Hell Revealed - WAD REVIEW PART I

[FireWarden1000]

This review of Hell Revealed contains only PART I of the review (MAP01 - MAP12) for this DOOM2 WAD.

 

 

                  Hell Revealed
             -----------------------

Hell Revealed is a megawad, a 32-level replacement for DooM II, created by
Yonatan Donner and Haggay Niv.

In Hell Revealed, you will find: 32 new high-quality very detailed levels,
many new graphics including textures, flats, skies, status bars and others,
full skill-level support and additional attention to coop-players, and
extreme challenge.

Hell Revealed supports single player, cooperative (with additional weapons
and enemies) and several maps have special DM parts (maps 1 and 2 are
especially good for deathmatch).

The new musics are currently taken from Rise of the Triad - we might release
an updated version with original musics soon.

Visit the Hell Revealed homepage:
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/4704/

Mail any question and comments and demos and everything to Yonatan Donner at
<ruthd@post.tau.ac.il>

 

The story
---------

You wake up with a pistol in your hand, 50 bullets and suddenly you appear
to have visible health and armor. Apparently you were sent into an invaded
lab experimenting in jumpgates by two mad WAD creators. Your mission is to
go through the jumpgate and find out what your mission is, and, in addition,
to finish all levels and send a letter of complaint to the madmen who sent
you here.

To read the rest of the incredible Hell Revealed story, send $500 to us, or,
alternatively, enter a nuthouse.

This is Doom, man - just go in there and kill!

Hell Revealed files
-------------------
hr.zip         - the main wad
hrinfo.zip   - the Hell Revealed infopack
hrhelp.zip   - demos with -nomonsters, showing all the secrets in all the
           levels
hruvlmps.zip - Ultra-Violence demos for all levels, starting from scratch
           and ending with all kills and secrets

Thanks to
---------

id Software, for creating such a great game

Apogee for Rise of the Triad - another great game

Daniel Lindgren, Kai-Uwe Humpert and Peo Sjoblom, for recording excellent
lmps for these levels

Peo Sjoblom, for coming up with great level names like Mostly Harmful and
Post Mortem

George Bell, for several good ideas

Eric Labiner and Yohay Kaplan, for disturbing us all the time and not
letting us work

All the people who asked me about Hell Revealed and convinced me to carry on
and make it a megawad

Legal stuff
-----------
Hell Revealed is freeware but is not public domain. You can distribute it
freely, but only in it's entirety. Don't modify the wad file or any part of
hr.zip.

 

I currently have completed MAP01 - MAP12 in Hell Revealed HR.WAD using DOSBox with DOOM2.EXE on Ultra-Violence, excellent DOOM2 WAD, 80/100. While the visual qualities of the levels in Hell Revealed are at a very basic level, the gameplay qualities of each map in Hell Revealed will consist of excellent gameplay variety, because the gameplay will not remain stale. Players will expect to see sudden Boss enemies appear in the levels, complete challenging platforming sections, survive dangerous enemy ambushes, travel through very dark levels, witness large scale environments, interact with numerous switches to progress to the next area of the map, search for well hidden secrets, and experience very challenging level difficulty.

 

MAP01 - Into the Gate

MAP01 will be a basic DOOM2 map with teleporting enemies that will overwhelm the player if the player is unprepared for the ambush. MAP01 is the easiest map in the WAD.

 

 

MAP02 - Gateway Lab

MAP02 is an excellent DOOM2 map with a platforming section, and switch hunting gameplay where you have to search around the map to find the switches that will lead you to the Exit Room.

MAP03 - The Dumpster

MAP03 is an excellent DOOM2 map with platforming sections, teleporters, includes numerous lifts to operate, switch hunting, and the level has an excellent sense of scale.

MAP04 - The Garden Terminal

MAP04 is the worst map in the WAD, because MAP04 consists of only box shaped rooms, and there are not many surprises in this level. MAP04 is overall a low quality DOOM2 map.

MAP05 - Core Infection

MAP05 is the best map in the WAD, because of the overall scale of the level, and follows The Ultimate DOOM level design. MAP05 contains numerous stair cases to travel through, and lifts to utilize.

 

 

MAP06 - The Round Crossroads

MAP06 is an excellent DOOM2 map, and is the first challenging map in the WAD, because of the number of Higher Level enemies that will appear in the level, and is full of enemy ambushes.

MAP07 - Arachnophobia

MAP07 is tied with MAP04 as being the worst map in Hell Revealed, because the gameplay in MAP07 is a complete grind, and will cause you to burn through all of your ammo.

MAP08 - The Jail

MAP08 is a low quality DOOM2 map, because MAP08 is overall very dark, and there is not enough ammo in the level to actually destroy all of the enemies in the level.

MAP09 - Knockout

MAP09 is an excellent DOOM2 map, because MAP09 is the most detailed map in the Hell Revealed, consists of numerous different themes, and MAP09 is the first Slaughter Map in the WAD.

MAP10 - Chambers of War

MAP10 is a very basic DOOM2 map, because MAP10 is full of empty rooms, and the outdoor areas were completely empty excluding the garden maze, which had no purpose in the level.

 

 

MAP11 - Underground Base

MAP11 deserves to be reviewed independently considering the size, difficulty, and the complexity of MAP11. MAP11 earns top awards for gameplay, and is the first Boss Fight level in the WAD.

MAP12 - Great Halls of Fire

MAP12 is a well designed DOOM2 with flaws involving level design, and difficulty balancing. In MAP12, areas of the map were designed to be very narrow, and there isn't enough ammo in the level.

 

 

MAP13 - Last Look at Eden

Unfortunately this is where my review for Hell Revealed ends, because I haven't actually completed MAP13, which is atrociously difficult, and PART II of this WAD REVIEW will continue on MAP13.

 

 

The visual qualities of Hell Revealed are a completely forgettable experience, but the gameplay quality of Hell Revealed is at a completely different level. The maps in Hell Revealed follow The Ultimate DOOM level design, or at least reminds me of The Ultimate DOOM without the themes, because the levels will usually stick to one theme for each level. Don't expect to see libraries, computer labs, science labs, or train stations in Hell Revealed, but if you are after more DOOM2 levels, you are in the right place, because the WAD follows DOOM2 gameplay design or even The Ultimate DOOM gameplay design, and the WAD is overall horror themed, because the levels will contain dark locations which will catch the player by surprise.

 

I do not know when I will continue reviewing Hell Revealed, but I will see everyone after the next update of the Hell Revealed WAD REVIEW.

 

 

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Upload and share your images.
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Compatible with DOSBox MS-DOS X86 emulator, and DOOM2.EXE.
DOSBox, an x86 emulator with DOS.
https://www.dosbox.com/

 

Hell Revealed - Doomworld /idgames database frontend
https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/themes/hr/hr

[prfunky]

Might be more useful to list the Internet Archive's rememberance of Hell Revealed's website

rather than using the original address. Yahoo! ate GeoCities years ago; I know, they ate my

websites there too!

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20010519162838/http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/4704/

[Andromeda]

On 12/21/2023 at 4:21 AM, FireWarden1000 said:

MAP08 - The Jail

MAP08 is a low quality DOOM2 map, because MAP08 is overall very dark, and there is not enough ammo in the level to actually destroy all of the enemies in the level.

 

On 12/21/2023 at 4:21 AM, FireWarden1000 said:

MAP12 - Great Halls of Fire

In MAP12, areas of the map were designed to be very narrow, and there isn't enough ammo in the level.

Both of those levels have enough ammo to kill all the enemies and that is the case throughout Hell Revealed, as proven by the UV Max speedruns on DSDA. ^{(reminds me that MAP29 time is in dire need of improvement.)}

Edited December 22, 2023 by Andromeda

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

No offense but this is not a very good review, or at least not one that needs its own thread. The map-by-map review format tells very little about the maps and is very vague. You name both the "best map in the wad" and the "worst map in the wad" as well as a map that is "tied for the worst map in the wad" when you've only completed 12/32 maps in the wad. One of the maps you pretty much didn't even review, and as Andromeda pointed out, your reviews for another two maps contain misinformation. It's also extremely redundant, with the term "DOOM2" being used 16 times overall, and "Hell Revealed" being used over 25 times. Sorry to be a dick, but your style needs some work.

 

You also didn't need to post a link to dosbox, the .txt file, or stuff like

 

[[[Free image hosting provided by the ImgBB website.
Upload and share your images.
ImgBB website]]]

 

It almost makes the whole thing look AI-generated and is just odd.

 

Also, I disagree with the fact that the visuals are "completely forgettable" - you haven't even completed half of the mapset. Some later maps are very memorable, albeit simplistic. And if you're finding map13 to be "atrociosly difficult", you're not going to like this wad.

Edited December 23, 2023 by TheMagicMushroomMan

[prfunky]

1 hour ago, TheMagicMushroomMan said:

No offense but this is not a very good review, or at least not one that needs its own thread. The map-by-map review format tells very little about the maps and is very vague. You name both the "best map in the wad" and the "worst map in the wad" as well as a map that is "tied for the worst map in the wad" when you've only completed 12/32 maps in the wad. One of the maps you pretty much didn't even review, and as Andromeda pointed out, your reviews for another two maps contain misinformation. It's also extremely redundant, with the term "DOOM2" being used 16 times overall, and "Hell Revealed" being used over 25 times. Sorry to be a dick, but your style needs some work...

 

It almost makes the whole thing look AI-generated and is just odd.

 

Also, I disagree with the fact that the visuals are "completely forgettable" - you haven't even completed half of the mapset. Some later maps are very memorable, albeit simplistic. And if you're finding map13 to be "atrociosly difficult", you're not going to like this wad.

 

It features a new boss encounter that tests players' skills to the limit , set in a moody, atmospheric environment with highly detailed structures

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

38 minutes ago, prfunky said:

It features a new boss encounter that tests players' skills to the limit , set in a moody, atmospheric environment with highly detailed structures

I love how this has already become a meme in the community lol. What a disaster, that thing.

[FireWarden1000]

The plan was to write level reviews for Hell Revealed without spoiling the levels, and for time reasons, because there are 32 levels to review based on a continuous play through of the WAD on Ultra-Violence or even replay the entire WAD.

 

After further investigation into how to play the levels in Hell Revealed, the player will need to find the secrets in the level to complete the level, because during the blind play through of the levels, I would run out of ammo or health.

 

I plan to complete the rest of Hell Revealed, but I do not know how long that will take.

[Akagi666]

On 12/20/2023 at 8:21 PM, FireWarden1000 said:

MAP07 - Arachnophobia

MAP07 is tied with MAP04 as being the worst map in Hell Revealed, because the gameplay in MAP07 is a complete grind, and will cause you to burn through all of your ammo.

I have some bad news for you.

[FireWarden1000]

I am going to rewrite this review, but the review will take time to write with a release possibly towards the end of the year.

 

We will see when that day happens.

[Roofi]

Playing Hell Revealed on Doom2.exe gets all my upvotes !

 

Good luck with Hell Revealed ! This is still a tough beast, even 26 years later.

Edited April 18 by Roofi