than earnest, Doom Resurrection ignores the central lesson of much horror fiction: there are certain things you probably shouldn’t do, even if you can. [5]