My DOOM Reviews

[doomaddict]

I am working on a little project for myself to go through all of the DOOM levels in the IDGAMES Archive and write a review on each one. Should I release these reviews to DOOMWORLD or should I just keep them for myself.

Unfortunately, this project will take a long time since there are so mnay wads to play.

[Negatronica]

I think thats a great idea, that would make it easier for me to find all the higher quality WADs in the archives.

[Mogul]

I think it would be pretty difficult to pull off. But hey...

I think it'd be cool, which is why I voted impse.

[Grimm]

YOU STOLE MY IDEA ASSHOLE

[doomaddict]

A Layout of my review pages


The True Name of the Wad (e.g Hell Revealed, Action DOOM)

The filename (e.g HR, action)-ALL ARE IN ZIP UNLESS STATED

The purpose- a description of what to do (e.g Attack a fort, Defeat hordes of monsters)

Monster Count- NOTE: THIS IS ON EASY SKILL LEVEL (so I can beat the level as quickly as I can)

Gameplay- How fun the level was to play. Ratings are out of 10

Difficulty- This is pretty self-explanitory

Cyberdemon or Spiderdemon- How many of each does it have (note:might not be totally accurate)

Words- Does it have "words" (e.g Sequence Completed, One more to go)

Size of level- This is pretty self-explanitory.

Icon of Sin- Does it have a demon spawner? This will answer the question.

Type- What kind of level it is. (e.g Hellish, Tech, Cavern, Castle)


and most importantly...

Was the wad worth playing?- If I say yes, then download it and give it a try.

Other comments-This will not appear in every review (e.g VERY SCARY!, NEW WEAPONS)

That's the end of a typical review. Screenies might be added if I have the time, the memory, and if I'm not lazy.

Be patient, this will take a while to complete. Expect an average of 25-35 minutes of playtime for a medium level.


As for you Grimm, we can both make reviews. We have different opinions on each wad. Also, many people have put up review pages before.

[Linguica]

Haha yeah good luck

[Arielus]

Sounds like a lotta work!

Ariel.

[Grazza]

Grimm said:

YOU STOLE MY IDEA ASSHOLE

YOU STOLE DOOMER 4EVER'S IDEA BUTTNUGGET

[Grimm]

Fuck, you got me there.

geocities.com/grimmsreviews/home.html

This is my site, feel free to steal the format, as yours is a lot of work, heh.

Oh, and I predict you will give up.

[doomaddict]

UPDATES: July 4


As of this day, I have finished reviewing 11 Wads and I am working on the twelfth.


Grimm, I will not give up unless something were to go wrong and I lost all of my work.

[Lutrov71]

doomaddict said:

Monster Count- NOTE: THIS IS ON EASY SKILL LEVEL (so I can beat the level as quickly as I can)

LMAO

[Opulent]

Hard to determine whether this is a serious thread or not, but here goes:
1) look at the other review sites for ideas on how and what to review.
2) perhaps actually USE the other review sites and incorporate their findings into yours to save you work. (credit them of course)
3) use Doomworld's reviews -- not just /newstuff, but the archive and oldstuff review pages as well.
4) there is a threshold of quality which I would not review for. anything below average would all get a 4-word 'not worth your time' review if I was doing it. that leaves the attention to the wads that deserve it.
5) authors -- the most important instrument.
there are many good wads made by 'unknown' authors, but the majority of the quality maps are done by well-known designers. This is very important when you are describing your review...
6) wads for everyone.
people play Doom for many reasons -- keep this in mind when you review. for example: I am a purist, so I find TCs hard to bare (usually), however that is what some people only play. Another example: /newstuff wads will get panned, but demos spring up plentifully for it. Because speedrunners care most about playability and fun -- if textures aren't aligned or if the ssector count is under 100, it is much less important to us.
quick edit: let me add that these are merely suggestions of course... what you do is up to you.

[doomaddict]

I can show a sample review of one of the wads I did.

[Grimm]

2) perhaps actually USE the other review sites and incorporate their findings into yours to save you work. (credit them of course)

Um, no. My reviews stay on my site. I've spent far too much time slogging through shitty WADs to have them nicked by someone else. Hopefully you weren't silly enough to actually suggest this.

[doomaddict]

Grimm said:

Um, no. My reviews stay on my site. I've spent far too much time slogging through shitty WADs to have them nicked by someone else. Hopefully you weren't silly enough to actually suggest this.

A good reviewer does not go around taking other people's review. Instead, they look at the level themselves, examining strengths and weaknesses of the level themselves, and they write their review on what they saw with their own eyes and heard with their own ears.


Also, is there any place for me to upload my reviews?

[Opulent]

read my words. I didn't say STEAL, I said use.
meaning: a review page of a previously reviewed wad would have a link to site X or Y.
besides, what are you doing the reviews for if you don't want other people to see or use them?
the whole point was that you can't possibly do a review of all the wads, this was to save you some time. It was merely a suggestion.

[deathbringer]

meaning: a review page of a previously reviewed wad would have a link to site X or Y.

How to make a fucking annoying website for beginners!

We all know that site X would go down and site Y would be redesigned, and anyone coming to the reviews in a few years time will find MANY dead links and leave

[boris]

90% of the crap in /idgames isn't even worth mentioning, let alone worth reviewing.

[doomaddict]

I am probably going to see if DOOMWORLD will have a spot.

the main reason I am doing this project is for my own good, but I think helping others is not a bad idea either.

I'm also just wondering, but who changed the Impse option to Old Shoe?

[Grimm]

read my words. I didn't say STEAL, I said use.
meaning: a review page of a previously reviewed wad would have a link to site X or Y.

Shoulda made it clearer then. But of course, there's the problems deathbringer mentioned.

To boris: Here's the breakdown of the 0-9, A, and about half of B (for the Doom 1 section of the archives):

3.5/5 = 40
2/5 = 39
3/5 = 31
1/5 = 19
4/5 = 17
5/5 = 6
*/5 = 2

Least that's the ratings I gave 'em.

[Opulent]

Grimm, don't even get me started. I was being polite and wasn't talking to you.
I don't need your attitude for a site that would take one day to create.
Additionally, I don't think you've thought your site through at all. The 2 wads you give 5/5 couldn't possibly deserve that rating against the actual best maps. Reviews/Input are only as good as the reviewer: you form a base and progress from there. Comparing wads in 0-9 and A is only as good as what you are comparing them to.
Today, there are at least 2 major categories now for reviews. One cannot effectively catogorize/review 01fava alongside ActionDoom.
I appreciate your intentions, but I think you're starting on the wrong foot.. in more ways than one.
(in case you think I don't know from where you speak, in 1997 I had a review site after playing all of the Doom2 sp wads on cdrom.com)

[DooMBoy]

I really hate to discourage you doomaddict, but there are already quite a few Doom review sites out there already. But, hey, if that's what you want to do, go for it. I'm not telling you shouldn't, just know that your site probably won't get a lot of attention unless you pimp it a lot, and if it's a Geocities site....well, you know how that goes.
But yeah, whatever floats your boat.

[Nanami]

You have like > 12,000 wads to look through, so have fun man.

[lerner]

Meh, there are really easy ways to discern if a level is good or not before playing it. HINT: If it has the word or part of the word Cyberdemons anywhere in the title or txt file, it's not worth playing. Exception: Cyberdreams, the only wad that gets away with having a cyber or 3 in each level. Another HINT: If the txt file is horribly written(lots of !s and ?s, the words u or ur, anything of that sort), the wad is just as bad.

Now that that's settled, I think I might be reviewing all of the Hexen levels.

[Grimm]

Sure I could. Action DooM gets a 4/5, 01Fava gets a 5/5.

I won't deny that when you've slogged through piles and piles of shit it tends to skew your ratings, and I also won't deny that I've had trouble figuring out exactly what should get a 5/5. There's no such thing a s a perfect WAD or a perfect anything, so what exactly should a 5/5 be? And that's hard to figure out. But the bottom line is I'm playing through these WADs primarily for myself; I merely want other peple to benefit from my escursions into the archives, and so, if satisfied you are not, I really don't care all that much. And I definately don't appreciate you telling people to slap reviews from other sites onto their own And I think I probably speak for everybody when I say that. But maybe not.

On a side note, I think when I finish the B section I'm gonna do all of the Doom 1 Ports section . . . probably only 35, 40 tops in there. If anyone should care.

[doomaddict]

As I said, (more than once) the original reason that I am doing this is for my own benefit. I know there are many reviewers already but each reviewer has his own opinion on each wad. Certain wads might be loved and worshipped by some reviewers, while considered to be worthless pieces of shit to others. You will never know what you REALLY think about the wad until you have REALLY played it. For example, let's do sadhusct.wad. The review looks all great and stuff, but when I played the level, I couldn't even fucking move. Even if every single reviewer gives it 4 stars, I would give it 0 stars!

lerner, try 6fiffy4.wad-Lord of the Cyberdemons. It is a nicely done level that I find to be kind of scary. That was the 5th wad I have reviewed. If you want to see my review, PM (Private Message) me and I will show you. Just because a txt file has the word "Spiderdemon" or "Cyberdemon" or "Icon of Sin" doesn't mean it is bad.


Nanami, I will NOT review EVERY SINGLE WAD out there. It would take me 5-10 years to do that. However, I will review a lot of the IDGAMES Archive in doomworld.


As of July 5, guess what wad I am reviewing now. THAT'S RIGHT FOLKS. IT'S TIME FOR THE ANNUAL DOOMADDICT REVIEW OF THE ALL NEW MEGAPOPULAR DOOM WAD, ACTION DOOM!!!!!

[Darkman 4]

I can't imagine why ANYBODY would trust reviews from a newbie who hasn't even been here for a month and thought Fredrik was a girl.

[lerner]

doomaddict: I don't know if I want to check out a fiffy level. I tried his 2 Hexen ones and they are utter crap. But I'll check it out and tell you if you are bonkers or not.

Edit: it's not in the doomworld organized thing o.O.

[Ichor]

I thought those two Hexen maps were decent enough, but I did have to remove those stupid sounds and graphics. I've seen far worse maps than that.

[Grimm]

Fiffy's maps still give me nightmares.