Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #015

[ICID]

^{(logo by @4MaTC)}

  

ICID, 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 weeks to select random WADs in search of hidden treasures, lost promises, or our worst nightmares! We use the /idgames archive’s special feature that lets us search for random files. Of course, sometimes they are resources or unplayable stuff, so we focus on looking for WADs.

 

The event is named after its originator, fearless leader and WAD reviewer par excellence Endless, but I am helping to run things for the time being.

 

So, what do we do here?

1. We/I try to play at least 5 (or more if you can) random WADs on /idgames. For that, we use the Random File feature.
2. We comment/review the WADs for the duration of the two-week event. There’s no required pacing (you can do all 5 on the first day if you want), but most of us post a review once every 1-2 days.
3. Please take screenshots or video 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 and try to review in a respectful manner. Of course, we can all have a good laugh if we find something odd.

 

What kind of WADs are we looking for?

Mostly singleplayer Doom or Heretic WADs that work in your sourceport(s) of choice. You can skip DM WADs if you don’t have anyone to play with. I also pull at least 7 random WADs for the event and add them here. Feel free to play them with me if you wish, or look for your own! The point of the event ifs to encourage you to explore this vast, random world.

 

Tips/recommendations for commenting/reviewing:

Spoiler

1. Always provide the name of the WAD, the name of the author, and a link to the file. Very important.
2. Commenting the source port and skill-level is not required, but provides helpful context to your review.
3. Try to stick to no more than 1 WAD per day to avoid burnout, but this part’s all up to you, champ!
4. As mentioned above, screenshots or videos are awesome.
5. Reviews of all formats are valid. Both longform and shortform are good as long as you write with integrity.

 

Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures of this event:

1. HellNite
2. ReeKrank
3. This Space Intentionally Left Blank
4. The Elevator
5. Marbles
6. Abyssion
7. 0lev1

 

Spoiler

The Top 10 (out of 25)

 

1. @Roofi | 1760
2. @Sena | 715
3. @Walter confetti | 350
4. @Endless | 310
5. @ICID | 285
6. @LUISDooM | 200
7. @smeghammer | 185
8. @Maribo | 145
9. @LadyMistDragon | 115
10. @Biodegradable | 105

 

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

8. Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #008

9. Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #009

10. Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #010

11. Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #011

12. Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #012

13. Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #013

14. Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #014

 

[Roofi]

Thank you for the new thread , as always ! 

 

The only file I know in the list is Abyssion. A little vanilla map which will beat your ass. :p

[ICID]

Per usual, I'll get things started with our first review, of the downright dreadful...

 

HellNite (1996) by Peter Van Schevensteen

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Source port: prboom+}

^{Difficulty: Ultra-Violence}

 

Let’s not spend too much time on this: HellNite is utterly incompetent. You open two ugly, linear, mazy paths, one of which opens to nothing because the door is broken, the other of which opens to a big ugly Hall of Mirrors effect. And there you stop, unless you feel like idclipping to see more of the level. Not even bad enough to inspire hatred, not worth grading – if you imagine the idgames archive as a vast library, this is like a book that’s missing everything but the title page and the dedication, and how do you “review” something like that?

 

[Walter confetti]

I have reekrank in my vanilla wads Doom 2 folder... Maybe it's the day that I'll going to playing it?

Other levels... I know Sophie and maybe played "This Space etc..." already, the other maps idk

[Roofi]

Month 4 Day 21

 

 

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

 

No review for today. I fell off a very narrow ledge and got instant-killed by the lava in the joke wad World trade Federation missions time travel

 

Spoiler

 

 

Edited September 6, 2021 by Roofi

[Teo Slayer]

So just a question

How do I take part in and what do I have to do? I hope you have a little simple answer for this question, I'm new to this project

[Sena]

Started writing this one a bit early, so might as well finish it.

 

Day 1: Gunsmith Cats: Russian Roulette v1.4 https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/g-i/gsc_rr14

 

According to Emil Cioran, ambition taken too far can drive one to insanity. People in 2006 seemed to have been blown away by this TC, and I suppose in 2006 they didn't have much choice, it's got a bunch of cool concepts, but it's not really well designed.

 

First things first, these guns are probably the worst I've ever seen, and I played Viet Cong 2. As you can see, they're all one flat colour, like some rudimentary model that hasn't properly rendered yet, they have no muzzle flash, the reload animations, while a novelty to put in Doom, are pretty atrocious, made no better by the fact the player arms and hands look straight out of Roblox. The enemy models aren't any better, who look like rejects from the Funko Pop factory, and seem to have the habit of being cheap bastards who never drop any ammo. About halfway through my playthrough I kind of gave up trying to play properly and just turned on godmode, but given that probably 1% of enemies drop ammo, and there's not any ammo pickups on the floor, you'd be kind of fucked if you want to play the game properly in the first place.

 

On that note, they did add a couple new mechanics, there's a currency system, enemies will sometimes drop money, probably about 5% of the time, with which you can buy stuff, guns, keys, and paperclips, and it feels very out of place, mostly because nobody wants to backtrack for 10 minutes for an ammo refill, and it's an issue exemplified by the fact that you get a ton of keys, but you have no idea what they do, having colour coded keys works, this system doesn't. I can pick up 10 different keys, but it doesn't matter, because I don't have "the key" I need. Also you bleed on hit, but I didn't see any bandages, nor do I have any idea how to stop the bleeding, and when there's no health kits and your health is capped at 50, it seems like they really wanted to make the gameplay as frustrating as possible. Oh, and I found a secret, the level design is ten times as confusing as any Doom 2 city map, with enemies just spawning in seemingly at random, and in order for a secret to actually do anything you've got to find 6 of them, not sure what they were going for with that one.

 

Still, despite these issues, it's got some charm, and it's got a couple graphical features that I would be impressed with even now, you can shoot fire hydrants, you can blow up petrol stations, and the sign outside the petrol station even spins. Perhaps, this WAD might be interesting as a historical piece, to see how TCs have evolved over the years, but I would find it impossible to recommend it, because the gameplay has no cohesion to it, the guns are a joke, and it basically boils down to some bloke teleporting silently behind you shooting you once and, well, enjoy your next 5 seconds of being alive before you have to restart. If you're a Gunsmith Cats superfan and want a video game, keep on looking, if it's got a pachinko (probably has, everything has), I think I'd have more fun playing that. 3/10.

 

Edited September 6, 2021 by Sena

[smeghammer]

1 hour ago, Teo Slayer said:

So just a question

How do I take part in and what do I have to do? I hope you have a little simple answer for this question, I'm new to this project

 

Use ID Games random WAD feature or play one of @ICID's list. Do a little review/feedback and do screenshots or video. I've been a bit lax recently - Bloody real life is getting in the way...

 

Have fun!

[ICID]

1 hour ago, Teo Slayer said:

So just a question

How do I take part in and what do I have to do? I hope you have a little simple answer for this question, I'm new to this project

 

Hi, Teo, pleasure to see you! As smeghammer says, all you have to do is play a randomly chosen WAD and review it. The first post has some guidelines and tips for reviews, but as long as you 1) provide a link to the WAD and 2) review with integrity (e.g. don't attack the author, don't just shit on something without playing it) your post is valid.

 

Every two weeks, at the start of a new adventure, I calculate points. Points mostly come from the number of WADs you review (which is why Roofi, who reviews several dozen files per adventure, will probably always hold the top spot) with arbitrary bonus points assigned for extra effort (for example: posting a video rather than screenshots.)

 

For the files you review, you can either choose one of the seven WADs in my original post or go to the idgames database and hit the "Random File" button in the top right.

 

So it's really pretty easy. TL;DR: write a review and win meaningless points.

[thiccyosh]

Ooo this looks fun! Let me try!

 

The first one I pulled out of the hat is GladTag! (Sauce https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/deathmatch/deathtag/gladtag )

 

A deathmatch map. What a great way to start.

 

Joking aside, this is a very basic map with very little detail and gameplay. 0 enemies, 0 items and 0 secrets. Enough said.

Notable however is that this map is split into two parts, one in red and in blue, which makes me think this is more of a capture the flag map, rather than a

deathmatch map, does however have the right form for one (though some of them are tight hallways that make it difficult to run through)!

 

Other than a few pretty pictures, that is it really. If this reply goes against the spirit of this post (I mean yeah it's a deathmatch map instead of a real wad), just boot me out or something I don't know.

 

I give this wad 4/10 round bois. Not for single player, but perhaps to kill 30 minutes with your friends in a round of deathmatch.

 

comically large screenshots coming through!

 

[ICID]

Welcome to the adventure, @thiccyosh!

[Walter confetti]

I want to try a thing, is it possible to play a wad divided in various days and the wrote the review of what map you have played, then make a second round another day? Similar to the review system of the Megawad Club.

 

However, here my 1st part review of...

 

ReeKrank by Reagan Hawkins - Vanilla Doom 2, 2009, played with original exe on DosBox

 

Two thing before we start with the mapset review: this mapset is made (mostly) of short, compact and puzzly maps for vanilla Doom 2 using only stock assets and the there's A LOT of brown here. Guys, this is more brown than Evilution and Quake togheter. Not that is a bad thing, but i liked to see some more variety. Also, some puzzles are pretty obtuse. Like,REALLY hard to understand what to do, especialy in MAP04. Now, to the maps! Since The maps doesn't have titles, i'll take some creative license with them, ok?

 

MAP01 - The beast who screamed ZIMMER at the heart of the world

Spoiler

Super short introduction map kinda reminiscent of Entryway, only if Entryway size was more compressed of System Control. Uses also the same starting asset of Congo. So, a very short potpourri of intro maps. Nice.

 

MAP02 - Again the Congo intro remake?

Spoiler

A less shorter map from the previous, but the Plutonia architecture choices is still here, pretty shortened, but here. Another cool map, good puzzles (even the final one involving a Unholy Chatedral teleport dilemma -uh, it could be a cool level title!), reminiscent of the Gantlet but less hard. Good stuff.

 

MAP03 - The Fresh Prince of Brown Stages

Spoiler

Another cool map with cool architecture choices like the bridges and the room with the stairs you see in the 3rd spoiled shot, but also comes with the bad things of having a dead-end nukage pit, also this map is pretty thought in monster usage! Nice mapset so far, but...

 

MAP04 - ...Now comes the problems!

Spoiler

AH. MAZES. MY FAVORITE. Luckily, this maze isn't something truly obnoxious as you maybe think by my reaction, is even kind of easy to understand, but... it's not Original Doom level of make a good maze. But is still something that i don't to see in a map. Also, this map contain the worst piece of puzzle you ever seen in a Doom map (at least, is the worst i saw in a Doom map). What's this, you ask? What's worst of mazes, horribly design choices from hell and all that jazz? Is a room filled with columns similar to the one in Doom E2M3, but brighter, made of PANEL textures (because different colors than brown is Evil) and shorter. This room have two different columns with a panel textures that have a paint, in what way you can escape this situation? Of course, by SHOOTING A RANDOM WALL WITH THE PAINT IN THE ROOM, ISN'T THE MOST OBVIOUS THING TO DO? Also more dead-end pits, hooray! Too bad, because this map is not that bad if it wasn't for the bad choices i wrote above.

 

MAP05 - Intermission from the bad maps

Spoiler

A short arena map where you are under the constant fire of caged arachnotrons in the upper section of the map, avoid them, hit a switch that reveals more Hell Knights and more fire to dodge, defeat them fast since some imps joins the party by teleporting where the Arachnotrons are. A welcome "breather" map, but why it's here? For intermission between the maps? Also changes the theme to slightly less brown including more green. Good.

 

MAP06 - OH NO NOT ANOTHER BAD MAP AGAIN

Spoiler

Yay, the second bad map in the mapset! The theme is brown\green again like the previous map (and the last time we see a change of theme so far), sets in this cramped castle-like structure with a kinda bland layout, toxic water pits like in Doom E3M3, obtuse progression and a "secret" teleport that leads in a toxic water pit... Really, Reagan? I made this thing too, but it was for muthafukin WOOO. Who thinks this is a good design choice? I don't.

 

MAP07 - Fortress of Dr. Radiaki

[no picture this time, sorry. I'm dumb.]

Finally a really good map, after two bad maps. Also, is a interesting take on MAP07, that instead of the usual Dead Simple clone, is a fortress in the middle of a BROWN canyon with mechanics taken from The Citadel, but done way better. A really good map overall. The final stairs puzzle can go die in a hole.

 

Next time, i'll going with the second part and eventual the end of this. Bye!

Edited September 8, 2021 by Walter confetti
Fixed some ugly writing

[ICID]

1 hour ago, Walter confetti said:

I want to try a thing, is it possible to play a wad divided in various days and the wrote the review of what map you have played, then make a second round another day? Similar to the review system of the Megawad Club.

 

Absolutely! Again: the only hard rules are "include the link" and "review with integrity" (aka don't be a jerk), both of which you've done, so this process is totally valid (and, may I add, a highly enjoyable way to cover a longer WAD.)

[Teo Slayer]

13 hours ago, ICID said:

 

Hi, Teo, pleasure to see you! As smeghammer says, all you have to do is play a randomly chosen WAD and review it. The first post has some guidelines and tips for reviews, but as long as you 1) provide a link to the WAD and 2) review with integrity (e.g. don't attack the author, don't just shit on something without playing it) your post is valid.

 

Every two weeks, at the start of a new adventure, I calculate points. Points mostly come from the number of WADs you review (which is why Roofi, who reviews several dozen files per adventure, will probably always hold the top spot) with arbitrary bonus points assigned for extra effort (for example: posting a video rather than screenshots.)

 

For the files you review, you can either choose one of the seven WADs in my original post or go to the idgames database and hit the "Random File" button in the top right.

 

So it's really pretty easy. TL;DR: write a review and win meaningless points.

It sounds fun

[thiccyosh]

The next wad I got by the idgames robot is Infected Area (sauce https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/g-i/infected )

 

This wad contains 7 maps, and I played through map01 on UV.

 

Map01 is your typical techbase level with only Doom one monsters for some reason (If I remember correctly), only using Imps, Zombiemen, Pinkies, Shotgunners and Cacos. Level design-wise I do not like this map. To start off you have to chew through groups of Imps in a hallway, with only a shotgun in hand with very limited ammo and if going for the chainsaw you might end up in a secret room with only hitscanners. At least you get a chaingun for this shawn2 room and afterwards you get a Berserk which isn't bad, however why I don't like this level is that some doors (two to be exact) are either broken or need switches you need to find but for the life of me I just could not find them. So I Idclipped out of the shawn2-room, same for the yellow key, probably need a switch to open to the small room with the yellow key in it, but I couldn't find that anywhere.

 

The rest is forgettable and easy, find switches, get (most of the) keys and kill groups of Imps in a narrow hallway with just a shotgun and/or Berserk and you're done. Texture-wise it is very basic, but does not hurt your eyes with random fireblu however has alot of stargray which gets boring after a while. Secrets are also odd, for some you get two secrets in one, or need to find one secret that isn't marked as one, but has a secret you need to find. And these don't give you a lot, some ammo and stimpacks. To describe this level without being too mean (or mentioning the Master levels for Doom 2): It's a techbase. And with running from evil playing in the background just sets the cherry on top. This wad was made in 1996 so perhaps I should cut him some slack off.

 

Footnotes: I had to look at the screenshots to make this review, as not alot stuck with me after finishing this map. Oh, it also is never a great idea to call a file or wad "Infected". I had to look up if this wad isn't a zip-bomb or a script that downloads Bonzi Buddy.

 

I give this level 2.8/5 Imp-holes. Not horrible, but not something I would not enjoy as much as other wads.

 

I'm also really curious how this wad goes on with other levels, as this one has seven maps instead of just one. but finding that out isn't my job.

 

Again, huge screenshots coming through!

 

 

 

[LadyMistDragon]

Undersea - by Brian Plumb - May 1994 (Eternity)

 

Hey, found a map I've actually heard of, if know nothing of! This E2M1 music sounds like it might be a 'Maniac' remix, much better than 'I Sawed the Demons' right now.

 

There's not all that much to this map. Kind of a basic underground map, though with hell textures. Hell textures that might not be so obvious if you can get it looking like the first area of Map 31 of Alien Vendetta. The excessive marble seems to be an attempt at undersea theming. There are some structures that reflect what you might think of underwater locations, shown in the screenshots, but feels bland and lacking in a number of ways. Good crusher trap near the beginning of the path to the blue key though. Or is it just overly dickish?

 

Combat is...ok, I guess, but it takes time to acquire the heavier weapons, which you'll really want in spots. Or else, you're just chaingunning enemies in cramped hallways, which is fine in one or two spots, but it almost seems like half of this map is that. There's no official secrets btw, which doesn't always matter, but in a map like this, it might be a sign inspiration was a little lacking.

 

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[Sena]

Day 2: HellNite https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/g-i/hellnite

 

Don't need to explain this one in much detail to get across how bad it is. No decoration in the maps, you get two narrow hallways, one leads to nothing, the other one leads to a room, which probably would have more stuff in it if not for the fact the map is broken, so it's over in less than a minute. My general approach to always reviewing WADs as a uniform entity showed its limitations last week, and in doing so also somewhat showed the limitations of applying numerical ratings, but I disagree with ICID, I think this is probably one of the easiest ratings I've had to give - as with any other level that just doesn't work, it gets a 0/10.

[LUISDooM]

Today I have a weird ZDoom map for Doom. Since I got some free time at work I decided to go random on the go. XD

 

The map is called "Gamarra's story: Part VII "Gamarra for president" from 2006 made by Giulio Galassi. Played on GZDooM 3.2.5 (via Delta Touch)

 

Ooookay, let's begin. This is part seven of the author's Gamarra "series" (first time hearing about them :P), this time, Gamarra got elected as president of the author's school (who apparently voted for him) and you have to guide this Gamarra fellow to his "disco-theme" office. Will they be able to do it?

Okay, this map is a mess, you can tell it from the monster count (600 monsters). You can say, "if it has 600 monsters, it may be fun at least!", sorry but this isn't the case.

What we have here is full of undetailed square rooms (from smaller to huge) with full randomly placed monsters with no place to maneuver at all. Some rooms even have unescapable pits traps (how lovely). There is also a long dark maze section full of monsters lined up ready for scratching you to death.

To make things worse, there is not much health available (besides some medikits hidden on secrets areas), weapons are pretty scarce and some are located on hazardous places (like a chaingun on a damaging floor at low health is not fun), but there are plenty of bullets and shotgun sheels thrown around on some roms at least.

After my 30th death, I thought of quitting the game, but since this was a somwhow joke/troll map, I decided to play along and turn on cheats to see if it had some punch line at the end. After bererk-punch nearly 400 monsters, I reached the so-called disco-theme office, which features a portrait of the just elected president, Mr. Gamarra along some other MSPaint style textures. 

 

A weird ending for a messy map. The only ZDoom stuff I saw on this it that some flat/ceiling textures were placed on walls and there are some stealth barons on the final room.

 

The only fun I had playing this was berserking through monsters on god mode :P

 

That's all, here are pics of Uni's Gamarra's quest trying to find their office! Now with more touch controls on screen! XD

 

Spoiler

 

A great title screen

Start point

A waste pit with a backpack in the middle

The disco-office entrance

Mr. Gamarra himself, how handsome. I mean, who wouldn't vote for him? XD

Thanks for the info.

 

 

Edited September 7, 2021 by LUISDooM
I forgot the map link :P

[Walter confetti]

ReeKrank by Reagan Hawkins - Vanilla Doom 2, 2009, played with original exe on DosBox

 

2nd and final part of the episode that i started playing yesterday, covering the missing maps that i've finished today. Again, i'm using creative license with level titles since there's none. Also, for giving more variety to the play, i played this mapset with Doom 2 but the music shares the title with the level

 

MAP08- The bottom of the nukage barrel

Spoiler

Last night ive just ventured at the starting section, hoping for the best after i played MAP07 and expecting another good map, the premises are all here: a (brown, OBVIOUSLY) small fortress-like structure that follows up the castle theme of the previous map with some cool design like 8-point shaped star blood pools and a overall nice fell, but then i'd played properly today and... oh boy, there's a bad map party and everybody's here! Maze, thin ledges with jump holes maze, asshole-ish traps, annoyng teleport traps, annoying (not so much here, actually, but the second time i've idclipped for skipping it, as well for the maze section) switch door puzzle, unmarked locked key doors... a nightmare come true, beautiful. Ah, i really hope next maps doesn't have mazes or...

 

MAP09 - The Maze Apprectiation Episode

Spoiler

Another freaking maze, horray. But this time is.. a actual GOOD level based upon a maze? What is this madness? Anyway, a maze structure with a good flow and interesting setpieces, including a troll exit that activates arch-viles around the maze Plutonia's "Hunted" style (for how nuch i don't like that level,but i think the usage here is genius) and ressurect the dead in the maze. Overall a cool maze for once, you convinced me for appreciate mazes, Reagan!

 

MAP10 - Brown brick road to fudging Bidonville

Spoiler

Ah yes, this map. I'd even forgot to have played it after 20 minutes i've played it while writing this review. A short affair that i suppose works as a "breather map" like for MAP04, but larger and sets in this small village made of brown bricks and surrounded by water. Some small cute detail here and there but nothing really memorable. Ah yes, the water now is non-toxic instead of what happened in MAP06. But is still set in a dead-end pit, do you think this episode will have a way to get out of pits if you fall down them? Ah! You fool!

...wait, in MAP06 (for how much that map is bad) there's a semi hidden teleport that leads you a safe zone, so... the author got me there? If yes, why it wasn't used for all the dead-end pits i found during my journey? A question that will remain unanswered, my friends. Luckily where near the end.

 

MAP11 - This is the end, my only friend, THE END.

Spoiler

A short, extremely linear map that works as a sort of "boss" map, with two pain elementals guarding a teleporting horde of arch-viles that teleports into a dwango-like circular "maze" (-__-) arena making it a funny battle piece. Unmarked locked key switch that opens a marked locked door, open it and exit from this brown world. Cool ending map overall.

 

In short, a nice episode that is more "hit and miss" than a great adventure, but the short lenght of the maps make it kinda enjoyable, if it's not for the brown textures everywhere and some IQ 200 puzzles you find in the map. It was brown-ok ah ah ah ah... oh god, if i see another brown texture i think i'll gonna puke.

 

HellNite by Peter Van Schevensteen - Vanilla Doom 2, 1996, Played with vanilla exe on DosBox

Spoiler

 

You know, actually i don't see the hatred you have for this map, maybe is because i see more colours that aren't only brown, maybe for the map theme premise of... what are map story here, really? Hell Knights invited you to one Hell Knight birthday / dinner / aperitive while hearing jazzy, sophisticated music or just running from evil over and over, leaving you locked and buggy hell of bad maps for eternity? Anyway the bad map party members intensifies here from ReeKrank MAP08 by having as guests:

 

• For some mysterious reason, player spawn spot has moved from the original starting point to a point that leaving you blocked
• Bland, rectangular layout rules the world
• Odd item placement like a soulsphere and Green Armor in one room and the very next room have a megasphere, woah! Worthy to mention, also a Chaingun and a plasma gun cheek.to-cheek in the library, are they on a date? How romantic lol <3
• Unaligned textures
• Broken doors
• HOM \ Broken Sectors
• No ammo at the "start"
• Wrong key at the "start"

 

How charming. You see how can a error in your map making can start a disaster? If the player spawn spot did just been keep left in the original point, we could have a discreet map with a neat floor raise / lower effect where the buggy ledge with demons are, but as  the form is it here is the buggy bad map hell you experienced today. But this makes me raise a question: why no "official" uploader at the time ever find out this bug in the map at the time and noticed the original author of the fact? That's crazy, man!

 

And this map is also a great  reminder to ALWAYS CHECK YOUR MAP before submitting officially!

 

Bad map at first sight, but with some noclip magic shows it's discreet glory. Secretly glorious 1/10 now make me sleep

Edited September 8, 2021 by Walter confetti
More bad english fix

[ICID]

ReeKrank (2009) by Reagan Hawkins

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Source port: prboom+, complevel 2}

^{Difficulty: Ultra-Violence, continuous}

 

An episode of 10 maps that clearly had some serious thought and effort put into them, but unfortunately that effort is in service of a style that really didn’t vibe with me. Reminds me a bit of Doom 64’s level design – small, cramped right-angle areas where the only gameplay putting a speedbump in your way is the occasional infuriatingly opaque puzzle sequence. But while Doom 64 gets by on its atmosphere, its shiny “3D” graphics and haunting music, ReeKrank offers only the brownest of brown textures and default MIDIs.

 

The only parts I really remember of this mapset-that-could-have-been-a-map are the aforementioned puzzle sections, which mostly involve teleporters. Perfect for all you Unholy Cathedral fans out there, I guess. Personally hard for me to think of anything less fun and “Doom-y” than guessing the wrong teleporter and having to backtrack all the way through a stupid, ugly hallway to a stupid, ugly hub, but that’s just me.

 

Reagan Hawkins clearly had what it took to be a talented and committed mapper – building 10 levels this consistent is no small feat in and of itself, and I wish he’d followed up this sole contribution to the /idgames archive with more work. With someone to help him fine-tune his visuals and vary his designs a bit, this guy could have made something great. Sadly, ReeKrank is not that thing.

 

Grade: 5/10

Rating: Pleasantly dull, like watching golf…but 10 maps is way too long.

 

[Walter confetti]

This Space Intentionally Left Blank by Sophie Kirschner - Limit Removing, 2014, played on Eternity 4.0.2 forseti

Spoiler

Yes, i've definitely played this map already and quoted the Nostalgia Critic "Felix the cat movie" in that one-liner review of mine when on idgames you can still review wads. Is a experimental work indeed as the text file said, layout is literaly the title of the map arranged as wooden \ blood structure, didn't find a exit. Nothing special, i don't even remember the reason why this map was made.

 

LEDGES2I.WAD by Mark K. Gresbach Jr. - Vanilla Doom, 1994, played with zandronum 3.1 beta

Spoiler

Another map i've played long ago, even if this is a different version from the one i know, this version have cacos at the player spawns and maybe the bfg alcove? Anyway, very fun map in DM even if there's not guns at player spawns and other "errors" typical of early DM maps. Cool stuff.

[Sena]

Day 3: ReeKrank https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/p-r/reekrank

 

Not a bad name considering this WAD is both reek and rank. As much as I can appreciate poetry like that, it can't distract from the fact this WAD is painfully boring, I only got halfway through before I'd completely lost all interest. It's true that we've all got to start somewhere, but for 2009, Reagan Hawkins' style of mapping was seriously out of date. Not that he appears to have done much else, the first result when you look up his name is a "Leakage process manager" (whatever that means) on Linkedin, which is also poetic in a sense considering the first map involves having to spend so much time in toxic waste you lose half your fucking health. Apart from that, the level is so plain and brown it feels like I'm fighting in a slice of bread, and it feels about as coherent, far too much backtracking, basically no space to maneuver, when people make maps this narrow, no wonder some people think Doom isn't even a 3D game. In short, it's convoluted, unengaging, and if there's one thing worse than a map that has no interesting combat encounters and just forces you to backtrack for 5 minutes to figure out where to go, it's one that does that but is so narrow you can't even walk for more than 2 seconds without hitting your head on something. 3/10.

[Roofi]

 

 

 

Month 4 Day 22

 

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

 

File 1) Hall of Marble 1.1 by Markus Wahlén (1996)

 

Spoiler

Quote

Mostly a single player or cooperative level, but can also make a good deathmatch. I have spent most of the time trying to make it look good rather than make it difficult to complete, but don't expect it to be to easy ;-).

Version 1.1 has a few changes in the design. Nothing major, just to make the things you find more in proportion to how much you have to work to get there.

 

A castle of marble I truely enjoyed even if I'm not the biggest fan of Marble textures. The author focused indeed on aesthetics with advanced shadow effects, pretty well aligned textures and lot of doomcuteness. You can explore a dinnerroom , bedrooms or even a morgue near the end. The gameplay was not less enjoyable ! It's mainly exploration-focused with some weak monsters to shoot. Actually , the worst issue of this map were the mandatory hidden doors to find which were more a waste of time than anything else.

 

Anyway , an aesthetically very well done map for the 1996 era. Definitely better than the average old 90's marble-themed level.

 

File 2) LEDGE FOR DOOM I by Craig Webb (1996)

Spoiler

Quote

DeathMatch level for DOOM I, designed for DEATHMATCH 2.0 rules.

If this wad looks familiar it's because, although the level was created from scratch, much of the ideas and level design was shamelessly stolen from my favourite DM level, ledges2i.wad, created by Mark Gresbach.

The heavy duty weapons are quite tricky to get a hold of. Have fun trying to get the plasma gun (just remember my motto - No Pain, No Gain :)

 

I found the wooden structures quite fascinating in this map. I enjoyed how this map exploits height variations in order to make a pretty complex level. You indeed sometimes have to some tricky jumps in order to reach the most important items. Also, you can find teleporters in this level which help you to reach certain places.

 

However, I didn't played ledges2i.wad mentioned by the author , so I can't compare.

 

I had fun collecting all the items for sure.

 

File 3) REVENANT WARS by Mark Anthony Klem @markklem (1995)

 

Spoiler

Quote

Your Mission            : In REVENANT WARS, your ultimate weapon is
                          disguise.  It'll be a lot harder to FRAG your
                          buddy when he looks like everyone else in the 
                          level.  But, there are ways to distinguish.
                          Other Revenants cannot attack you ever, so you don't
                          have to worry about that.  So when you see one 
                          attacking, you'll know who that is.  You'll have
                          access to the REVENANT FIREBALL GUN that shoots
                          GENUINE REVENANT FIREBALLS (formerly the Rocket 
                          Launcher), plus another weapon has been changed.
                          The Plasma Rifle is now a SNOW BALL SHOOTER. Open up
                          your very own REVENANT SNOW CONE STAND.
                          Learn to walk like a REVENANT to better your success
 

 

A quite unusual DM mapset of three levels where you can meet some strayed peaceful revenants , which are not able to attack you. The mission described by author can't be understood if you are single. Indeed, if I'm not wrong , I'm supposed to act like a revenant in order to confuse my opponent because I have a revenant skin? Well , the concept looks weird to me but whatever.

 

What I really liked about those those maps , especially the two first ones, was their giant scale. I love how wide and empty were the courtyards in the first map. They could pretty easily be some fun and easy slaughtermaps. The last one was a bit trippy with all those invisible floors holding the items. Layout wise, I think they could had been more appreciable with a bit less symetry.

 

File 4) GORUDAS1 by T.KIMURA(プロ猿ファーごる) (2012)

 

Spoiler

Quote

今回は､あまり気合入れないつもりだったんですが､そうでもなかったっす(^^; それなりに遊べるようには作っているつもりですので､楽しんで下さい｡ なかなかイケルはずです｡

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　BXH01167 プロ猿ファーごる

 

Well I hope you understood the description. According to google translate the author said it was just a simple attempt with too much effort. Indeed, it's a just a simple DM map. I think the main goal to win is to grab the soulsphere and BFG located on a pillar.

 

Also , this file was uploaded in 2012 but it's a 1996 map.

 

 

I got stupidly killed by a cyberdemon while testing the weapons mod Flame Thrower + Automated Turret Patch because the RL was replaced by an overpowered weapon which the cybie also had in its possession. (Forgot to take screen)

Edited September 9, 2021 by Roofi

[Sena]

Day 4: This Space Intentionally Left Blank https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/s-u/silblank

 

I had the very opposite problem to Walter with this map, I found the exit immediately, within 5 seconds to be exact, and when a map takes longer to find and download than it is to play, as a general rule I think that's a bit too short. At least it's from 2014, so that means nobody spent 10 hours downloading it, but it is nonetheless a rather primitive map design. Ignoring the exit, the level consists of one room, gimmick of having it spell out the level's title, which I'd argue is largely insignificant and one I can't really understand the rationale behind, it's got a bit of raising and lowering floors, there to disrupt you trying to kill stuff with your one weapon, the rocket launcher, it's not a particularly tough level if you remember how to not run out of ammo (i.e. know how to look at your HUD), but it's like that one room with the lowering and raising elevators in E2M2, or alternatively, Mock 2, and it's about as fun as both of them. 3/10, with regards to Mock 2, the instantly accessible exit leads me to believe this could be a jokewad, but even with that assumption, it's not good either. Maybe it'd be at least mildly funny if the level spelled out ballsack or something.

Edited September 9, 2021 by Sena

[Endless]

FACILTY1.WAD | Daniel Weed | 1995 | Played on Doom Retro | Ultra-Violence

 

 

 

A very simple E1M1 replacement. The style is classic E1, with a few gothic surprises here and there, but always maintaining some relevant consistency in its progression. The gameplay, being from Ultimate Doom, is not a big deal and tends to focus on a lot of shotgun spam. On the one hand it has an expansive and varied path system, as well as quite a bit of combat, but unfortunately I think the layout is a bit clunky and hard to understand at times. I was forced to use noclip after getting the red key because I just didn't know where to go. Possibly my fault. After that, the final battle is an unexpected explosive surprise, a bit aggressive, but decent.

 

November 5th | @antares031 | 2016 | Played on Doom Retro | Ultra-Violence

 

 

Today is my lucky day. A map by the legendary antares! Apparently dedicated to another author. This is a map designed only with classic Doom textures, with a focus on gothic hell thanks to the use of green marble, my favorite texture. Visually it is an absolute marvel. The kind of map that proves that the work id did with the original textures was apparently immaculate. Amazing what a good design together with a beautiful attention to detail can evoke. The atmosphere is dark and powerful, combining a good style of claustrophobia with unstoppable combat. In UV, this adventure can become excessively violent if we do not pat attention to the arenas, but it's always offering fun at all times. During certain scenes it became a bit slaughter-ish for my taste, but the thrill was so much that it made me forget the damage the hours of demons were doing to me. This is a great, fun, incredibly well designed map and one that demonstrates perfectly well the timeless capabilities of vanilla textures (especially if we use marble, the best ones, obviously :P) and how a well designed layout can create an unstoppable and fun flow.

Edited September 9, 2021 by Endless

[Walter confetti]

The Elevator by Scott J. Rutkowsky - Vanilla Doom 2, 1995 but uploaded in 2006, played with vanilla exe on DosBox

Spoiler

 

Again, for add more variety instead of having the usual running from Evil in the background, i played this map with Dark/Hard music wad by Mr Chris.

 

A short/medium nteresting map sets in a techbase where you have activate a central elevator that gives the title to the map, every floor have a locked key door and the unlocked door at the top of the structure. From there you'll have to find all the keys in a semi-linear fashion, also lots of progression happens trought fast door opening monster closets and new areas to explore, cool. As well, there's some classy Doom 2 style puzzle parts style, especialy MAP16 Sandy's home part. The lighting work is egregious for the time it was made. Overall, a classic concept that gave us a cool map to play!

[ICID]

This Space Intentionally Left Blank (2014) by Sophie Kirschner

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Source port: prboom+, complevel 11}

^{Difficulty: Ultra-Violence}

 

I imagine some of my fellow reviewers are going to rip this one apart, and it’s hard to argue with them from the standpoint of a traditional WAD. After all, it’s one room with lukewarm combat that can be exited in about two seconds, whose meaningless “progression” mostly takes the form of switchhunting and puzzles.

 

All of which is fair. But the word I keep coming back to in the title of this WAD – also found in the sector words that make up the architecture of its sole room – is “intentionally”. This is repeated again in the WAD’s description, which reads: “More an experiment than anything else, it's a small map with intentionally strange elements.”

 

We get a lot of WADs in these adventures that are incompetent, or which were seemingly just shat out onto /idgames with no consideration that anyone might ever actually play it, but Kirschner had a specific goal here, and one that I think was achieved to fascinating effect. Intentional blankness, intentional emptiness – the pointlessness of playing Doom laid bare, a meaningless series of puzzles and switches to a predetermined destination you did nothing to achieve yourself. Blow up those revenants, or don’t – it’s not like you’re changing the world either way. Normally I hate when a map doesn’t include a MIDI, but here it feels – once again – intentional, letting you sit in quiet contemplation rather than jazzing you up to feel excited and powerful like the usual effect of playing Doom.

 

A nice reminder that all human endeavor is meaningless, but especially our human endeavors in videogames. Implausibly enough, Kirschner released another map on the exact same day that also made it into this ER/iWA (I swear, folks, I just hit the Random File feature and these things happen) so I’m very, very interested in seeing how that compares.

 

Grade: 6/10

TL;DR: It’s weird and alienating, two things I always respect in a WAD.

 

[thiccyosh]

The next wad out got out of the oven is Gamarra's story: Part X "Final show" (sauce https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/Ports/g-i/gamara10 )

 

I played that level in UV in dsda-Doom.

 

I really, really have to keep myself from using profanity when being here, but this, with all of my respect, is the most incompetent, most ugliest level I have ever, ever played. It gets the Big Fucking Mistake award from my side. This DOOM 1993 map is a slaughterhouse full of enemies, and what do you get as weapons? Rocket launchers? BFGs? Plasma? No, only a small handful of chainguns, one map-placed shotgun and (behold!) one. Singular. Secret. Chainsaw. That is it. You have to shotgun like 250 enemies with ten Barons in this level, with two being in a small ,textureless and very narrow hallway. And Imps now jumpscare you! Yes! Everytime the Imp does his wake-up sound, he playes a sound so horrid I had to turn off the volume in order to keep my ears healthy and not make them fall off. I'm guessing the map-maker used a .wav file instead of converting that file to a lump that gets properly played in game. This map was made in 2007 and I don't know if Slade or other tools like Slade were a thing at that time. Probably, please don't kill me if I'm wrong.

 

Level design-wise it feels like a Mock 2 reject, and that is not my inner AVGN that is saying that. This level will make you feel stupid, as this level is flat, boring and filled to the brim with missing textures and enemies to stretch that playtime like a chewed gum, because you only have a shotgun and a chaingun. And you get ammo for days, that level is just 'Hold down Mouse1 to win!'.

 

Texture wise, there are no textures, you'll see the screenshots when I'm done writing this. The hall of mirror effect is brutal and will give you a full headache if you play enough of this. The other 3% of this level with some texturing are... Fine. Not too great to look at, but it doesn't give you a headache I suppose. But does kinda remind me of tapeworms suck anii with all of this red and the groups of Imps.

 

Doom 2's map21 looks better than that, and the Master levels, compared to this, make them look like Gerhard Richter built them.

 

Don't bother playing this, play good wads dammit.

 

I give this wad 1 out of 5 cyberemonds. Only one because this map is actually beatable. I suffered through this one so you don't have to. I wasted 30 minutes playing and writing this review. Do not play.

 

Bulky pics comin through.

 

 

[thiccyosh]

After that bruh moment was over, I needed something good to play, and idgames knew what I had needed

 

The next wad I got handed over wad Community Chest 3 (sauce https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/megawads/cchest3 )

 

I played Map01 (Ventilator by Use3d) on UV with dsda-Doom

 

Playing this map was a blessing from the gods after having to suffer whatever that was before. It was like getting punched in the nuts (or gut punched if you're a girl) and getting ice cream afterwards.

 

Even though this an opener to a wad with differnt styles from other people, this map looks great, feels great and the music isn't hyping you up, however is a smooth introduction to cc3! And the less positive points are more nitpicking if anything. I don't like how you have to shoot imps from the ground up to ledges you're almost unable to see, and how health is a bit stingy, given how many Cacos, hitscanners and Revenants there are. All in all a pretty nice map! I like how the tech-base is inside a ravine, which is inside of a small city. I like that setting!

 

I give this one 4.8/5 Revenant rockets in my face.

 

Have some screenshots.

 

 

[thiccyosh]

Phew, last wad for now. This time the wad is Exploring the Lost (sauce https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/d-f/explost )

 

...And now it's finding out that your chocolate ice cream isn't chocolate. 

 

Yep, another wad I did not like to play, and this time it's an adventure map!...

 

...That is built like a cage for a lab rat.

 

This Level has 87 enemies and enough space to fit a whole Doom 2 level in it. Big, empty and boring, you Sr50 all over the place while At Doom's Gate is blasting in the background. I don't really think this map maker made any effort to making his map playable, he puts painfully slow lifts at places you need to cross regulary and has a sweet tooth for shotgunners it seems. he puts random demons in locations only to cage them in. I'm not joking when I say when he caged the most difficult monsters in this level in a cage. The Barons in the compblue room are caged, and the Cacos outside are, you guessed it, also caged. The maze is also very long and boring and again reminds me of Tapeworms suck anii, but this time with the Imp on shotgun action and the big frunk you by taking your time for nothing and nothing again.

 

What puts the cherry ontop of this mess is he used firebblu and the tiles for tech-base lamps as the floor. Why?

 

I do not recommend playing this level, just wastes your time.

 

1.5/5 Lala blueberries .  Again, only one point five instead of zero because this level is beatable and I kinda like the aesthetics of the compblue-room.

 

You know the drill by now:

 

Also, what does the maker mean by 'the lost'? The lost what? The lost time I gave playing this?