DOOM: The Custom PlayStation Edition
Doom, original PC game developed by ID Software. PlayStation conversion developed by Williams Entertainment (Midway) based on the Atari Jaguar release developed by ID Software. Published by GT Interactive in 1995.
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Player's Review
"All Hell's Breaking Loose! This is it! The gaming addiction that's been played by an estimated 10 million fanatics on the PC. And now it's out in a sweat-soaked, pulse- pounding, adrenaline-wrenching version for the PlayStation game console. It's DOOM: The Custom PlayStation Edition. Enhanced to take full advantage of the PlayStation's cutting-edge technology. With over 50 levels of madness and mayhem from ULTIMATE DOOM and DOOM II Plus unique, new levels of destruction that make all hell break loose on your screen!
Over 50 hellish levels. All-new ambient lighting effects. Super fast speed: up to 30 frames/sec. All-new 24-channel stereo sound effects. Includes all original secrets, triggers, switches and areas to explore. The best monsters, weapons and bosses from ULTIMATE DOOM and DOOM II. All the classic cheat modes plus a new, powerful cheat mode unique to The Custom PlayStation Edition of DOOM."
It seems wild to me that you would advertise cheats as a feature on the box. John Romeo - creator of Doom famously wrote "BEST DOOM YET" which whilst looked good on the back of the box, I think we can all agree that this might be true only if we forget the PC game exists. However it is surly true if we say it's the best of all the home console releases of the time. The Jaguar game was the first conversion, developed by ID software that is mostly faithful to the original PC game but with many level changes with reduced geometry resulting in simpler room to help boost performance also aided by having no music in the game. This version would also serve as the basis for later ports including the 32x (which released first by a week), Gameboy Advance, PlayStation, Saturn and to a lesser degree, the 3D0. Each version has there differences, concessions and enhancements based on the power of the platform it's running on. The Super Nintendo game is it's own project with more faithful level geometry to the original game at the expense of resolution, ceiling and floor texturing and less textures overall to boost performance.
The PlayStation game features higher resolution than the Jaguar game, moody environmental sounds instead of music, coloured lighting and moves quite smoothly overall. It contains 30 of the 38 levels found in the original Ultimate Doom,23 of 32 levels from Doom II as well as six PS/Saturn exclusive levels. Episode 4 and Doom II levels have fewer changes, closer to to the original layouts as these levels were not included in the Jaguar game. An annoying aspect of this version is that it can be dark, very dark in certain areas of the map and unless you are playing in the dark, it becomes very difficult to aim and see where you are going. It doesnt help that the blur artifact and light amplification visor are not included in the ported jaguar levels.
At the start you can choose from either the Ultimate Doom or Doom II campaigns. Each one is a string of levels with no map or interlude screens in between although there is an ending after each game. Even the snes game had these. Removing these screens does take a way from the enjoyment as it feels more like a grind with no story elements to keep you engaged. It's certainly not 'The best yet' having emitted these screens in my opinion.
The longplay aims to show 100% secrets and as with the other Jaguar ports there is a single level that prohibits access to one of the secrets although it is a different level in the Saturn/ps1 game. The game doesnt not notify you when they have been found so you have to hope for the best and pray it says 100% on the tally screen. The default control setup works well enough, surprisingly well given that console fps controls of this era weren't really standardised yet. You do have to be careful while moving forward or backwards while turning though as you could easily slip off any platforms. It doesnt help that it is far to easy to stuck on some textures, especially on sharp corners. The Ultimate doom levels are quite fast an linier but this all changes with doom II with some quite complicated maps and backtracking.
Overall, It's Doom at home! Well its at least a good option if you didn't have a pc to play on or dad wont let you on his! If you had a friend with a console and link cable you can even play the game in co-op or deathmatch. The lack of music does take away from the atmosphere not keeping you pumped for the carnage ahead. I'm not a fan of the creepy sounds, but that might be just me. Apart from the gloomy lighting, another feature of this version is the fire effect for the sky which looks good but strangely not used in Doom II.
00:00:00 Titles / Demo
------ Ultimate Doom ----------
00:05:00 Level 01: Hangar
00:06:45 Level 02: Plant
00:11:05 Level 03: Toxin Refinery
00:16:50 Level 56: The Military Base (secret level)
00:21:20 Level 04: Command Control
00:25:10 Level 05: Phobos Lab
00:31:15 Level 06: Central Processing
00:37:10 Level 07: Computer Station
00:44:05 Level 08: Phobos Anomaly
00:46:10 Level 09: Deimos Anomaly
00:49:25 Level 10: Containment Area
00:54:35 Level 11: Refinery
01:00:15 Level 12: Deimos Lab
01:08:45 Level 13: Command Center
01:14:30 Level 14: Halls of the Damned
01:19:55 Level 15: Spawning Vats
01:23:50 Level 55: Fortress of Mystery (secret level)
01:26:00 Level 16: Hell Gate (Unique)
01:27:55 Level 17: Hell Keep (Unique)
01:31:40 Level 18: Pandemonium
01:36:45 Level 19: House of Pain
01:44:20 Level 20: Unholy Cathedral
01:51:40 Level 21: Mt. Erebus
01:57:55 Level 22: Limbo
02:05:10 Level 23: Tower of Babel
02:07:45 Level 24: Hell Beneath
02:11:30 Level 25: Perfect Hatred
02:16:25 Level 26: Sever the Wicked
02:24:20 Level 27: Unruly Evil
02:34:25 Level 28: Unto the Cruel
02:34:25 Level 29: Twilight Descends (Exclusive)
02:45:55 Level 57: The Marshes (secret level) (Exclusive)
02:48:55 Level 30: Threshold of Pain (Exclusive)
02:59:20 Ending
------- Doom II: Hell on Earth --------
03:00:32 Level 31: Entryway
03:02:35 Level 32: Underhalls
03:06:10 Level 33: The Gantlet
03:10:08 Level 34: The Focus
03:14:00 Level 35: The Waste Tunnels
03:20:30 Level 36: The Crusher
03:26:35 Level 37: Dead Simple
03:29:05 Level 38: Tricks and Traps
03:35:00 Level 39: The Pit
03:43:30 Level 40: Refueling Base
03:52:50 Level 41: O of Destruction!
03:49:10 Level 42: The Factory
04:07:35 Level 43: The Inmost Dens
04:14:20 Level 44: Suburbs
04:22:55 Level 58: The Mansion (secret level) (Exclusive)
04:33:20 Level 59: Club Doom (super secret level) (Exclusive)
04:34:50 Level 45: Tenements
04:44:45 Level 46: The Courtyard
04:54:30 Level 47: The Citadel
05:06:20 Level 48: Nirvana
05:12:05 Level 49: The Catacombs
05:15:55 Level 50: Barrels of Fun
05:22:40 Level 51: Bloodfalls
05:27:35 Level 52: The Abandoned Mines
05:35:25 Level 53: Monster Condo
05:45:15 Level 54: Redemption Denied (Exclusive)
05:47:55 Ending
Over 50 hellish levels. All-new ambient lighting effects. Super fast speed: up to 30 frames/sec. All-new 24-channel stereo sound effects. Includes all original secrets, triggers, switches and areas to explore. The best monsters, weapons and bosses from ULTIMATE DOOM and DOOM II. All the classic cheat modes plus a new, powerful cheat mode unique to The Custom PlayStation Edition of DOOM."
It seems wild to me that you would advertise cheats as a feature on the box. John Romeo - creator of Doom famously wrote "BEST DOOM YET" which whilst looked good on the back of the box, I think we can all agree that this might be true only if we forget the PC game exists. However it is surly true if we say it's the best of all the home console releases of the time. The Jaguar game was the first conversion, developed by ID software that is mostly faithful to the original PC game but with many level changes with reduced geometry resulting in simpler room to help boost performance also aided by having no music in the game. This version would also serve as the basis for later ports including the 32x (which released first by a week), Gameboy Advance, PlayStation, Saturn and to a lesser degree, the 3D0. Each version has there differences, concessions and enhancements based on the power of the platform it's running on. The Super Nintendo game is it's own project with more faithful level geometry to the original game at the expense of resolution, ceiling and floor texturing and less textures overall to boost performance.
The PlayStation game features higher resolution than the Jaguar game, moody environmental sounds instead of music, coloured lighting and moves quite smoothly overall. It contains 30 of the 38 levels found in the original Ultimate Doom,23 of 32 levels from Doom II as well as six PS/Saturn exclusive levels. Episode 4 and Doom II levels have fewer changes, closer to to the original layouts as these levels were not included in the Jaguar game. An annoying aspect of this version is that it can be dark, very dark in certain areas of the map and unless you are playing in the dark, it becomes very difficult to aim and see where you are going. It doesnt help that the blur artifact and light amplification visor are not included in the ported jaguar levels.
At the start you can choose from either the Ultimate Doom or Doom II campaigns. Each one is a string of levels with no map or interlude screens in between although there is an ending after each game. Even the snes game had these. Removing these screens does take a way from the enjoyment as it feels more like a grind with no story elements to keep you engaged. It's certainly not 'The best yet' having emitted these screens in my opinion.
The longplay aims to show 100% secrets and as with the other Jaguar ports there is a single level that prohibits access to one of the secrets although it is a different level in the Saturn/ps1 game. The game doesnt not notify you when they have been found so you have to hope for the best and pray it says 100% on the tally screen. The default control setup works well enough, surprisingly well given that console fps controls of this era weren't really standardised yet. You do have to be careful while moving forward or backwards while turning though as you could easily slip off any platforms. It doesnt help that it is far to easy to stuck on some textures, especially on sharp corners. The Ultimate doom levels are quite fast an linier but this all changes with doom II with some quite complicated maps and backtracking.
Overall, It's Doom at home! Well its at least a good option if you didn't have a pc to play on or dad wont let you on his! If you had a friend with a console and link cable you can even play the game in co-op or deathmatch. The lack of music does take away from the atmosphere not keeping you pumped for the carnage ahead. I'm not a fan of the creepy sounds, but that might be just me. Apart from the gloomy lighting, another feature of this version is the fire effect for the sky which looks good but strangely not used in Doom II.
00:00:00 Titles / Demo
------ Ultimate Doom ----------
00:05:00 Level 01: Hangar
00:06:45 Level 02: Plant
00:11:05 Level 03: Toxin Refinery
00:16:50 Level 56: The Military Base (secret level)
00:21:20 Level 04: Command Control
00:25:10 Level 05: Phobos Lab
00:31:15 Level 06: Central Processing
00:37:10 Level 07: Computer Station
00:44:05 Level 08: Phobos Anomaly
00:46:10 Level 09: Deimos Anomaly
00:49:25 Level 10: Containment Area
00:54:35 Level 11: Refinery
01:00:15 Level 12: Deimos Lab
01:08:45 Level 13: Command Center
01:14:30 Level 14: Halls of the Damned
01:19:55 Level 15: Spawning Vats
01:23:50 Level 55: Fortress of Mystery (secret level)
01:26:00 Level 16: Hell Gate (Unique)
01:27:55 Level 17: Hell Keep (Unique)
01:31:40 Level 18: Pandemonium
01:36:45 Level 19: House of Pain
01:44:20 Level 20: Unholy Cathedral
01:51:40 Level 21: Mt. Erebus
01:57:55 Level 22: Limbo
02:05:10 Level 23: Tower of Babel
02:07:45 Level 24: Hell Beneath
02:11:30 Level 25: Perfect Hatred
02:16:25 Level 26: Sever the Wicked
02:24:20 Level 27: Unruly Evil
02:34:25 Level 28: Unto the Cruel
02:34:25 Level 29: Twilight Descends (Exclusive)
02:45:55 Level 57: The Marshes (secret level) (Exclusive)
02:48:55 Level 30: Threshold of Pain (Exclusive)
02:59:20 Ending
------- Doom II: Hell on Earth --------
03:00:32 Level 31: Entryway
03:02:35 Level 32: Underhalls
03:06:10 Level 33: The Gantlet
03:10:08 Level 34: The Focus
03:14:00 Level 35: The Waste Tunnels
03:20:30 Level 36: The Crusher
03:26:35 Level 37: Dead Simple
03:29:05 Level 38: Tricks and Traps
03:35:00 Level 39: The Pit
03:43:30 Level 40: Refueling Base
03:52:50 Level 41: O of Destruction!
03:49:10 Level 42: The Factory
04:07:35 Level 43: The Inmost Dens
04:14:20 Level 44: Suburbs
04:22:55 Level 58: The Mansion (secret level) (Exclusive)
04:33:20 Level 59: Club Doom (super secret level) (Exclusive)
04:34:50 Level 45: Tenements
04:44:45 Level 46: The Courtyard
04:54:30 Level 47: The Citadel
05:06:20 Level 48: Nirvana
05:12:05 Level 49: The Catacombs
05:15:55 Level 50: Barrels of Fun
05:22:40 Level 51: Bloodfalls
05:27:35 Level 52: The Abandoned Mines
05:35:25 Level 53: Monster Condo
05:45:15 Level 54: Redemption Denied (Exclusive)
05:47:55 Ending
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