The /newstuff Chronicles #221

Despite a 3-day break and a temporary deluge of ZDaemon activity, newstuff is here once again! It's deathmatch overload this week with no fewer than 36 (!) of them. There's a few single player maps too plus a touch of Heretic, humour and those ever-popular weapons mods. 54 maps in all, so get playing:

• Beejay's DooM 2 Deathmatch Party by Beejay
  267kb - doom2.exe - DM -
  A big bunch of 14 maps. There's some nice-looking areas in here, together with two good skys and many themes to boot. However it's littered with stuff everywhere you go. Weapons, ammo, health, armour, powerups you name it. This will affect the gameplay of the maps despite some interesting layouts. It also requires a high number of players to work properly.
  
  
• Hide and Seek by Bob Polmanter
  43kb - doom2.exe - DM -
  A large modern map with a somewhat odd layout. Based around a huge outdoor area, this map 15 replacement has any amounts of passages branching off, rooms full of stuff and nooks/crannies to hide in. Hiding is the theme as the title suggests, and there's invisibility powerups scattered everywhere to enhance this. It would make an interesting final fight against some super-duper boss monster, but as a deathmatch it simply won't work (unless you have 16 players, in which case it could be interesting).
  
  
• Frag_you by David Davidson (Driller)
  15kb - doom.exe - DM -
  A small tech map with a somewhat odd layout. 3 teleporters lead to the middle on one side, with two passages on the other side. It's cramped, pillars get in the way awkwardly and the layout is such that the flow wouldn't work at all. In short, a bit of a mess.
  
  
• Impy1 by Deathx88
  309kb - JDoom - SP -
  One must wonder how this even got into the archive, as it's just E1 stuffed with a ton of imps, ammo and a different starting spot. The only thing going for it is that it makes E1 reasonably challenging. Other than that, avoid. (especially if you're the compiler of the infamous wad list :p)
  
  
• Joe's Deathmatch (Joe's Wad) by Joe (duh)
  27kb - doom2.exe - DM -
  Another deathmatch map based around an open area with some passages and stuff coming off them. While nowhere near as big and complex as the hide and seek wad, it has a similar feel in some ways. It also has monsters, and a red key (presumably for decoration). Again it won't work for DM, but as a single player challenge it's ok.
  
  
• J_room by Jordan Russell (jordanr)
  267kb - doom2.exe - DM -
  A big bunch of 18 maps located in 2 separate wads. Many of them are repeats of each other (with a few changes) and most of them are either spam-based or completely illogical. They do have some eye-catching large-scale designs, and the use of horizons and the Phobos sky gives a nice panoramic view in some maps. Altogether though, they won't play very well.
  
  
• The Community is Falling 2 by anonymous also known as Kaiser
  310kb - ZDoom - SP -
  The sequel to the wad with a thousand n00bs, these 6 maps come with thousands more. Basically you're on a mission to save the DooM community from the evil clutches of the HL2 community and a defective mapper who started it all. As you'd expect the storyline is full of humour, with some amusing twists as well. But this wad also has some highly unusual gameplay, namely 3 set-pieces. An extremely difficult fight against a horde of turbo-charged n00bs (which you can only win by straferunning and jumping), a huge n00bfest with the bfg and rockets (use your ammo wisely) and a boss battle round a pillar with a spider mastermind-type thingy. This together with the humour and a nice-looking second map make this the wad of the week.
  
  
• Next Nightmare by Fiend
  388kb - doom2.exe - SP -
  A map with many styles, but the underlying theme is a base that's been partially morphed into hell. It starts as a dark metal base and goes through brick, grey, hellish and metal gothic. It looks nice, and the hell bits that morph into the base are well done. Gameplay is reasonably challenging, with some tricky battles and low-health moments (and of course some traps too). It's a good map, and one that is recommended.
  
  
• FreeHeretic E2M1: The Remote Outpost by Owen Lloyd (SargeBaldy)
  79kb - heretic.exe - SP -
  Following on from Freedoom, this E2M1 from the Heretic version (which I didn't know existed, heh). Straying somewhat from the original E2M1 theme, this is a mixture of cave, lava and stone. Detail is of the low-ish level you'd get in classic Heretic maps, but it looks and feels good anyway. Gameplay is mostly leaning towards the simpler side, although some tricky moments exist as well. Nice.
  
  
• Rockets by Pouge (That's all I'm gonna tell ya!)
  5kb - doom2.exe - DM -
  A simple map 08 replacement. Rockets, plenty of backpacks and a symmetrical layout. Those familiar with Dwango5's pure spamming maps will know what this one will be like.
  
  
• Wizard's Rage II by Anthony "Wizard" Marino and Sal "Washee" Gonzalez
  137kb - doom.exe - SP -
  A very large classic map for E2M1. It has two layers: on the outside there's 8 octagonal rooms connected by straight passages, and on the inside there's 4 smaller octagonal rooms with connecting passages. Each room has a different theme, which I have to say works rather well. Detail and layout varies from room to room, but it's a mixture of everything really. Gameplay depends on where you start (you choose one of 8 teleports at the start) but is fairly easy throughout, although you might end up relying on the shotgun a lot. It's definitely unusual, and pretty good fun, too. Recommended.
  
  
• Batteries Not Included by WildWeasel
  921kb - Edge - n/a -
  Yes, your cravings are over, as it's a weapons mod! And an impressive one at that. 10 weapons in all, and there's a wealth of variety and innovation here. From spread guns that fire shots in a rotating pattern, through imp fireball spreaders and bfg shots that bounce off walls to plasma grenades, there's something for everyone here. Unfortunately the choice of port may limit it's success (but I don't think that could be avoided, given that ZDoom's new weapon support is still in the testing stages).