UnAligned: 21 Days, 27 Maps, Zero Texture Alignment

A good DOOM mod should be challenging, right? How about challenging what is expected from the maps themselves? This is exactly what UnAligned does. In spades. Gimmicks and puzzles abound; especially E3M1, oh wow -- when I found out that the teleporters were basically math instead of "do them in this order", it became a great thing indeed, and this is saying nothing of the voodoo doll puzzle, or... you get the impression.

If you want good solid combat, look elsewhere (or IDCLEV to E3M6 and play DOOM Tower Defence). But the fact is the DOOM engine offers more potential than just various configurations of shooting, and UnAligned is a good place to look for that kind of thing. By its very nature, the entire thing is hit and miss (each and every criticism of E1M8, for example? Completely justified -- a nice idea made totally frustrating in its extremity, and something already done better by MAP07 of Valiant for example) but there's likely something here to surprise anybody. I give it five stars for its creativity; not the overall quality, which is as sporadic as the themes of gameplay. It's not for everybody; in fact it's not for many people at all; but dash it all, if it ain't unique as hell. Even if, as the name would imply, it's not the prettiest smartass around.

As for a megawad that was made in fewer days than it has levels - this is quite good. As for a megawad in general - well, that's a different story. It's very apparent that the maps precisely follow the author's visions and this leaves nothing to complain about. The problem is the one that affects many other Doom 1 WADs: the tedium. E3 is the best at avoiding it here and therefore the best in overall, but E1 and E2 leave you pumping monsters with puny weapons. You will get a rocket launcher and a plasma rifle, but there's very little ammo. Thus, the enjoyment is mixed and the overall score is average.