Doom 2 for the XLA is a good deal for the fans, but those who are sick of the PC version have little reason to buy it.
The Xbox 360 port of Doom 2 remains almost exactly the same as the original game, the port has all of the original 32 levels that Doom 2 shipped with in 1994, and no changes have been made to the levels. The gameplay still exists of little more then going from one level to the other killing everything that gets in your way while collecting key cards and looking for the exist switch. If you were expecting anything new then don't get your hopes up to much because this is still just same old Doom 2. Not that its a bad thing.
Since Doom 1 has already been released on the Xbox live arcade I won't go into to much detail about the gameplay since this is basically just the same game with some new monsters plus the super shotgun, but lets just say that gameplay wise this version of Doom 2 is more or less the same as the original.
As far as presentation is concerned the port does a good job at presenting you with a nice main menu that both looks good and is visualy better then the original main menu for the vanilla PC version of the game. The actual game itself also looks considerably better since it now supports HD TV's.
The sound however is a little different compared to the original. The music has been updated and now sounds much better then the original MIDI songs, and for some reason some of the sounds effects appear to play slower then they use to. In addition, some completely new sounds appear to have been added.
However, the biggest problem I have with this port is the fact that it has zero widescreen support. This was also the case with when Doom 1 was released on the Xbox live arcade and I simply can't understand why this STILL hasn't been fixed with the release of Doom 2 for the Xbox live arcades.
For the most part the port does a good job at keeping the game intact but also fails in some regards, the fact that it doesn't support widescreen modes and the fact that super shotgun isn't assigned to the correct weapons slot (oh yea I forgot to mention that by the way) means that this port while being good still suffers from some issues.
Basically, there are 2 multiplayer modes in this port: Co-op and deathmatch. Both can be played on either Xbox live or with a friend on the same TV. If you are playing with a friend then it can be loads of fun. You can't really loose since getting killed just means that you respawn at the start of the map and weapons pickups never actually go away even after you have picked them up. Deathmatch is pretty much what you would expect and is also allot of fun provided that you have some friend to play with you.
Playing Co-op and deathmach is a lot less fun online however since lag as well as stupid players make the game almost unplayable at times. But assuming you can find a decent server to play on, expect to have a fairly good time.
It can be fun to play online, but connection issues prevent it from being great and it could been allot better.
One of the biggest features in this version of Doom 2 is that Nerve software actually created a entire new episode that exists of 9 new levels that is called "No rest for the Living" just for this port. But do the new levels compare to the stock Doom 2 levels?
In terms of difficulty, they are much harder then the original Doom 2 levels and also much longer. The episode kicks off with a promising start. The first few levels fallow a tech base theme and are fairly fun. The later levels however are not as good and not only look bland and largely uninteresting, but also sometimes result to cheap enemy placement to get the player and I found myself cursing at the TV at times as a result. The final boss level is also a little underwhelming. The new episode also has a less then a impressive intermission screen (in case you don't that is the end text that the game shows you every time you beat a chapter of the actual game).
Here is the actual ending screen:
***********WARNING! SPOILER!***************
TROUBLE WAS BREWING AGAIN IN YOUR FAVORITE
VACATION SPOT... HELL. SOME CYBERDEMON
PUNK THOUGHT HE COULD TURN HELL INTO A
PERSONAL AMUSEMENT PARK, AND MAKE EARTH
THE TICKET BOOTH.
WELL THAT HALF-ROBOT FREAK SHOW DIDN'T
KNOW WHO WAS COMING TO THE FAIR. THERE'S
NOTHING LIKE A SHOOTING GALLERY FULL OF
HELLSPAWN TO GET THE BLOOD PUMPING...
NOW THE WALLS OF THE DEMON'S LABYRINTH
ECHO WITH THE SOUND OF HIS METALLIC LIMBS
HITTING THE FLOOR. HIS DEATH MOAN GURGLES
OUT THROUGH THE MESS YOU LEFT OF HIS FACE.
THIS RIDE IS CLOSED.
************END OF SPOILERS!***********************
This sounds so extremely silly that it almost looks like something I would expect to find in the Doom comic.
Its a mostly fun and a entertaining episode though, but it still suffers from a good number of flaws and the new levels are nowhere near as good as the original Doom 2 levels.
If you love Doom 2 and you want it on your Xbox 360, then go ahead and buy it now, but if you are already sick of PC version of Doom 2 then there is nothing in this new version that is worth spending your money on.