Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #007

[Sena]

Day 10: Horus https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/g-i/horus

 

A lot of the time, I describe WADs I like as being basic, or simple, because such levels are not very advanced in their construction, but well constructed nonetheless. This map is not. It's not basic, it's rudimentary and primitive.

 

As you can probably infer, this level likes two things, wood, and toxic floors. Which isn't the worst of ideas, toxic floors aren't an inherently bad thing, but for such a small map, it's kind of stupid to have it be such a large part of it, especially accounting for the fact some of it can't even be avoided. What you can't infer immediately is that it doesn't like to actually make it clear to the player that things have changed. For instance, it's quite standard that in a map you'll activate a switch, and part of the map will open up, a good map will actually make it clear where you're meant to go by either have it within the player's direct eyesight, or earshot. This map does neither, you walk somewhere, you activate something, and you have no idea you did it, so half the experience is just backtracking through areas, hoping that the invisible trigger has actually triggered, and by the way, it doesn't always, because one of them broke on me. It's not actually hard either, the combat encounters are as basic as they could be - they wait a while before giving you anything more than a shotgun, but when all's said and done, if they refused to give me anything else, it wouldn't have actually been harder. The whole experience is rather mediocre, and it just makes you wish you were playing something else. 

 

 

 

[smeghammer]

And todays effort is a 1994 map called "Armory".

 

Doom 1, E1M2, UV, freelook.

 

Quite nice and straightforward, though no ****ing pegged doortraks!! (yes, a pet irritant for me). Plenty of ammo and mostly looks pretty consistent. There are a few texture misalignments, but generally it all fits together nicely.

 

I did miss several secrets though.

 

Here is my playthrough:

 

Edited May 28, 2021 by smeghammer

[Sena]

Day 11: moon 2000 https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/m-o/moon2000

 

I thought I was in for something good here because the reviews on the archive were certainly bigging it up, but it's really nothing special. A tech base with some random structures, and that's about it. Also all the monsters have Quake sounds for some reason.

 

First problem with the map is it's way too big, I don't think I would need this much space to move if I was playing a milsim, pretty much 80% of the map is just empty space that doesn't do anything, and there's basically no difficulty, you'll fight 3 enemies at a time at very most, and to reiterate, you've got enough space to retreat that you'd have to put in some Nuts-tier enemy count if you wanted to actually have any chance of making the player have any chance of having to worry themselves. And, they give you at least 1000 cells, so you will spend less time in combat with enemies than you will looking for them. That one cyberdemon would probably be the one exception to this, if not for the fact that he gets stuck and can't actually attack the player, and the spider mastermind immediately after him isn't actually blocking anything, so the two high tier enemies in the map are ones you can completely ignore.

 

Not a particularly bad map per se, it's got some alright moments, it's functional, some of the switches are a bit less than intuitive (i.e. not actually switch textures), but I've played worse. It's got a couple interesting ideas, they just would've been better off not forcing me to walk for 5 minutes through empty hallways to see them.

 

 

 

 

[smeghammer]

Today's map is a very chaotic, and quite large, one from Y2K, by Thomas Bringle.

 

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/p-r/poolprty

 

Played GZDoom, UV, freelook, no jump.

I quite liked the open and free movement aspect to this and the gameplay is pretty frantic. I got lulled into a false sense of security and got careless with ammo, and got my arse kicked looking for more...

 

Here is my playthrough until then:

 

Edited May 29, 2021 by smeghammer

[Roofi]

Month 2 Day 12

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I die/stop.

 

File 1) RAGE DOOM ver. 2.0 by Dan Krempel (2004)

Spoiler

Quote

A 19-map pwad for Doom/Ultimate Doom.

 

Rage Doom is the name of an uncomplete Ultimate Doom megawad officially released in 2004 but made in the 90's. Indeed, there are 19 maps which are scattered among the three episodes. For instance, the author made a map for E3M6 but E3M4 , so you can"t really play continuously.

 

I think it's a hidden gem to play for classic wads addicts like me. Indeed, most of the maps are really decent for their time with exploration , simple but enjoyable gameplay. However I can't say it's better than the original IWAD.  A lot of levels contain over-generous secrets which consists to hidden closets with ton of health and ammo. The ton of items make them too easy to finish. I think some players might get bored because of this overabundance. However, the maps are still very fun to play in my opinion, especially as many battles tend to be a bit slaughter-like.

 

Some levels proved to be tougher than others , mainly because of more tight items balance and deadly traps. I think especially about E2M9 which actually takes place in a kind of metal fortress.

 

Aesthetically , I think the wad is pretty forgettable because of the minimalistic architecture. Also , the maps look unequally inspired. Episode 1 level's look really good imo because  the author sometimes tried to create "realistic" locations (exemple : an air base at E1M1 and a nuclear plant in E1M2). However , a lot of maps from the episode 3 are a sequence of very generic rooms filled with monsters.

 

Also I want to highlight the very subtle graphic changes. For instance , Health in the statbar is replaced by "RAGE". The doomguy's face look a bit more gorier too when you are between 80 and 60HP. All these little make me think that the author has an eye for detail.

 

Very decent Megawad.

 

File 2) Deliverance by Simon 'SlayeR' Judd (2003)

Spoiler

Quote

A Brick'n'Metal (mostly) themed map.

 

Deliverance is a rather big highly detailed limit-removing brown temple with some other colors to enhance the aesthetics (blood , water, marble...) The architecture looks very modern with features like curved stairs, little shadow effects, detailed architecture. To be honest, the main interest of this map today is its visuals.

 

As for the gameplay, it is particularly classic with SG/SSG centred battles. The level is still quite fun but don't expect any elaborate traps.

 

It's mostly about killing enemies in corridors, in the same way as a wad like Alien Vendetta released around the same time.

 

Also , the wad uses the music of TNT map 06 which always manage to make me anxious. Definetely one the best and creepiest music from an IWAD. Good choice.

 

Cool map.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got punched to death by a revenant in Z-dione Attack

 

Spoiler

[Sena]

Day 12: SUPJOSH https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/s-u/supjosh

 

My first attempt at trying to actually search for levels that aren't just tosh that's best left forgotten. Not a good first attempt, as despite this being from 2018, and having no negative reviews (having none at all, for that matter), it's so rudimentary you'd think this came out pre-1996, but I suppose even the best mappers have to start somewhere.

 

The main reason I tried searching for levels that aren't tosh is because stuff like this does not generate very strong feelings from me, and there's barely anything to say. 11 enemies, and I got 100% kills in 1:20. The architecture's pretty basic, and because it's so short, you spend as much time waiting for doors to open as you do exploring the level. So, I suppose, to speak positively, no kaizo difficulty, no navigational problems, and it definitely isn't too long, but there isn't much else to say about it, it'd probably take you longer to read this than beat it.

 

[Roofi]

Month 2 Day 13

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I die/stop.

 

File 1) SW-Wad level finder Windows Version by Javier Almenara (2003)

Quote

SW Plus is an extension of SW which works also with DooM, DooM2, Heretic and HeXen.

 

An old program which allowed you to check the details of levels in a wad.

 

File 2) nocheat.zip (1997)

Quote

This DEH file disables all cheats except level warp and no clipping.

 

A dehacked made by "Schlamber666" according to the txt which prevent you to use some cheats in game.

 

In fact, all codes are available. The author has just changed the codes to type. For example, to be invincible, you have to type "pussy" or "xdt7ybhjg" to get a radiation suit.

If you do iddad, the game shows your coordinates on the map (on crispy-doom at least). If you try to put "idkfa", you get the message "I'm sorry, but this cheat is unavailable." I found this quite amusing at the time.

 

However, I wonder about the fact of having arbitrarily kept the warp and the noclip knowing that they are also cheats. Also idmus has not been changed either.

 

A rather mediocre mod overall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got stuck in a house when I walked into a fireplace in Super Sonic Doom. I needed a yellow key which I didn't have to get out. I had no choice but to kill myself in that fireplace.

 

Spoiler

 

Edited May 30, 2021 by Roofi

[smeghammer]

Hehe - this one popped up, which I have seen before. Not a hope in hell of actually finishing it, but of vague interest perhaps.

 

30,000 maps by Doomguy 2000:

 

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/0-9/30kmaps

 

I didn't quite do all of them :-)

 

 

 

Let's try again...

 

 

[Sena]

Day 13: That Damn Cake https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/d-f/damncake

 

This is certainly different. Made for Doom's 18th anniversary, you sit atop of a giant cake and shoot balloons that fly out of the mouth of Doomguy's fat mug. When you kill them all, some Icon of Sin activates and the level ends without much fanfare. The only problem is you have no weapons, you have the pistol with its default 50 shots, 122 enemies, and also instead of a plasma rifle you have a lighter, which is debatably worse than punching these enemies that damage you instantly, and very quickly upon touching. It kills kind of quick when it's in range, but the range is absolutely horrendous, I'd feel safer with a chicken drumstick. A bit of a novelty, but I suppose if you wanted Bloons Tower Defense to be a first person shooter, and also to be a game that feels like it could never exist and was just made up in your head one day, then they've got you sorted.

 

 

 

 

[smeghammer]

God, I have played a lot of Doom maps over the years... I did the random map thing again and - ignoring the gameplay mods and other non map entries, the first one I got was another I have played before several times. Luckily it is an excellent 4 map set, called Suspended in Dusk, by Espi, from 2005. Here, I play the first map (GZDoom, freelook no jump, UV).

 

It uses predominately grey textures, but it is very well done and flows very well. Highly recommended:

 

 

Edited May 30, 2021 by smeghammer
added link