Death Jr. and the Science Fair of DOOM review

A hiply morbid platform actioner determined to kill your happy time

GamesRadar+ Verdict

Pros

  • +

    Some of the characters

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    Looks okay for DS

  • +

    C4 hamsters

Cons

  • -

    Jump-hook totally unreliable

  • -

    Been there

  • -

    done that levels

  • -

    Combat gets old

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The Death Jr. games have a ton of potential thanks to a compelling cast. Sure, the Siamese twins joined at the head or quadruple-amputee kid aren't the hottest ideas, but the idea of the Grim Reaper's son and his gothy little crush Pandora dealing with the same problems as normal Jr. High kids sounds fun. Unfortunately, the world, dialogue and gameplay elements these characters are surrounded by always seem to come out unpolished and half-baked, as if the funding got a visit from Junior's old man halfway through development.

The game starts off with the titular Science Fair, at which two students' projects - a half-demon bunny and a tiny nuclear power plant - combine to create a gigantic mess. The whole school is zapped into a warped, demon-ized version of itself, most of the students are trapped in everyday objects like crates and flower pots, monsters sprout everywhere, Pandora's dead, and Death Jr's science fair exhibit - his dad's soul-harvesting scythe - has gone missing. "DJ" and Pandora's spirit set out to plow in old-school, side-scrolling fashion through four randomly-themed worlds to fix everything.

More info

GenreAction
DescriptionHow bad can a science fair be? You'll find out when you take control of Death, Jr. and Pandora in their first touch-screen adventure.
Platform"DS"
US censor rating"Everyone 10+"
UK censor rating""
Release date1 January 1970 (US), 1 January 1970 (UK)
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Eric Bratcher
I was the founding Executive Editor/Editor in Chief here at GR, charged with making sure we published great stories every day without burning down the building or getting sued. Which isn't nearly as easy as you might imagine. I don't work for GR any longer, but I still come here - why wouldn't I? It's awesome. I'm a fairly average person who has nursed an above average love of video games since I first played Pong just over 30 years ago. I entered the games journalism world as a freelancer and have since been on staff at the magazines Next Generation and PSM before coming over to GamesRadar. Outside of gaming, I also love music (especially classic metal and hard rock), my lovely wife, my pet pig Bacon, Japanese monster movies, and my dented, now dearly departed '89 Ranger pickup truck. I pray sincerely. I cheer for the Bears, Bulls, and White Sox. And behind Tyler Nagata, I am probably the GR staffer least likely to get arrested... again.