UNDERSEA.WAD

A 10-minute long map with fairly unremarkable gameplay. As is the case with many old maps, its main strength is the visual variety of the different locations. Still, there's not that much in terms of exploration or branching paths; a good part of the map is just going from room to room and shooting at the anemic groups of monsters. Not terrible, but not a classic. 

When I saw an oldschoolexual posted about this, I had to give it a go. 

UNDERSEA.WAD is one of those pwads from the initial wave of 1994 that has been remembered by modern players because of its core concept, which shows that creativity ages best of all. That concept is that you're in an underwater base of some type -- although since the interiors tend to all feel similar to one another, lots of gray walls, lots of tight hallways, it's hard to pin the setting down much further. Combat is light apart from some occasional multidirectional exposure to hitscanners. Chainsaw fans might enjoy using the choppers on all the pinkies, cacos, and imps that fill the hallways or are packed into monster closets. It was surprisingly fun rampaging down the bends of a 64-wide maze with it in hand, just mowing down sergeants. There are some occasional satisfying barrel situations too. The early scrolling SP_FACE cube was amusing. (That texture has also aged well.)

Overall it just wasn't my thing, though: too much clearing out harmless monsters in hallways, and unlike some other wads from the period, like The Waterfront from a year later, there was not much to the concept. The rocket launcher and plasma rifle are in unmarked secrets that even the computer area map doesn't reveal because the lines are hidden from the automap, secrets that aren't hinted at with a changing wall texture, so without those I skipped the handful of barons. If I vibed a bit better with the map, I might have distracted them and chainsawed them in the ass.  

Thanks to a post by Maes, I found out about this wad. The Maniac MIDI is catchy and fun, and the level itself is still an enjoyable romp today. The idea that you're under the sea is a creative touch.

Played this first from the Master Levels CD, good memories.

Found this map on an old CD from a PC mag circa 1995, and it was just about the only one that could honestly be described as above average for the era. Graphically very basic, but very tight, involving gameplay and a worthwhile challenge if you have a spare 20 minutes or so.