12.04.2023 20:23
(Akt. 12.04.2023 20:23)
Legendary shooter as mini-shooting action for mobile phones bitterly disappoints fans.
(Android, iOS) A new “Doom” for smartphones? Hellish shooting in a cute comic design, but still pretty brutal? And all that for free? It’s true, but the devil is in the details. Because with the supposedly mass-market mobile version of the cult shooter, the fun dies a quick death. Particularly shameful: “Mighty Doom” is an almost 1:1 copy of the four-year-old mobile game “Archero”.
As is typical for “Doom”, we slip into the role of the Slayer, this time redesigned in a cuddly comic look, but no less defensive. Instead of a first-person perspective, the trigger-happy soldier fights his way through a series of mini arenas from a top-down perspective and via 1-finger controls. The Slayer doesn’t exactly react with pinpoint accuracy, but it’s just enough for the presented simple action. The enemy types are known from the “big” template – from Imp to Cacodemon, all favorites are there. There’s not much variation.
The gameplay is always the same: run from below, shoot, dodge enemy fire, sweep the arena empty, collect loot, next level. You get life energy from weakened opponents by melee kills. Every few arenas there are slightly more demanding boss fights. A diverse arsenal of weapons is available to the Slayer for combat – handguns, rockets, bombs and ultimate attacks (eg chainsaw). Everything has to be unlocked first and then pimped up with a lengthy grind.
The upgrade system consists of two components:
- Temporary improvements such as multiple shots, homing missiles or health increases are collected in the arenas so that you can stand up well against bosses. The reset follows after each run.
- You can get permanent upgrades in the shop using loot boxes and wheels of fortune. You can also permanently improve your equipment using in-game currency.
The game basically leaves a lot of room to upgrade your Slayer, but you can only customize the play style minimally. The free-2-play principle in “Mighty Doom” remains at a reasonably tolerable level. You can go far without investing real money. If you are looking to save, you can watch ads to unlock items. Unfortunately, a well-known F2P game brake is annoying: For each new arena run you need energy units that only regenerate after a certain time.
But you are not tempted to sit in front of your smartphone for too long anyway. You’ve seen everything after just a handful of passes. The rest is just monotonous working through minimally varying levels/monsters to get better gear.
Conclusion
Unfortunately, “Mighty Doom” is classic Shovelware. Bethesda allows a four-year-old game to be given the Doom facade in order to squeeze a few bucks out of the license. The gameplay is quite entertaining at first, but quickly becomes monotonous. Neither the diverse upgrade system nor the constantly new items for the mini-slayer can iron that out. Unfortunately, the following applies to this Free-2-Play: A gift is still too expensive – literally, hands off!