Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #008

[Endless]

 

Endless, what the hell is this now ?

Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures is a small project of exploration, interaction, entertainment and reviews where we meet once every 2 weeeks to select random WADs in search of hidden treasures, lost promises or our worst nightmares! In case you didn't know, /idgames archive has a special feature where we can search for random files, of course, sometimes they are resources or unplayable stuff, so we will focus on looking for WADs! 

  

So, what are we going have to do ?

1. We/I try to play at least 5 (or more if you can) random WADs on /idgames. For that, I use the Random File feature.
2. We comment/review the WADs for the duration of the event. There's no set time, but one WAD every 2 days is a good measure, or 1 every day in case there's plenty.
3. Try to take screenshots of your adventures.
4. Play however you want, on any skill-level, as long as you play the WAD as intended/in working shape.
5. Avoid shitting on people's work, try to review in a respectful manner, but of course, let's all have a good laugh in case we find something odd.

  

What kind of WADs are we looking for ?

Mostly singleplayer WADs that work in your source-port of choice. You can skip DM WADs in case you don't have anyone to play with. Heretic WADs are also allowed. I will look for at least 4 random WADs for the event and add them here. Feel free to play them with me, or if you wish, look for your own! The point of this is to encourage you to explore this vast, random world. 

 

Tips/recommendations for commenting/reviewing:

Spoiler

• Do provide the name of the map and a link to the file. Very important.
• Sticking the name of the author doesn't hurt either, especially if you have previous experience with it.
• Commenting the source port and skill-level is also good if you wish.
• Try to stick to 1 WAD per day to avoid burnout, but this is all up to you, champ!
• Screenshots or videos are awesome.
• Long or short format, both are good as long as you do it with integrity.

 

Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures of this event:

 

1. Map 1 of Duke3D
2. Stardate 20X6 (oh no)
3. Pitfall
4. La Tortura
5. Justice - Infernal Mechanics
6. Mortiser 1
7. Lovinger Outpost for Doom 2 or MBF

 

Spoiler

The Top 10 out 21

1. @Roofi | 700
2. @Sena | 225
3. @Endless | 190
4. @Walter confetti | 185
5. @Maribo | 145
6. @LUISDooM | 110
7. @smeghammer | 85
8. @Misty | 75
9. @leodoom85 | 60
10. @Biodegradable | 55

 

Join the Doom Master Wadazine community for more events like this! » https://discord.gg/Q2RKn4J

 

» Previous adventures:

Spoiler

1. Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #001
2. Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #002
3. Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #003
4. Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #004
5. Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #005
6. Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #006
7. Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #007

[Walter confetti]

Lovinger looks interesting...

[Endless]

1 hour ago, Walter confetti said:

Lovinger looks interesting...

The .txt file is a very interesting one.

[Maribo]

Ohhh yes. I've been playing and running Ribbiks maps the last few days, SD 20x6 is something I've been excited for. Definitely playing it this week.

[Biodegradable]

La Tortura

UV | GZDoom + Antares' Weapons

 

This was quite a vicious map. Old reviews on the Archive complain about it being a bit unbalanced and I'd have to say I agree for the most part. There's a fair bit of resource starvation that can make some parts really unfair, but I also actually enjoyed the challenge for the most part. There's also an issue with some of the progression being a bit too cryptic, especially with an fake wall you're supposed to find to bypass a tree that's crammed in a tiny corridor. I wouldn't know about this until afterwards, so I just noclipped through it. Honestly, blocking the player serves no real purpose and it's one of the odder decisions the mapper made. There's also a couple of inescapable pits, which kind of sucked. Visually, it's a little on the dull side most of the time, but there are a few smatterings of cool stuff going on. The appeal of the map definitely lies in its challenge and will be of interest to the more sadistic Doomers who enjoy being tortured. 

 

 

Edited May 31, 2021 by Biodegradable

[ICID]

Blofields Mum (1996) by Colin Barker and Neil Kearns

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Source port: glboom+, complevel 2}

^{Difficulty: UV, pistol starts}

 

Oh, boy, my first-ever foray into the Random WAD Adventures and it's...well, it's not very good. Blofield's Mum is a set of two levels from 1996 with three text files hyping up their difficulty in the macho style common of the 90s (one might say Barker and Kearns intend to...make you their bitch?) They're so confident that you'll love their levels that they include one of the authors' addresses and request that you send money there if you like the WAD.

 

Sadly, the levels do not really live up to the hype and most players will probably find reading the text files the most fun part of the experience. MAP01 is trivially easy - you get a huge stack of weapons in front of a Romero's head you can't possibly miss. I decided to ignore that and see what else the map had to offer, which turned out to be a mere 15 monsters (nothing harder than a Hell Knight) scattered across two square rooms (the third room is full of barrels, in case you need some extra firepower.) Even playing like this, the Romero's head was almost killed by monster crossfire.

 

MAP02 is where you can really see the authors attempting to make something difficult. After carefully navigating the opening room with barrels surrounding a voodoo doll you proceed to a cramped hallway with a cyberdemon, followed by a very Wolfenstein-y maze stacked with top-tier enemies. Unfortunately, the authors stack so many monsters on top of each other (or in walls) that they cannot move or fire at you. Also odd, the hardest room - filled with cyberdemons and spider masterminds - is completely optional and I even missed it on first playthrough. Kill another Romero's head (after punching the six mancubi stacked on top of it) and you're done.

 

Overall, I enjoyed my time with these levels. They may be extremely amateurish, inert action accompanied by simple visuals and misaligned textures, but they're short and relatively inoffensive and I was more amused than annoyed. It's an interesting historical oddity, that's for sure - a time when anything went in mapping. So preoccupied with whether or not we could put Romero's Heads in every level that we didn't think about whether or not we should.

 

Grade: 5/10

TL;DR: No real redeeming qualities, but it's too silly to hate

 

Screenshots:

 

Spoiler

 

 

Edited May 31, 2021 by ICID
fixed typo

[Roofi]

Month 2 Day 14

 

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

 

File 1) SIMPLE.WAD by Albert Lam (1996)

Spoiler

 

Quote

A challenging and detailed level for Doom2.

 

An almost totally brown town which is more challenging than simple imo but aesthetically very pleasant for its time. You have to find 2 keys (blue and red) in a non etablished order and you can reach several parts of the map thanks to sewers filled with non-lethal nukage.

 

The author make some design choices which recommand to keep on your toes mainly because of the pretty weak weaponry (RL is the most powerful I found) and the scarcity of armor. The darkness and the cramped layout at some parts doesn't help you to survive too. However, soulspheres are surprisingly quite numerous so health is not really an issue here.

 

Good moody brown level  

 

File 2) Deleted Scene by Russell Pearson (2001)

 

Spoiler

 

Quote

This is basically a group of rooms and passages that were built to be part of my level 'Null Space'. The initial room (the courtyard with the blue key switch) and the final rooms (the pentagram teleport entry and exit) are included in Null Space, everything between them was removed because I felt this section of map was too linear and didn't really fit in with the style of map I was trying to create.

I have added some monsters and items to make this a playable single player level, but there are obvious dead ends, marked with 'no entry' signs on the walls, that lead to sections of the map that ARE included in Null Space.

 

 

A section of the legendary "Null Space" map that has been removed for the reasons mentioned by the author. You can see "no-entry signs" all over the map indicating that you are only playing a section of the map.

 

For my part, I found this section quite pleasant and I don't find its linearity a bad thing. The ammo balancing is quite strict and the gameplay is probably a bit redundant.

 

Aesthetically, expect something very clean and modern, with curved corridors and staircases and fairly well aligned textures.

 

A good introduction for those who haven't played "Null Space" or a nice bonus for those who have.

 

 

 

 

I got slowly killed by spawning monsters in a totally dysfunctional gimmicky IOS map. Death Cube Cannon

 

Spoiler

[Sena]

Day 1: Map 1 of Duke3D https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/deathmatch/d-f/doomduke

 

Well, they weren't lying, it is Map 1 of Duke3D. Except, rather than start in that top bit with the explosive barrels, you spawn in the theatre, with shotgunners on all sides of you, and also the curtain is actually a fake wall, which kind of fucked with me, but I got out on 1% health. Now, the first problem with the map is it's ugly as sin, obviously there's a limited amount one can do with the Doom textures, but even still, I don't particularly see why he had to make it all out of concrete, I know the map's called Hollywood Holocaust, but it's not meant to look like a mental asylum.

 

I suppose it does an okay job of doing what it's supposed to, but it's not particularly good, and I definitely wouldn't play all of Duke in Doom if that option was made available to me. The key card is in a secret, which I don't think is how it was in Duke, but it doesn't matter, because you can't complete the level anyway.

 

 

[Walter confetti]

Map 1 of Duke 3D by Levathian (Doom 2, 1996, Played with Crispy Doom 5.10.0)

 

A simple remake of Duke Nukem 3D iconic map Hollywood Holocaust and not a good one. There's some monsters, but no exit. Idea is good, but lacks on execution, as Sena wrote above.

 

Spoiler

 

Pitfall by Paolo Trincheri (Doom, 1995, Played with Crispy Doom 5.10.0)

 

A pretty basic 1995 map made mostly using the default texture scheme of DEU editor (it's like somebody posted a map that is almost STARTAN3 everywhere), but overall isn't that bad, but not expectional either. The skin maze is neat.

 

Spoiler

 

[Roofi]

Month 2 Day 15

 

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

 

File 1) November 5th by antares031 (2016)

 

Spoiler

Quote

This level was orginally created to celebrate Hellbent's birthday in 2015, and it was released on Novbember 7. 2015(https://www.doomworld.com/vb/post/1520202) This version has a few minor changes from the original release, including texture alignment, monster placements, adding more supplies for lower difficulty, etc.

 

A very detailed marbled castle made by a very famous mapper today. It contains little linearity and many interconnections, so that it looks like a Deathmatch map as the weapons are separated. 

 

Moreover one recognizes quite easily some gimmicks of this author, namely :

- a weapon replacement for the pistol (the assault rifle from Doom alpha with a faster rate of fire)
- a slaughter gameplay with groups of monsters to kill in certain places
- a rather punchy music
- a dark blue sky

 

I liked it, the end is easier than the beginning because you get an armor quite late.

 

File 2) Freezing Death - Murmansk Flak Tower #24 by Nigel "Masked Doomer" Cooke (2015)

 

Spoiler

 

Quote

This is my second wad, this one has a winter theme to it. This wad is even better than my first one, and it gets even better the closer to the ending you get. I worked quite hard to get the difficulty levels to work, especially when it bugged out and I had to RESET IT ALL.

==STORY== You are going with your squad to close a demon gate in Murmansk. Your crew has to split up, and the story begins from there. =========

 

Yes it's a terrywad, but the trap doesn't kill me looking at the statbar. So I consider that my adventure continues and that the trap is just the way to finish the level.

Well it's still crap, but I have to admit that it's the best terrywad I've played so far.

 

The mapper introduces us to a pretty basic but cool polar themed level before throwing in the terry trap; the latter contains a pretty stylish sequence that makes good use of zdoom features such as dialogues, a rolling train and some pretty spectacular teleportations.

 

A not so bad trollwad.

 

 

I died in a dangerous liquid from trying to figure out where to go

 

Spoiler

 

 

[Sena]

Day 2: Stardate 20X6 (oh no) https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/s-u/stardate

 

Only played the first 4 maps (out of 7), but if I'm going to commit to my arbitrary goal of one every day, then I'll probably have to stop here, and most of them are pretty much the same, so much the same I can just talk about them all collectively.

 

If it wasn't obvious enough, this WAD is very purple, mostly through replacing green, so that means the baron's projectile, the teleport, and probably the BFG if I had it are all purple, which gives it a particularly distinctive aesthetic, and with that aside, it looks great, and for maps that have 200 enemies as an absolute minimum, they play well as well, with surprisingly little key hunting and backtracking and such, it's not completely absent, but there's a lot less of it than I've come to expect.

 

Similarly, the combat arenas are well constructed, with a lot of variety, though their personal favourite is very obviously locking you in a room (of variable size) and teleporting in a ton of enemies, usually in different waves. And, it's got quite a lot of interesting ideas, such as forcing me to figure out how to infight the cyberdemon with the cacos, which sounds like it's as easy as just guiding them into the cyberdemon's line of fire, but that gets them killed easily, at this point you really don't have the ammo to kill him yourself, which is an interesting way of having to defeat him that I've not seen before. But, you know what I have seen before? Revenant spam. And that's this WAD's Achilles' heel, they make a brilliant new series of textures, music, and architecture, and they forego it all by making 90% of the enemies the same old skeletal smegheads I've fought so many times. I might complain about revenant spam a lot, but it's really bad here, it doesn't make the WAD bad, it's still a lot better than most stuff out there, but it's really holding itself back with this poor enemy variety. There's having a reasonable number of revenants, there's Plutonia, and then there's having an entire room with zero cover with at least 30 revenants all right next to each other. 

But, when all's said and done, it's not badly made by any stretch of the imagination. But maybe he could've stretched his imagination a bit further when it came to enemy placement.

 

 

 

 

[Roofi]

Month 2 Day 16

 

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

 

File 1) ACD3A for ACD Computers' 3rd DOOM ][ Tournament by Scott Armatti (1995)

 

Spoiler

 

Quote

One main area containing a poison elevator that raises up to a poison platform where the BFG sits. Stairwells and hallways lead to areas surrounding the main area. The platform where the BFG sits can be shot at from these other areas.

 

A generally symmetrical Deathmatch map with some variations depending on where you are.  It contains quite a lot of height variations to make it visually interesting. 

 

The BFG is located in the middle of the arena in such a way that retrieving it is very risky, especially since you have to take a damage dealing elevator to get it. Nevertheless all the other weapons are available and the BFG doesn't seem so adequate to be honest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I mindlessly rushed too much in Fava Beans and got exploded by a barrel just behind me. ouch.

 

Spoiler

 

[ICID]

POST11 (1994) by Ray Trochim

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Source port: glboom+, complevel 3}

^{Difficulty: UV}

POST11 is a single-level E1M1 replacement in which you must rescue the titular outpost from demons. The author, Ray Trochim, was a student at the University of Colorado who would release 12 other levels through 94 and 95.

 

Based on this map alone, I like Ray’s style. POST11 is very invested in atmosphere (by the standards of the time, at least) with an obvious effort to make the outpost look like a real place getting more and more corrupted by hell textures as you travel through it. There’s plenty of memorable moments – spooky supply closets full of gore, a “command center” maze where you fight spectres through a jagged maze covered in exit textures, and a surprisingly tough fight where you hit a switch to open a dark room with a massive swarm of lost souls.

 

 

I also like the two secret yellow keys that open an armory. Having redundant keys is fun and more WADs should do it – if you’re not a maxer like me it gives you multiple paths to the exit and for a level that’s trying to be a real place like this, it just makes sense – why would an outpost only have one key to a particular door? Unfortunately the armory itself is so stacked with ammo, armor, BFGs, and invulnerability spheres that it turns an already easy level into a complete joke.

 

The biggest problem with this map is that Ray was still very much in the Wolfenstein 3D mindset – other than the few areas I’ve already named, the map is a big maze of identical textures and no height variation. I’m old enough to have nostalgia for this kind of map and I don’t mind checking the automap, but modern players will certainly roll their eyes at the basic layouts and simple combat.

 

Final thought: I’ve been playing a lot of Antaresian Legacy lately and in some ways this feels like a very very rough prototype of that, with its fast-paced nonlinear layout and optional armory. Makes you wonder what Ray might have done if he’d stuck around the Doom scene longer…

 

Grade: 6/10

 

TL;DR: A simple maze with just enough style to hold one’s attention throughout.

 

Edited June 2, 2021 by ICID
fixed formatting

[Sena]

Day 3: Pitfall https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/p-r/pitfall

 

For some reason, after yesterday, seeing a generic 90s map with bland textures felt a bit homely to me, and I was a bit worried that I'd Stockholm Syndrome'd myself into liking bad maps, but thankfully this map was able to confirm that I am (probably) completely mentally fine, and I'm still able to view a mediocre map with more issues than a magazine for what it is.

 

Like many other maps of its time, it is far too generous with its items, the toughest thing you fight is a baron, one of them, and you get full plasma ammo, an invulnerability, and that's just one, I'm pretty sure the number of monsters that aren't shotgunners and imps can't be any more than 3. That's ignoring the cyberdemon, who isn't actually guarding anything, and positioned in such a way that you can completely ignore him, and so that's what I'm going to do here as well.

 

The map design itself is also a bit of a mess, a big part of it is a Wolfenstein-esque maze, which isn't that hard to get around, but it's certainly uninteresting, especially when there's nothing hidden within it, so you're walking through these huge sprawling rooms with barely anything in them, there's certainly no decoration to speak of, nor any enemies who actually impact how you move around really, just keep walking forwards and one-shotting them with your shotgun. Also, if you want to actually beat the level, be prepared to spend a lot of time dealing with secrets, because that's where a good number of the key cards are. And they've got a broken texture, which is bad, one because it's a huge fucking wall that it would be impossible not to notice, but also because the author said on the archive that the map has no bugs with such enthusiasm that I'd feel kind of bad having to tell him that he's wrong.

 

So, in essence, it's kind of boring, too big, especially considering there's not really anything going on, normally I complain about excessive shotgunners, and I still am, this time around not because they make it too hard, but because they're positioned in such a way you can kill 3-4 at once which makes it a whole lot easier than it probably should be. I'd suggest sticking to the Atari 2600 version of Pitfall.

 

 

 

 

[smeghammer]

Ok - today's first crack is an old school short map from 2015, called 'Oh':

 

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/d-f/dai-oh

 

It has a pretty good flow, and it's not too hard by any means. Just watch out for that cyberdemon... The readme says it was built in a few hours so it's not particularly detailed, but that is fine as it plays very nicely. 

 

Played UV, GZDoom, freelook. I missed a couple of secrets. Enjoy:

 

 

[smeghammer]

And the gods of randomness then gave me a pretty bad set of three maps (E1M1, E2M1 and E3M1) called "RetroPack", from 2005.

 

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

 

** EDIT **

Just noticed, this was played before in the last adventure! Apologies. Let me know if you want it removed.

** END **

 

Anyway, the maps have issues but are certainly playable and - playing them back to back - they do increase the difficulty quite well. Possibly not enough ammo in E3M1?

 

Here are the playthroughs:

 

E1M1:

 

E2M1:

 

E3M1:

 

 

Edited June 3, 2021 by smeghammer

[Walter confetti]

5 hours ago, smeghammer said:

Ok - today's first crack is an old school short map from 2015, called 'Oh':

 

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/d-f/dai-oh

 

It has a pretty good flow, and it's not too hard by any means. Just watch out for that cyberdemon... The readme says it was built in a few hours so it's not particularly detailed, but that is fine as it plays very nicely. 

 

Played UV, GZDoom, freelook. I missed a couple of secrets.

 

Thanks for playing! I don't remember how the BFG secret are activated...

[Roofi]

Month 2 Day 16

 

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

 

File 1) flame.zip (1995)

 

Quote

It replaces the plasma gun with a flame thrower (very fun weapon), doubles the rocket speed (reducing the strength), replaces the BFG with a decoy maker, and finally (whew) forces all player colors to red.

 

For some reasons, this dehacked file doesn't work. Looks very fun otherwise.

 

File 2) Blood Church by Steve Parker (1995)

 

Spoiler

 

Quote

D'sparill and his unholy minions have desecrated another of your sacred cathedrals, so it is up to you, heretic,to flush them all from the church of your forefathers. (I could've gotten cornier but you get the idea!!!!)

 

A Heretic map that replaces E1M2, decent enough without being extraordinary.

 

We explore various places such as a cave, a kind of castle, a cemetery... Aesthetically, it is particularly basic and unequal with sometimes square rooms and sometimes particularly interesting places such as a large hexagonal room.

 

The gameplay remains appreciable with its rather non-linear aspect encouraging progression. The fights, on the other hand, are rather flat due to the absence of real traps. I must point out, however, that certain objects must be used at the right time to avoid being trapped. Indeed, in some places, you have to be able to fly or return to the starting point in order to get out of a hole where you have to fall.

 

The new music is a bit strange with its medieval feel and the mix of flute and guitar. It is quite nice and old-school.

 

File 3) The Pit 2 by Gene Spinks (1996)

 

Spoiler

 

Quote

A doom level starting in a pit in a large open arena, it takes skill so keep on your toes and watch your ammo.

 

I don't know what the author means by pit, but all I see at the beginning is a small lake filled with mud with a pontoon to reach the fort.

 

The Pit 2 starts off with some pretty brown scenery and then moves on to some very mixed areas such as a room full of computers, a totally marbled room and a grassy outdoor area towards the end.

 

Also, contrary to what the mapper says, I didn't really need to save my ammo as the monsters are quite few in quantity. I may be a very good player who knows, but I think that the level is objectively very easy, especially thanks to the BFG and the cells you get after a while.

 

In any case, The Pit 2 has nothing to do with The Pit of Doom 2 and so much the better because I never liked this map in the original iwad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got teleported next to barrels and I shot in Corridors of Hell (4th upload) for Doom II HOE.

 

Spoiler

 

[Sena]

Day 4: La Tortura https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/s-u/tortura

 

This level's got some pretty good Hell architecture, for the most part, this one room with the Cyberdemon seems to have walked offstage from a '94 map by accident, but apart from that, it ranges from looking above average to legitimately impressive. There seems to be a situation of mappers putting cyberdemons in their levels without actually making them have any pertinence to the level, this area is so wide you'll never get hit, and while he was guarding a key, a better step than most, since I couldn't particularly be asked to kill him, all I had to do was instigate infighting (translation: just play the map as usual with the knowledge it would happen), and then shove him out the way to get the key. When I entered that room, I was more scared of getting killed by the zombiemen than anything else.

As for the rest of the map, it's not the worst, for some reason this mapper is the only person who seems to think that if a door is marked with a blue key, that means "open this to progress to finding the blue key", rather than "you need a blue key to open it", which threw me off for a bit, but it's mostly okay, a bit heavy on stairs, which makes fighting uncomfortable, there's a couple bollocks invisible walls, inescapable nukage, a monster closet with revenants that's so narrow you cannot actually dodge their projectiles. In short, I wasn't particularly impressed by the gameplay, but it's not that bad or anything. I'd just like to know what the mancubus in the bathtub was all about.

 

 

 

 

[ICID]

Infraworld - Coma Moonlight (2021) by @StormCatcher.77

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Source port: gzdoom}

^{Difficulty: UV}

 

StormCatcher.77 is a mapper who’s fond of long, linear levels with a heavy focus on visuals, likely best known for his polarizing contribution to Eviternity – the enormous MAP19: Dehydration. At first glance you might assume Coma Moonlight (infra02.wad) is a sequel to 2019’s Cacoward runner-up The Hatehammer (infra01.wad). In truth, the levels don’t seem to have anything in common other than StormCatcher’s signature style and the fact that they were both planned for other projects and then pulled to be individual levels.

 

Coma Moonlight is a GZDoom exclusive with all the mouselooking, crouching, and dynamic lighting you can stand. Mouselook is important here, not because it’s necessary for combat (which is quite tame even on UV) but because so much of the visual and emotional experience of traveling through the map depends on your ability to look down at where you’ve been and up at where you’re going.

 

You see, Coma Moonlight is a massive purple tower, floating in a starry void, and you’ll need to climb all the way to the top of it to collect some keys. In the hands of a lesser mapper this concept would result in total misery, but as someone who generally despises any form of Doom platforming I still found this map a joy to play, even with some slightly questionable jump pads.

 

 

Above all, Coma Moonlight is a triumph of atmosphere. It’s soothing in a way I can’t say of any other WAD I’ve played – the gentle combat, the beautiful lighting, the awesome Darkhalo track. This must be what Doomguy’s version of a midnight stroll feels like. In short, playing it made me feel good, and at the end of the day you can’t ask for more than that.

 

I was shocked that I hadn’t heard of this one despite the fact that it was released less than a month ago! Definitely a unique experience worth of any Doomer’s time, and possibly my new favorite StormCatcher level (though his work is all so good, it’s hard to pick 😊).

 

Grade: 7/10

TL;DR: Climb up the universe’s prettiest tower and enjoy the view.

 

[Walter confetti]

Justice - Infernal Mechanics by Phobus (Zdoom, 2008, played on GZdoom 4.5.0)

 

A Rocket launcher centered map with some amazing new monsters like the zombie scientist and the flamethrower baron, plus you have to fight phobus too in the middle of the map, there's a lot of new decorate and scripted works that are really clever, especialy the crate that you need to use in the soulsphere room. Pretty fun map

 

Spoiler

 

g8 by Kelvin (Vanilla doom 2, 2002 but uploaded in 2005, played with GZDoom 4.5.0)

 

A medium sized abstract city map under siege by demonic forces, chiki briki humor moments that i didn't get it, a pair of pitch black hallways (my favorite), semi-realistic tanks (that are actually a real neat touch) and toilets and new funny textures, this is a overall fun weird map. Maybe too broken to be fully enjoyable, but if you like weird maps this will be interesting for a play.

 

Spoiler

 

 

La Tortura by The Hell King (Limit-Removing, 2013, played with GZDoom 4.5.0)

 

Yeah, this map was a torture indeed. Lots of first time mappers error like stuck things (the tree in the middle of the corridor, pitch black hallways and rooms, switch puzzles in the middle of a darkened room (how charming!), inescapable pits and a weird level flow progression, beautiful. And maybe this isn't his first map either, oh boy! But there's some points like the blood throne and the thing placement, as Sena wrote above there's some hell sections that are pretty cool in their simplicity... But overall, a not that great map.

 

Spoiler

 

 

The aqueous rise and fall. by Chris Hansen (Vanilla Plutonia, 2000, played with vanilla exe and dosbox)

 

A simple water place inspired by E3M5 layout made by the legendary Chris Hansen and the first time i've got a Plutonia map on the random search, cool! The map itself is not bad and it's even pretty easier for been a map for the second half of the megwad (is for MAP13), maybe too easy? If this map will be made for the first half, it could be cool, but in this slot doesn't really fit with the other maps in terms of difficulty... In layout terms, Chris really hits the spot, giving a very strong Casali fell on the map...

 

Spoiler

 

 

WARHAVEN.WAD by Timothy A. Harris a.k.a. JedaiYet (Vanilla Doom 2, 1995, played with vaniilla exe and dosbox)

 

A simple and kinda nice deathmatch arena sets in this "Heaven of Heroes" shrine as the description explains to us, is pretty linear and looks nice for playing with other people in the internet, for single players there's the unexpected cyberdemon and not enough ammo (or at least, it was what i thought at the moment when i played this), layout is simple but the texture choice makes it a interesting place to visit, especially the giant circular towers with the water. For some reason, there's a new teleport sound with a clip of this line from Empire strikes back saying "Jedai yet"... oh, like the nickname of the author! What a... interesting choice for a sound clip replacement... it's like if i make a map and i put a sound clip of someone saying "Walter" when somebody collect a gun...

 

Spoiler

 

Edited June 14, 2021 by Walter confetti

[Roofi]

Month 2 Day 17

 

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

 

File 1) 0verp0wer Weap0ns by Xaser (2004)

 

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Remember P0wer Weap0ns? Well, just the other day, I played TNT: the Lost Episode and found it WAY too hard. So I loaded it up with P0wer Weap0ns, and it was still too hard! I thought "Well, what's the point of an overpowered weaponset that isn't enough to overcome some levels?" or something along the lines of that. So I came up with this. Most of the weapons here are more than TWICE the power of the guns in P0wer Weap0ns, and they'll make playing AV on UV a breeze. :P So anyway, enjoy it and stuff. :P

 

A very fun mod with weapons that are of course overpowered without becoming like Russian Overkill.

 

The first thing is that you can pick up and store a lot of ammo in your expanded backpack.

 

Then the new weapons are based on gun sprites from other games such as Counter-Strike, Shadow Warrior or Doom 3. The attacks of the weapons remain identical to the original ones but the characteristics are different. The rocket launcher shoots hitscan rockets, the SSG has a much faster rate of fire, the BFG shoots small balls that are more compressed but even more lethal...

 

In any case, these weapons will prove even more useful in slaughtermaps with thousands of enemies!

 

File 2) Andrew's Sounds by Andrew's Sounds (2002)

 

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i found sounds and songs and i told my dad to put them in doom two and he did that

 

An add-on that replaces midi sounds and music. The author did not bother to credit the music... However, one can easily recognize most of them, in particular the battle music from  Final Fantasy used on many occasions under various versions. I could also recognize the electronic music "Popcorn" as well as other very famous titles.

 

The sounds consist of funny noises, I didn't dwell on that too much.

 

Also, the author said he was 9 years old. It's kinda cute. :)

 

File 3) The Wretched by Loge Darkwood (1997)

 

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This is my first 'official' level. It is designed for single player,but should be quite good for DMs - as long as you use the NOMONSTER switch.

The level is set in a complex which includes a library,a large central tower and some in- teresting secret areas. Can you find the plasma gun?

Please e-mail any comment,suggestion ecc.

 

 

A not-so-fun fact: I had to play this vanilla map on gzdoom because of a critical bug caused by the lack of a subsector.

 

In any case it's a good map for a first time. The theme is very generic, consisting of a kind of marbled castle filled with blood. The level shines by its non-linearity and its rather elaborate architecture for the time.

 

Some of the traps are pretty mad, especially the one where you take a lift that takes you directly to a place full of chaingunner but otherwise nothing too difficult.

The only thing that annoyed me a bit, but I think it's due to the gzdoom port, is the sometimes too important difference of brightness

 

File 4) Sniper 109's DeathMatch by Sniper 109 (2009)

 

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My first Deathmatch wad

 

It's sad I can't even launch this wad on my regular ports. Indeed, the author only put the deathmatch spawns.

 

I just checked the 11 maps on doombuilder and they are small but definitely look great with varied themes : nazi , nature, hell cavern, startan base...

 

 

 

I was burned by an arch-vile when I was about to escape from the lift in The Inner Crypts

 

Spoiler

[Sena]

Day 5: Justice - Infernal Mechanics https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/p-r/ph_quik3

 

If I can say something about this, it's certainly different, your only weapons are the default rocket launcher and a fist replacement, some kind of scythe, the end flavour text tells me it's a sword, but it's certainly not the same kind of sword that the likes of Conan used. It's got some kind of bleed mechanic that corresponds to pain state hitstun, and it's not 100% the same in its swing, sometimes it thrusts forwards a bit, sometimes it's a bit to the side, hard to tell why, and I've got no idea if it makes a difference, but the damage is kind of arse in the first place, you'd be better off with a stock berserk. Some new enemies, some not, at first I thought the scientists couldn't actually harm the player, but they're just a worse version of the pinkies, but I do like the new designs, their appearance and attack patterns are varied enough to make things interesting.

 

Normally I don't think about the absence of "visual themes" and such, only really notice that stuff when it's there, and when it's gone I forget the concept exists in the first place, but this is probably the only exception to that, the absence of visual consistency is very bizarre, it feels like someone made a smoothie out of the rooms of 5 different WADs, because you'll go from some pearly white room full of custom textures, to some brown and grey mess that looks ugly enough to be a TNT map, to some empty hallway with no remarkable features. As for issues regarding the map, one room in particular has a ceiling that's way too low, this room with the box, you're supposed to push it, and it tells you you're meant to use the use key, presumptively like in Half Life, but I pressed many keys and none of them moved the box, which is the only form of moving objects to traverse in the first place. And that room with the four pillars that holds the boss, a pretty big oversight because when your only weapon is a rocket launcher, means a lot of time the two of you are just trying to find an opening.

 

In short, it's alright, I don't think I'm a big fan of the rocket launcher/melee only design, and as previously stated the boss fight was weakened by the level architecture, but I guess this is serviceable, maybe I'm just too cynical.

 

 

 

 

 

[Endless]

 

Map 1 of Duke3D

 

An interesting WAD in terms of its features. It is supposed to be a WAD made for DM, but it also has monsters in different positions and even has a red key. However, the layout is a total mess so don't expect to play either DM or SP. With few visual features and no kind of solid construction, it is actually a crude recreation of the classic first Duke3D map. The simple idea seems appealing at first, but the verdict is that it's not worth it. Heh.

 

 

Stardate 20X6

I have to be honest with you guys. This WAD is hard as fuck. But it's so good! The fantastic level of design, the incredible level of detail in the architecture as well as the stylized visual theme based on the purple color make this WAD an unforgettable adventure. A rather difficult one, too. Stardate 20X06 is concentrating on nothing less than slaughter, so you can expect huge and bloody battles that last much longer than your patience can take. This is the kind of combat that satisfies masochists, those who really like pain. Me? Personally, I'm the kind of person who dies 3 times and unplays the game. Heh. Jokes.

 

One way or another, Stardate is a barbaric and unique installment. The WAD complements it perfectly well thanks to a great balance between epic and brutal. The architecture is sky-high and reveals gorgeous visuals that will leave you wanting to love it. Eye-candy at its finest, but of course, it's not purely visual value that we have here. Ribbiks has created a great piece of work that dances perfectly between the balance of hate and love. It's slaughter, no doubt, but it's also not fucking unfair to the point that we have to hold on to our fate at all times. Well-designed strategy coupled with the patience of the wise rewards victory.

 

If you like epic WADs that demonstrate their maximum capacity in an euphoric demonstration of architecture and gameplay as violent as it is enjoyable, this WAD is one not to be missed. The maps grow both in their level of awesomeness and difficulty, so an excellent difficulty curve will throw you like a cannon into a net. And it will grab you.

 

 

Pitfall

Well, here it is, another typical 90s level, in this case 1995. A simple level with no further comments to make. With a quite simple layout (although not very natural) and a mediocre texture work that doesn't follow any quality or essential theme. With the simple concept of killing demons and moving on, what we have here is nothing more than one of those types of maps that we would find in a shovelware CD. If you like nostalgia, well you might feel it a bit with this, but the truth is that there are better ways to inject that melancholy without having to play this, so as a conclusion, it's a level you can skip. It's mediocre and nothing more, but I've seen worse so at least it has that.

[Phobus]

This thread is serving as a reminder of why Justice - Infernal Mechanics never made it anywhere near a Persephone volume. I do miss the days of such joyous experimentation with ZDoom features, though. The crouching section with the Munchkins is probably the best bit, although the moveable crate was the most satisfying thing to get working.

[Roofi]

Month 2 Day 18

 

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

 

File 1) openplan.wad by Dave Patrick (1996)

 

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This is an attempt to recreate the building where I work as a WAD file - some liberties have been taken with the layout, but it's basically correct. If you came to visit you'd recognise it.

This also replaces the first attempt at uploading this wad (originally called ofisblok) which somehow got corrupted on transfer.

 

An Ultimate Doom map that takes place in offices. I don't know if reproducing your workplace is as controversial as redoing your school today. In any case, the partitioned offices, the reception desk and the toilets are clearly recognisable.

 

Honestly I liked this map, even if there are no real traps. The author tried to make windows using impassable linedefs around low light areas. To be honest, a midtex would have been nice and the enemies can attack through it, which is not logical. I also liked the use of coloured textures such as red, it makes the map quite cheerful.

 

There are some doors that require a red key, but I couldn't find the key as it is totally optional.

 

File 2) Doom2 to Doom3 by Cutmanmike (2006)

 

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Changes all Doom2 wads/levels into Doom3 styled maps.

 

A rather stupid mod that removes all lighting in the levels, making them almost unplayable. My screenshots come from Doom 2 map 01.

 

The author claimed to have spent 5 minutes making this mod, I didn't expect much.

 

File 3) Heathen by Dennis "Exl" Meuwissen (2003)

 

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Created with the same theme of an upcoming release, which I see as a landmark in my own mapping. And no, that doesn't necessarily mean a landmark in Doom mapping at all! :P

 

A classic Deathmatch map with the rocket launcher as the most powerful weapon.

 

This one seems to be well designed because of its spacious corridors, numerous stairs and teleporters allowing to avoid the abusive camp in one specific place. 

 

Aesthetically it is very fine with nice light gradations and small details such as missing tiles where the blue armours are.

 

File 4) BJ.ZIP by "Axe" (1999)

 

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hat clean cut space marine image is gone.Thats right folks,BJ is now a full on biker! or at least he thinks he is.There are a few graphical changes in this wad,most mine.Some I took from other wads and improved them. Like the sights on some of the weapons,Can't remember who made that one,But I liked it. And the sounds.....well,I think everyone out there will know where I stole most of them from... Dare I say " Duke"!!! Finally the music.I also stole them from other wads.....So SUE ME!!! But seriously,I can not give enough thanks To the authors I borrowed various things from, You know who you are.

 

A graphic mod that adds new sounds, music, a new head for the doomguy and a more violent death animation for the imps.

 

This little add-on is quite nice even if it's an umpteenth wad where the sounds come from many other games and the musics from popular titles such as "Beat it" by Michael Jackson.

 

All in all I really appreciate the crosshairs even if they are purely cosmetic as well as the more gory animation for the imps.

 

File 5) DAWGS#12.wad by Engdahl, Wm. 4-D CREATIONS [reddawg] (1995)

 

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A Deathmatch arena where the MODWALL texture is omnipresent, giving a rather psychedelic look. The number of weapons available depends on the difficulty level chosen. The higher the difficulty, the less weapons are available. The level contains a few oddities such as passages hidden by a midtex texture or completely traversable grids.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got ripped by an imp when I was low-hp in Planetfall

 

Spoiler

 

[Sena]

Day 6: Mortiser 1 https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/s-u/swmort01

 

This has one glaring issue, which is that almost all of the textures are missing, for some reason the WAD comes with a demo file, rather than the actual texture pack, I'm just glad that Doom's white and blue square for missing textures is a lot less repulsive than the one on the Source engine. Other than that, this is a decent WAD, pretty much 90% of the enemies are shotgunners, which I would say prevents it from being particularly interesting, just because their health is so low, and the way the level's designed you can breeze through it very easy, one shotgun blast will kill half the room, get some actual textures, put on some high octane music, and this is probably how a first person Hotline Miami would feel. It's quite short, don't think it took me more than 4 minutes, you could probably beat this on the bog, but the reason it's short is because there's no backtracking or pointless teleporter puzzles or anything else, it's short and simple, but it's got that classic feel.

 

[Roofi]

Month 2 Day 19

 

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

 

File 1) The Evil Place by & Email Kurt Kesler (2000)

 

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Large Industrial Area

 

The Evil Place is a large zdoom-compatible level set in a grey tech-base located in a tree-covered mountain landscape. Lava lies in the precipices, making the adventure quite perilous. There are just over 300 monsters and it takes about 20 minutes to complete. 

 

To be honest, I didn't really like this level. For a start, I found the tree sprites ugly, as if they had been drawn by a child or by paint. 
Then, Kurt Kesler was kind enough to put a lot of ammunition, which can be recovered thanks to the numerous zombies that often come in groups. However, I found the design rather clumsy in some places. I got shot several times because of a zombie hidden behind a midtex bridge for example, or kill hitscanners hidden in tree sprites. To top it all off, the map ends with a fight against an IOS, which is easy but still pretty crappy.

 

The zdoom effects are present but rather minimalist so that "The Evil Place" plays more like a limit-removing level. I could notice some ambient noises or rotating sectors to simulate machines. It's not too bad but I find it rather superficial.

 

 

 

 

 

I stop here for today.

[ICID]

VOLCANO (1994) by Robert S. Whitaker

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Source port: glboom+, complevel 3}

^{Difficulty: UV}

VOLCANO is a single-level E1M1 replacement set in "an abandoned project for harnessing the geothermal energy within an active volcano." For a WAD that's older than both Doom II and Thy Flesh Consumed, the visuals are striking and impressive, a hell-corrupted volcano with abandoned techbase-y structures at the top. Some of the texture placement is a bit haphazard (why the random dark hallway full of blue circuits?) but the attention given to lighting and height variation is far beyond any other 90s map I've played for the Endless Random Adventures so far.

 

 

I'm sorry to say that that's the last of the good things I have to say about VOLCANO. Whitaker (who only seems to have made this one map) clearly had a good sense of place, but seemingly no sense of progression. Most "doors" are walls that look the same as any other wall, and the distinction between what's a secret and what's crucial to progression seems arbitrary at best. If I hadn't stumbled into the computer area map early on (hidden, but not tagged as secret) the WAD would have been unplayable. Even still, I had trouble - how was I supposed to know that opening the way to the blue key required me to kill the cyberdemon at the top of the base (who, by the way, starts frozen in place by a bug and unable to shoot back)?

 

The lack of meaningful progression extends to combat as well. I found the plasma gun, rocket launcher, and chaingun before my first shotgun. Monsters are mostly trivial fodder (and two cacodemons in cages, for some reason) except for the three cyberdemons walking around who you'll never have enough ammo to kill. A fourth cyberdemon stands on a narrow bridge to block the way to the exit...and then after him is a small room with a few more imps. Why?

 

In short, I never felt like I was going on a journey with VOLCANO. It just felt like I was doing random things, entering random rooms, in the hope that one of them would eventually contain the exit. Not a great feeling.

 

Grade: 3/10

TL;DR: Looks great, plays bad.

 

[Sena]

Day 7: Lovinger Outpost for Doom 2 or MBF https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/j-l/lovinger

 

Archetypal collection of shovelware. The levels are as badly designed as they are ugly, there's a ton of teleporters that just exist to make things unnecessarily confusing, far too much backtracking, there's a couple decent looking parts, but they are completely negated by the far more numerous misaligned textures, enemies stuck in the floor and ceilings, and countless hallways that all look the same, which just feel like Wolfenstein if that engine could handle stairs, and like all bad maps with too many identical hallways, they've got them in the default wood textures which I'm starting to believe have never been used to good effect. As endearing as that cat may be, I'm going to need more that to think positively of this mapset.

The difficulty of the map itself is basically non-existent, dying is certainly possible, with how many shotgunners they throw in at so many angles you're bound to get hit by a couple of them, but anything tougher and it seems like they don't want me to actually fight them - if one SSG blast cannot kill it, then the level design just lets you walk past, or sometimes, they just straight up kill them for you, or at the very end of map 1, a baron and hell knight spawn, blocking the exit, which might have required the player to kill them, had they not decided to teleport them halfway across the room.

 

Also, was the max file size always 0.45mb? Could have sworn it was a lot more than that.