DOOM: THE BOARD GAME
We rip and tear our way into this hellish adaptation of the gloriously gory video game icon
Fantasy Flight | £73.99 | Strategy | 2-5 players | 2-3 hours | Age: 14+ | fantasyflightgames.com
In the pantheon of video games that get the blood pumping, Doom is probably right at the peak, dripping in blood and stood atop the piled corpses of its rivals.
The seminal first-person shooter series saw a resurgence of sorts last year, with its on-screen reboot garnering plaudits and prizes from critics and players alike for returning to the ‘90s original’s fast and furious gunplay. Now, Doom’s 2004 tabletop adaptation has similarly received a reimagined makeover – but can it live up to the praise of its virtual counterpart?
The best thing to say about Doom: The Board Game is that it feels like Doom: the video game. Casting aside Fantasy Flight’s recent fondness for replacing human antagonists with app-powered AI, one player controls the forces of hell as they invade Earth, while the remaining players are the heavily-armoured, heavilyarmed super-soldiers that will shoot, blast and smash their way through the demons.
The core box comes with two operations made up of various missions with diffierent objectives and environments, all of which feel distinct on their own (a plus if you only have time for a single scenario) but have enough light narrative attached to form a pleasingly cohesive campaign that suitably ramps up in intensity.