Dimensions

Sick wad.

"Have no mercy upon us, Lord,
We seek no justice, only death." - Funeral Mist (Naught but Death, 2018).

Therefore, Dimensions has been finished, played through GlBoom+ 2.5.1.5 on HMP and HNTR (MAP03). And one helluva ride it was, so let's see why that is.

Dimensions is a 5 map (3 "normal", 2 secret) long slaughter wad, meaning that emphasis is placed on high enemy counts with enemies in strategic positions, and usually high difficulty that comes both from combat and from the environment itself (such as through the use of platforming sections which tests one's mastery of Doom's movement and physics). It comes with new textures and music, and the action takes place in Hell and mysterious dimensions (even the void itself on MAP02).

Being only 3 maps long (5 if you decide to go for the secret levels) there isn't much to dissect. MAP01 is a very straight-to-the-point map with some notably enormous waves of Revenants, some Cyberdemons, and Barons. It is a flat map without much variety, and there's not much to explore either, just non-stop killing of enemies in stages. Fun, but perhaps too simple and besides spamming the BFG and dodging there isn't anything the player finds themselves doing.

MAP02 is a very interesting idea of a map that takes places in the void, a dark map with pitch black sky and notably more difficult as environmental challenges are present this time, namely platforming sections. But perhaps it's too ambitious and works better on paper than in practice. It is surreal at times as it features upside down rooms, and some of them have platforming challenges. This is where the main problem lies. Due to the nature of the map, the upside down platforming is just tedious. There are pillars on the ceiling which help the player guide their steps, but it is so dark it's extremely difficult to tell where the player needs to step next, thus falling on the damaging floor at the bottom and dying many times until they get it right. The pillars the player is required to walk are also invisible. Otherwise, the combat itself is fun, but the platforming sections ends up as a chore rather than a fun challenge. Not even raising the gamma level seems to help.

MAP03 takes place inside what appears to be a base from a mysterious dimension. The environment this time looks more refreshing and modern with a big focus on the green color and rooms of varying difficulty. It also has short platforming sections, but are very short. And this is where the biggest problem lies: the difficulty. It is inconsistent and all over the place on this map. HNTR has some rooms with as many as 4 Megaspheres and not exactly difficult encounters. Others give you an SSG and shells for them + medkits and/or armors. And then there's one very specific room that holds the red keycard which only offers some stimpacks, plasma cells, shotgun shells, and a whole lot of pain. It is basically a short sequence of pressing 4 switches which trigger the lowering of the barrier to reach the keycard and a crusher to kill the 4 Arch-Viles inside a compact room. These AVs cannot be killed and dodging their attacks is extremely difficult. This is basically where the real challenge of the whole map lies. After entering the area, the player is locked inside and waves of Imps and Hell Knights, accompanied by 2 AVs at the very end of the sequence teleport into the area. It is perhaps the most sadistic that yours truly has ever seen. It is nigh impossible to come up with a strategy t beat the room consistently, and reliably, the Megasphere at the entrance does not seem to be enough. Trying to outrun the enemies is futile as they teleport in faster than the player can activate all 4 switches, and even killing the enemies doesn't help much considering there will be 2 AVs spawning at the end which will happily resurrect everyone, not to mention the other 4 AVs inside the room with the crusher which can easily put the player down in an instant. This room is also not affected by difficulty settings, at least not HNTR or HMP, it is the same on both.

To sum up, Dimensions manages to be an interesting short slaughter wad with very unique ideas in places. The upside down platforming section on MAP02 is undoubtedly genius for instance, but it fails to capitalize on the ideas when they're put into practice. The aforementioned section could work much better if the visibility wouldn't be so poor, and the red keycard room on MAP03 would also work better if either the enemies would teleport slower inside it or there wouldn't be any AVs joining the club at the end of the sequence. MAP01, while being fun, does nothing to stand out neither in terms of gameplay nor visually, apart from maybe having some enormous Revenant waves. Is it any good then? Yes, but it could also be much better considering the potential is definitely present, therefore I would only recommend this to a Doom god or veteran, the average Doomer is unlikely to have much fun with it after MAP01. The author of this wad has contributed to other projects and I would recommend checking out one of them instead if you want to play more maps made by them, notably Flotsam, which has better level design and better balancing. Otherwise, best of luck playing Dimensions, may the gods ruling these realm bless your journey.

Maps are too difficult. I don't mind using TAS features to beat the maps but several of them are nearly impossible to beat even with TAS.

A most entertaining set of maps that should have something in the bag for everybody who wants either freewheeling slaughter or tight challenge encounters.

If you're well versed in "doomy things", HMP might be a good place to start, if you desire a considerable challenge without getting totally steamrolled by the opposition right away.

If you want something more laid back yet still entertaining, HNTR is the place to be.

UV is for the most strong willed doomers out there who wish to push themselves. Paradise and Purgatory await, if you live to see it.

map by map reviews are fun...

MAP01: yes easy map, but also rather tedious to max due to the infighting that you pretty much have to rely on once the arch-viles are gone. also a BFG-only map, which despite there not being basically any other weapons you really can't kill everything with anything else.

MAP02: I fucking hate platforming of this kind, especially with the ceiling bits making it even more so. when the combat is there it's pretty good. the trap room was very devious and nasty too. otherwise a forboding map.

MAP03: no real tedium thankfully and nice Ribbiks-like setpieces. only problem is the reliance of voodoo triggers when I pretty much clear out most battles quickly. best level of the set.

MAP31: the revenant wall is fun.

MAP32: this and the previous maps were treated as bonus maps. I had to god-mode this one entirely and even then it's tedious. why didn't half of those revenants teleport #OCDtrigger

one of the reasons I really don't like the slaughtermaps of this kind is just since I always aim to kill everything and get everything as quickly as humanely humanely humanely possible, I'm spending minutes killing cyberdemons on the floors of the maps and it takes up way too much time. and if that isn't much of a problem, in that I can take out the setpiece quickly enough, having to wait for the lock-in to finish lowering or something like that bores me to death. again, spending minutes waiting is a problem. maybe my mindset shouldn't be to rush through everything, but I like that kind of playstyle. it's just all that waiting, man. and the potential tedium of having to face big monsters in a scenario that takes much longer than it already is. now feel free to ignore this, or me.

Killer5 aka MrZzul has one of best understandings of difficult Doom gameplay that exists today, and Dimensions is a delicious realization of that ability. I encourage you to start on Hey Not Too Rough because it is a treat for everyone, and then when you're hungry for more, Hurt Me Plenty awaits. And then Ultra-Violence after that.

5/5. Either take a leisurely relaxing stroll through some pretty sexy looking maps on lower difficulties or get mercilessly abused by those same maps on UV. The choice is yours. Also platforming map = instant 5 stars :P