Zones of Fear

One of best megawads I've ever played. This one has it all: huge maps, high monster count in every map, epic fights and the most important aspect for me, the gameplay is excellent: only 2 maps I found a bit confuse (namely map 22 and 26), all the others were fine. Recommended!

an odd community wad from the Czechs, this one contains plenty of huge maps, which can be a turnoff. jaeden's maps in particular are really fucking huge and sometimes insane in combat. MAP24 and MAP30 were the biggest and most epic, but I got lost a lot in MAP22 and MAP26 (all by jaeden). the smaller maps were much better for me. at least the readme has a few hints for a few maps. also, MAP20's music sucks.

EDIT: and I still think the same as I did last time. Zones of Fear's levels are all very varied and surprisingly memorable, though not all in a bad way. With the big maps starting from MAP09, especially the jaeden maps, it drags out for much longer than it should. Some of the long ones are good, like MAP24 with it's puzzle-like gameplay and MAP26 with it's Eternal Doom-style gameplay and faux-3d aspect. MAP20 again, I have to say it, is terrible, for so many reasons, the enemies on the high valley walls are among the worst, but the part with the computer rooms and the big enemies ties up too much time and the final room is a slaughter area where the ammo is actually in the lava room beforehand (oh and fuck the lava). I barely even have the patience to even play MAP30 given how long THAT one is.

so yeah, jaeden still steals the show when it comes to crazy epics that are loved or hated. despite this enkeli also making large maps, they are less memorable, although a bit nicer to play. Damned's style is probably the best, compact, short maps with good gameplay throughout. a whole mixed bag.