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DOOM 2 - Flashback to Hell

   (79 reviews)

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About This File

A 15-level mapset for DOOM 2 that is compatible with the "-complevel 9" setting. Features new music by PRIMEVAL and James Paddock, as well as high-quality redone sound effects by Per Kristian Risvik. If the new music tracks are buggy in ZDOOM while using FMOD, updating to the latest non-official revision might fix the problem. I recommend using Fluidsynth, though.

Each level of this wad has been balanced for pistol-start play. In addition, this mapset has been specially balanced to allow for co-op play, using 2-4 players. In co-operative play, the maps will be teeming with LOTS more monsters than in single-player, but ammo and health pickups will be increased as well.

PrBoom-Plus users will see a new set of demos. Please do not use freelook, crouch, or jump. These features will either break the levels or will lessen the old-school feel.

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saggitarius

  

Excellent WAD. I played it a lot of times, and I still love it.

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Psilli

  

Excellent array of maps inspired from the DOOM II levels, cool story, and good gameplay. Definitely recommend!

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Erick

  

Completed on GZDoom 3.6.0 on Ultra-Violence in a continuous playthrough. Solid set of levels that are visually great and just as great to play. The first episode is an excellent revision of the original Doom II levels with some added challenge, secrets that are more than just secret walls, and familiar areas given a fresh new look. In these levels you'll see the level themes are intact, so something like MAP07 would still have segments similar to its IWAD counterpart. However, what makes this episode so enjoyable is the creative layouts with new music and textures to help make each level feel new again. The new music for the first episode is also nice.

 

The real highlight of this WAD are the Hell levels, which make up the last three levels of the WAD, not counting the actual last level which I won't spoil. The Hell levels are big, open, and are fairly difficult, showcasing the WAD's greatest strengths and makes you want to reach the end sooner or later. Being original levels themselves, their layouts standout the most in the WAD and the scale here is just amazing. MAP13 is probably my favorite level in the WAD, there are many traps, stunning atmosphere, and encounters that leave surprises at every corner. I would play the WAD again just to go to the Hell levels, they are that great to me.

 

The WAD also has sound effects for weapons and monsters, some sounding more punchy and others just not that great. Personally I am okay with these, just not a big fan of them. Sprite changes to the monsters are mainly just recolors of the monsters, so Imps are more brown and Arachnotrons shoot red plasma instead. Again, not much of a gameplay changer, though you may or may not like them.

 

Overall, Flashback to Hell is a great WAD with a solid first episode and even better Hell levels, so you get both a stellar revision of the first episode of Doom 2 and original Hell levels that open things up. Not all levels are great, MAP14 has a cruddy boss fight that seems to be done out of obligation more than anything. Other maps that fell a bit flat to me were MAP03, but otherwise, it's a good experience throughout.

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galileo31dos01

  

Done with these settings:

 

- GLBoom+ 2.5.1.4. complevel 9.

- Ultra-Violence

- Continuous combined with pistol start mindset.

- Saves every 10 minutes or so.

 

Sweet literal flashback to Doom II, a set of fun maps of nice consistent quality. The story is comically lengthy, like nothing you'll usually expect to see in contemporary wads, and I took my time to read it (too tempting for tl;dr). It's fascinating how much thought the author put into something most players generally overlook, and in spite of recalling little of it, the plot starts after the incidents in Plutonia, scientists researching ways to prevent the resurgence of the Icon of Sin, but due to outdated technology, they sent the marine back in time to help to complete their work, once again. What I wasn't expecting is to find the initial map quite familiar (I didn't do my research, as you can see). These maps are re-imaginations of the iwad levels, but with a slightly different design perspective. Yes, techbases, sewers and miscellaneous man-made buildings are back, even the classic "O' of destruction", they constitute the first and longest episode, though in a more new-fashioned, higher quality way in terms of layout design. The later section is thematically hell, my favourite since the author combined darker shades of grey/brown rocky areas with classic hot red textures, giving it strong visuals. Part of the new music is remakes of classic tracks from the game, which accompany the journey in a nostalgic way. The rest go well in their spots, such as the "Hell" maps include one of the most quiet tracks I've ever heard, very nice. On another side, the new sound effects, which are supposedly enhanced versions of the original ones, were a welcome change in general, like the cyberdemon's death now sounds more explosive. There's a "clean" version out there without the added SFXs, if anyone dislikes them, not that they impact gameplay wise.

 

Much of the combat is alignments of incidental cleaning and classic setups corresponding to the map's slot, that means plenty of homages (super shotgun debut in map 02, the confined zombies at the start of map 04, the helpless spiderdemon under a crusher in map 06, the famous barons vs. cyberdemon infight simulator in map 08, the zombies closets in map 10, etc.), even though the maps aren't built around them. With a higher monster count than average, the levels are still far from grindy scenarios, any casual player can feel at home playing these maps, besides the difficulty peaks near the last entries. That is not say they lack strong opposition, but the balance is adapted to encourage exploration, and to be careful mostly with hitscanners and the occasional horde in tight quarters or special trap (like the dark corridors that turn into lava in map 13), while you experience flashbacks continually. The hell maps seem to be fresh design, perhaps some The Living End vague vibes in map 13, but a deviation from the homages, which is a nice change considering the start/exit connections from the first episode kind of wore out after a while. If something valuable to rescue from them, is that the author put health and/or ammo pickups for free, presumably for continuous players' commodity. To my surprise, the hell episode doesn't contain any single former human type, not that I missed them, they reappeared in the secret maps.

 

Secret-wise, on this side there's plenty of nice secrets to find. Not much like misaligned textures or fake walls, a sign of good variety which includes hidden switches in many ways, and generally easy to figure. A thing I noticed, players' possible major obstacle could be to find armor for free, specially pistol starters. If you don't see one anywhere, it'll most likely be hidden. For favourite maps, could be 12 and 13, though the techbases were fun too. I'd pick 14 up until the inopportune boss fight, but that's just a personal distaste towards that kind of gimmick.

 

Overall, thumbs up! I find it accessible to anyone looking for throwbacks maybe, or moderately easy maps with simple difficulty progression. I wonder how the other original levels would have been interpreted here, but I guess we'll never know, unless there's a sequel somewhere. Anyway, my rate is 8/10. 

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Spectre01

  
Good wad with consistent visuals, soundtrack and difficulty curve. A decent spin on the first 11 Doom 2 levels but nothing mindblowing. The 3 Hell levels are much better. 4/5

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Guest

  
Great semi-megawad, took me quite a while and I had an absolute blast the whole way. One thing I appreciated is that you were sparing on the BFG, to the point I didn't get it at all until the final map - it made finally getting to use it in the last segment so, so satisfying. Looking forward to seeing what else you come up with!

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Guest

  
This may not be what everyone looks for in a WAD, but I believe it does what it set out to do, and so incredibly well at that. I've had so much fun having a 'flashback to hell', that I can't wait to replay it through with pistol starts.

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Andrea Rovenski

  
Absolutely fantastic wad in every conceivable regard. One of my favorite wads ever. Music is top quality, texture diversity is very refreshing, the maps themselves are very nice (perhaps with the exception of 7 :

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Guest

Unknown date

  
Loaded up game. Saw same Doom textures I've seen for a decade and a half. Quit game. Did some research. Recognized it for probably being a great classic remake. Understood that not everyone plays Doom for the same reasons I do. Decided to give it 3 stars because it obviously has no aesthetic or atmospheric value, but decided not to give it any lower because it probably caters more to classic lovers. One word, average, that's all I can say.

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chexwarrior

Unknown date

  
Just finished this on HMP, thoroughly enjoyed it. Has a very classic feel but it was never boring, a little easy maybe but it had some very cool hell levels.

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Chris Hansen

Unknown date

  
This is definitely a must-play! Stormwalker put a lot of hard work and effort into this and it shows! This is made by a true Doom fan for all Doom fans out there to enjoy.

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subject_119

Unknown date

  
Really amazing stuff right here, the maps are beautiful, music is good, the new sounds rock.... Can't give it a 5* though as the gameplay is sometimes boring, especially on the very end where I found myself camping behind doors without being able to rush in or else and sometimes traps are disappointing, to see just a few imps instead of hordes of monsters in a giant room is...yeah...disappoi nting. Will give it a try in coop!

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Guest

Unknown date

  
Dont listen to the reviewer above...... REAL TALK THIS IS CACAWARD 2014 IM HALF WAY THROUGH AND HAVE TO SAY THIS IS BY FAR THEEEEEE BEST DOOM 2 REMAKE IVE EVER SEEN AND IVE BEEN PLAYING DOOM SINCE THE SHAREWARE DEMO !! 10/5 BYYYY FAR Please release the other half soon POPSICLEMAN313

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Guest

Unknown date

  
bleh, i don't feel it.

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Guest

Unknown date

  
Yes, it's been two years. The author had a thread about it in 2012, but got banned from Doomworld. It's a bit longer than he envisioned then, and it's a lot of fun. And even if they don't fit in great - E3F1 and E3F9 of Wolf3D are not a bad ending touch I must say. :)

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Guest

Unknown date

  
solid set of maps.

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Guest

Unknown date

  
All these 5* fanboy rating made my expectations sky-high. Sadly I was quite disappointed. Mostly because the maps (intended as remake #10000) simply did not have enough additional value. AND we've seen the MAP07 theme, and dark areas with spectres, too much for waiting for yet another one. As remake #10000: not bad, 3.5/5 despite a number of flaws. As original level: not bad, but no more than 3/5 because it doesn't add new interesting features. Note that 4/5 for the efford does not make it more playable.

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Guest

Unknown date

  
Pretty solid. Bit on a easy side but not in a boring way.

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Guest

Unknown date

  
Protip: If it's too easy, play it on -fast. That'll get you're adrenaline flowing! Good mapset.

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Guest

Unknown date

  
Good lord this is excellent.

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Guest

Unknown date

  
Didn't complete it yet but how amazing, I'm playing it from the computer room at school and even with no sound I can get enough life and play it without problems! The only problem I had was the new HUD, those blue lights are kind of hard to read at once.

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Guest

Unknown date

  
Pretty enjoyable. Mostly high quality "remakes" of Doom 2 maps, with few (also pretty good) wholly original maps thrown in. Really well made overall, not too hard and not too long. Recommended.

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Guest

Unknown date

  
Pretty darn good, enjoyed it from start to finish. Did see a few flaws but the only major one was on MAP12, where its possible to get trapped behind the bookcase secret. My only regret was playing on HMP.

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Guest

Unknown date

  
havn't played all yet, so far very enjoyable

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Guest

Unknown date

  
Excellent gameplay, with balanced difficulty and great architecture. One of the greatest doom wads in our time. Truly representing the true modern style of wad making without blatant details.

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