Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #035

[Sena]

Day 6: aimt https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/Ports/a-c/aimt

 

This map takes the concept of an aim trainer, providing the player with infinite ammo, a shotgun, and 6 imps who spawn in at the edges of a very large room, you kill them and press a button to spawn in another 6, ad infintium. The concept of an aim trainer just does not work here, it might work in Quake 2 where the railgun requires a high level of precision, it might work in a military shooter where I actually have to control my fire because of recoil, but it does not work here. My actually aiming abilities aren't being challenged at all, even if you've beaten Doom 1 and 2 and nothing else, that's probably all the experience you need to have complete confidence in your ability to run up to an imp in an empty room and kill it in one hit. I might talk about atrocious maps and how they offer nothing of interest to the player, but quite literally, this is a pointless level, as, like any other aim trainer, it is not designed to be fun (and it's not), but it is designed to let you practice and hone a singular skill, which it does very poorly, if you really want to improve your aim, just play a regular ass map, on both counts, it will be a better use of your time than playing this.

[Roofi]

7 hours ago, brick said:

5. Chess, Hades-style Maciek Sakrejda

 

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I already played this ! I like the idea but the fact you have to kill a Mastermind without cover is ... rough.

 

So...

 

Month 10 Day 22

 

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

 

[1] Amber Extreme (for DOOM2 DeathMatch) by Mattrim of Amber (1997)

 

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Small, fast, and furious DeathMatch PWAD, featuring five levels of nonstop, chaotic action. Support for both DeathMatch and AltDeath. Excellent weapons balance and play flow. Realistic designs and lighting effects. Custom graphics, music, and sound. Beautiful architecture. Ambient sound effects. Consistent theme.

 

I got pleasantly surprised by the high-degree of customization of this wad. Mattrim added the classic yet beautiful orange sky from UD Episode 4, new gun and pick-up sounds, a custom statbar and even ambiant sounds thanks to the new monster noises ! You can hear dropping slime in sewers, strong wind at outdoors or even whispering heretic monsters.

 

All the custom resources match well with the pseudo-medieval theme made of brown bricks. I want to say the visuals remind me a lot of HR2 which was released way later. Mattrim took a lot of care aligning the textures and creating an elaborated architecture. For 1997, the aesthetics are top-notch.

 

Gameplay-wise, all maps are small but don't feel too cramped. The author forces you to walk on very harmful liquid (-20 damage) in order to get the most powerful weapons (BFG , PG)

 

[2] Purple Death 3 ( PURPDTH3.ZIP ) by Chris Villarreal (1995)

 

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Original Deathmatch PWAD for Heretic (Registered)

 

A 2-levels wad , which is also playable in singleplayer since they have monsters, items and an exit. Also, I saw no purple except the Quartz Flasks...

 

Well, I will start with the good points. The two maps prove to be large and intricate. You can explore them as you want because you don't have to collect any key. Also, maps have a tall architecture and a rather clean texturing. 

 

Now, the bad points. Both maps were too dark for me. The only moments I truely enjoyed where when I used the torch. Concerning the first map, I don't know If I just suck at exploring but I didn't succed to obtain at least a weapon. they are all perched on pillars from what I saw. I beat the first map by skipping all ennemies and finding the exit by chance.

 

The second map plays better since you can easily find and obtain the weapons you need. However, it's almost impossible to find the exit without doombuilder because it's hidden behind an unmarked door located in the dark.

 

The wad has its qualitied but I don't recommand to play it.

 

Grade : C

 

[3] 1337 Guns by @Xaser (2004)

 

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Well, I just released this to be the first weapon replacement that actually powers down the weapons! It's not quite as good as my other ones, but I did it and just had to release it. :P

 

1337 Guns is a weapon mod which has the only purpose to weaken your arsenal without being as grotesque as Extreme Weapons Pack .

 

So what do we have?

 

- Your pistol became the golden gun without its lengendary power. Each shot is separated by a painful reload time.

 

- Your shotgun now looks like a tiny BFG but cost too much ammo to be profitable. Each shot needs 10 shells !

 

- Your chaingun became a weird plasmagun with hitscan attacks. It has the same power than the original weapon but each shot produce a flashy green light covering all the screen. I don't advice this mod for epileptics just for this !

 

- As in the original Doom 2 game, the SSG which had been replaced by the Sawed-off from Blood, will be your weapon of choice since it just has a slightly longer reload time.

 

- The rocket launcher is now just a cheap grenade launcher. Moreover, its badly positioned sprite will make you want to use it even less.

 

- The plasmagun seconds the SSG. Its firerate had been decreased but it's not a problem on Ultra-Violence. Also, the new sprite looks fine compared to the new "BFG".

 

- And the BFG which became the dumbest shotgun that you will ever see. it uses cells but you can hear the SSG's fire sound. A single-shot costs all cells.

 

- The Cyberdemon runs faster than Usain Bolt but since the RL had been replaced by a grenade launcher, the projectiles fall three meters in front of him. It's both fun and scary.

 

[4] Mine Camp by Parallax (2009)

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Single/Co-Op level where players battle through a mine.

 

Mine Camp consists to a minisode of 6 maps made in 1996. Mine Camp really holds its name, it's a little forgotten gem made by the doom community.

 

Of course, Mine Camp doesn't present any outstanding feature compared to the modern standards. It uses exclusively the stock textures, maps are short and no music had been replaced. However, Mine camp feels like a little journey mainly because all maps are linked together. You start where the previous level ends and that simple thing contribute to make the levels more immersive.

 

At first sight , Mine Camp looks like any wad released during the 90' but it offers unique aesthetics. Map 02 features an interesting cave system and a room full of crates with an elaborated shadow work. Map 03 centers around an amphiteater. Map 05 starts in a hedge maze and unfolds to spacious gardens and you eventually infiltrates into a gigantic spaceship in the last level.

 

Gameplay-wise, Mine Camp made me feel relaxed, except at the begininning of Map 01 where you start between monsters and barrels. Some monsters are a bit challenging to kill like the cyberdemon in map 06, or the chaingunners located in the miradors at map 05 , but the author gave you everything you need to survive without struggling. As I said before, maps are short but they get straight to the point , so don't expect endless switchhunting or a needlessly obscure progression. I really dig when mappers attempt to create "real" places.

 

In brief, a short and enjoyable vanilla mapset. I will maybe record a longplay someday.

 

Grade : A

 

A bullshit crusher crushed me in (couldn't think of one)

 

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[LadyMistDragon]

4th of July (2011) by Jeremy L. Wagner

 

A patch that everyone seems to have absolutely hated. It changes the last 3 weapons into forms that are reasonable to those of us who celebrate Treason Day, shall we say. The little lighter that replaces the rocket launcher actually seems somewhat improved as the delay in firing when not holding down 'fire' is actually much smaller if not non-existent. The plasma rifle replacement however....try to imagine a container shooting piss everywhere and that's liteally what it is. The BFG replacement has the laziest sprite in existence and yet, stil has a decent explosive effect when fired. Other than the plasma replacement, I think I've seen much worst than this, trouble being the amusement won't last long 4/10

 

 

 

Nambona890's Texture Edits (2017) by Nambona890

 

Creator of some Terry wads Nambona890 (whom I've come across before) released this last thing of his. Supposedly, it makes edits to some metal and techbase textures, but I don't see them, possibly because I'm not willing to go over every map with them with a seeing-eye dog. Eh, who cares?

[Sena]

Day 7: Twisted Joke https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/themes/xmas/ph_dac

 

This is a Christmas map, the only problem with it is that it isn't Christmassy enough. It's a nice little feature to have some enemies and ammo packs redesigned, but it's only the case for some of them, and the rocket launcher is the only redesigned weapon, which is a strange choice since it's undoubtedly the weapon you actually have the least chance to use. In any case, this doesn't really feel like a Christmas map, as much as it feels like a regular techbase with a lot of snow and some textures with flashing lights on them, sometimes mixing Hell and snow textures in the same room. It might sound superficial, but putting lights on a tree from Mt. Erebus doesn't feel completely right, when considering Christmas trees actually have leaves on them. Additionally, a lot of areas are pure stock textures, they're just regular rooms with prisons or Hell caves or any other visual motif you'd expect to see in any other level, which ends up working against it. There's one room with a giant tree with presents underneath it, but that is it, nothing else actually comes close to being unambiguously Christmas, and far more of it doesn't even adhere to a general winter theming. The gameplay's overall fine, not a big fan of them using lava floors to hurt the player sometimes but not others. All things considered, the level gets the job done, it uses a snow slide at one point, which is a neat idea, but unlike in Mario 64, Doom's physics put you at a complete and utter stop once you hit a wall, which makes it a bit of a pain to go through, and I'm pretty sure if kindness falls under the Christmas spirit, then it's not too much to ask for a level that does not end with an ambush from multiple archviles. If it happens to be the one day a year in which you'll most likely want to play a Christmas map, you may find this level somewhat insufficient as it doesn't do a very good job of capturing its aesthetics, but it is an adequate techbase, and those never go out of season. 6/10.

[Roofi]

Month 10 Day 23

 

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

 

[1] WAYBAC.WAD for DOOM ][ by Bruce A. Chastain (2011)

 

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My intention with this level (my first and probably my last) was to construct a level that was reasonably challenging to complete, but without tossing 20 monsters in each room. But, I did assume that you don't cheat! Otherwise, the level will be too easy to complete.

Most rooms have a "trick" for making it through mostly unscathed, but can take a few passes to figure out the best strategy.

While I did place the additional player and Deathmatch starting locations, it is really designed for single player mode.

 

A crampy puzzle/traps oriented Doom 2 map which was made in 1996 but published in 2011.

 

WAYBAC is a decent first map because everything works. I didn't struggle with ammo but the author put a reasonable ammount of it in order to keep a challenging gameplay. The level has a lot of small traps involving monster closets but you can easily overcome them by playing steadily.

 

The puzzle "part"resides in the quirky progression. Indeed, you sometimes have to find barely hidden switches and take a variety of passages. Each room feels like a tiny challenge you must pass. The progression is totally linear. The room where a cyberdemon and barons are stuck in a shallow pit made me smile. For that part, a switch activates a crusher which will eradicate all of them.

 

I think the biggest flaw of this map lies in its inconsistent texturing. Each room use a different combination of textures so you don't know what you explore. Once you explore a tiny cavern full of lava, once you enter in a tall wooden room and you can even visit a tiny Nazi-theme place of relaxation with benches to sit on. 

 

Anyway, a good first map.

 

I liked it.

 

Grade : B-

 

I died in Project X map 17

 

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[LadyMistDragon]

Dexter - Long Version (2019) by Hans George Campbell (GZDoom)

 

Hans George Campbell is like some freakish combination of Tormentor667 and Kevin Trudeau, bragging about 'award-winning' and 'famous' maps, when in truth, he has a reputation for shamelessly plagiarizing the maps of others, not to mention scamming retro gaming hobbyists, not so intelligent with hindsight when the Amiga community specifically seems quite close-knit.. It wouldn't be too surprising if the base was taken from a Duke 3D map with converted textures. Although the tunnel looks a little like something out of Map 16 of Hellbound, but that might just be a coincidence.

 

This map can essentially be thought of as being split into two different areas. After reading the amusing opening text declaring that demons fall under "Harry's Code" (just go watch the show!) and some desultory combat featuring an awkwardly-placed Revenant at the end, you emerge into a beautifully-rendered cityscape. There's a bank, a gun store with an amusing name, and lots of other cool stuff. Here comes the unique bit of this mod: you need to buy most of your guns through credits earned by killing monsters. So these guys carry some green on 'em?. Thankfully, pressure here isn't so unrelenting that you can't take your time and kill what's easier before moving on to the big guys. Also, the gun store building has a hidden teleporter that takes you to a rooftop. You'll really want to enter the red warehouse though. While the big doors don't open, there is a silver door that I stupidly failed to notice, forcing me to noclip from the harbor later. This warehouse  contains some changunners and Barons, along with a vent that contains a Supercharge and Hans' freaked-out mug. fuck off

 

After going through a tunnel, and some inchworm-esque progress (that's much less inchworm-y if you spot a rubble-filled cavern on your left not far past the curve), you'll enter into an area of massive ship crates which basically serves to throw lots of turret barons at you. It's easier than dodging Revenants and Arch-viles at the same time, but you can't go back at this point, so um, get with the program and hit the blue console in the northwest to open the blue door, revealing a Cyberdemon you've got plenty of room to dodge. Beyond here are some guys (so there's people left alive for once) that will sell you both a red and yellow card. You can't get them both at once, so just get the yellow card since there's a yellow door just nearby, and emerge into a massive harbor area, complete with a cargo ship to your right and an assortment of enemies whose bark is probably worst than its bite. Still, chaingunners are crawling through the center, Arachnotrons are cleverly and nastily-placed and Imps harry you from the tops of the tallest crates, so this isn't easy. Also, the occasional Arch-vile will make you jump. At a certain point, you'll have enough credits for the red key, which you can run back grab, face down a Spider Mastermind that somewhat humiliated me, and watch the level end after reading the closing dialogue.

 

This is actually a fair experience. It would probably get an 8/10 because the weird enemy placement drags things down, but who knows what Duke 3D map this was pilfered from.

 

 

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[Sena]

Day 8: BORN TO KILL https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/a-c/b2kill

 

One of those levels where they randomly change the sound effects and voice lines to be taken from random games and movies (although not Full Metal Jacket, strangely enough), and I have to say it's a definite improvement, I never realised until now how much my game experience needed the imp to be Schwarzenegger calling me an asshole, but what I already knew was I needed good level design. And there's not much of it to find here, enemies in holes in the floor that can't even attack you, convoluted teleporter puzzles, completely ass-backwards weapon progression, they've got the whole ordeal, and to be honest after 5 minutes of dealing with circular teleporters I'd had enough. Just plain old, and just plain bad. 2/10.

[Clippy]

Had a very interesting experience with a mod which I never play

 

 

 

First I found this by @deathz0r :

 

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/combos/omgwpns

 

OMG Weapons! (and Monsters) by Dean "deathz0r" Joseph --- I don't usually care for mods but this was fun - seeing all the colourful monster and weapon replacements. The super fast tiny demons/specares were cute and hilarious - and that colourful rail gun was fun too - def kept things interesting and unexpected and it made the random map I played more fun too

 

random map:

 

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/p-r/rocker4

 

Rocker4 by Joe Winter - I honestly don't have much to say about this map - it seemed competent enough - fast for it's monster count - actiony expecially with combo of fun mod - some cool details and entranceways - a lighting room that was annoying and some unintuitive lifts but hey - played while my buddies hung out and had a good time

 

thanks for stopping by : @Biodegradable @Dub Bag @sandwedge @Snaxalotl

Edited June 21, 2022 by Clippy

[sandwedge]

 

I actually get quite lucky and find a visually impressive level, but I pay for it with a pretty unforgiving gameplay experience. Ammo starvation and perched sniping hitscanners behind obfuscating railings abound in this polished turd of a level. It's not so bad because it's not too long, but you might as well run through most of it.

[LadyMistDragon]

Sifting Through the Ashes (2017) by Swanman (GZDoom)

 

"...my take on Doom's design capabilities," feels more like something akin to a myfirstmap, with some occasional joke touches that aren't really funny. First map is a collection of tech rooms with lots of slime, including some leakage from the walls as well as sitting in one of the first doorways you can access. This transitions into marble rooms later on. You also meet those very much undoom-y guys that were in WMC03 who leave bombs behind when they die. There's also too many narrow hallways that seem to exist just because they have to

 

E1M2 continues the out-time dimension feel of the Lost Land. The opening rooms made me think of a hallway from Catacombs despite not resembling said hallway that closely and made me want to shout "I am Turok!" Truth is, I think there might have been a few ideas going on here. I'm not sure how I feel about this map's wrap-around structure, mostly because by the time you pick up the keys, you won't be very close to the initial key doors you spot near the beginning. The maze near the beginning was rather strange, like some misguided Nuclear Plant homage. I don't know where the custom ceiling is from. As you go further in, you'll head into a more laboratory area, complete with custom scientist sprites, one wielding a crowbar and the other is wielding an axe. At a certain, you'll come across the YK and you'll be trapped by a...red-flaming wall while a Baron and those guys who shoot poison and leave bombs behind when they die. The ending has literally nothing though

 

E1M3 is nothing more than a skeleton map thopugh. You can't open the door at the beginning, but this appearrs to be a lab-like map mostly, although there is one room containing a Baron of Hell with a metal leg and a lab that seems to contains various demonic implements.

 

There's lots of decent ideas, but most everything here was uninteresting. The map shape was decent, at times, and I loved some of the visual touches (the little Impy shrine in the room of red), but this is a classic WIP 6/10

 

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[Endless]

2 hours ago, sandwedge said:

 

I actually get quite lucky and find a visually impressive level, but I pay for it with a pretty unforgiving gameplay experience. Ammo starvation and perched sniping hitscanners behind obfuscating railings abound in this polished turd of a level. It's not so bad because it's not too long, but you might as well run through most of it.

Lainos never disappoints in the visual department. The gameplay department tho...

[sandwedge]

10 minutes ago, Endless said:

Lainos never disappoints in the visual department. The gameplay department tho...

 

I thought I had heard of them and yeah, this checks out lol

[Thelokk]

1 hour ago, Endless said:

Lainos never disappoints in the visual department. The gameplay department tho...

 

I found Comatose to be pretty good in both departments, actually. The exception rather than the rule, but still.

[Sena]

Day 9: Big Chungus' Symphony https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/a-c/chungus

 

I'd hate to imagine what a small chungus symphony looks like, because these are small maps (5 in total) that you can beat in a minute each, and I mean it when I say they're small, they have extremely low ceilings and tight corridors. They don't look too great either, with an emphasis on STARTAN, half-doors used in the first map, and only the first map, since elsewhere they seem to outright refuse to use actual door textures to signify doors. The monsters are placed almost randomly, most of them too far out of the way to do anything to the player, and it seems to almost encourage just ignoring everything and running for the exit. And, for good measure, the last map has no floor, I don't know if they got lazy or it got seized by the IRS, either way, I like my levels to have floors. The levels do little to inhibit you and provide difficulty, which at least means they aren't frustrating, but they consequently aren't fun either. 5/10.

[Walter confetti]

Sorry for the absence, here's some random maps i've played on my laptop plus the other 2 in the list, all made in the period of the latest 3 days and today the wheater is clement enough to make me post the reviews here:

 

DAY 1

 

Trippy Skrill by Erik Lindahl - Vanilla Doom 2, SP, 2006, played with crispy doom 5.10.1

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I've expected much worse from this map according to the other people reviews, is a pretty nice old school style map that have nice visuals and layout but is pretty stingy with the wepons rooster (using only KDiTD guns - shotgun, chaingun and a semi-secret chainsaw) and way too sadistic with monsters usage (like, fighting macubus with only a pistol? WTF?) and semi-mandatory backtracking, especially trought grate mazes. Also, there's not a great balance between items and monsters in the first part of the map, at all. But it's appealing visually, if you like old school 90s maps like me this will be your thing.

 

ANYNCE11.WAD by Owen Robertson - Vanilla Doom, SP, 1994 but uploaded in 2006, played with crispy doom 5.10.1

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A 1994 very raw and broken big map uploaded in 2006 for some reasons by @Funduke, i don't get the file name but i have a suspect of what does it mean... Is the title maybe "ANYone NiCE can tell me that i make the best map???11!)?"? Unluckily, i'm not that nice guy that found this the best map ever, sorry for bursting your bubbles! Layout is... really abstract, and filled of backtracking and trully broken nodes and sectors and god knows what else. Some room constructions aren't that atrocious and includes as well some interesting concepts and shapes, but for the rest it makes the most raw and generic shovelware wads shit you'll ever seen. At least, it's been from a long time i didn't played something so broken. Gameplay follows the same principle of the layout construction, few nice concepts and lot of generic, raw fights. Also lots of mazes, that's the cherry at the top of the cake! I liked the lava maze idea that you need to go in another part of that place to get a radiation suit and pass over it, as well as the spider mastermind arena fight at the start and the puzzle to the exit is pretty cool, actually. Also you'll have all the guns but no more rocket ammo expect at the start.
I didn't heard the remix of "At Doom's gate" used here on my laptop, so i can't say anything about the new music.

 

BigBro.wad by Magne Groenhuis and Remco Gerlich - Vanilla Doom, SP, 1994, played with crispy doom 5.10.1

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A level that luckily doesn't have 3 digits of monsters in HMP and a slightly shorter one than the previous maps, it's a map i've played already before and also being part of many of those compilation PWADS around the net, is a nice and clean affair sets in a techbase that somehow resembles the original episode 1 in theme, with some hellish parts, some nice detailing in the sewers and the most cryptic progression i've seen today during my gameplay session. But expect this, just a pretty generic 1994 wad without nothing extraordinary in it. The gimmick of the map with having "Big Brother" looking at every steps and decisions you take in the map is interesting.
 

DAY 2

 

I'd rather not say... If you don't mind. by Callum Ashdown = PeeGMaN =  PiGMaN - Vanilla Doom 2, DM, 1996, played with crispy doom 5.10.1 (-deathmatch parameter on)

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Too bad that i don't have other people or bots to play with, because this map will absolutely nail it on proper DM! The layout is strongly inspired by Entryway and their remakes on Dwango compilations, even in some parts reminds me of Greenwar! Well interconnected, lots of place to hide, shoot and ambush other players. The exit room is weird but ingenious.
It also includes some monsters to fight in Single Player, their placement it's good and sometimes dickish especially when you take the RL. Very good stuff! Also the text file is pretty humorous!

 

Fucking Hostile Psychoholic Slosh by Peter Schiecke - Vanilla Doom 2, SP, 1995, played with crispy doom 5.10.1

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Wow, is this map made in 1995 or is it some kind of a way too elaborate joke to us? Because this small episode (reached MAP05 today, 6 maps in total) is a real treat! Competent designed maps (with the exception of some misalignments), lowered door tracks for doors, challenging (like, really challenging) maps even without using powerful monsters (the hardest i find are two revenants caged over a small maze before the exit), but hordes of imps and chaingunners, mostly. It also includes some pretty atmospheric rooms and a clever usage of the pitch black parts creating tensive parts and even a clever maze (well, the two mazes i found there are pretty good, actually. I found mazes that i like in Doom games that aren't only from the original games, yay!) made out of light spawns thought the area. The only part i slightly disliked are the timed door switch puzzle, if you don't make it in time you'll be locked in the corridor that separates the rooms.

 

MAP01: Fun small introductory map set in a small canyon, very rectangular in layout shapes, gives me a weird vibe. Cross over the base to reach the exit.

 

MAP02: Another small map, even more smaller than the previous map, is set into this... stone-y nukage canyon with a big base, a warehouse of sorts perhaps? Opening and closing closets appears at every steps, playing this map on pistol start makes it more challenging due to stingy ammo usage in the map, so be careful!

 

MAP03: A metal techbase surrounded by nukage, loved this map theme. Reminds me of TNT. Pretty fun map too to play.

 

MAP04: First map with more than 2 digits, it keeps the dark rusty metal them of the previous map, plus returns the canyon theme of MAP01, some pretty neat sections in this map!

 

DAY 3 (finishing slosh)

 

MAP05: Returning again to the stone valley of MAP02, including a tech tower surrounded by chaingunners, imps and cacos. The layout is less "linear" than the previous maps, making it more fun to play and explore. A very good map.

 

MAP06: Final map, sets in this sort of abandoned fortress with many switch action and some switch hunt at the end. great last map.

 

Overall a very great slaughter mapset with some Plutonia-like difficulty spikes in, especially for MAP06. Very good stuff.

Edited June 22, 2022 by Walter confetti

[Walter confetti]

Sorry for the double post, but a bonus for today!

In the Vicinity of Death by DarkWolf - Limit Removing (?), Doom 2, DM, 2003, played with zandronum 3.1 and bots

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Not a bad map at all, actually it's pretty cool, have simple layout and some things needed a change like the small depression in the main area, a new texture floor maybe? But overall, looks and plays fun. I don't know how it could be played with that deh file since it's not on archives and i don't know if the site still runs today, have to check.

Oh, actually it shows the site via wayback machine! Here's the link to the site and the deh file the author is talking about... I've tried with deh file and nothing new happened. Weird.

 

The Illusion War by terkar sergant - Skulltag, Doom 2, SP, 2014, played with zandronum 3.1 + Skulltag_content.pk3

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What, a terrywad with a proper map before the terry script trap? This is madness, terkar, you magnificent bastard! Too bad the map before the trap(s) are just a plan raw "joke" map where the joke is to imitate 1994 maps, the kind of fun of old joke wads, you know. For the terry traps part is... ok, i guess? Even if now my senses are all destroyed by another one of this piece of crap. Full game entertainment from 0 to (x)y^z

[LadyMistDragon]

G50 (1994) by Unknown (Eternity)

 

Peak '94. Massive rooms, strong effort at creating a realistic space that then crashes and burns when MARB gets used for no reason, like in the bar. I feel like the person who designed that was fired instantly upon completion. Also, whoever though placing guys with miniguns to serve your drinks was probably on something themselves. I liked the shotgunner trap right behind this, though I didn't use the barrels to kill them. Head to the series of tracks in the north though, you'll find you can't get out normally. I guess you could say that big white light near the balcony in opening room is like Grand Central Station, but I'm not really certain this is set in New York. Gameplay is crap except where it isn't(at the bar, naturally). Though the Mastermind near the Blue key is actually not the most poorly place one in the world, strangely enough. But I wasn't exactly motivated to find the yellow key. 5/10

 

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[Sena]

Day 10: Oculus Malus https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/Ports/m-o/om

 

This one says it's inspired by Sigil, which I guess is fitting because I didn't like Sigil that much. Visually, it's a lot more like a E1-E5 buffet, with a lot of variety between visual styles and locales, but consistently interesting and ambitious. The gameplay is definitely a lot closer to Sigil, with those shootable eye textures halting progression, awkward first person platforming and tight corridors. The level was pretty good, at least until the cyberdemon boss fight which just confused me, because I had no idea what I was supposed to do (kill them was not an option), or where I was supposed to go - the level design did not make it clear, and having to make leaps of faith across hurtfloors while being attacked from 4 directions at once did not help in any regard. The level definitely looks great, and I didn't get any further than that, which I think was around 70%, but the gameplay just wasn't for me.

[LadyMistDragon]

Tainted Waters (2017) by scar3crow (GZDoom)

 

A map made of the most prevalent cliches in early maps, specifically sewers, tann-ish outdoor areas, and marble at the end, along with a complete lack of combat flow later on, with a sloppy and uninteresting layout which perfectly complements it all.. Like, it's cool to punch low-ranking enemies, but eventually, he starts going massively overboard, apart from the lame-ass ending, which has an arch-vile and Pain Elemental in a relatively narrow space but feels about as tacked on as everything else. It's not a good ending, it just feels like a way to throw in a stupid annoyance that's not even effective. 5/10, mediocre but little that's actively bad. If you wonder why there's one screenshot, that reflects how much interest this level possesses.

 

Spoiler

 

[Sena]

Day 11: Doubts Even Here https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/d-f/doubts

 

When I saw how this map started, three equally spaced out doors, the first of which opened to another room that looked exactly the same as the one room I'd seen thus far, I was not willing to give this one much of a chance, but it actually turned out to be pretty good. Only about 40 enemies, so it's definitely on the shorter and easier side, with me taking damage precisely once in my playthrough, but the level actually has some pretty decent enemy variety and locations; they realised that at this length, you can't really connect your level with much environmental storytelling or interconnected theming, so they just put in whatever random ideas they can come up with, and it works fine, although it's hard to look past the fact that most of it is varying degrees of techbase, but that's better than 1 degree of techbase. The level isn't that involved, but it's got plenty of secrets, and it's fun to play, and it's got a grasp on the fundamentals, albeit there isn't much else it's got going as a selling point. 6/10.

Edited June 25, 2022 by Sena

[Roofi]

Month 10 Day 24

 

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

 

[1] Party Base by Walter "Daimon" Confalonieri @Walter confetti (2014)

 

Spoiler

 

 

Quote

A tiny tech level made for Mr Chris birthday...

 

The action takes place in a simple tech-base using Zdoom features. First of all, a message tell you you were invited at a party. You hear a catchy trance music in the whole complex.

 

I like how Walter added the gzdoom features. For instance, I can mention the blue key located under a floor made of glass or the lights surrounding the doors which glow in a way you feel more like in a "party".

 

Concerning the difficulty, it was a piece of cake from the beginning to the end. The author added some new monsters which consist to variations of already existing ones but they don't represent a major threat despite being slightly tougher. For example, cyborg imps fire plasma projectiles and you can even meet imps firing baron's fireballs. 

 

However a specific part was a lot more stressfull than the others : the short section where you have to walk under fast crushers. Nothing hard but I suppose they can easily kill you if you don't have all your HP.

 

After an ordinary adventure in a undistinguished tech base, you can now blow the candles ! Happy Birthday ! That's cute.

 

Grade : B

 

Three chaingunners showed in front of me while I had only 12 HP in Water Treatment Facility #17

 

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[Walter confetti]

Thanks for the review!

[Biodegradable]

House of DOOM! (1997)

According to an ancient review by my man, @Doomkid, this is the greatest myhouse.WAD ever created! I've played my fair share of house maps in my short career and I'd say that statement is fairly accurate. For '97, this map holds up pretty well. The DoomCute is pretty strong and I loved the big garage especially. Bit disappointed there wasn't a DoomCute car inside but you can't win them all. The premise of the map is real simple: You just finished up in the bathroom taking a huge crap when suddenly your house has been invaded! The are demons absolutely everywhere! It's a rather hot-start with you being forced to scramble around the place, ducking and weaving about the place trying to locate some tools to fight off the uninvited guests that have rudely broken into your humble domicile. My only real complaint is just how stingy the ammo placement is on UV. It never feels like you're provided with enough ammo to deal with all the meat you need to put down, which grew rather frustrating at the end. Regardless, it's a 90s map that has a bit more charm than just being a novelty for its time and is worth playing, honestly. Definitely the best myhouse.WAD I've ever played, that's for sure.

 

 

Edited June 26, 2022 by Biodegradable

[ICID]

I find myself with a couple free hours this morning and nothing much to do with them, so let's review some WADs!

 

 

Gwangi's Palace v2.6 (2014) by Mike "Impie" MacDee

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Source port: dsda-doom, complevel 2}

^{Difficulty: UV}

 

The first-ever WAD by Impie, a mapper, fanfiction author, and community project contributor of some renown who mostly seems to be making Gzdoom total conversions these days. For a "baby's first map", this hell-themed quickie is pretty damn good! There's a bit too much backtracking and platforming for my taste and it doesn't really get difficult until the final Arch-Vile fight (an ingeniously-designed little room with minimal cover and lost souls trying to push you off the Chasm-like ledges) but it looks good and does all the things a Doom map should, like giving you a berserk and an SSG in the opening room.

 

Grade: 6/10

 

 

Vroom.wad (1995) by Blake "Phm" Baltzley

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Source port: dsda-doom, complevel 2}

^{Difficulty: UV}

 

An ugly map with lots of weapons and items, but no monsters, and the exit can be reached in under a second. I'm confident that, prior to the invention of NFTs, this was the most pointless use of file space on the internet.

 

Grade: 1/10

 

 

DEADcity (2000) by Eric and Alex Brown

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Source port: dsda-doom, complevel 2}

^{Difficulty: UV}

 

 

Anyone who's been with the ER/iWA for awhile knows that my biggest pet peeve is maps (usually 90s maps, but not always) that don't give you any weapons except the regular shotgun and maybe a chaingun while throwing all manner of horrible beasties at you. That's why I've joked above, and in other reviews, that every good map starts with an SSG in the first room. Well, DEADcity achieves the impossible: it gives you an SSG in the opening room, and then it sucks.

 

The readme here promises a journey from a warehouse to an "underground maze" to "the city of the dead", and it's a good thing it does because if it wasn't for the promise of more interesting things to come I would have bailed in the crate room - a miserable little pile of misaligned textures and infuriating platforming that quickly fills with lost souls and hitscanners. The reason the SSG sucks here is because unless you want to get your face clawed off you're going to need to stay back and do some sniping, which is the only situation in which our sawed-off friend does not excel.

 

Pray to RNGesus and push through this horrible opening area and you'll get to the "underground maze", a series of pitch black, chaingunner-stuffed corridors that sucks exactly as much as you think it does. After that you get to the city, which...actually, I found kind of enjoyable! Maybe it's just because I'm a sucker for city maps, or maybe I was just dying for wide-open spaces at this point, but rocket combat with some high-tier monsters in huge, doomcute-y spaces that include a pet shop and a library was just what the doctor ordered after the rest of this grueling slog. Had the map just been this part I would have given it high marks, but as it stands...

 

Grade: 2/10

 

Deimos Entry (2010) by Paul Corfiatis

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Source port: dsda-doom, complevel 3}

^{Difficulty: UV}

 

Well this was a pretty terrific way to end the day's adventures - an E2M1 replacement from well-known composer and mapper Pcorf. The readme says he was trying to ape the style of actual 90s PWADs, but I'm sorry to say that he failed miserably because this was way too good. Selfishly I would have liked a few more hell elements in the design (Shores of Hell is my favorite Doom episode and I've always loved how it opens with such big, bold hellish imagery before settling into more of a techbase groove) but other than that this is a gorgeous, tightly-plotted remix of a classic level that feels worthy of iD itself. I'm gonna stop here before I random a Terry wad or something.

 

Grade: 7/10

[Clippy]

I played this

 

here https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/g-i/impland

 

with @Biodegradable

 

not sure what to say, boring level - big areas too bug - combat wacky and nothing at all to write home about, would be a waste of paper

 

sry

[LadyMistDragon]

Expired License (2012) by TimeofDeath (Chris Balch)

 

Doomwiki lists this as a TimeofDeath666 map, which it probably is but it's weird he'd do something like this. A mod for GZDoom that essentially's a sort of joky- and occasionally combat puzzle thing. The first 120 maps are nothing more than the same outdoor area copy-pasted and retextured with different monsters. The real maps are the so-called 'final exam' maps, which you access through a cute little classroom at the beginning. Given that there's 37 maps, it's inevitable there'll be some bad/reused ideas in there, even though the puzzle leans are fairly obvious. One map places you in a large open area of lava with one enemy of roughly every kind on top of different tall platforms. When each of the enemies dies, a Cyberdemon doll blocking the hallway leading to the exit (right behind the starting location) will be removed. Trouble being that gunning down Lost souls and former humans from a distance will never be fun and this just seems like an idea with little idea given to combat practicality. Some other maps have you going down or going up circular flights of stairs where you're essentially expected to expend your big guns. The rl techbase one feels stupid. while the other one will unleash Arch-viles at the beginning once you hit a switch at the bottom. Some maps have to be jokes because they're either mediocre or shitty in practice. For instance, a step-filled room where chaingunners will teleport somewhere every step you take that basically is a tedious exercise opf chaingunning yourself (each map gives you a predetermined loadout). At least until the rocket launcher lowers and you get to take your rage out on some Imps Another one is a generic infighting thing set in a void of sorts. My favorite would probably be the narrow platform fight where you have to rocket some Imps but watch your step since it's very easy to get knocked back. As it stands, it would probably get a 6.5/10. I would've done a little bit more but this isn't really something I'd want to spend any additional time in the next WAD Adventures. If it wasn't for the weird voodoo doll/barrel gimmickry of Map 139, I would've played at least a few more maps. No matter your opinion of these maps, they are at least largely interesting.

 

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[Sena]

Day 12: Duse Ex Machina https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/d-f/dxem

 

I'm not usually a fan of castle maps, maybe it's because most of them go for a realistic approach that doesn't really work as far as Doom is concerned, maybe it's because people just make a convoluted mess with about as much sense in it as an expressionist painting, and then they decide to colour it all grey and say it's a castle, in any case, while I'm not usually a fan, this one was actually good, and it didn't really manage to get anything wrong. All throughout, the level is able to keep up a good pace, with some tough traps thrown in with good caution, and a consistent flow of low-intensity battles to keep you interested for its remainder. It's a Doom 1 map, and one that wait a considerable portion of time before giving you anything apart from the base shotgun, although strangely enough there is very little time between getting a chaingun, and then getting a plasma rifle and enough ammo for it you don't need anything else for the rest of the level. It looks great, and plays better, this one is old but gold. 7/10.

[Endless]

Iron Lords | By Rastrelly | 2019

 

A GZDoom level that's well, decent I guess. It has some nice architecture and a compelling layout, with a nice use of monsters and overall good balance that sums up to a fun experience. Yet, my biggest gripe is... I don't see why this has to be made for ZDoom ports only. It is quite simple looking and doesn't use any of the major features you'd find in a ZDoom port or GZDoom. Still, not a bad level, just decently well.

[Clippy]

Ugh this is the worst outing yet

 

 

 

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/m-o/newlev

 

@Snaxalotl and @MAN_WITH_GUN joined in and I hoped to find something interesting .... nope lol. I mean what can I say - super low effort 2005 maps with marble walls and wood floors/ceilings - repetitive - boring - monsters stuck in walls

 

I fear I may never find the diamond I'm looking for lol

 

Sometimes bad maps can be interesting or comical, like so bad they good but this was just .... not good sorry to say

 

 

[ICID]

Thanks for the great reviews, guys! It's good to be back and in such esteemed company :)

New thread is here: