Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #044

[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 two 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 the results are resources or unplayable stuff, so we focus on looking for WADs.

 

So, what do we do here?

1. Play at least one random WAD in a two-week period of time. WADs are selected using the Random File feature on /idgames or from the list below.
2. Post a review of whatever you play. There’s no required pacing, but most of us post a review once every 1-2 days.
3. Always provide the name of the WAD, the name of the author, and a link to the file.
4. Play however you want, on any skill level, and with any source port, as long as you play the WAD as intended/in working shape.
5. Be respectful. Good rule of thumb: making fun of a map is okay, making fun of the mapper is not.

 

What kind of WADs are we looking for?

Any file on /idgames is fair game, but most of us choose to stick to singleplayer Doom or Heretic WADs that work in our sourceport(s) of choice. I also pull at least 5 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 is to encourage you to explore this vast, random world. 

 

Recommendations for reviewing:

Spoiler

1. Please take screenshots or video of your adventures.

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. Nitro's Chex Quest
2. classic2.wad
3. rdwallwd
4. TWC WAD Compendium March / April 96
5. Dead Perfect

 

Spoiler

The Top 10 (out of 53):

 

1. @Roofi | 5060

2. @Sena | 2250

3. @LadyMistDragon | 1870

4. @Walter confetti | 1380

5. @ICID | 675

6. @Endless | 565

7. @smeghammer | 370

8. @Thelokk | 365

9. @Clippy | 305

10. @Biodegradable | 295

 

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

[Somniac]

First time doing this, and the first click on random files yielded ROGUES2, version 1.131 - a 1995 E1M1 replacement by Michael K. Karneim.

 

This is a shotgunner-heavy, largely monotextured grey techbase level with plenty of heigh variation and interconnectivity. Quite big, and a bit mazelike in places, but everything is connected together reasonably well and makes sense, which for the era is a plus. I played in Crispy Doom. 

 

Screenshots:

 

Spoiler

 

It suffers from tight corridor syndrome, keys in secrets, and an over-reliance on shotgunners which kept me on my toes to the end. There was also a bit of an ammo shortage, with the main weapons available being, naturally, shotguns. Oh, and springing a Baron on the player at the bottom of a lift in tight quarters - not cool. The visuals are also a bit dull with the main texture being that grey base texture, with some bizarre useage of BRONZE where logic would dictate SUPPORT3. That said though, the texturing is overall pretty clean and well-aligned with no glaring problems.  The marble textures provide some visual contrast in some areas. There was largely sufficient health and armour. Lighting was not much more than subtle variations in places. 

 

The author made use of a classic lowering crate secret to get to the much-needed chaingun after releasing the caco swarm when raising the bridge to the exit, something I wish more people did as I love that kind of secret. A bit of platforming in the crate room spiced it up.

 

I finished without 100% kills, died once and took an alternate path the second time round to reach the hallway with the marble and rocket launcher - so points for effort on making it possible to approach areas of the map from more than one point.  

 

My score: 5/10 - a solid effort when taken in its historical context, much more well-made than your typical 90s jank map. Gameplay and variety issues stop it from scoring much higher, but overall this was a decent map. An interesting piece of history from the early days of community WADs. An idgames review notes: "The layout is either pleasingly intricate or annoyingly aimless depending on your taste." I concur. 

 

Link: ROGUES2, version 1.131

Edited October 17, 2022 by VisionThing

[Thelokk]

Well, gonna start with the right footing on this brand new thread, so going to play something I never thought I would  - a TC!

 

Nitro's Chex Quest by Nitroactive Studios (2012)

GZDoom / Whatever the equivalent of UV was called /some stuff booted back to its home planet / 100% secrets

 

I don't think this Chex cereal was sold in my country - and, even if it was, my typical breakfast as a young girl was homemade jam on homemade bread, with milk straight from our barn, so I likely wouldn't be allowed anywhere near 'plastic food', as my grandma called it. Still, through the wonders of rampant global capitalism  the internet I can now play additional levels for a cereal tie-in I never played or eaten in the first place. Bizzarre.

 

As I mentioned, I never touched Chex Quest before, but the /idgames review mentions a 'brutal start' which might very well be: all I know is that I ate a bowl of fruit, and then endlessly spammed whatever pea shooter I was armed with against stuff that felt like it took forever to die teleport back to whatever hole they came from. The skybox is kinda cool, but the corridors are horrible fullbright, and the jerkily animated aliens went brrr for no good reason whatsoever. I loved the irony of a cereal game trying to drive home how it's good for you to eat fruit. First four levels are ridiculously short, the last one is a slog I simply rushed through just to be over with this bore of a TC. 

 

The levels were all a bunch of blocky, Wolfenstein-tier boxes, so I'll be quick:

Level 1: some sort of gym / rec center, with a pool and lockers, if you're into that kind of stuff.

Level 2: some embassy-like place, complete with picture of people I don't recognize (see ss) and a horrid no automap dark maze. Like, for real.

Level 3: some banana republic bs, very hot start and so little ammo I had to beat up baddies with a spoon.

Level 4: some sort of science lab, utterly broken, mobs all over the place and still a spoon and a zero-ammo tv remote to defend myself. Silly. And more lockers, feels like I'm back in high school.

Level 5: caves! fullbright caves I must add, with bats which was kinda cool. The rest is the usual squares linked with squares to squares, more lockers and no less than 200 enemies - after a while I got bored and took advantage of their pinky-like AI to simply blaze through. I still got all nine secrets because, to be frank, they were embarassingly easy, just a bunch of plainly visible holes in the wall. 

 

So yea, never played Chex Quest before and, after this, I probably never will, just not my kind of thing. The skybox was probably the best part of this experience. Not sure why anyone would bother to make a PWAD for this thing but, hey, if you had fun more power to you. 

 

 

 

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Bonus content: by warping you can play regular UD with Chex textures, and it's a blast. The BoH replacement is so fat it can't leave its alcove: 

 

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Edited October 17, 2022 by Thelokk

[LadyMistDragon]

Fragit Version 1.01 (1996) by Dave Jackson

 

A utility that's used to launch deathmatch programs. I can't say any more because there's no other information available. On the other hand, it took a surprising amount of time to see a launch utility dedicated exclusively to deathmatch wads. Like how many of them have I explored through this utter madness? That should tell you everything. Have to love how the last paragraph is in allcaps too.

 

The New Breed Devlopment Kit for Doom][Ver. 1.9 (1998) by Marc A. Pullen

 

Here's someone I'm sort of familiar with (I think I played another deathmatch wad he did an adventure or two ago)...and it turns out he was a developer on Hacx! I tried that sometime back and um, it wasn't really worth my time. But anyways, this is his development for his 1996 deathmatch wad NewBreed which seems like one of his most celebrated in Doom wiki. And um, I can't quite see why.

 

While part of that is just because like Doom2000 or Wheel of Time Doom, the DeHacked doesn't quite transfer into Eternity without glitching horribly, the designs of these maps are just so incredibly dull. They all have monsters put down, but the first one is just a laughable zombieman horde with pinkies in one hallway and the rest have too few to speak of. The sound effect replacements (one which is the jumping down sound from Duke Nuken 3D with another one from Quake) sound bad with almost anything that's not a weapon and even the latter is mediocre.

 

The Revenant replacement definitely has potential though. I think he's supposed to be some kind of floating robot but those heat-seeking missiles are strangely reminiscient of what the Cyber-Liches in Ad Mortum like to fire - and it's pretty nasty. All the weapon replacements are pretty nice too, like the laser rifle which replaces the BFG and the robot chaingun pair which replaces the SS, but I'm not entirely sold.

 

The maps themselves are just not worth getting into. Like 01 is stuffed to the absolute brim with lift textures and dungeon brick and despite the presence of random tech pillars and even a sort of water column a la Level 4 of Turok, is just too dull too comment on. Map 02 is a sort of Dead Simple layout and it's actually not too bad. Thanks to the Dr. Sleep sky, it's all quite gloomy.

 

Even if I bothered to play them correctly, I just don't think there's much fun to be had here. The music is probably the best part when all is said and done.

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[Roofi]

Month 12 Day 24

 

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

 

[1] The Quest for Necronomicon by Pasi Nikkanen, Olli Maksimainen, Mikko Korpelainen (1997)

 

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The Middle Age is here! This package takes you in the middle of medievalworld. Your are a fearless Mage-Fighter, whose quest is to save the earth and find the lost book of Necronomicon.

 

The Quest for Necronomicon did an amazing achievement : it managed to take the worst sides of Medieval History and Doom mapping in order to make a turd-looking Ultimate Doom Episode. I'm exaggerating a bit , but mediocrity and incompetency are the two adjectives which came to my mind when playing this wad.

 

First of all, I admit I maybe screwed up the installation. Tree sprites were dancing in the oddest possible way , and a lot of textures and animations were messed up. Anyway, despite the graphic glitchs, it's still hard to save this wad.

 

I will talk about the things I like : the attempt to create a new universe with "new" weapons and enemies and a kind of "story" where you can choose one of the four equipments in the first map. The idea is cool on the paper but you can perfectly beat each level on pistol-start without struggling too much. You'll lack a bit of ammo here and here but they're few ennemies and most of them can be skipped anyway. The weapons are ridiculously hideous, but it's always refreshing to see new weapon sprites. The golden pentagram in the last level is so classy but it was accompanied by one of the lamest fight with a cyberdemon.

 

About the level design, it's time to travel in time, but instead of landing 1 000 years back, we land in 1994 and honestly... it's worse. You explore a period where tech-base textures were used to create castles, and marble castles have countless textures misalignments. The biggest problem in this wad is how stupidly shorts some levels are. E2M4 has only... 7 enemies which are zombies and the blueish ancient city in E2M6 has.... 14 monsters. The first playable level consists of an irritating hedge maze in which the authors decided to remove your automap. E2M5 and E2M7 were the most developed maps and can be saved with.... TON of work I guess.

 

If you think that the Middle Age is the worst period that ever existed, you should know that there is a more horrible version: the 1994 interpretation of the Middle Age

 

Grade : D

 

[2] NIN2.DM2.REB3 by Rebel Cool (1997)

 

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Sorta like being in a prison courtyard... with guard towers and other stuff. NIN muzak

 

This giant and symetrical prison/industrial courtyard doesn't have great visuals to offer but a NIN's track and some goofy sounds instead. Each time you get a weapon, your character shouts "Oh yeah" and does a weird "hum" sound each time he collects an item. Considering how vast the area is , it seems to be hard to kill your opponent with the RL.

 

I didn't take attention of the molautor's fire attack just after I killed him in wImPy HeReTiC

 

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[Somniac]

Decided to do another one and see where the luck of the draw took me. It took me to "Another stupid brick map!" from 2006, by MasterOFDeath. 

Boom format, so I used PRBoom+.

 

Pick your battles carefully in this map, as MasterOFDeath lays it on thick with heavy-hitting enemies and tight quarters from the word go. Aesthetically, the map is spartan but very tasteful, being composed largely of brown bricks and metal with a few marble highlights, and just the right amount of detail to capture a sense of place. It hits that sweet spot just on the detail balance that makes the map great to look at despite its limited texture use. Classic but modern. Good lighting too. Heretic's E1M1 music is used to good effect.

 

It seems this was purposefully built to be punishing and require the player to be smart, as trying to rush any area can result in you getting stomped pretty quick if you're not paying attention. There is slightly too much ammo scarcity, IMO. Being able to finish the map without running for the exit to escape a Revenant would have provided a sense of completeness, but I see what the author was going for and it largely works even if I didn't find anything bigger than a chaingun. Hell, the replay value is there if I want to max it another time. I cursed, I groaned, I reloaded, and I didn't learn a thing! 

 

Screenshots:

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There was one "WTF" moment where a pool of water, AND every single bit of solid floor jutting out of it causes 20% damage. Ouch! I wouldn't have done that, but whatever. Boom format is something I'm particularly interested in at the moment, though this map made no obvious useage of Boom features that I could see at face value. Overall though, that was a good experience. If I'd made this map, I would have been very pleased with it. 

 

My score: a strong 6/10 - smart layout, great texturing and detail, punishing gameplay that demands you to stay sharp lest you end up save-scumming to the last, like I did for this review. Easily a 7 out of 10 with some balancing adjustment, like a few more bits of health and ammo where it counts. Nonetheless, I recommend this one!

 

Edit: forgot the link - Another stupid brick map!

Edited October 17, 2022 by VisionThing

[brick]

Dead Perfect by Yonatan Donner (1998)

Donner claims that playing these 2 maps on HNTR is easy. My initial reaction to a seething hot start was "don't believe his lies". Then I checked the enemy count on UV...

These are based on YD's maps for Pursuit, one of the handful of deathmatch-only wads that Team TNT released between 1996 and 1999. I haven't really played the wads and I don't think I've seen the original versions of these 2. They definitely have his touch, they're very small and very violent, enemies teleport into the play area in sometimes seemingly endless parade. He is actually true to his words though, despite the initial "how do you expect me to kill 5 barons with a shotgun?!" reaction they're actually very well balanced for HNTR and I didn't have too much trouble with them, health and ammo are both very generous. They're both very quick playing owing to their origins and their size but I think good players will enjoy being tested HR-style, and for less-skilled ones these are a good exercise.

[Endless]

The Keep of SIN | By SillySft | 1995

 

 

Simple 1995 map with no major things to mention, really. It is relatively small although it has several open areas. Low amount of enemies and acceptable visuals for 1995. As you can guess by the name, the map is themed around a hellish keep, marble, rock and all. A style I tend to enjoy a lot due to its very simple yet effective evocations of roleplaying/fantasy games.

 

What else can I say? Uh, play it? If you like 1995.

[Thelokk]

Looks to be an oddball thread for me, this one, as after a Chex Quest wad I am playing a... level conversion.

 

The Mansion by (probably) Samuel Villarreal - @Kaiser (2003)

GZDoom / UV / 100% kills / 100% secrets

 

Now, color me confused. What I am playing right now is a stand-alone conversion to the PC Doom engine of The Mansion, one of the PSX version's exclusive levels. Now, the /idgames upload attributes this level to Kaiser, however the port / remake is virtually identical to the version of The Mansion found in Doom:the lost episode by @Xaser, who is also mentioned as the author on the Wiki. So, did I miss some tiny detail, and the two remakes are actually two different things? or someone done goofed up in attributing? Not sure, fact remains that, if this version is other than the D:TLI's one, the differences are real tiny.

 

Second fact is, The Mansion was by far the best PSX esclusive, and this very faithful remakes keeps the atmosphere, most of the architecture and gameplay, acting as a sort of 'glow up' rather than a remake. Everything is where it's supposed to be, from the annoying raising teleporters, to the ludicrous teleport labyrinth (the best thing this side of Eternal Doom) and the blue key you can sequence break by simply strafing into. I'm actually not sure, could you do that in the PSX port? can't remember. The map is dark, mazy, oppressive, starved on ammo and chock full of ridiculous ambushes at every corner, in other words the perfect Doom map.

 

So yeah, awesome remake, whoever actually made it. Finally, let me plug a bit both Doom: The Lost Episode in case you didn't play it yet; and @Kan3's The Mansion Redone a greatly expanded and beefed up take on this classic map. 

 

 

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Edited October 18, 2022 by Thelokk

[LadyMistDragon]

The Community is Falling 2 (2005) by Samuel @Kaiser Villarreal (GZDoom)

 

A wad seeming to poke fun at community drama starring none other than forum admin Lut! You know, that guy who threatened to quit the forums back in the day after an argument with Ling and actually ended up an administrator before disappearing sometime in the last half of 2021, maybe he's on Discord sometimes but rarely enough to be inconsequential.

 

Anyway, Half Life 2 had came out the prior year and some members of the community were harassing members of the Doom community or something both on GameSpy's PlanetDoom and Doomworld.. There was also a member of the Doom 3 community everyone had liked who ended up quitting in a fit of frustration and going to Half Life because Doom 3 doesn't necessarily have anything as user-friendly as GZDoom. He was called something like Kilbot. Did this have anything to do with Linguica's conversion of the gravity gun?

 

Anyway, the gameplay's just a waste of time. You fight some cartoon dudes with silly uniforms that become flat-out obnoxious because they move practically as quickly as the Marauder and will overwhelm you almost immediately in large numbers. Map 03 would probably be far more doable without the awful weapon placement. Map 04 however....I guess you're probably supposed to spend most of your time around the Megaspheres, but the masses of HL2 noobs becomes so overwhelming, it's also far too easy to pick them up accidentally while occasionally heading out to get backpacks with full ammo when the ranks have thinned enough. Truthfully though, he was 100 percent right. Y'all seriously not dropping down to thirst after Alyx, that girl, that girl that's just there although it's not like the ambiguous ethnicity of her appearance is 'traditionally beautiful' exactly?

 

I did like the shrines of acolytes worshipping the Lord Gaben. in 03

 

the final showdown is naturally with Gaben himself. I actually like how you have just enough ammo of all weapons to defeat him! Although the fat-shaming here is incredibly cringeworthy.

 

Although the ending text was actually shockingly funny, lashing out at the player for still reading, only ruined by the obligatory, if probably satirical, homophobic insult toward the end. This wasn't really that funny. Granted, it doesn't help that the people actually involved with this nonsense have long-since disappeared.

 

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Edited October 18, 2022 by LadyMistDragon

[smeghammer]

Here is the first three maps of a 12 map set from 1998, according to ID Games.

 

It's The Devils Fury!

 

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/d-f/fury

 

A bit of a graphical glitch at 18:15, but otherwise perfectly playable. You can definitely see the improvement of the mapper over the first three maps, so I expect the rest of the mapset to also improve. Time will tell though...

 

It's fairly easy (which is fine by me) and I had a fun half hour playing until I had to take the kids to bed :-)

 

Played GZDoom, UV, no crouch, no jump but used freelook.

 

 

Edited October 18, 2022 by smeghammer

[LadyMistDragon]

Fray (1996) by Petri Paavola (Eternity)

 

Basically another one of those wads that feel like old DEU experiments where the same texture is applies everywhere and monster placement seems geared toward placing down as many monsters as possible. I suppose Petri may have been the protagonist of the song "Alice's Restaurant" who declares at one point he just wants to "kill, kill, kill," if the text file is any indication.

 

This is just a wholly boring map though. Yes, you've got enough ammo to kill everything, but there are too many unmarked doors, wholly undetailed rooms, and monster placement that ranges between overwhelming and not worth your time. Make up your fucking mind Petri! The darkened area with the hanging brown structures was at least different, but the Arch-vile's placement is just like "why dude?!?" and isn't connected to the rest of the map. There's also a rather pointless teleport hallway and some other junk as well. Probably better than that other box map i played but 2/10

 

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[Roofi]

Month 12 Day 25

 

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

 

[1] HELLISH.WAD by Cyberdemon aka Peter Eriksen, Denmark, Europe (1998)

 

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This level requires strategi. It dosen't have unlimited supply of ammo, so think before you shoot !!!

 

Hellish is an underground-themed level which suffers too much of its abstractness and lack of consistency between each area. It's a political way to say the level is ugly.

 

As the title advertised, you explore several demonic places and some of them don't look that bad. For instance, the giant pink fleshy room catched my attention , and the throne at the very end of the level looks great despite the darkness.

 

Anyway, I mostly appreciated that map for its undemanding combats and sense of exploration despite the very undeveloped sceneries. Just a fun note, I'm sure that the lift leading to the cyberdemon's throne is longer than the one in Mock 2 map 02 ! I liked the suspense it generated despite the wait.

 

Hellish stands as a mediocre and even bad map, but the absence of a frustrating situation and the rather clear progression still allow me to have fun.

 

Grade : C

 

I pressed the wrong switch and got squished in The Mountain of Doom v2.1, beta

 

Spoiler

[Sena]

Running Scared: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/p-r/runaway

 

Sometimes I think I might be too harsh in my evaluation of 90s maps, since there wasn't anyone around back then who actually had a solid idea who knew what they were doing. Nobody apart from Cyb seemingly, since this Tyson map, although short, manages to nonetheless be as engaging as any other. It's a simple concept, and one that's executed well, it is certainly an easy map, since just having 4 berserk packs alone would be more than enough, but that's supplemented with further health throughout, and since the player is only limited to the berserk, the enemies are quite low tier as well, focusing more on limiting the player's ability to move via architecture rather than by having a hundred fireballs to dodge at once. It's not very long, it's not very hard, but it manages to get everything right, and while if it came out today I would probably characterise it as unambitious, the level of craftsmanship in this level is made readily apparent. 7/10.

[Shanoa]

TTADOM11.WAD by TTA, released in 1994. Played with DSDA DOOM on UV, this map replaces E1M1.

Status: Completed

 

Honestly, as far as maps from 1994 this one is decent! It's an easy map and should only take you a couple minutes to complete. Threat level is minimal, with a Cacodemon being the toughest opponent you'll be facing.

Spoiler

The starting room

 

The map hop from one theme to the next but that's intended. You begin in a simple techbase area, then go through a marble area and eventually some sort of "hell". The mapper left his "TTA" name on a wall, so that was a nice touch. There is no ammos issues or healing issue, what's needed is present and isn't offered in extreme abundance.

Spoiler

 

The map also has a skybox...okay maybe not, it's just a wall textured with the E3 sky but just go with it! Considering the atrocities you could play in 1994 i'd say this one stand out.  There isn't a lot of misalignments, there's good floors/ceiling height variation and there's even a wall you can walk through with a teleporter inside should you need to return to a previous room. The level is worth a few minutes of your time.

 

Spoiler

"skybox"

 

Edited October 19, 2022 by Shanoa

[Thelokk]

Good times when, for once, I don't trip over a '90s map, but actually get a decent level by somebody well known.

 

Long Days by @Eternal (2009)

DSDA / UV / 100% kills / 100% secrets

 

... well, ok, good but weird. As revered as Eternal is in Doom history, and rightly so (and, at least to me, not necessarily because of Epic), some of their early slaughtermaps can be a bit hit or miss; the kind of map that is awesome on paper, a bit less so once you get to play it. Fortunately, we're on the good side of the cliff, this time around. 

 

The concept is interesting: one huge arena filled with Nuts level of enemy density (though not necessarily enemy numbers; still 8888 though, so no pushover) and you sit on a strange, super tall pyramid that you can climb up and down from, either perching for some respite and ammo, or descending to join the fray. Lots of brown, a few cool boom light games, and a horrible vocal soundtrack by some punk band, just dreadful.

 

Gameplay is Nuts-like: the moment you shoot everything will begin to slowly annihilate each other, while you swimmingly jump from one invuln to the next and enjoy the carnage, occasionally helping out. Properly route to the next invuln? you're golden. Miss a single one? you're toast. Is this compelling gameplay? don't know, kinda don't care, it's just fun to see hordes of demons blow up each other while you laugh at them from your high seat. Check out the screenshot and have the balls to tell me it's not worth it. 

 

Then you enter the building proper, and you're met by... fifty revenants. Like, really? Did you miss the memo that I just BFGed down, like, two thousand of them? anyway, the interior is pretty cool looking, sort of a Egyptian tomb meets hell aesthetics. Cool custom textures, switch time... and we're informed that we are lamers and suxors. Also, like 50 arch-viles have just been released in the pit we so thoroughly cleared before. Really wondering who's the lamer here... Thankfully these Avs are basically harmless, as they will immediately get steamrolled by the stuff they rez. Then a few more revs. Then the exit.

 

So yeah, loooong days. And the reward are all the demon friends we murdered along the way. Fun times. 

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

[LadyMistDragon]

BIG CASTLE for DOOM II (1996) by Bob Kudla (Eternity)

 

When I read the /idgames reviews, I was reminded of another ancient map that I'd played not so long ago and I quite fretted. No worries though because only the red key's location might come across confusing and definitely not so much if you walk up the path to the ramparts that's just to the right of the entrance.

 

Elsewhere are cells, a narrow hallway with crushers, a throne room with a Supercharge because that's such a safe place for it, a bedroom that contains two awkward sergeants and a rocket launcher on the bed that'll probably kill blind players because it's also a crusher! Finally, a dining room you run into towards the end was really nice!

 

Combat is what the kids call 'mid', mostly low-tier enemies but many behind traps. Although their placement is occasionally careless, ass there were two occasions where running past without getting hurt was no problem. Though they didn't have chaingunners. The worst problem is  there are several of the monster closets which will only open once and never again after that. Some seriously lazy tagging, but these monster closets are actually quite effective in filling out the map and making you check your 6 when you collect basically anything. The final battle mostly works as a good ending, although you might find yourself wishing you have a few additional rockets.

 

So I may not like these sorts of vanilla maps, and the monster closet triggers feel far too random for this to be called toally deliberate design, but on the other hand, there's really little that can be called cheap. 7/10

 

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[Thelokk]

Assault 4: Mineshaft! by Winter Wolf Knights (1996)

DSDA / UV / 100% kills / 100 % secrets

 

Aaaand we're back to them old crusty 90s with a three-maps set that smells like TNT from a mile away. Maybe it's the cave / mine settings, with a brief foray into mint castle territory for the third map only? maybe it's the focus on confusing layouts and exceptional amounts of fodder enemies? whatever the reason, this mapset really has Evilution stamped all over it, while of course not reaching the same mapping heights. I mean, TNT's mineshafts are monotonous, but not this monotonous; they also don't feature one of the worst renditions of a rock track ('Kashmir') or that silly clown music that plays during the castle level. 

Visuals are your typical 90s fare, the /idgames page boasts 'new graphics' but, status bar aside, I didn't notice any standout; the sound replacements, on the other hand, I could have made without - the imp's death sound is particularly grating. Gameplay is serviceable, mostly the typical 'we'll get you while you reload' hitscanner bs, with a few heavier weights thrown in. Armor is scarce, and there is a surprising focus on Arch-viles, but nothing too spectacular.

 

So yeah, a serviceable set of maps as long as you don't expect much more than what TNT's lower end delivered. 

 

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Edited October 21, 2022 by Thelokk

[LadyMistDragon]

AOD-TC textures for Doom II (1996) by no one

 

Wait, Linguica actually made a map for this project at the tender age of 17 or so! I wonder if he was the one who released this without putting any authorship or text file on it? I'm probably just overstating his laziness, but my vague, uninformed perspective tells me it wouldn't be completely out of the question. I guess this is why everyone knows of Aliens TC and Batman Doom though. I do wonder if anyone ever actually used the textures here. Not as clean as Gothic DM I guess, but I'm sure they have their place.

 

Kandy3 - Bumsen im Kabuff (Why???) (1996) by Marin "Candyman" Gazzari (Eternity)

 

Two small deathmatch maps with enemies placed down and shockingly better than some of the shit being spit out by the Innocent Crew. Map 01 is a brown sort of fortress map, very wooden with lots of arches running toward a central structure. Good for 1v1. Map 02 is also...brown, though probably more house-themed if the wallpaper textures are any indication. It's also slightly larger too, with a few passages running around the center. Maybe you could have 1 more person here but I'd imagine ammo would be tight. Easy 5/10

 

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The next one was....a  Terrywad that uses homophobia to humiliate straight men that I refuse to glorify by linking here so we'll just move on.

 

 

Windy Beach Deathmatch 1.0 (1999) by JGBentsen "SailorScout" (Eternity)

 

A Heretic deathmatch map with a gimmick basically involving a weaker version of ice physics simulating wind, pushing pods that are continuously falling down waterfalls, creating all sorts of opportunity for chaos! It's helmed by one of the first techno songs Hot Butter's "Popcorn." Though mostly if you're playing on anything above Skills 1 and 2 because on those ones, there's no monsters and much less pods. It's basically a square courtyard with ramparts running around the outside with Undead Warriors and gargoyles in a seemingly-inacessible outside yard. There's also a central house behind Player 1's starty with an Invulnerbility Ring sitting in the exit for some reason, you know for the next map! All kidding aside, it looks good and has the potential to be something quite fun 6/10

 

 

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Edited October 21, 2022 by LadyMistDragon

[Roofi]

Month 12 Day 26

 

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

 

[1] Enemy Stalkers Part I by Michael Bogert (1999)

 

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After years of fighting and bloodshed, Earth's defense forces have put together an elite team of super-skilled warriors to once and for all destroy the enemy. This team, called Enemy Stalker is sent to the distant military base named Cerrus 2. Your mission: Decimate.

 

Enemy Stalkers is an extensive doom 2 vanilla map which emphasizes on large boxy rooms, empty corridors them, and overgenerosity of items. It seems to be a good recipe for a bad map and it actually is but I enjoyed exploring different places despite how simplistic they looked

 

You have way too much spheres , ammo and weapons compared to the existing threat but a small feeling of satisfaction always comes out every time I see a lot of powerful objects in the same place so that map brought me good vibes. You can therefore approach the small combats the way you want without worrying of dying.

 

I walked on a red pentagram thinking it was a regular teleporter without thinking it could be the exit, so I exited this level while lefting more than 50% monsters still alive. Anyway , totally unchallenging shovelware maps with a rather "clear" progression start to be my jam. It reminds me that the main purpose of a map is to be fun because Doom is primarly a game.

 

Grade : B-

 

[2] Operation Slug by Diego Marcal (WartHogBR) @WartHogBR (2016)

 

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This is my first Doom WAD uploaded on Doomworld /idgames. Enjoy!

 

This map designed for zdoom oozes newbiness from all orifices : simple aesthetics, a straightforward and linear layout in order to learn the basics or minimal difficulty. The author decided to use zdoom because you start in a air duct and you have to crouch in order to get out of it. It's maybe  the most memorable part of the map because I saw no map until now, which require to crouch in order to leave the spawnpoint. Also, warthog transformed an encounter with a single arch-vile into a boss fight with its own music. It sounds badass but the thick pillars totally ruin the fight since the vile can get out of its small island.

 

Beside the specific zdoom features, I really dig the music. However, the map was too short for its own good.

 

Grade : C+

 

[3] Doombot CTF-ROKS 1 by Rick Clark (1999)

 

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This is my first Doombot CTF map. The bots play fairly well on this level even with the unusual layout. I intentionally made the ceiling high on this because of the ROKS explosion effects. I like it. :) You must use the Doombot CTF mode for this map.

 

A simplistic CTF map which takes place on a wooden platform lost among the ocean.  I have very few things to say : all the weapons are gathered in each camp but for some odd reasons, the wooden floor harms the player in the supplies cache. This map doesn't look fun to play. The layout is boring and you have no opportunity to hide.

 

I stop here for today.

[Thelokk]

The new Warcraft expansion is starting up next week, which means I'll be much, much less active in Doom for at least a few months. Will still try to get a review in every couple of days or so, ER/iWA has become kind of a little, cozy coffee break I look forward to.

 

DEATH.WAD by Patrick Woods (2005)

DSDA / UV / 100% kills / 80% secrets

 

Very rarely I will go as far as saying 'my first map was better than this' - DEATH.WAD one such case. This 2005 map, which feels like it was made in 1994, might very well be the worst Doom map I have ever played - and this counting the many terrywads that at least had the decency to be funny.

The map begins with a softlock. That's right, you're stuck in the very first room and have to IDCLIP in order to proceed across a keyless door that, for some reason, has a yellow key trim. Stuck enemies, misaligned / cutoff textures, terrible things placement, no sense of structure or progression. This is the unholy spawn of shovelware furiously coupling with the utter lack of a sense of design; and, in 2005, you no longer even had the excuse of primitive level editors. Ah, and I can confirm the /idgames review: it's impossible to max this map, assuming one wants to get that far. 

 

Larger than usual gallery 'cause I want you to realize I'm not bitching just to be a bitch:

 

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Edited October 21, 2022 by Thelokk

[Sena]

100,000 Levels: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/0-9/100kmaps

 

This one doesn't actually run on my machine, but I have played 1942, so I know that any more than 3 levels that are the exact same is all I can take. But if you want to press your spacebar 100,000 times in a row, then they've got you covered.

 

Smile the Map: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/s-u/smile

 

Pretty good by first map standards, although its opening could definitely be a lot better, with the first 10 of its 60 enemies being low tier fodder that the player is funnelled through a narrow hallway to kill without any hesitation. Once it opens up, it manages to do some pretty creative things given its runtime, with a good variety of enemies, combat scenarios, and some especially striking scenery for what is (presumptively) a limit-removing WAD. Only problem with it is the ending, a cyberdemon fight in a level with no cells, which in my view is something that just cannot be fun given how long it takes to kill the cyberdemon. But still, there's a clearly significant amount of creativity on display here, including plenty of secrets, plus a toilet, which Doomers seem to love. 6/10, this appears to be the only work by Yeszo, but I'd gladly pick up a second map if he decided to come back. Also, one of the playtesters was Alla Shimeimaru, just had to put that in there somewhere.

[Roofi]

Month 12 Day 27

 

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

 

[1] Control Center #10 by @TheeXile (2009)

 

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This map was built using no more than 10 sectors! It was started way back during Doomworld's old 10 Sector Contest but never completed in time for the deadline. Difficulties with linedefs, engine quirks, and general impatience lead me to simply abandon it soon after, which was a shame because it was (is!) a really nice map even if I do say so myself!

Fast foward almost a decade later, and I've decided to go ahead and polish this up and finish it off once and for all. I hope you enjoy the fruits of my ludicrously-delayed labor! Trust me: It's worth it! ;)

Oh, but just a warning (though hopefully at this stage you shouldn't need it): Don't try to hard to 'break' the map. You know what I mean. While I'm pretty sure I've patched up most issues, this map (in its own perverse ways) is about as close as a map can come to legitimately making the Doom engine its bitch! If you try to push it too hard (and sometimes even if you don't), don't be surprised if something goes awry. Try to play honorably (and for god's sake: No keycard or clipping cheats!) and let the map design take you where you supposed to go. For your own sake... and mine!

*Nervous whimper*

P.S. If you noclip outside the map, you'll notice on the bottom half an inaccessible/unfinished portion. That's right! This was actually going to be even bigger still, originally! I could still finish that area, in fact, but for the sake of my sanity I decided to wrap it up where I did.

 

Despite being built with a very restricted number of sectors, you visit a massive silver factory with its numerous warehouses and production lines. This map contains more or less 300 monsters but expect to take at least 20 minutes to beat it. The level starts with minor fights involving low-tiers enemies and few mid-tiers, but you will meet beefy armies of hell nobles, some arch-viles and an almost inoffensive cyberdemon as long as you progress. This level almost have no trap due to the 10 sectors limit so the author decided to rely on ammo deprivation and crate maze instead. This level still has a moderate difficulty but I recommand you to create infights as much as possible and skip some barons if the opportunity presents itself. For instance, if you decide to kill the cyberdemon first in the courtyard before releasing the army of barons, you'll never have enough ammo to kill them. That's maybe the biggest flaw I can find for this map.

 

About the architecture, Theevile stayed simple with blocky rooms constituting 95% of the layout. You will access in a classy circular generator way later in the map but it's the only non-orthogonal shape. Nevertheless, a considerable effort has been made in the way of creating structures with middle textures in particular to create clamps carrying boxes for example. I don't to say it's impressive but it show a lot of creativity from its author and how influential HedrOx was.

 

I had a mild opinion of this map first , but I eventually loved it for its scale, its crative use of silver textures and the subtle boom effects.

 

Grade : A

 

I stop here for today.

[Thelokk]

Oh God, why... why??? WARNING: this terrywad contains swearing, gratuitous gore, plenty of mentions of rape. You've been warned. 

 

Aquarius Gets Mad by Terkar Sergant (2014)

GZDoom / UV / 100% kills / 100% secrets

 

There is a whole subset of particularly steaming manure, in the crap pile that are terrywads, which I like to call 'revenge wads': maps where people right some actual or perceived wrong, or simply take a pot shot at maps / mappers they don't like. Now, I swear I have already heard of this Aquarius dude (no, he's not the reviews one, though that one is the author of the Nitro's Chex Quest I reviewed a few days ago), but apparently some other guy named Terkar Sergant got fed up of his terrywads, and decided to take their revenge in an epic GZDoom boss battle, preceeded by one of the worst excuses of a map I've ever seen. If it's meant to parody / parrot Aquarius' style, I have no idea. The boss fight itself is a clusterfuck in which you use a thermonuclear bomb launcher to fight a BGF/Rocket/nuke throwing, shittily drawn sprite of Aquarius, with a few cardboards adds. Should you win - and it's not easy, mind you - enjoy the exit credits. 

 

 

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[LadyMistDragon]

Monster Base (2002) by Richard J. Sham (Eternity)

 

This is another one of those maps that's not really too impressive in design but still is ok to play due to the large amount of monsters and the occasional nasty surprise. Some of these surprises can be a little ill-timed to be sure (an Arch-vile around a random corner across from the only secret here made no sense).

 

Visually, this is all over the map. While the gothic textures are used well, particularly in the large lava-filled room with sharp dropoffs and a wall of starts not unlike something from Wolf Mountain some adventures ago, the main problems originate from some serious design issues. Such as placing the yellow key in a random corner of the lava. Or making a certain computer bank room considerably larger than it needed to be. Or the fucking southeast hallways. Despite the presence of a couple of rapidly opening closets, this is a tedious corridor crawl that takes up far too much of the map's runtime solely to collect one key.

 

The bit with the Mastermind and Cyberdemon and rk was actually kind of cool, although you're going to have to sneak between one of the monsters to run in the room with the RK and ever so precious ammo because odds are otherwise you'll be torn to bits. Speaking of which, that was genuiely cool disappearing trick with the red key. And the Cyberdemon death sound is kind of cool.

 

Although I don't wish there was another Cyberdemon used toward the end, before you have to head back to the starting hallway, go up some stairs, engage in some desultory encounters with two out of 3 of the Plutonian trio, then have to contend with a seriously nasty Arch-vile pair that'll make you wish you saved your cells.

 

The sound effect replacements all largely worked, apart from the chainsaw which was more realistic but sounded tinnity. And having to hear the death cry of that one guy every time you got hit was stupid. Punching sound was quite funny though.

 

 

So I can't really personally recommend this, mainly because of that stupid southeast maze and monster placement can sometimes be a a bit eh. There aren't any serious problems though and it's mostly a fair one 6.5/10

 

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[Roofi]

Month 12 Day 28

 

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

 

[1] Tele - Doom by David Fleischman (1995)

 

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Well, this DEATHMATCH level is made up of six 
sector (not in Doom Building terms) and they are all connected by teleports. 
The sectors are very similar in shape, but the textures are different. The 
weapons are everywhere, and there is one health room. There are black spots 
where you can't be seen, and there are see thru walls also. An 
ALMOST-COOPERATIVE exit to top it off. Enjoy! Please EMAIL me if you played 
it. Even if you didn't, EMAIL me. I like mail! :)

 

Contrary to what the descrpition indicates, the file is also playable on singleplayer (but I don't recommand it anyway). There are few monsters and an exit, and a kind of "progression" with doors and reversed teleporters. Aesthetically-speaking, wolfstenstein 3d looks like a piece of art compared to this. I like the extensive use of silver computer textures though.

 

Totally worthless on singleplayer, but  you can beat the level eyes closed at least.

 

Grade : C- (from a singleplayer perspective)

 

[2] WhackEd2 by Dennis 'Exl' Meuwissen @exl (2005)

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A Dehacked clone for Windows operating systems. Also supports editing BEX files.

 

A legendary file for the dehacked wizards. Nuff said. Thanks for bringing it to windows.

 

 

The huge greey floor in Robotic Nightmares was a death pit. Geez !

 

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[LadyMistDragon]

DNA technology laboratory wad for Doom ][ (1995) by Doug Ryerson (Eternity)

 

The roulette hates me. It just has to. I seriously thought Doug had sort of gotten good at this point. To a point, I supposed but ThirtyThree was better than this - and that's NOT saying much, believe me. Visually, the constant copypasting of Mussolini's corpse according to Midnight in the outdoor courtyards is both absolutely hideous but also laughable. The inside areas are marginally better and actually, there are some strong hints of Doomcute in several rooms, but unfortunately, it probably falls more into the 'blight category that lokk hates so much. Although Doug spent time making it  so I suppose it's not too bad. But the halls here are so cramped. The sewer secret area was kind of cute though.

 

Which is a huge problem because combat leans heavily toward the slaughter-lite leans of ThirtyThree, although considerably easier. It's also considerably less fair because that infamous TNT bugaboo  fucking transparent walls decides to rear its ugly head once again. The text file mentions an invisible wall and invisible floor that was impossible to delete without taking out much of the respective surrounding areas, but that doesn't explain why Cacodemons can fire at you after passing into the front entrance despite being outside. Then the hallway leading to the RK door has more of these walls that you can't pass through despite enemy projectiles firing from the other side.

 

And that's the combat here: stupid, tedious cramped crap that's technically doable but really not working well enough with the map's layout to be anything remotely considered fun or worth anyone's time. Ultimately, that's why this gets a 3.5/10 from me. I can't pretend that the idea of lab rooms is all that badly implemented, but there's at least one pair of hallways that's copypasted. And I'm also not sure how to find the exit. I gave up when I got to the timed-switch activated Supercharge in teh rectangular caged Revenant room, probably among the most ridiculous so far, and believe me, that's saying a lot.

 

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[Clippy]

this was a particularly wacky one lol - TEN attempts to find something worthy to play!

 

 

 

Thanks for coming along @Biodegradable !

 

I first attempted to play some horrible anime thing, then I found

 

Xornox!!!

 

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/d-f/fireboss

 

It's just a F'n mancubus lol so random

 

but the main event :

 

Rooftop Garden by Pizza_Time!

 

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

 

Gameplay wise not much to say - super short - kind of wacky

 

But I did admire the atmosphere - a rooftop public garden type nice atmosphere which I thought was done nicely

 

I had fun making this vid anyway - always an adventure

[Thelokk]

Not sure why anyone would upload to /idgames an under construction level...

 

 

GNOSIS by Ruddy Palacios R (2001)

GZDoom / Cleric (Cardinal difficulty) / 100% kills / 100% monsters

 

I'll be honest, in spite of being a huge fantasy nut, I never really enjoyed nor finished Hexen - just too many mechanics for an FPS. Still, this tiny map by Ruddy Palacios managed to entertain me for a few minutes, featuring a number of fun tricks which I'm not sure whether they were or were not part of the original Hexen. I have actually seen this level aready somewhere - if my memory serves me, Dwars played it in one of their random /idgames roulettes. 

Health is scarce, but mana and silly items such as a 'porkalator' abound. Lots of heavy hitters right from the start, your objective is to unlock a clock mechanism which then allows you to ring a bell on top of a tower, unlocking the way to a dark, dank dungeon infested with these watery serpent thingies that might be the most annoying FPS enemy this side of DN3D's sharks. A couple of very cool tricks such as wobbly bridges, instadeath floors and earthquakes - but, again, I can't tell if these were the author's innovation, or there in the IWAD. 

A few quality minutes, but didn't really persuade me to pick up Hexen again. 

 

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Edited October 23, 2022 by Thelokk

[Clippy]

I finally got 44 episodes and caught up to the thread version

 

@Biodegradable was here and we played maps by @Snakes

 

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/g-i/ih

 

 

Nice little maps - 3 short and fun - I liked the pacing and proper building of action and visuals - some cool stuff here like that eye in the wall looking at me and especially that exit room - that 3rd map was especially exciting - I had fun!!!