Slaughterfest 3

I like slaughterfest series, and I enjoy to play this wad (easiest in this series but also pretty hard).

Here comes my first "real" slaughterwad, woo. Played through PrBoom+ on HMP. Indeed, I have played them backwards, starting with the latest (at this time) and making my way back to the first in time.

So, where to start? With the beginning of course. First things first, SF3 is the third megawad in a series of slaughterwads, as the name explicitly states. It features a new menu background, textures, music (mostly), status bar, a new infinite BFG which comes with some pretty bad sounds and a very cheap looking texture, like a simple red overlay was applied to the standard sprite, but no new enemies, ENDOOM screen, or other sounds.

Similar to the previous entries in the series, the megawad features the works of multiple authors, all centered around slaughter combat but each with their own unique style and theme. Some maps feature more "advanced" (to say so) design with some engaging puzzles or sections, while others are relatively more straightforward, focusing more on the combat and not so much on the other aspects.

The fact that it features the works of multiple authors, each with very different styles, is unfortunately also the biggest flaw of the megawad. In other words, the quality is inconsistent, especially later on, the first half doesn't suffer from this as much as the other one does. Particularly, the maps designed by cannonball seem to be of noticeably lower quality than those of the other authors. Luckily, they are still mostly fun, so they kind of get away with the gameplay (which, sadly, still pales in comparison to other mappers), but not with the aesthetics. If I am not mistaken some of the levels made by him also include remakes of a few maps from Hell Revealed. They are pretty faithful to the style and gameplay of the originals, but also feature some dubious changes, most notably in the encounters with some incredibly unforgiving monster placement near the end of certain levels.

Other problematic maps seem to be those created by TimeOfDeath. Not usually lacking in the department of aesthetics in general, except for a few areas in MAP29 that feel very out of place compared to the rest of the levels, their biggest problem is without a single doubt the navigation and the cryptic puzzles (or obtuse progression actually). The worst offender is going to be the previously mentioned MAP29. It starts well, but the problems make themselves known almost immediately. For instance, the way to the red skull is completely cryptic. Frankly I think most players will spend an hour if not more trying to figure out how could they possibly reach it. Then comes the exit, which might be easy to reach, and sadly so is missing the switch that makes it accessible. My advice to people who are not familiar with this map (or potentially style, if MAP29 is very representative of his style. I myself am not familiar with it), just ask for help, read a guide, or watch a video, just don't proceed to the map blindly like I did, it took me an entire day to figure it out, and that's thanks to the help of some people and a video, otherwise I would've just skipped it altogether eventually, it's so frustrating I would've eventually given up if it wasn't for the help. Don't do yourself a disservice by testing your patience and nerves to the maximum with this map.

On the technical side of things, at the time of writing this review with the latest version available for download, MAP16 has a broken exit, the switch that activates the exit cannot be reached, so if you end up playing the bugged version, after you're done with the last area just skip to the next level using -warp or something. I'm also unsure whether the Cyberdemons seen in the starting area of the map can be killed or not, but they do seem to count towards your total amount of enemies killed (without them, the best you could do is 360/362). There shouldn't be any more major or game breaking glitches in the megawad beside this one.

On the positive side of things, my favorite levels are going to be those designed by Demonologist. They're fun, beautiful, mysterious, and incredibly atmospheric. They're also using Quake textures, having the best of both worlds.

All in all, it is a good megawad but it does have its major flaws. Frankly, I would actually recommend this to someone new to slaughter, but not before experiencing Alien Vendetta, Hell Revealed, and at least MAP24 and MAP26 of Scythe in order to get a taste of what slaughter is like. Maybe a few of the later levels of Ancient Aliens too, such as MAP18. My final rating is going to be a 3.5/5, but I decided to be generous this time and give it 4 stars rather than the probably more fitting and accurate 3. It's worth your time, but do keep in mind a few things I've mentioned above before starting.

Ahhh finally, a collection of different unique slaughtermaps designed by different people , each containing its own elements and themes giving an eccentric yet very challenging and fun mapsets to play with. SF2011 did not impress me that much , but sf2012 was a huge hit ! All maps of sf2012 gave me a vibe of genuine slaughter with fun maps and gameplays made by slaughter lovers for slaughter lovers. Unfourtanely , I honestly can't say the same with sf3. Overall sf3 was a huge let-down , yes sure some people might say otherwise and its got some nice maps or its very similiar to previous years of slaughterfest , but it doesn't hide the fact that sf3 has a buttload of isses . Map 1 for example has a wierd starting area of shooting all the buttons rather than 1 proper switch , as well as the hidden monsters in the final area which can easily be missed. Map 2 has its fair share of issues . There is a hom in map 30 btw , which for some reason the author missed even though someone did properly address the issue here. Map 21 had a bad beginning in UV, little ammo , alongside vile corridor with revs wandering around . Its also worth noting to address that some maps don't fit in their dedicated slot , some hard maps in the beginning and some easy maps in the final 20's ; map 20 and map 27 should have been replaced , map 21 and 22 should go somewhere in the 10's, just an example . I could go around giving the issues with each map ,but since this is the final version and archi isn't going to make any changes anyways, its kind of pointless.

I played through beta c , and map 19 should have been kept . It had a much better gameplay experience than the new integrated map . Map 8 wasn't bad, at least its not as bad as the other map 8 from sf3_c.

On the bright side , there are really good maps worth pointing out like some of phml or cannonball and maybe even some of archi's map. Whilst some maps could have just needed some more playtesting and are mostly incomplete as a result , other maps complete the balance ensuring that the wad is not a repeat of sf2011. Ribbiks maps are as eccentric as always , map 4's beginning wasn't too good , the last area wasn't bad ; kind of fun actually .Tods maps are insanely long and difficult , and map 3 was fun. Map 30 is mind boggling, a huge beast . Well done Archi. Map 27, 13 and 12  were awesome , had a lot of fun playing them, most of demonologists map were spectacular.

Played through 1-32 completely , and I would say that overall it was quite disappointing . The maps weren't bad they were just simply not good enough , and this is reason why we are not seeing many people max the wad compared to sf2012(or most players retired).

Notable maps I MUST recommened people to play would be : 3 , 9 , 10 , 12 , 13 , 20 , 25, 26, 27 and 30

Anyhow this is my opinions and view on the wad overall 3/5 .

this is pretty good overall for slaughtermaps, especially Cannonball and Phml were at their top games here and are far better than the others mapwise. it's not flawless though, there's no secret exit in MAP31, some teleport destinations especially in MAP20 do not work even on the highest setting. also that 666 tag door in Escaping the Spiral Labyrinth still does not work for some stupid reason i can never beat that one without summoning a random Commander Keen to open the door.

Very reminiscent of the original slaughtefests.

o_O It's finally here! Or is it? O_o

Slaughter of all sorts available in this lovely and timeless package.

Better have some time to spare for this one.