Doom

A tribute to Doom that leaps to great heights, but fails to fully stick the...

Doom is back and true to the original. If you want to play the best FPS in years, you owe it to yourself to go to Hell (on Mars).

The original Doom, released in 1993, is considered by many to be the forefather of the entire first person shooter genre. The franchise's newest title - also called Doom (well, DOOM) - comes 12 years after the somewhat polarising Doom 3, and has easily...

While the multiplayer elements won't be everyone's cup of claret, the stonking main campaign more than makes up for any shortfalls elsewhere, as it not only shows DOOM at its very best, but its extensive range of secrets and collectibles will also keep completionists coming back for more long after they've finished the main story. It's a Best Buy.

There can be no dispute that DOOM is back. The campaign brings the glory of the '90s screaming back with heavy metal, blood and guts. But the multiplayer mode feels confused and the Snapmap level editor needs to add some serious content for modders to play with. Regardless, DOOM's campaign is reason enough to dive back into Hell.

Driven largely by its successful single-player campaign, Doom is a welcome return to form for the genre-defining franchise. By sticking to time-worn traditions in all the right places and deftly employing some modern flourishes, id has rediscovered what made this demon slaying series so successful. Multiplayer and SnapMap don’t reach the same heights, but shooters fans shouldn’t miss this bloodthirsty romp through hell.

Capacious, beautiful, brainy and barbaric, Doom's return could be this year's most unexpected triumph, largely because it's the work of people who understand that every reboot is a work of both love and hatred, in which creators fight against the pull of the subject matter. It's not enough to summon and confront the devil. You also have to exorcise the creature, to put the past firmly in its place. The Doom of 2016 hasn't rendered the Doom of 1993 surplus to requirements - that would take sorcery indeed - but id has finally managed to escape its gravity.

Be it the impressive visuals, the immediately addictive yet simple gameplay or the fluent transition of every one of its components, this is a game that is easy to get lost in and ultimately harder to put down. Bethesda have done good on bringing Wolfenstein’s manic, often colorful, gunplay to contemporary audiences, but they’ve outdone themselves this time with a title that will stand, in due course, as one of their best. It might be hell, but DOOM can be summed up, quite simply, as FPS heaven.