10 Sectors

To look at? Ranges from hellish to beautiful - the limitation leads to a lot of excessive visual flair being shaved off by necessity, rendering some of these maps Very pretty. To play? Every map is like a 1994 map, yet often much worse than any map I've played from 1994, and ranges from merely acceptable to some of the worst I've ever tried to stomach. That said, Map19 is a likely contender for most beautiful thing ever created within the DOOM engine. Just download and go through that one (but I'd still classify the gameplay as acceptable.)

I see the phrase "mixed bag" a lot when it comes to describing a lot of megaWADs. Hell, I've probably used the term a few times myself. However, I try to reserve it for when it truly is such.

This megaWAD is really one of those cases. For every good map in this megaWAD, there's one or two that just absolutely take the piss. If it isn't some kind of technical fuckery that can make some maps unbeatable and force you to start all over again, it's maps that well overstay their welcome with some of the most wonky and convoluted progression I've encountered. A big "fuck you" goes to map 21 for devolving into a switch hunting clusterfuck if you're trying to play the damn thing correctly. Otherwise, do like I did, say "fuck it", and jump across the gap to the exit door instead of finding all of the switches to raise the floor high enough to go across.

It's certainly possible to play through the entire thing and beat it. How much you'll want to will depend on how forgiving you are when it comes to the stuff I pointed out in my last paragraph. I guess play this to see what mappers can do with ten sectors and then decide for yourself if it's something you'll want to come back to.

I know I'll come back to this but it'll be a while, at least until the bad taste of map 21 goes away.

If you thing it's impossible to make something good only from 10 sectors, then you should check this wad. Some maps are quite simple and lack of quality but there are also really impressive maps for such restrictions. My favorites are 6, 20, 22, 26, and 27.

Playability notes: MAP16 has a red key door that refuses to open in PrBoom+ (and even Boom itself): other than that, everything works with -complevel 9. Couldn't manage to finish MAP25 in any appropriate source port but I reached the level's end, so it could be counted as "done". Finally (repeating the text file for emphasis) some levels may unexpectedly break due to their unique construction: if you're planning to browse a map, you may have to progress as intended to see the map as intended.

10 Sectors is a product of its era, with maps that are held in equal praise for overly-intricate detailing and for an emergent gameplay experience, but still manages to provide a worthwhile visit in the current day. As noted in the text file, this mapset is strongly recommended for pistol start, with the ordering of maps determined by judge scores rather than a semblance of size/challenge scaling. Feel free to browse and idclev at your leisure.

The limitation of the project, that a map can only contain 10 sectors, is especially interesting when you know that a sector need not be restricted to a contiguous object: indeed, once you hit the halfway point you'll start to be amazed that such levels are possible with only 10 sectors' worth of information. As the contest also allowed the use of the Boom format, there's a fair bit of wizardry possible under the limitation, and the efforts of the contributors show through well. That said, my rating is ultimately based on the gameplay and presentation regardless of such limitations, and in this regard the set is a mixed bag.

Highlights, for better or for worse, are as follows:

• MAP03, MAP06, MAP08, MAP17, and MAP24 are a cut above the rest in terms of difficulty. If you're looking mostly for challenge, these are worth skipping to.
• MAP21 and MAP31 can be safely avoided: the former due to its incredibly obtuse progression and frustrating elevators, and the latter due to its wholly unpleasant and length combat encounters.
• MAP26 and MAP27 are impressively and intricately detailed, but these details manage to disrupt the flow of the level. Nice to look at, not nice to play through. By contrast, MAP18 and MAP20 prove to give enjoyable gameplay and scenery at the same time.
• MAP29 is far and away the most challenging map of the set, and still manages to beautifully fit within the constraints of the project. You could easily put this in a mapset similar to Alien Vendetta and it wouldn't skip a beat.

I recommend a pistol start at the beginning of each level, playing as much as you want, and skipping to the next if you run out of patience on a given map. The quality skips around a lot, but it's at least worth visiting each one.