The DWmegawad Club plays: Operation: BIOWAR & Equinox

[Pseudonaut]

Map17: Sacrilege
Better than the previous map in nearly every way, but that isn't saying much. It's not quite as empty or rectangular. Still, it's nothing to write home about. You could find yourself uncomfortably close to a cyberdemon after blindly teleporting back to the central hub, but he was very polite to me, never in view from my teleport destination. The spider mastermind encounter succeeds at making you cling to cover for a while before slaying it in typical peekaboo fashion.

 

Spoiler

 

 

Map18: Die Heuschrecke
Right away, you get a BFG and rocket launcher with what might as well be infinite ammo. Yet, health is scarce until the megasphere toward the end (I could have saved the berserk for a much-needed heal, but I didn't). My health situation may have been caused by carelessness, but I did feel some tension nonetheless. Once you get the mega, the level is over. Nothing puts up a fight compared to what you have at your disposal.

 

Spoiler

 

 

Overall:

Operation: Biowar can be described in one word - inoffensive. It has clear highlights and lowlights, but nothing that will alienate many players. It tends to be fast-paced, is rarely tedious, and is mindless at times. If you want to play a chill wad from the late 90's, Biowar fits the bill. Just don't expect awe-inspiring visuals or daunting challenges.
 

[veevil]

Operation: Biowar
MAP17: Sacrilege
(UV, pistol start, K: 100% / S: 100%, DSDA-Doom, complevel 2)

 

Third time's the charm, apparently, since Harbin's third and final attempt at the teleport hub concept yields the best results. Sacrilege definitely earns the penultimate map slot and just about edges out MAP15 for my favorite Harbin map of the bunch. From the start, your mission is clear: scoot past the cybie and into each of the two teleporters to get gear and keys, then duel the bull for access rights to the final area, which contains a fairly spicy (by this wad's standards) spider encounter. The map even expects you to do some platforming on rising and lowering platforms to reach the exit, which must've drawn some ire from keyboard players back in the day.

 

Experienced players probably won't find the map all that challenging, but the fights are lethal enough to keep you on your toes. Medical supplies may run dry if you make a dumb mistake like, say, take a rocket to the face when BFG-ing the cybie. This can led to some tedious gameplay while avoiding hitscan in the mastermind's domain. Just an example, you know, no specific reason for bringing it up.

 

As an aside, while the visual design of the hub is some of the best in the wad with a great sense of scale and verticality, I kinda wish Harbin didn't use RROCK19 for the floor. It feels a little out of place in Hell. Uh, this is Hell, right?

MAP18: Die Heuschrecke
(UV, pistol start, K: 100% / S: 100%, DSDA-Doom, complevel 2)

 

A relatively painless Icon of Sin map, one that even includes a brief section of level to clear before the obligatory goat-face fight. A win in my book.

 

As expected from a vanilla IoS outside the 30th map slot, the enemies spawned by it will get harmlessly stuck on each other while you do your business and throw the switches that force open the beast's maw. After that you can leisurely hop down the goat's throat and end the wad on a high note by admiring one of the gnarliest room designs in the whole set. The flesh-vine midtextures really help sell the aesthetic.

 

One last silly mapping move for the road: the last two pre-placed enemies will probably never appear, unless you specifically make 'em. The flame bros are supposed to emerge from their monster closets when you shoot the core (SHOOT THE CORE!), but only hitscan weapons trigger those lines in vanilla. And as everyone knows, only rockets will work on the Romero head that's in there, so why would you even try hitscanning it?

Operation: Biowar - Overall thoughts

 

As my running commentary might indicate (if anybody's been reading it), my opinion on Biowar went up and down as the wad went on. On the negative side of things, we have a generally low level of challenge, which leads to many brainless and perfunctory combat encounters. The theming and level of detail feel inconsistent from map to map, with the early levels putting a lot of work into immersion with custom texturing and environmental audio and the later levels going more for broad strokes and being clearly split between spacious maps with lame combat and tighter maps where the fights are more interesting. These traits lead to a grab-baggy feeling, like the set lacks a clear identity. However, there is also a lack of real stinkers in the map line-up, with the low points not going all that low in the grander scheme. And so, in the end, my opinion settled more on the positive side, owing to some stand-out maps in the latter half (13, 15 and 17) and the simple fact that you can easily manage a casual playthrough of Biowar in an afternoon. Sometimes the mood strikes to play something short and relaxed, and Biowar fills that niche nicely.

 

All in all, though I'm unlikely to be revisiting Biowar anytime soon, I don't regret spending the time to play it. Honestly, I've been something of a slacker when it comes to playing 90s releases, so playing Biowar is another step in gaining some perspective on that original golden age of Doom.

Edited June 17 by veevil

[FistMarine]

Hi everyone! Long time no see. I have decided to join for this month, seeing the recent activity and two wads I was somewhat familiar with. As far as I can tell, both wads were released in mid November (Operation: Biowar in 1999, Equinox in 2001).

 

I think I have played Biowar a decade ago in ZDoom with a gameplay mod such as Aeons of Death. The name of the wad sounded familiar and I definitely recognized the last few levels, though it is possible I may have also played the wad on a Skulltag server back in 2010 or so, which is why those parts seemed so familiar to me.

 

I have also played Equinox a couple times before, similarly done once a decade ago in ZDoom with AEOD and may have used God Mode cheat in the last level because it was unplayable for me at that time. Both these very old playthroughs were probably done on HMP skill, as back then I wasn't that good at DOOM as I am nowadays.

 

However, I have replayed Equinox a few times in last few years (2021, 2022 and 2023) using different versions of ZDoom (1.22, 1.23b33 and 2.8.1) on UV skill, getting 100% (or as much as possible) in each level, with mouselook and jumping enabled (and crouching in ZDoom 2.8.1, since crouching wasn't added until ZDoom 2.1.7 or so). The last Equinox playthrough was last November. As such, I will NOT revisit Equinox for this month and most likely never will, since it was quite exhausting, especially towards the end. But I will still review the levels while watching some YouTube videos to refresh my memory.

For now, I will review BIOWAR which can be considered a semi-blind playthrough. I only looked up on Doomwiki.org for secrets and I guess the final level on YouTube to see if it's a standard IOS fight. I have played biowar.wad in DOOM2.EXE v1.9 using DOSBox 0.74-3, UV skill, 100% everything, continuous with saves, keyboard only controls. At the moment of writing, Biowar was done just a couple of days after the topic was started and these weeks I am revisiting Final Doom after a decade or so since I played TNT & PLUTONIA last time. Obviously I am playing them in DOSBox as well (TNT is done, currently revisiting PLUTONIA).

 

Biowar seems to be fully playable in DOSBox, as the text file doesn't mention anything about source ports. There are also plenty of new textures, a new soundtrack by Mark Klem (who you may recognize from creating the soundtrack for old classic megawads such as Memento Mori series and Requiem) and even a new HUD graphic (this graphic predates the Community Chest series and the graphic itself might be based off Duke3D's save/load menus), with an older Marine being the protagonist of this wad, taking place of DoomGuy who has been killed. The HUD face definitely gives me HacX vibes (will eventually get into that game), as it has been mentioned earlier but I think it also looks like a graphic you could see somewhere in Quake 2.

 

Oh yeah and there's some new sounds included, though the death screams of the zombies are obviously from Quake. The weird thing being that Ranger's death sounds from Quake are used, so it feels a bit weird to hear Ranger (aka QuakeGuy) dying whenever you kill zombies. Could have used the death sounds of Grunt and Enforcer or maybe some Quake 2 enemies instead. :P

 

The only disappointing thing so far is that there are no new gameplay demos when loading the wad but thankfully there is a new story provided in the text file which makes up for the lack of new demos. Let's see how well BIOWAR holds up in 2024. I will keep my reviews rather short from now on.

Spoiler

 

MAP01: The End

 

Short map where you fight mostly weak enemies with the pistol. The health is scarce and only armor you get is in form of bonuses, plus ammo is tight early on, so be careful! You get the Shotgun later on from killing the Shotgunners inside the secret and then have to deal with the last ambush before exiting. Other than that, watch out for the courtyard snipers, they can get a few hits on you.

 

I still had 64% health when I reached the end, would have been better if I haven't switched to pistol to kill that Zombieman and kept using the Shotgun to kill everyone in the last room. Switching weapons mid fight can be a bad thing and cost you health. Glad that I didn't die, though. Would have been quite embarassing. I appreciate that you can backtrack from the last room, there is a teleporter that opens along with the exit door. Not a bad intro map.

 

MAP02: Terror Core

 

Map begins with four small teleports in a dark room. The objective is to find three keycards before gaining access to the exit. As you can tell, three teleporters lead to the keys and one to the exit room.

 

The map is again mostly easy, you just have to be careful when dealing with the shotgunners and the two chaingunners trap at Red Key. Other than that, there is a tricky secret that you can reach by just strafing off the starting platform after being teleported back into the room. The secret contains various goodies and must not be missed.

 

 

MAP03: Onslaught

 

Interesting atmospheric map and the first of the really dark levels. It's still not difficult and you can get some secret backpacks that will greatly help continuous players, if you know where to look. Hint: you can find first backpack near a tree at beginning.

 

While the combat is nice and easy, the only problem I had is the very last ambush didn't activate the first time. Must have been because I think I accidentally grabbed the secret Blue Armor and I reloaded save, this must have broken because I had to go back to beginning, swing the Chainsaw, come back and saw the enemies teleported in last room.

 

Oh yeah, I appreciate being allowed to backtrack, this is present in almost every level in this wad, so it helps completionists in case they forget something early on or save something for later.

 

 

MAP04: The Arrival

 

Definitely reminds me of one of those ICARUS levels. I also like the spaceship at the beginning, very cool design. There is a secret where you find SSG guarded by a few Chaingunners. I liked the ambush with the five or so Cacodemons teleporting, which was the highlight of the level for me. Other than that, this was a nice map.

 

 

MAP05: Skybase

 

Another techbase map and probably one of the longer maps in the wad. It has some tricky parts but nothing too bad, other than some areas being quite dark.

Some people have already mentioned but I will mention too that there is a glitch with a door that you can only open once with a switch. If you lure the Chaingunners, they will "open" the already opened door and it will close afterwards, causing a softlock.

 

Yes, it happened to me once but I just loaded a slightly earlier saved game and killed the enemies quickly to prevent them opening the door. A bit disappointed that softlocks like these exist in the wad but it's not that much of an issue if you are playing with saves, as long as you don't use a single save slot or something. I always have a backup save at end of each map and 2-3 saves in current map.

 

Other than that, not much else to say other than some tougher enemies get introduced but usually in lower numbers.

 

 

MAP06: Last Call

 

Quite tricky cramped map. Has some interesting and tough fights going on but never really fell below 50 or so health. Oh and apparently this map has FOUR Green Armors for some reason, though I only needed one to replace the previous 93% blue armor before exiting the level.

 

Yes, I do replace the blue armor but only if I'm at end of the level and it's below 100% and there aren't any more blue armors/megaspheres to replace, so I just replace current armor with a new green one, unless there are no more armors in current map.

 

Anyway, the weird thing is that BSK sitting on the pedestal, I grabbed it by bumping on the pedestal. Other than that, I don't have much to say.

 

MAP07: Apparatus

 

A map that is thankfully NOT a Dead Simple clone. It's important to note the starting room can be re-opened later, so if you are playing continuously and started with 200 health and 100 armor, then you might want to save that Blue Armor for the end. I had to replay the beginning parts twice because I wasn't sure if I get to revisit the starting room or not until I found the answer later.

 

There are some interesting parts, like the Spider Mastermind battle with SIX Pain Elementals guarding the first BFG, though I decided to play safe and kill them with SSG hiding in those small corridors, then finish off the Spider with a combination of Shotgun and Plasma. I just didn't want to lose a lot of health, so I played it safe. Also I like the dual Arch-Vile battle and the small Revenant horde towards the end. And those Barons in the exit room I guess.

 

Although I was able to not take damage towards the last couple tough fights, I got the RadSuit leak happen TWICE in a short time, though it kinda compensates by not getting hit by the ArchViles, Revenants and Barons. Oh and be sure to get the secret rockets when getting the YSK, so that you don't have to go back to the toxic acid.

 

I am glad I was able to save the Blue Armor and still have 120 HP for the end, so I am fully prepared for the next map. Yes, I am very resourceful player, so I take advantage and refill everything before leaving.

 

 

MAP08: Biolabs

 

Another map that reminded me a LOT of TNT MAP20, at least when comes to the way the starting area is shaped. There are some interesting battles but most of them are quite easy to handle, especially if playing carefully.

 

The only thing to note is that there is one unreachable secret sector which is the tiny sector in front of teleporter leading to the Soulsphere. It IS possible to register the secret in DOOM2.EXE with help of the save/load glitch: stand on the teleport pad without teleporting, save and reload. I recommend doing this a few times to make sure it works, as there is no secret notification in vanilla DOOM 2. If done correctly, you should have 100% secrets at the end of level without having to use IDCLIP cheat!

 

Of course, this may not work in most source ports but since I played this in original executable, I might as well mention this anyway. Leaving aside the glitched secret, this was a nice map.

 

MAP09: Security

 

Paul Corfiatis' only contribution to Biowar, which is apparently a map from Twilight Zone II, which is a megawad I haven't played yet. I like the comparison made earlier with Deep Down Below by Matthias Worch, which initially appears as TTP MAP06 and later appears as REQUIEM MAP09 with a few changes.

 

Anyway, this is a pretty solid map with some interesting design and a few challenging parts, though the map is quite easy, as Paul is very generous with the supplies, you can find several powerups inside many secrets available, some of which are easy to find.

 

Here is a small hint: whenever I heard Revenants' active sounds in the background, I knew they would appear soon, so I selected the Plasma in advance to deal with them (two are found on red key platform and another will teleport behind you in a small corridor upon pressing a switch). This turned out to be the winning move, as I was able to dispatch the Revenants in a short amount of time without taking any damage.

 

There are also two ArchViles you can find (one inside the BFG secret and one towards the end upon picking up YSK) but you can easily dispatch them with the BFG. And speaking of supplies, there are THREE Soulspheres and TWO Megaspheres in the whole map! And even an Invulnerability Sphere secret which I didn't use until I was done with the level and explore for missing secrets. In fact, I still had plenty of health and armor by the time I reached the exit, before picking up any of the powerups, since I played continuously and always had more than enough to deal with anything.

 

Overall, this map was nice and very generous with all the stuff.

 

 

MAP10: Dark Woods

 

Another dark map with a few interesting bits. There is not much challenge in the map either, you just need to spot the enemies in the darkness while navigating the forest. Progression is pretty straightforward. Reading people's comments, I don't regret playing continuously at all. In the end, I found the map just okay. Hopefully the next map will be more interesting.

 

MAP11: Frozen Terror

 

Cool map with cool design and some really interesting/tricky fights. I especially like that elevator battle at the very end of the map.

 

The only thing I dislike at this map is that there are two points of no return. I don't mind so much that you can't backtrack from the very last room, I have more of a problem with the point of no return halfway in the map, when you are lowering that icy platform and crossing over it, you can't go back to first couple rooms anymore. Luckily, most maps in this megawad allow backtracking in the whole map but I still stand by my opinion that backtracking halfway in map should have been allowed.

 

I am just glad I collected all those bonuses and found the secret early on, so I don't have to replay whole map, though I still had to redo the last battle when I realized I missed something earlier, due to lack of in-game stats in vanilla Doom. You don't know until you finish the map. That's why I keep the Doomwiki pages open when I'm playing a map that has points of no return, so I can look up secrets in advance.

 

 

MAP12: Military Center

 

It's at this point when Biowar started to seem very familiar. This is another one of those "hub" maps where you must find the three keycards before you are allowed to exit, though this time you need to do them in a certain order in order to make two of the keys (red & yellow) appear in the starting room, which will be used to get the blue key spawn and then eventually let you finish the map.

 

This basically feels like a better version of MAP02 with some interesting fights in those rooms you teleport into. I also found funny how there were THREE Revenants in the exit room, I think the Pain Elemental that showed up a bit earlier turned out to be more of an annoyance than any of those revenants, since the PE started spamming a few Lost Souls before I even noticed him.

 

MAP13: UAC Prison

 

Very action packed map with most amount of monsters in the wad (over 350 of them), though most of them are Shotgunners and Imps. Reminds me a lot of the TNT maps, especially MAP09: Stronghold, though at least this one is generous with the health and armor, so you don't have to worry too much, especially if you are playing continuously. Just be sure to keep an eye on your health. Oh and there are also SEVEN Green Armors and TWO Blue Armors in this map, so armor is pretty much never an issue, especially if you collect them carefully. I think I only used one or two Green Armors in the whole map, since I started the map with full 200 armor and left with both health/armor at 200.

 

Progression can be a bit confusing at times and the constant enemy teleporting can be annoying whenever completing an objective or entering a new room but if you are playing carefully, you shouldn't get hit too often, hopefully. It also feels satisfying to kill a bunch of hitscanners with just a SSG shot.

 

The last parts of the map will certainly keep you on toes, I know I got to around 50 hp or so when fighting masses of hitscanners inside those cages and was constantly looking for health, retreating and leaving them to infight, etc. Oh and for completionists, it IS possible to return to the last area. Once you get BK and use the teleporter that sends you to beginning, if you go back to the cavern, you can shoot at the wall to open it again. I appreciate the possibility to backtrack, so I could grab more stuff before leaving. The map took me nearly an hour to complete but it was also lots of fun. I certainly had fun.

 

MAP14: Absolution

 

First of the hell themed maps, with some interesting ambushes such as the sudden Baron appearence but still nothing that is difficult to handle.

There is apparently a softlock in this map if you don't lower the RSK pillar before entering that area but thankfully I didn't fall victim to it.

 

Speaking of which, I think that RSK ambush is the most interesting part of the map, though it is possible to retreat while making enemies infight and wait for them behind the yellow door, which turned out to be another winning move, so that I could dispatch them safely while taking very little damage. Rest of the fights are pretty straightforward and didn't have any problem with them.

 

MAP15: Heat

 

One of the shorter maps of this wad, which features caves filled with lava. Be careful when navigating, as the lava hurts a lot. Also there are textures (especially the lava texture) from Heretic and Hexen.

 

Traps aren't too bad, though I wasn't fond of that Mancubus hidden behind that fake wall with the HeXeN texture, got one or two shots on me, even though I heard the Mancubus active sound but didn't think he was hidden right there behind the wall. Other than that, I don't recall other ambushes being that bad.

 

The only other thing to note for completionists is that there is a Berserk pack hidden in lava behind a switch you press which lowers the walls and imps get revealed. So you have to take some damage to get it, which can be annoying if you are trying to save your blue armor for next level. I was lucky I had just barely above 100 both, the blue armor was especially useful for surviving one early ambush in the secret level.

 

Oh and I think I may have used Doomwiki to help with finding the secret exit, which is located just next to the normal exit but requires you to find some switch in order to lower that pillar and get access to the secret exit.

 

MAP31: Juggelo Funhouse

 

Interesting short circus-themed map or at least that's the impression I got from the map's name and various clown textures. I didn't know what "juggalo" meant until I looked up what it means. English is NOT my native language!

 

Anyway, the most dangerous part I found is the chaingunners ambush inside the main red room, since some of them started firing at the same time, so I was left with around 45 hp/armor after taking them out. That's why I saved the Berserk at the beginning of the map, so I could go back and grab it when I really need health.

 

Afterwards, there are a couple creative traps into the blue room, as well as a Spider Mastermind, an Archvile and eventually a Cyberdemon to kill. And a couple Revenants guarding the exit which I should have revealed before fighting the Cyberdemon, so I can make them infight. I guess I liked to play safe and took them all out by myself.

 

Fun short secret map. Nothing special but I think it's worth playing it, especially when playing continuously, since you get plenty of goodies as reward.

 

MAP16: The Killing Fields

 

I found this map a bit annoying early on, as it was really dark and kept getting hit by monsters I couldn't see, especially some of the chaingunners kept dealing 15 dmg per hit. This is why I am glad I start the levels with as much stuff as possible, as I ended up with about 60 hp/armor at some point.

 

Fortunately, the second half of the map compensated for that, so that I only took the occasional little damage every now and then. I was able to deal with more dangerous traps later on without getting hit at all, such as that dark corridor with the floating cube texture. Oh yeah, I only realized since a few maps ago that this texture means Danger Ahead! So I was prepared and advanced cautiously.

 

There are a few more tricky parts towards the end like the two Arachnotrons hiding in darkness but nothing too bad. Once you are done, you can raise the bridge in the middle of the map to reach the exit that you have seen long ago.

 

MAP17: Sacrilege

 

Interesting map. First you teleport to a large area with a Cyberdemon, then after taking him out, you have the choice between the two teleporters. Once you complete both challenges and deal with various traps, you unlock the teleporter in the middle of the map.

 

The teleporter in the middle will send you to a large red cave area with a Spider Mastermind and some platforming sequence that needs to be done before reaching the exit.

 

I wasn't too fond of the platforming sequence as you can't jump or look up/down (at least if you are playing on the original DOS executable) but I didn't have much of an issue doing this part, I guess I got lucky and never fell off in lava. There is a handy teleporter which lets you go back if you fall in lava and I also appreciate the teleporter in middle lets you backtrack to the beginning, so if you wanted to save that Blue Armor secret for the end, you can do that. And same to the various ammo pickups.

 

Other than that, there are some good fights in this map that I am not spoiling. Looking forward to the finale!

 

MAP18: Die Heuschrecke

 

I recognized the level title being written in German, though I didn't know its meaning until I looked on Doomwiki.

 

Anyway, all you have to do is clear the first couple rooms before entering the teleporter. You might want to save your game here, especially when playing in DOOM2.EXE, as saving with an IOS active will result in game freezing, so be careful when and where you save.

 

Be also sure to collect everything before leaving, especially the Invisibility secret and all those backpacks placed on top of each other (there's like three different spots filled with backpacks), so you can max your ammo as well. Once ready, step into the portal.

 

The IOS "fight" is trivial. You just activate FOUR switches while avoiding monsters (I also think they can't telefrag you, since this map is not in MAP30 slot), then run to the IOS' mouth and fall down and shoot at the red wall with SSG to make two Archies appear, then once taking them out, fire rockets to blow up the IOS!

 

Unfortunately, the first time I did this map, the IOS explosion took me out as well but at least map still ended in victory. I have replayed the IOS battle and decided to step back further and no longer had the explosion take me out. Overall, this was an interesting finale.

 

Total Deaths: 0 or 1. Depends if you count the random instant death upon destroying the IOS in last map, otherwise I had no other deaths in the wad. :)

 

Screenshots:

Spoiler

 

Overall, Operation: Biowar is not bad at all. In fact, I'd say it's pretty good, especially for 1999 standards. It is also easy and fun. Quite underrated wad, since I really like many of the levels and especially the soundtrack by Mark Klem who made the soundtrack for Memento Mori series, Requiem, etc. I already recognized a few songs that were from those wads anyway but I wanted to point out anyway.

 

The only criticism I have is that some levels are really damn dark (even at Gamma Correction Level 2), it is hard to see the enemies in the darkness. And the occasional game breaking bug (MAP05) and unreachable secret (MAP08), though there are workarounds for both of these issues.

 

Oh yeah and maybe there could have been some sprite replacements for weapons/monsters as well, especially since there are already new music, graphics, sounds and textures included but the problem is that this would have made the wad much more difficult to install in the original DOS version of DOOM2, due to having to use third party programs to merge sprites into the DOOM2.WAD and shit like that which I am not very familiar with, despite playing Doom wads since back in 2007 or so, it wasn't until a couple years ago when I started playing old wads in DOSBox, to get the authentic experience. Then I started to get familiarized with DEHACKED, DEUSF and other old modding tools, so I could properly install old wads in DOSBox.

 

Otherwise, I like how the wad is fully playable in DOOM2.EXE in DOSBox. I never had a single crash, well other than loading the final level's save with the IOS active, caused DOSBox to freeze due to yet another vanilla Doom bug/limitation. Luckily, I had a save before entering the portal leading to the IOS fight, so I could redo the part and do it without dying, to give the wad a proper closure, as it's unlikely to ever play the wad once again in the future, unless the authors decide to update it one day.

 

Which reminds me, I wouldn't mind if Biowar were to get remastered/remade one day. I can imagine it turned into a full 32-level megawad with remade maps, various issues fixed, more polish, more challenge in some maps, etc. It would be a worthy megawad and better remembered.

I will review Equinox towards the end of the month. Until then, I hope to catch up with reading everyone's posts. Have a nice day everyone.

Edited June 17 by FistMarine

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 17: Sacrilege

by Chris Harbin

Crispy Doom, UV, pistol-start

 

We are in pure metaphor territory now with a start probably feared greatly in 1999; a Cyberdemon facing away from us in the center of a stark wooden fort. Well turns out that the rest of the map doesn't quite match up but at the same time, the action's far more consistent than the last map and if the ambushes are largely easy, they are still respectable. Like the Caco cloud that floats into a cave from a ledge with a rocket launcher probably intended for them. 

 

The hardest section comes at the very end though, with a large open crimson-rocked area with a lava lake in the center and pillars that go up and down like something out of Level 7 of Turok once switches on the sides activate them. But this section also contains a Mastermind across the lake from us with a collection of Lost Souls in front, a Mancubus and Revenant occupying ledges on either side and Imps directly in front. Taking into account that ammo and particularly health are at a premium here when compared to other maps and it's easy to see how this one might turn out moderately difficult. Although there's oddly no Arch-vile at the ending.

 

Map is kind of flash in the pan atm, but there was something else I wanted to look into atm. I can say that Chris made possibly the best he could of limited resources to make a number of impressive places, despite the many less ambitious corridors that can be found as well.

 

 

[Roofi]

Map 17 "Sacrilege"

 

 

Sacrilege was a disappointing penultimate map that didn't feel enough "finalish" to me. Let's start with the good points. As some people said, Chris Harbin had some skills at creating large memorable areas with few sectors. The central courtyard is the landmark of the level as it leads to all sections and it highlights the ominous red sky that scream "You're in hell now ! Prepare to die !". However, both keys' section lack of interest as they consist to randomly built tech-bases with unengaging combats designed on-the-fly. Am I supposed to be scared by a gang of teleporting imps at this point? Some arch-viles show up, but you don't need much strategy to defeat them. Music makes me feel like I'm on a mission that's riskier than it actually is. A cyberdemon inhabits the central courtyard but you can easily let him asleep until you obtain the easy-to-find secret containing the BFG.

 

As for the last section, this is what the level should have looked like all along: infernal caverns surrounded by lava. Not the most imaginative theme, but for a penultimate map, it would fit like a glove. A "Hell Cauldron"-like map from Hell Revealed 2 without the high difficulty. I like the final section but the small platforming was more tedious than hard. This little passage tests your patience rather than your precision.

 

Overall, "Sacrilege" was a decent map but it doesn't exude ambition.

 

Grade : C+ (11/20)

 

 

 

Map 18 : Die Heuschrecke

 

 

 

 

Without surprise , "Die Heuschrecke" is a tasteless conclusion involving an Icon of Shit but the latter is so easy to skip that I didn't have the time to be annoyed. I can't dislike this map. I just consider this map has a filler, showing that Chris Harbin ran out of ideas and it was time to finish with this piece. The surreal floating platforms look cool though but that's all.

Grade : C- (8/20)
 

 

 

Overall opinion of Operation : Biowar

 

The question to ask is, "Is Biowar a good wad?" Frankly, yes. For a wad released in the late 1990s, quality and consistency manage to maintain a certain consistency. Megawads like Hell Revealed or Memento Mori tend to have big flops in the mix. Far from thinking that Biowar has stood the test of time, no level currently suffers from major level design problems. There are a number of fillers, but the overall project is fairly solid, making this wad particularly accessible and easy to play.

 

I have to say that Biowar looks like a convergence of influences between many, including Memento Mori I and 2, TNT evilution , Eternal Doom and other blockbusters released during the 1990s, but this wad feels much more conventional in its execution, which makes it more enjoyable to play than the wads I've mentioned. Memento Mori is too community-oriented at times, and the adventure aspect is too disorientating in Eternal Doom and TNT, for example. Chris Harbin succeeded in mixing adventure and action in Biowar. The megawad is easily finished in 2 hours, which is a decent, if not optimal, length. Within these few hours, Biowar manages to take us to a number of different locations, including a volcano, a dense forest, ordinary bases and even a few hellish places.

 

Despite a particularly low challenge, this wad manages to immerse me in a kind of story, unlike other megawads which tend to be more of a "compilation". I don't think biowar has enormous replayability, but it's a typical case of a little adventure-oriented wad that's easy to play if you've got a few hours to kill. And for lovers of vanilla compatibility, it's a small classic.

 

I think the main "detriment" that prevented this wad from being more popular was not reaching the sacred 32-maps format but honestly it wasn't necessary at the risk of more fillers.

 

If I could give this wad an overall grade, it would be a B. There are a few hits, such as map 13 "UAC Prison" and map 15 "Heat", as well as a few not-so-good maps, such as the last two, but overall it's still enjoyable. Nothing breaks the ceiling, but no disappointment there. Above all, Biowar remains a wad from the 1990's.

 

About the grades I gave :

 

one A

eleven B (4 B- ; 5 B ; 2 B+)

seven C (2 C- ; 1 C ; 4 C+)

 

My three favourites maps :

 

1 - Map 13 "UAC Prison" (17/20) - Really furious level in which the combats were way less procedural than the rest of the megawad. An exemple of "Proto-slaughter" kind of map I like.

 

2 - Map 15 "Heat" (15/20) - A heroic adventure inside a beautiful volcano full of hazards.

 

3 - Map 10 "Dark Forest" (15/20) - This map felt like a relatively peaceful stroll in order to reach the icy lands of Operation:Biowar. Really like this map for its outdoors settings.

 

And the three worst ones :

 

1 - Map 18  "Die Heuschrecke" (8/20) - A bland IOS map.

 

2 - Map 07 "Apparatus" (8/20) - While I appreciate the idea of not following the usual mancs + arachnotrons trope, the combats remain poor for the most part and the progression annoyed me a bit.

 

3 - Map 02 "Terror Core" (9/20) - A bland and brief hub-based map.

 

And the three hardest maps :

 

Not needed. Even my grandma can beat this wad.

 

Thanks for reading. Good luck with Equinox ! My reviews stop here for this month.

 

[General Roasterock]

Map 17: Sacrilege

 

  I don’t have that much to say on yet another meander through currently the most boring rooms in the WAD, but I will give some appreciation to how the boss monsters are used. The Cyberdemon is a pretty interesting obstacle to negotiate when you have to rush between the two main progression rooms, and it’s really funny that he can get stuck in the Red Teleporter and telefragged with minimal finagling from the player. The Mastermind, a monster that has now been pretty frequent in use across these maps, is just enough discouragement to keep from interacting with the raising and lowering rock pillars, which I figured would be much more annoying than it actually was. 

 

Map 18: Die Heuschrecke

 

  As token as an Icon map can get, not at all helped by how much BFG you’re allowed to sling at very meaningless threats. I enjoyed the brief powertrip, and any WAD with the ingenuity to have the player go inside the boss to kill it is really cool, but everything else that is very clearly riffing on Last Call from Evilution is entirely forgettable, and passes by quick enough to where that fact is not remediable. 

 

Summary

 

  I think it’s entirely fair criteria that good work in Doom mapping should at least surpass the original IWADs in some areas. Mark Klem’s original score, entirely repurposed for this WAD, provides much of its staying power, and it succeeds when those elements work together. Any of the maps that went all in on the atmosphere, like Biolabs, Absolution, even Frozen Terror for its simplicity, they are what allowed the ideas of dread and drama to survive Plutonia. Its imagination sees runs of narrative that its custom content is easily able to convey. The more chemical, mutagenic form of demonic engineering is clear.

  Of course, it goes without saying that a lot of the layout scope and intensity is below the bar of even amateur work of the time. This comes after several Chords, STRAIN, Requiem, hell even Evilution beats a lot of this set’s worst. The time it has to talk doesn’t improve the quality of its ideas, evident in the last stretch from The Killing Fields onward, and good fights are entirely driven by the player deciding to make them dangerous and exciting. Exposing yourself to Masterminds, watching hitscanner parties fall apart, these are probably not things that were thoroughly considered to intentionally make the maps interesting. The flexibility is very low, and from what I watched Pseudonaut do, there looks to be very few optimizations to these maps beyond simply being good at the game. It’s a period piece, one I probably wouldn’t be curious about outside of sharing it with others.

Operation: Power Rankings

Spoiler

 

1. Biolabs
2. Last Call
3. Absolution
4. Terror Core
5. Military Center
6. Heat
7. The Arrival
8. Frozen Terror
9. The End
10. Apparatus
11. Onslaught
12. Security
13. Sacrilege
14. Skybase
15. Die Heuschrecke
16. UAC Prison
17. Juggelo Funhouse
18. The Killing Fields
19. Dark Woods

 

 

[Celestin]

Woof!, -cl2, pistol-start with saves

 

Equinox is a wad I've checked out when I was new to Doom. I played it with a gameplay mod (I believe it was NAKU-NARU) and dropped it around MAP11 either because I was bored, or was constantly running out of ammo. I've also seen MtPain27's review, so I am fully aware what the final two maps are. So yeah, no blind playthrough here either. 

 

If you wonder why I'm pistol-starting, it's precisely to have at least 50 bullets when starting a map, I know I'll need them.

 

MAP01

 

The best word to descibe the Equinox facility would be "imposing". The silver walls, blue carpets and everpresent white lights have this sterile feeling and coupled with tall ceilings, you have this thought in the back of your head how hostile and alien this place looks. 

 

I like how MAP01 plays, it's exclusively imps and zombies in large numbers. Despite being limited to a pistol and scavenged shotgun, it didn't feel grindy. Speaking of the weapons, they have new sounds, that give them even more heft. I'm not a fan of the pistol sprite's replacement. It looks like it is zoomed in way too much (or was supposed to be some sort of high-tech blaster, I don't know) and isn't placed in the middle of the screen, making it somewhat awkward to aim.

 

I have to compliment the music, it seems to be a modified Enya song, but the end result is an industrial track that reminds me of Laibach. Overall, a great introduction level.
 

[Magnusblitz]

MAP17: Sacrilege

100% kills, 2/2 secrets

 

This one is on the stronger side, another decently fun map that doesn't outstay its welcome. I like the throwback feel of the blue key wing, with stuff like the trap floors that drop into slime or the combo wall/bridge halfway through. The red key wing has tougher combat, but isn't as environmentally interesting. It also has a rather problem in that the pinkie swarm that gets released from the switch near the manc can't cross up the ledge due to a poorly placed block monster line. Cybie is easy to telefrag by hitting the red switch and luring him into the teleporter, and the Spider at the end isn't difficult in the slightest with the resources you have at that point.

 

MAP18: Die Heuschrecke

 

Weird name. There's some perfunctory brown hallways to clear first, then some switch hitting under the gaze of the IoS, which surprisingly doesn't lower a lift to shoot rockets in its brain, but instead lets the player drop down to an exposed core to grant it an easy death. Some AVs pop out to defend but it's far too easy to pound a couple rockets in before they can do anything, the end.

 

Overall Thoughts: It's okay? To be honest, there's not very much memorable about this set at all. There's a few interesting attempts at atmosphere/theme, and some okay combat maps, but overall it's just very tepid. Outside of the two softlocks (closeable S1 door in MAP05 and the red key column in MAP14) there's not much to complain about either, except a couple of terrible sound replacements (heavy breathing zombies and dog imps). It does have some 90s charm but for something that came out in 1999 I expected a bit more.

 

Best maps: 9 (Security), 13 (UAC Prison), 15 (Heat), 17 (Sacrilege)

Worst maps: 1 (The End), 10 (Dark Woods)

 

Overall rating: 2/5 (3/5 adjusting for era)

Edited June 18 by Magnusblitz

[Devalaous]

Equinox is known for being pistol-start and UV Max unfriendly , so im playing more cautiously from the onset

 

Map 1: 'Equinox Facility'
I chose this name instead of the default Entryway that MtPain27 used as the level name, as you are standing right in front of said Equinox facility

 

This opening shot wowed me and countless others back in the days when it was released, from a visual standpoint this level is outstanding, especially for its release year. I'll never forget the secret on the beach down the cliff, the footsteps leading to a wall with a secret cave hideout, and the second secret of hidden treasure chests. But what happened to the person who walked in? One set of footprints that only go in.. Could be there's yet another passage (in-universe) we don't know about in there.

 

The facility proper is large and imposing, and full of enemies, yet using the pistol alone here feels much better than it should thanks to the pistol replacement graphic and sound effect. And use it you must, as Equinox is infamous for ammo shortages. Pace those shots to keep it at high accuracy, you'll need the bullets. A secret leads to a soulsphere, backpack and a bunch of shells, but I still advise against going ham with the SG, unless your pistol starting (Which is whole new tier of pain in later levels). Real marines turn off the lights of the entire facility with a secret switch and go the rest of the level in near total darkness :)

 

I love the little PCs, back then who could predict how small and thin our modern PCs would become?

 

There is a softlock I found on the left side of the map, theres a raised platform with a switch that you can walk off the side of and be stuck without a jump key bound.

 

I'll be back in two days, as the Transport Hubs are not really full maps.

[E.M.]

And now we move on to Equinox. This was B.P.R.D.'s first major Doom release. (Nuts was created purely to test the FTP upload system.) When I first started playing custom Doom maps in 2019, I went through the Cacowards of years past. B.P.R.D. was mentioned often. The way he was talked about made him seem like the greatest Doom mapper of all time. I played The Mucus Flow and I despised it. I wrote up a long post detailing why. I then tried playing Equinox because that too was highly praised. I ended up rage quitting halfway through MAP03. Now I have returned to force my way through the rest. Suffer with me.

 

MAP01

DSDA-Doom, UV, Pistol Start

 

I will admit that B.P.R.D. is a master at presentation. The gigantic entryway gives you the impression that you're about to go on a big adventure. There are custom textures, custom sounds, and even a custom HUD. It's obvious that a lot of time and effort was put into this. Too bad the gameplay doesn't live up to the expectation, but I'll get to that later. If you've watched Dean of Doom, then you'll know what to do first. Don't let the entryway distract you. Take a left, head down the stairs, follow the footprints on the sand, press use on the wall, and get a shotgun early. The map layout is straightforward and the gameplay is run and gun fun. There are lots of hitscanners, but also lots of health. You can even find a slightly overpowered secret. If the entire wad was like this, I would have enjoyed it. Unfortunately, that is not the case.

[Blast_Brothers]

MAP17: Sacrilege

 

Neat map. Challenging, visually striking, has a clear identity. A good penultimate showing. Still weirdly short for a run-up to the final fight.

 

MAP18: Die Heuschrecke

A moderately creative Icon of Sin is all I can ask for. Like the rest of the set, this map has some good ideas, but the execution is just... fine.

 

I feel like a KDiKDiZD-style second pass would turn a lot of Biowar maps into classics, but as it stands, I was left with the feeling that this one needed more time in the oven (and 20% to 50% more monsters). I don't want to disparage it too much, because I don't hate it, but I don't know if I'll ever have a strong desire to revisit it.

 

Best map: MAP13: UAC Prison

Most emblematic map: MAP05: Skybase

Least essential map: MAP16: The Killing Fields

 

On to Equinox! I've already made it to MAP05 and it's been good - can't wait to see what the rest is like.

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 18: Die Heuschrecke

by Chris Harbin

Crispy Doom, UV, Pistol start

 

I should probably know what fake German pharase that is but there's really not much to say. It's harder than something like Community Chest and maybe Requiem's IOSs too, but not by much. A bunch of mandatory switch pushing, working our way around some tan hellish diamond, heading outside then seemingly heading down a bland exit hallway before being greeted by the distorted electronic voice of....some big bad. We then push more switches, which lower that block seen in the center, where we can then press a switch which opens the mouth, which we're basically intended to plunge into the intestines of where we can then rocket a thingy in an unclear spot and bring an end to the big bad

 

 

Final Thoughts

 

Operation: Biowar is well-deserving of its status as a classic megawad. Not as flashy as Strain, not as stimulating as Memento Mori 2, and containing a certain lack of combat polish that's hard to really fall in love with, it nevertheless provides a good grounding in the gameplay of 90s wads and what's more, displays enough creative usage of vanilla textures, with a few custom ones thrown in for fun every now and then that it doesn't feel quite so monotonous as something like the Rebirth which might be more refined in the combat sense but never quite knew how to go all out. Not like Chris Harbin did either, but he still made a decent effort to do so at certain times. Every so often, a Map 11 or 18 would come along that represented a stab at difficulty along with occasional impressive visual elements that showed plenty of potential. Even then, it's hard to argue that they necessarily coalesced into anything consistent, which might be why the John Bishop UAC Prison ends up ranking so highly in personal favorite Biowar maps (I'm still not doing a list though, I'm over that rn). I wouldn't really say it's worth more than a replay or two but arguably is a much smoother play than either of the two Memento Moris or STRAIN. Just be prepared to accept that combat simply is not quite so active as more modern map sets.

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

Spoiler

 

[RHhe82]

EQUINOX

MAP01. Played on UV, continuous. DSDA v0.27.4. K: 105/105, S: 5/5, I: 22/23. Comp. time 10:48

 

I decided to play Equinox on continuous style rather than pistol starts, because I have a sneaking suspicion I'm going to have bad time in the long run otherwise. I've seen Dean of Doom coverage, but I can't quite remember what was being said there, but I think I saw someone mention something about ammo scarcity on pistol starts.

 

Anyway: Equinox 01 looks great, considering its texture usage is largely monotone silver metal. Areas inside the silver metal base are a bit more mundane, orthogonal corridors... For some reason you can switch off the lights for good part of the base. I don't know why would you do that, but I did.

 

I also liked the rowing boat area, like the secret wall is hinted by footsteps in sand. Cool stuff. For whatever reason, I kept on thinking of slightly similar area in Dark Souls 2, a sort of "secret rowing boat", and I guess my brains were mushed by the heat wave here in Finland, but for a moment I thought interacting with the rowing boat would change Doomguy's gender as the Dark Souls boat did :P Anyway, I digress...

 

Good start. Let it be noted that this is the first BPRD map I've ever played, but call me excited to give this one a go. Perhaps one day I'll attempt a certain infamous map in Community Chest 2...

Edited June 18 by RHhe82
Shaped reality

[FrancisT218]

I don't think BPRD has any serious maps (have to include that tag cause of a certain map rated just a single spot less memorable than that certain Community Chest 2 one) he released before Equinox, and he didn't contribute to CC1 or any other notable community projects besides CC2. He did also make Grove (a standalone featured in the first Sawed-Off Wads) and later on...some (non-DooM) Commander Keen thing...

 

MtPain's advice was

Spoiler

Infight whenever possible

Use the Chainsaw (or fist/berserk) whenever possible

If you do have to fire, make sure every shot connects with its target

(I don't know how much if at all less important any of these might be if you don't care about 100%, which you can't get in the last two levels)

 

Edited June 18 by FrancisT218

[RHhe82]

20 minutes ago, FrancisT218 said:

he didn't contribute to CC1

Really? I could have sworn there was a BPRD map somewhere in CC1, but I could well have mistaken him for someone else.

 

…. and now that I checked that map listing, yeah, I confused him with someone else, oops.

[Catpho]

Mostly using carryovers for Equinox.

MAP01
 

For a mapper who's best known for his larger than life spectacles, and his levels here tend to be the ones where scale of both the journey and the physical setpieces is most overtly felt, I always thought of Equinox as being impressive for how alive it is on a minute level. The narrative ellipse of the hideout near the beginning, the little storytelling textures and sprites, the fact that there is a weird sidequest to the building's electrical maintenance: positively jam packed opening on an environmental-informational level. This sort of eye for the accumulation of little tidbits of life in the midst of such a grand canvas is what sets Equinox (and, indeed, a lot of BPRD's works) from its era.

 

Only realized this on this playthrough, but for all the fancy SHAWN & lightstrips geometry, it's the blue carpet that is doing so much work in making the base seem snazzy.

[Catpho]

3 hours ago, Devalaous said:

I'll be back in two days, as the Transport Hubs are not really full maps.

Huh, so tomorrow 02 and 03 will be played together? Weird to have a day dedicated to a less than 20s map.

[Plerb]

Due to how insane the past week has been for me, and that we're already starting on Equinox, I'm just gonna have to put away Biowar for some other time. I last played MAP12 I think. As a whole, at least from the two-thirds of it I played, Biowar was not a WAD that inspired words for me. It was a charming 90s experience, but it didn't thrill me either on a gameplay level, nor a deep emotional level.

 

Equinox on the other hand I have a LOT of thoughts on, being the flawed masterpiece that it is, not to mention my obsession with BPRD's entire release history from the early Doom PWADs to Commander Keen 58/59 (the latter of which were my introduction to his work). My decision to participate in the Club for the first time was due to this WAD being selected this month. While I played on UV for Biowar due to its minimal difficulty, I'll be doing what I do for most WADs and playing on HMP for this. The strengths of this WAD are in the environments and atmosphere anyways. And of course this is NOT a wad for pistol starting, so continuous it is.

 

Equinox MAP01 (HMP, continuous, saves):

 

Fun fact: An early iteration of this map can be seen in MAP01 of "Bdw Hell".

The opening shot sums up one of BPRD's greatest strengths across this WAD: Impressive large-scale sci-fi architecture. I struggle to make buildings look that intricate even armed with a 3D editing mode.

The music in this map is almost perfect, but the drums only coming from the left is aggravating, even more so when I currently have a splitting headache. In a way, the music track symbolizes this whole WAD: it's almost perfect, but some (likely unintentional) errors hold it back somewhat. How much these hold it back varies from person to person, but BPRD's body of work has such sentimental value to me that I can look past the flaws and appreciate it for the sparks of deep inspiration that brought his stuff to life.

 

Now for a bit of my personal history with BPRD's work. I didn't get into the Doom modding community until last year, but Commander Keen has been a constant in my life since I could use a computer, and I've been modding it on and off since 2014. Two mods in particular struck me: the duology of "Keen 58: The Ruin of Roib" and "Keen 59: Underworld Ultimate". At this point I wasn't too keen on one Bernie DeWint's take on the titular genius hero as a depressed 35 year old, but the graphics were unlike anything I had seen with the EGA palette. Even though I barely got a few levels into these mods without cheats, which is where I am in them to this day, I would often just gaze upon the amazing visuals from the level screenshots on KeenWiki, inspiring me to improve my EGA pixel art skills.

Fast forward to 2023 and I'm starting to get into the Doom modding scene after a few years of burnout with Keen content. I was aware of NUTS.WAD for a while at this point, I hadn't played it but I saw a Karl Jobst video about it with over a million views, I generally knew how infamous it was. Then one day I look at BPRD's DoomWiki page and realize... the madman behind NUTS.WAD was in fact Bernie, the mastermind behind the far-flung Keen sequels. This provoked me to look deeper into his wadography. The first one I downloaded was Grove, which remains probably my favorite BPRD production to this day. It was July 4th, and at the same time I was playing it, I was walking around the quiet neighborhood at night trying to catch glimpses of fireworks. It's hard to describe, but the similarities between the experience of that night with Grove, running around a dimly lit forest from who knows what, while melancholy music plays, truly seared this WAD into my mind and cemented my love for BPRD's work. I didn't even play his most beloved map, the Mucus Flow, until December, but it impacted me all the same, all thanks to its truly incredible MIDI which is easily deserving of it's own wall of text, but I can't even give one if I wanted to. I'm just sent away into another world for the entire roughly 7 minutes it plays, and then some.

 

(Side note: The restrictive license of Equinox's .txt annoys me to no end. I love the graphics in this WAD and I'd love to make a mapset with them. I tried emailing BPRD about this a couple months ago to no avail. sigh)

[brick]

I wasn't initially planning on participating this month but I ended up playing Equinox over the weekend, so I might as well write up a map by map commentary. My impressions of each individual map is still fresh in my mind, so I'll write them up as if I had no knowledge of the later ones, reflecting my state of mind as I played each one. Spoiler alert, my opinion of the wad will not be homogeneous, but then it seems from hints dropped by others that I may not be alone in this.

I'm also using the QOL patch that Devalous made (thank you!) and so will assign the map names from the patch, I always find names help me remember distinctive features of different maps more easily.

 

GZDoom, Doom compat, software, HNTR, blind, continuous with saves.

Continuous is a no-brainer for this mapset. HNTR turned out to not be a great idea, more on this in a few days. Normally I play with GZDoom's Strict compatibility settings for whatever the map type is, but I made an exception here because BPRD recommends ZDoom as a port of choice.

 

MAP01 "Equinox Facility"
In retrospect, knowing The Mucus Flow exists prepares us for this map, but for those who at the time had seen Nuts and expected BPRD to release a quick succession of jokewads, this must have come as a shock. Visually there's a lot to take in straight away: the new status bar, the pistol replacement sprite, that beautiful dark blue sky, and the grand architecture right in front of us. The impressive facade of the Equinox facility looms ahead, an obvious sign from BPRD that he means business. The inside of the facility looks just as good, with the very clean look of the main hall and the not so clean side passages that hint at hidden menace. Combat is very straightforward, but since we have nothing but the shotgun I'm not complaining. Secrets are delightful, whether those hidden inside the facility, or the stairs that take us all the way down to the beach, the footsteps in the sand and the very cute hideout. Short and quick playing map, but what an incredibly promising start!

[Catpho]

17 minutes ago, Plerb said:

 

(Side note: The restrictive license of Equinox's .txt annoys me to no end. I love the graphics in this WAD and I'd love to make a mapset with them. I tried emailing BPRD about this a couple months ago to no avail. sigh)

If you've played ahead, you will have seen those bio tank textures that have been staple community texture ever since it's been used for DVII (other memorable uses are in Valiant and Epic 2), and there's probably others that I'm not recognizing right now. A lot of BPRD stuff is part of the DNA now, so to speak.

[Plerb]

6 minutes ago, Catpho said:

If you've played ahead, you will have seen those bio tank textures that have been staple community texture ever since it's been used for DVII (other memorable uses are in Valiant and Epic 2), and there's probably others that I'm not recognizing right now. A lot of BPRD stuff is part of the DNA now, so to speak.

Oh yeah I definitely saw those in Valiant, forgot about that. I've seen Equinox resources used in a few WADs actually come to think of it, my conscience just can't help but feel a little guilty ignoring that notice in the text file. But eh, if BPRD didn't notice/care about Valiant using its resources, maybe it'll be fine if I use them too. :P

[Pseudonaut]

Equinox:
I've got the impression that these maps are uniquely unkind to pistol starters, so I'll play each level continuously first, then try pistol starts when I already know where everything is.

 

Map01:
It's amazing what detailed, imaginative visuals and architecture can do for a level. In a vacuum, the combat here is nothing special: there are narrow hallways with single-file imps, a few flat rooms full of zombies, etc. It's just such a cool map in other ways that I don't mind. More than just an impressive piece of Doom architecture, it has environmental storytelling as well, and other details that stand out. The little boat with footprints leading to a secret cave is my favorite. The boat has a little chest just like the ones in the secret, and you're free to speculate as to why. Another nice touch is the optional switch that only turns off all the lights, but can't turn them on again - not sure what to make of that, but I pressed it.

 

There are a few places where you can get softlocked, unfortunately. Many people notice the softlock by a required switch, but if you're adventurous enough, it can also happen if you're messing around near the soulsphere secret. Still, this wad is off to a great start.

 

 

[Devalaous]

5 hours ago, FrancisT218 said:

I don't think BPRD has any serious maps he released before Equinox

 

He does have some maps older than Equinox out there, but only on his ancient website which is somehow still up. There's a mini campaign called Doomed Lands iirc, and a one-off serious map amidst his jokewads.

 

5 hours ago, Catpho said:

Huh, so tomorrow 02 and 03 will be played together? Weird to have a day dedicated to a less than 20s map.

 

I meant that because Map 2 is a tiny BTSX style hub, I'll be doing Map 2 and 3 together in a few days time, because im not firing up GZDoom just for a single tiny map

[General Roasterock]

I took a couple cracks at Equinox before I ever really got good at the game and would always get derailed at Map 04, so I'm looking forward to having a reason to clear it out.

Map 01

 

  An immediate note to make with the opening shot of Equinox is how it presents contrast. It is entirely longing to be a space epic, to revel in the mind of those that wish to see beyond its boundaries. The opening sprawl of the techbase, with its printed billboard and cascading polished pylons, is such a sight. Structurally, this should inspire awe that is held for the rest of the map, and load visions of sci-fi from the previous decades into our thoughts. This is momentum that the rest of the map simply can’t hold up.

  On the positive side, the secrets in this map are handled with a curious hand. They’re not terribly difficult, the first being a simple turn away from the grandiose maw of the space station and a trip down onto a beach. The cave is a pique of interest, settled in a way to serve as a home, complete with transportation and a secret treasure stash. It is not elaborated upon after the player climbs back up the stairs, abandoning the character of such profound futurism being housed and scavenged by primitive people. So much of the character of this map is confusing. There are corpses disemboweled and lining the halls, bodies stored in a singular server room, and an entire raid quelled on the stairs leading to the help desk, yet none of it is put into any perspective because of how simplistic the map is. It is dressed in such sheen, connected with energy in the light strips, and refined in the terminals that serve the complex in their affairs with the cosmos, so elegantly communicated through the writing on the headquarters and the decoration of a celestial body in the foyer. There should at least be a view of the sky, somewhere. The other secret path taking the player back outside offers a new perspective on the lot they started in, but it’s back in the same cliffside that already had a shakeup from its oceanside hideout. It’s not even enough of a concern to keep the west switch from having gaps on its sides where you can softlock. Where is the audacity that the front of the building had?

  The gameplay wants to provide a monsoon of limelight for the updated pistol, visually with an aesthetic retro bulk and audibly with its new punchy, reverberated firing sound that extends on for several seconds, but if you play your cards right you can clear out the entire map without so much as firing it once. The shotgun from the secret cave can do more than enough to clear out the east hallway, giving more than enough ammo to storm the secret path to the Soulsphere to supply for the rest of the map. The behavior is exactly the same, and it only exists to better coalesce with the visual flair of the WAD. Outside of that, this map has the same selection of monster types as Hangar from Knee-Deep in the Dead, so any real attempts at interesting scenarios are impossible. It is more or less a shooting gallery, and anyone that can keep their hand on the trigger will clear the challenges without a hitch. The Shotgunners have their threat removed by the density of health available from the entrance to the complex, scattered about for storytelling and doing little to account for a gameplay loop. The best that they offer is more encouragement to imagine the scenario that would lead to the current condition of the office, perhaps being the perpetrators of the visible carnage.

  One thing that most definitely doesn’t offer to the environment is the MIDI. Even at reasonably balanced audio levels, it is incredibly loud, overwhelming the firearms of both the zombies and the player. The held choir symphony that shows up about halfway through is particularly abrasive in both its duration and pitch, and the thrashing from the most intense point back to the beginning of the loop is hard to not notice. It doesn’t help that pieces of the music are sourced outside of original composition without any form of credit, so it’s impossible to say how that sample influenced the development of the track.

  It’s not clear whether technical or cognitive limitations are preventing this map from communicating exactly whether or not the space opera is something to follow along. It is a vastly differing presentation that still roots itself in the cycle of ammo to demon that makes Doom, those roots that appear in weaker form here due to the available units of enemy. It seems to be that there’s a reason why everyone’s immediate first point of laud is the exterior of a now glossy techbase, because the rest of the map cannot carry the weight.

[veevil]

Equinox

 

Okay, cards on the table. This isn't exactly my first rodeo with Equinox. I've had several cracks at it over the years, but don't think I've ever made it past level 4. Until last weekend, that is, when instead of going out and enjoying the summer like a normal person, I decided to beat Equinox. And succeeded.

 

And failed. Because I didn't write a word for the club. Whoops.

 

But whaddaya know, I don't actually mind playing it again for the commentary, because I really liked the wad this time. Somewhere along the way, I might've been operated on by aliens... or by B.P.R.D. Same difference, really.

 

MAP01: Enter the Equinox
(UV, pistol start, K: 100% / S: 100%, DSDA-Doom, complevel 2)

 

The first map of Equinox sees us enter the island facility we'll later learn we've come to destroy. The wad certainly isn't shy about putting its best foot forward in terms of visual design, with obvious special attention paid to the entrance we start the map facing. The outside area is no slouch either, with the moonlit clouds in the sky and a clever wall secret revealed by footprints on the beach. The inside of the base is spacious, well-lit, and reveals more of B.P.R.D's impressive custom texture work. Those first two attributes are something we might as well enjoy now, while we can.

 

As one might expect for an introductory map, this one is generous with health and ammo and garrisoned with nothing but groups of low-tier monsters. This might trick a newcomer into thinking that the set is going to have a nice and smooth difficulty curve, which just might've happened to me in the past. The map probably won't take you that long to finish either, unless you decide to stick around for the secrets and are having trouble finding them. The computer area map found in the beachfront secret will help nicely with the rest.

 

One aspect of Equinox that I don't enjoy that much is the music, due to a variety of issues with many of the tracks, which we'll get into when we get there. The track for the first map is fine when it comes to the composition itself, but the levels seem all out of whack. I needed to lower the music volume several steps from where I usually keep it to prevent it from drowning out all the sound effects.

 

In conclusion, a nice and breezy opener that feels adventurous while revealing a few hints of the wad's sinister side. That storeroom off to the side of the lobby might give you some indication.

 

Spoiler

 

Remember to turn off the lights before you leave. Electricity's expensive these days.

Edited June 18 by veevil

[Celestin]

MAP02

 

A quick and transitionary level, a teleport hub of sort that takes you to the next destination. I appreciate the new textures, such as the map of the complex, but it passes in a flash and there's little to talk about here - some zombies, shotgunners and imps to kill and when you rach the teleporter for Genome Labs, the map is over.

 

About the music, I've heard this track before in Super MAYhem '17, where it scored Aztec Ruins by Killer5. According to Doomwiki, this is a snippet from a soundtrack of Chariots of the Gods, a 1970 Oscar-nominated documentary about ancient aliens (which seem to be classier, though hardly more factual than the slop that airs on History Channel nowadays). I started digging through that movie's OST and I think I found the match. The MIDI seems to be a remixed version of "Return To The Stars", made even more ethereal. 

[Horus]

Equinox

 

Equinox is a mapset that I first played a lot more recently than Biowar, so I am expecting my memory of each level to be a lot more complete, rather than the patchy memories I had for Biowar. I foolishly first played it on pistol start, and remember struggling through it due to it being extremely tough on ammo. So now I will be playing it on continuous, to see if carrying forward supplies will make my second playthrough smoother.

 

map01

 

BPRD seemingly decided not to name any of the maps, so map01 it is.

 

It’s only been two years after Biowar but visually it looks generations ahead, at least from the opening vista, with far more elaborate geometry than in any Biowar map. That said, the music was also much louder too, and I had to turn it down a notch just for it to drown everything else out.

Before you enter the space station though, one can descend stairs to the sea and what is presumably Doomguy’s boat. There’s also footprints…which I didn’t think to follow and trigger the secrets there…oh well.

 

The station itself is bright with the classic silver/blue coat, albeit with more elaborate texturing than your typical techbase. The combat itself is a very simple affair of minor hitscanners and imps with the pistol/shotgun, which is not very engaging – the only thing that kept me interested was the secrets and Doomcute PCs. In exploring however I triggered the same softlock that Devalaous did.

 

Not my favourite opener, but I am already liking the amount of ammo that I have leftover from this map – because I’ll need it!

 

map02

 

The second map takes us to the first of four very short intermission / hub maps (also on maps 5, 8 and 11). This one is especially short because it contains only hitscanners and imps. There is a ‘secret’ but it’s basically hidden in plain sight. These hub maps do help to break up the lengthier and more demanding maps, but the first one comes too early to really see any benefit of that because of how early on it is, and the preceding map is neither long nor difficult.

[E.M.]

MAP02

DSDA-Doom, UV, Pistol Start

 

This is the first of three hub levels. There's not a lot to say about it. You grab the shotgun at the start and kill what few monsters are here. You can beat the whole thing in less than a minute. Brevity like that is sorely lacking in this wad.

Edited June 19 by E.M.

[Votterbin]

Biowar - MAP18: UAC Prison

 

I am completely unmotivated to post reviews for the maps I missed over the weekend (videos are up though). I'm just gonna drop my MAP18 review here and say that, as someone that hasn't played many mapsets (yet), I fucking love the Icon Of Sin battle here. Great. go inside to destroy his heart. That's awesome.

 

No guarantee I'll be participating in Equinox, presently have my hands tied with Blocked Out. Maybe I'll participate in July. idk. Biowar was fun enough though, maybe I should revisit it sometime to revise my opinions

[General Roasterock]

1 hour ago, Celestin said:

About the music, I've heard this track before in Super MAYhem '17, where it scored Aztec Ruins by Killer5. According to Doomwiki, this is a snippet from a soundtrack of Chariots of the Gods, a 1970 Oscar-nominated documentary about ancient aliens (which seem to be classier, though hardly more factual than the slop that airs on History Channel nowadays). I started digging through that movie's OST and I think I found the match. The MIDI seems to be a remixed version of "Return To The Stars", made even more ethereal. 

That's very insightful, and matches up with the description that was provided on B.P.R.D.'s website. The one in Zzul's Mayhem 17 map is definitely sourced from here, and it's interesting how he was able to provide more context than what currently exists for the wiki on Equinox's page. The actual progression itself feels like it didn't survive manipulation for the MUS file included, but the general idea is still very much clear, and it makes sense for his love of the stars to fall into that source.