Operation BIOWAR

BIOWAR is a fun and inventive mapset, featuring a couple guest mappers with Paul Corfiatis and John Bishop, with Chris Harbin carrying most of the weight of this 19-level megawad. There's some new graphics and sounds, including a new HUD face, which works well enough if a bit crudely squished. The sounds aren't too intrusive, although I thought the wandering imp sounded too much like a growling dog. I liked the curious exploration of the layouts and the use of 3D space. Only minor setbacks come in the form of some maps being a little too simplistic in the gameplay department - despite some creative traps and setups I don't think I was killed in my playthrough of this mapset. It's a good romp for people looking to play something less demanding, and I found myself getting through several maps rather quickly. It's got the same kind of 90's charm you'd find in other older mapsets with some quirky texture usage. Should make for an easy recommendation if you're looking for something simple, quick and reminiscent of the Doom community's earlier days.

Did I miss something here from the players that gave this wad a 4 (and above) rating?

The maps were too short, too linear, very bland and very easy. The music was horrible on most maps. With the exception of the elevators, I absolutely hated the new sounds. Finally, the soldier face was a bit much.

I did the first 6 maps in roughly 30 mins. - and that included looking for the secrets (which slapped you in the face at most times). I got to Map 14 before I just gave it up out of sheer boredom. I just couldn't see it getting better.

Sorry, IMHO, the play for Operation: BIOWAR just wasn't fun for me, even on UV.

The first 9 maps are good. Maps 10 and 11 present an interesting environment, but it is the point where the gameplay goes downhill for me. Not even the difficulty is increasing from this point, it just gets a little boring. Map 14 has an issue - if you enter the room (yellow key needed) to get the red skull-key without having hit the right switch in a different place in the map, you get stuck. I'm glad I didn't save my game in that room.

I really liked the new music. New sounds were quite cool, too. I could get used to most of them quite easily, although having an imp barking like dog but roaring like a camel when it dies remained feeling unusual.

The first two maps are literally promising, they make you expect a lot of fun. Map02 is my favourite of them all, not too hard, but also not a walk in a park - the ambushes are well executed.

When I learned that this wad was actually from 1999 I hesitated whether to give it 5 stars, because for that time it's a very nice wad. But looking back at maps 12-18 I stayed with 4.

Done with these settings:

- Crispy Doom 4.2

- Hurt Me Plenty.

- Continuous combined with a pistol start mindset.

- Saves every 10 minutes or so.

This is a very nice megawad dating from last 90s. It consists of moderately short maps, starting with simple compact tech/rocky layouts, extending to bigger open areas, from a forest to hellish environments as far as progression goes. In combination with standard Doom aesthetics there's a set of new good-looking and odd textures, some of them stood out to me like the suffering baron of hell, grey skulls in the icy map, the rotating spawn cube, the vines in the forest map, and the sleeping babies, that one was creepy. I must add, that lava texture is gorgeous, and the way it was used not only on the floor but behind enemies in darkness, very neat imo. There are some special effects, in earlier maps you can hear former humans dying behind walls, I guess that simulates other marines dying in combat, it basically tells the story while you're playing, really cool. And, custom sounds, for your marine and monsters, the imp's new sound was obnoxious, I liked the zombies new low voices though. Honestly, visuals and also music are the standouts, not that combat is bad but that depends on your expectations if you have never heard of this wad before.

And well, this is a megawad for relaxing combat, consistent difficulty and moderate progression. I'd say it's on par with Icarus and Evilution, probably similar to other wads of the same style, in terms of monster placement. Sounds easy? Well it is, technically, maybe much easier, but it all depends on your skills. There's not a lack of challenge, but there aren't any gotcha! moments if you exclude a few surprise archviles or some sneaky shotgunners. You usually get your weapons and ammo early, health and armor supplies aplenty, it really isn't tricky to maintain yourself far from death. Plus, monster count rarely exceeds 100, with them being mostly low-tiers. Don't be surprised if you find a BFG and don't have anything worth to use it lol. 

When it comes to secrets, usually they are behind walls with a different or misaligned texture. They are generally very easy to spot and the rewards can be too very high. 

Not sure which are my favourite maps, but the ones from map 10 are what I liked the most. Well map 10 is a case of nice spooky atmosphere but a feel of loneliness, because it's dark and big yet almost no monsters. The IoS map, with the boss called TCHERNOBOG, was surprisingly entertaining somehow, even if it was a bit anticlimatic before I got to his heart. 

So, as an easy set, I like how it played. Probably not appealing to skilled players looking for extreme carnage or multiple traps, but if you are new to Doom and/or love vanilla gameplay, this is a candidate not to ignore. For what it provides, I consider it a success, personally talking, and so my rate is 9/10.

Biowar sure falls under the radar a lot, but if you ask me, it's easily a missed wad in most cases. people do remember it of course, because it did offer some new textures, a few weird sound effects, the idea of other monsters elsewhere getting killed for a neat ambient effect, and just all-around decent gameplay suitable for its time. 1999 proved to be a grace period and Biowar was just another one amongst them. don't expect to slaughter shitloads of enemies at all, you're treated to very classic Doom 2 gameplay and it is quite fun. especially when you factor in all the settings that are tackled. you go to the woods in MAP10, the frozen icebergs in MAP11, and the hot lava in MAP15. other levels are decent, MAP07 is pretty bleak from an elitist standpoint but does its best as a mini-boss map of sorts, MAP12's hub platform works nicely, and the teleporting hordes in MAP13 are a true headline for that map.

that map along with MAP06 were made by John Bishop, they seem to crave cramped conditions with liberal teleporting enemy usage. Paul Corfiatis's MAP09 is actually a map from Twilight Zone 2, MAP10 to be exact, and it's pretty much exactly like this one. Chris Harbin being the chief author however proved to make fun maps with classic gameplay.

if I were to recommend a megawad to someone who wants to try out custom wads, this would be perhaps the first one. megawads can often burn out many players depending on their length and gameplay. since Biowar isn't a full megawad and its levels are mostly short with workable gameplay, this is a great starter megawad.