Speed of Doom

Speed of Doom is often considered as one of the earliest great modern MegaWADs around, although Speed of Doom may be a misnomer, given the careful attention one would have to go through in order to beat some of these levels. Authored by Joshy (who makes the odd-numbered levels) and Darkwave0000 (who takes the even-numbered levels), this adventure mostly feels like 2 different WADs stuck to each other, with each author taking their own approach through the WAD. Joshy often likes his maps small, cramped, with monster placement evil enough that individual monsters will matter in the long haul, but Darkwave takes an approach more akin to Serious Sam/Painkiller, where you get thrown in arenas and need to fight your way through sporadic, yet intense encounters that are devious and brutal, but thankfully Darkwave does prefer spectacle over sadism, keeping his levels hard but not overly mean and unfair.

Having being done in 2010, the WAD looks gorgeous no matter which level designer is at the helm. There's a fair amount of default textures that got used, but Boom allows the environnments to look far more detailed and rich. Map 28, Twilight Massacre, is not the most original Hellscape ever conceived, but it looks appropriately massive and imposing, the perfect scenery in order to BFG over 2900 demons in mere minutes. While this above description may make Speed of Doom appear as a slaughter WAD, only a few maps in the set fit the bill, such as Map 28 and the ridiculous Pyramid of Death occupying the Map 32 slot, which features the most explosive beginning in the whole WAD. You'll have to sweat profusely in order to finally carve a foothold into this descendant of Go 2 It / Go 4 It / Pharaoh / No Guts No Glory / Playground, as the intro itself says.

Gameplay in general is more styled around the Alien Vendetta school, except way harder. One of the trademarks of this WAD is to feature linedefs that, upon crossing them, make monsters instantly pop out from the ground all around the place. While it's cute the first few times, this trick is used so much throughout Speed of Doom part of me kinda groaned every time they happened, there's about no level in this WAD where this trick is not used. Joshy's levels love to feature tricky monsters in places where you can't do anything about them, but they can make your existence a living hell. The final episode in particular is the worst offender in this regard: Map 23, 27 and 29 have monster placement so evil you feel powerless to even start tackling the levels. Revenants sniping you from way beyond your own hitscan range, archviles hidden behind walls of mancubi you have no recourse against... these are a couple of the scenarios waiting for you. I also couldn't help but feel some encounters are literally impossible to react to unless you know about them firsthand, which to me is lousy level design. And finally, some maps kinda default to just sic a wall of revenants on you and make it the only challenge, which I always groan upon seeing since it's so cliche and the bane of many modern mapsets.

However, the earlier parts of the WAD really shine. Map 06, Dreamscape, is one of the many gems the WAD have to offer. It's a spectacular cave network, with some indentations of technology sticking out, which is completely empty upon your first arrival. But be prepared for the worst as you pick this plasma rifle, as the previously large empty cave turns out to be anything but empty. Imps everywhere, well placed arachnotron and revenant sentries and other meaty mid-level monsters will jump you all at once and the pace of the level never lets go. Map 31, which stands for 666 in binary, is brutal, yet an impressive highlight in the WAD with the most gorgeous looking visuals of the whole set and offers some fierce, yet fun fights. The checkerboard Revenant room is my own vision of Hell, but can be disarmed with some methodical moves and well provoked infighting. Map 10, Vile Pain, will startle you upon seeing the masses of Archviles and Pain Elementals waiting for you... but don't worry, they all teleport over the level and you meet them all in small numbers, alongside big enemy numbers.

Speed of Doom is often considered one of the must play WADs around, but sadly for me, I have to say I like about only the two thirds of it. Almost every Darkwave level was a hit for me, but Joshy's contributions feel a bit more uneven and I'm not as fond of their gameplay, especially for the late game maps which are so merciless. Even if this review does seem a bit critical of Joshy, I still enjoyed many of his earlier efforts throughout the WAD, barring perhaps some maps like Map 7, Simple Prison-Yard, where the fighting is so cramped and asphyxiating.

3 and a half stars, but I'll be good and round it to 4 because it still deserves a play. Maybe lower the difficulty if you're not overly hardcore, though.

Pretty good. I'd say it was pretty fun and definitely pretty challenging. It has a really strong first few levels, but then kinda sizzles out. I still see a load of potential. Keep improving, you'll get there with the greats one day!

For a long time I considered this my favorite megawad, and it's still pretty high up there. Most maps have a ton of replayability and offer up a decent challenge without overstaying their welcome. Darkwave's maps seem to rely on set-piece encounters more, while Joshy's maps get a lot of their difficulty from resource starvation / management. One would think that the alternating-mappers structure could result in too many long and exhausting maps, but the wad always felt well-paced to me (with the exception of the last like five maps, but that's to be expected). The visuals are also consistently good, especially Darkwave's maps, the second episode is particularly creative in it's blending of themes.

If there's anything I wanna criticize: the third episode is pretty bland theme-wise, not really standing out amidst the multitude of red hellish landscapes that we can see in other popular megawads, but that's a minor complaint.
Overall an amazing wad, with my favorite maps probably being 12, 18 and 23.

Starts decent and shows promise, albeit too eager to both force you into unavoidable traps and spawn enemies in front of you out of nowhere. Halfway through it goes downhill though, the mappers just decided that instead of carefully crafted levels with exploration and progression they'd just rather spam hundreds of demons in small arenas and call it a day for the next twenty or so maps. Truthfully, I have no clue how in the ever-loving-f*ck this got a cacoward, yet here we are. 

Only giving this a 2/5 because the earlier maps are solid.

What a great wad! I really like the different approaches both mappers have. I certainly lean towards Darkwave`s maps however Joshy did a pretty good job (except for maps 21, 23 and 29 which I found to be way to hard and annoying [tbh I am far from being a Doomgod ]). It may be wierd but I quite enjoyed the pop up monsters. 

We live in a world where you can play Speed of Doom pretty much whenever you want. And for that I am thankful 🙏

A "modern classic" - if such a thing exists - would be Speed of Doom.

If you enjoyed Plutonia and its punchy gameplay, then this one is for you. Speed of Doom sits somewhere between the plutonia-esque maps of the olden days, and the ever so slightly mean-spirited modern works of people like ribbiks.

This megaWAD features maps and fights from "small-scale but punishing if you don't pay attention" up to slaughtering hundreds of monsters. There should be a little something for everybody in this one, especially if you don't mind taking advantage of skill settings, in case you happen to find something too cruel.

If there is one gripe I might have with this megaWAD overall, it would be the oft-employed "insta-pop" illusio pits, but if the thought of those doesn't deter you, then you're gonna have a hell of a time with this thing...

Highly recommended

Excellent. Later episodes draw on scythe 2 significantly for inspiration. The first episode is my favorite.

Absolute blast from start to finish. I personally had a lot of fun playing this WAD.....tho also keep in mind I am proud save scum so the absolutely brutal moments in this wad which may have been a turn-off to a lot of people didn't faze me too much. The secret maps, Blessed Hellscape, and Sledge were my personal faves on here, and I'd def recommend this wad for those who love a challenge

Really good wad. I did have to save scum in some of the later maps on UV, but that most of the time just means I have to get good. I definitely recommend and I will be playing it again.

"Straight into oblivion, full speed ahead!

Forward, and demonspeed...
This is the Ultimate Death... " (Excerpt from Demonspeed, by Craft).

But is it fast enough? We shall find out soon enough. Or maybe not. Speed of Doom has been finished, played through PrBoom+ 2.5.1.5 on UV difficulty. Let's see what this is all about.

Speed of Doom is a 32-level megawad designed by 2 guys with pistol starting in mind, one handled the first half, the other one the second part. It comes with new fonts, status bar, menu background, music, intermission screen, and textures. SoD takes places mostly on techbases and Hell, and features suicide exits at the end of the respective episodes.

The gameplay is largely skill focused, relying on the player's ability to get the best out of the encounters due to their usage and placement. Although it was designed by 2 guys, there doesn't appear to be a whole lot of difference between the episodes, primarily because all maps play very similar and there isn't much in terms of design to create contrast between them, with one possible exception: The first half appears to strongly emphasize the use of the Berserk fist, as suggested by its presence at the beginning of most maps and the amount of resources placed in the level. This however, can be worked around on many occasions, as one can also rely on enemy infighting for instance and let the monsters kill each other, thus saving ammo and being able to kill the survivors with the weapon of your choice. This seems to change in the final episode, as seen on MAP21 where the player is tasked with punching a good amount of enemies after committing suicide at the end of the previous level. There are weapons, but you will not be able to kill much with them as there's very little to no ammo.

This brings up the topic of difficulty. The difficulty curve in Speed of Doom is basically nonexistent. Despite starting relatively easy and getting more difficult as you progress, there are many difficulty spike down the road, so you might end up playing a map that's rather easy only to end up in an absolutely murderous map next, and then repeat. This is also the main problem of the megawad, the difficulty is pretty much all over the place. Some maps are very predictable, thus dealing with enemies does not prove to be problematic in general, while others go cheap on the player by having deadly enemies hidden in the shadows, resulting in easy and sometimes frustrating deaths as you might end up dodging projectiles and not knowing where do they even come from exactly. It doesn't help that sometimes enemies just pop up in front of you or behind you with no warning. The most frustrating maps are going to be MAP21, MAP22, and MAP27, for all the wrong reasons. In fact, all problematic parts of SoD could have easily been better if they weren't designed for a very specific gameplay style, the author thus forcing you to do them his way, not however you'd like to, sucking plenty of enjoyment out of them in the process. This sometimes works in SoD's favor, but once you're nearing the end the problem becomes apparent. Additionally, many maps can be done blind without putting a lot of effort into them, whereas those like MAP29 require previous knowledge due to the overall amount of ammo in them and nasty traps which will be very difficult if not impossible if you mismanage your resources, but by the time you realize this it will be far too late and your only choice will be to either skip the level, or redo it from scratch. After all is said and done, the journey ends with a slaughter kind of IoS map with 2000 enemies. A fitting finale, and yet, it could have done just fine without the IoS, but since it's more akin to blowing up a reactor, it presents a somewhat interesting take on the concept. My favorite parts are going to be the first 2 episodes, and MAP28.

To sum up, the reputation of Speed of Doom is justified as it is indeed a high quality megawad, but due to its flaws (of which the most important have been mentioned above) it does not get a rating higher than 3/5 from me. It is worth one's time, especially for veterans and players who are into demo recording, but it proves to be pretty difficult to recommend it for players who are just looking for something fun and challenging to play as some maps are extremely frustrating with their encounters and traps. You are also forced to abandon your play style in SoD since the authors force you to do it their way, not yours. It explores many different types of maps and styles (slaughter and survival are only 2 of them), has a pretty interesting story, and it gets a lot of things right, but it could have been better. If you want to try it out, go right ahead, but know what you're getting yourself into.

This is an example of a WAD that almost everyone liked and that I couldn't bring myself to enjoy. Of course, that isn't to say that there AREN'T any good maps (there certainly are), but the whole package is ridiculously uneven.

Speed of Doom was made by Josh Sealy (Joshy) and Darkwave0000, both making 16 maps (well, Joshy made 17 if you include the semi-official Map33). Their two mapping styles are very distinctive, which is nice; I could immediately tell whose map I was playing. Mind you, it's easier to know by which number the map occupies than the mapping techniques (Joshy made the odd numbered maps, save for the secret levels and Darkwave made the even ones, again except for the secret maps). Joshy favours more cramped battles and lower enemy counts while Darkwave goes all out, with large, beautiful environments and large monster swarms.

What's also cool is that SOD is not a slaughter WAD, so variety is present here. The issue is that a good half of the WAD (mostly by Joshy) simply isn't that good. While Darkwave gives you space to run around and pick your strategies, Joshy almost always forces you to play one way: HIS way. Otherwise, you'll end up taking a lot of unnecessary damage or dead. This makes progress in a lot of his maps more frustrating than fun, especially with his gimmick levels like Map21 (being Tyson, with 5 Arch-Viles and a few other high-tier enemies) and Map13 (practically no armour to be found). He makes the occasional decent level, but most are too cramped to be considered amazing both aesthetically and in terms of gameplay. Since the enemy placement in most of his levels is simply there to piss you off, it makes it annoying. Though, with low body counts, you could say it isn't absolutely torturous (besides Map23 and Map32).

Luckily, Darkwave swoops in to save the thing. Of course, not all of his levels are good (Map22 is a sort of "Darkwave-goes-Joshy"), but the maps themselves are fantastically detailed and nice to simply gaze at. The enemy placement feels more organised and poses a difficult yet fair threat. The larger enemy counts and the lush surroundings also make Darkwave's maps more engaging to play.

Favourite Maps: 31, 16

Good Maps: 02, 03, 04, 06, 08, 10, 11, 14, 19, 26, 28, 29, 30

Average Maps: 01, 09, 17, 18, 20, 24, 25

Not-so-Good Maps: 05, 07, 12, 13, 15, 22, 33

Proper Bad Maps: 32, 21, 23, 27

Overall, I'd give Speed of Doom a 2 / 4 (rounded up to 3 since I'm feeling generous). An average WAD.

I'm possibly thinking map30 looks kinda distructive and slaughter mapish if I say so. yet I tested out that map with various weapon mods too

Very high quality mapset.  Some maps are hard in the end but are still enjoyable.

This isn't perfect by any means but there are plenty of cool moments, interesting visuals and unique design choices. Even within the worst maps. It's damned hard so steel yourself fools. The insta spawns and pop-ups are infuriating at times but they do provide interesting and new ways to ambush a player in the open you otherwise couldn’t do as well as limiting the aggro range of large groups of enemies before a player crosses a certain point. There are a few too many AV’s perhaps but, eh. That’s debatable.

Overall I’d have to say this isn’t my favorite style of Doom but it is fairly solid stuff throughout all 32 maps and really captures it's own feel and bottles it nicely as the level of quality given from just two people is impressive. They trade maps back and forth through the whole thing. Check out the club's play through for a more in depth look.

Done on UV/continuous/saves

This is a hard megawad, not for everyone. It combines two styles from two different authors, both who like to perforate the player from every angle, though Joshy's approach to attack the player is, since the beginning, brutal as a headache, meanwhile Darkwave lightens the gameplay but he's rarely forgiving. After like 10 maps, both mappers styles differences become really notorious, and I happened to enjoy more of Darkwave's maps. Joshy's on the other side did leave me with a sour taste and anger moments. That is not to say he's style is unbearable, he knows how to surprise the player and make them shit in their pants, but sometimes I wished I knew what I was going to face before dying unexpectedly. 

Visuals are mostly red, green and brown, some very nice layouts, map 02 looks really good. The hellish episode also looks very well done, the hexagons in map 24 are nice. Midis (uhh I don't remember them) are good. Secrets are fine, except the archie-jumps one, I loved the Keen hunting in map 31, even though it consumes a lot of time in a blind run. 

My favourite maps are 06, 10, 31, 24, 28, casually only Darkwave maps, yet some of Joshy's map are very good like 05 and 17. I did not enjoy map 32 and I remember rage quitting frequently, some stuff there like the invul sphere via archie-jump are pure luck based.  

So, be patience when trying this, and expect a sort of roller coaster in terms of gameplay styles. Overall, I'll give this an 8/10

Pretty hard but it adds to sweetness of victory.

Speed of Doom, basically more like Hell Revealed than Alien Vendetta, despite all the touting that it's "the new Alien Vendetta". two guys make a full megawad, and to make matters cooler, they decide to alternate level slots, joshy getting odds and darkwave getting evens. and you can see some major differences in style here, joshy's maps are more compact, and somehow nastier than you'd be led to believe, while darkwave's maps like to put arch-viles in many places as well as having designs that easily remind me of The Mucus Flow (Cchest2 MAP24), yet at the same time more spacious and somehow a lot easier. blazing a trail through this wad is gonna be quite a challenge, and the difficulty will ramp up to slaughter levels.

did I say joshy had the nastier levels? I did, MAP32 is significantly harder than the maps it got inspired by, as well as darkwave's techno-slaughter that was the previous level, while in my opinion, MAP23 is the most grueling of these levels, especially from a pistol start (the cyberdemon guards all the good weapons). MAP27 also is close behind, the main hall is crazy to survive in due to the mancubi and possible RNG with arch-vile attacks, but it's easier on the two wings of the level. MAP21 is one of the worst forced-pistol start maps too. MAP07 has a unique concept, take the names of three IWAD levels that occupied the MAP07 slot and make a fun level out of them.

on darkwave's end, MAP28's memorable as hell for a large-scale six-key slaughtermap, but is much easier than it is given credit for. many of his other ones are lesser than that of course, but still wonderful to run around in. secrets can be quite hard to figure out. still though, the difficulty irks me more than it should, so I'm not really changing my rating here.