Sui Generis

This is a short Dec 94 wad and not particularly E1 like - it's technically competent with decent architecture and is reasonably ok but a bit cramped and not too exciting. The layout is a little bit more interesting than some, with interconnections forming a circuit and a couple of the rooms are more interesting, but there are also a few too many narrow corridors and a brief maze. It's nothing like as obnoxious as some 94 wads, and the mastermind forces you to go secret hunting for the BFG. Overall this is middling: 2.5/5

Created by the author of DeHackED, this is a pretty simple '94 level. There is of course no detail or texture alignment & a slightly wacky variety in room sizes, plus a cyb turret early on. Progression is quite wandery & poorly marked, though easy enough to work out. There’s a mix of enemies but they’re very dispersed & you'd have to be complacent to be hit by the cyb. There’s a short teleport puzzle near the end. Overall this is quite weak with just a bit too odd a progression for the play to be decent.

This is a technically competent, but otherwise moderately well designed 94 map. Use of raising stairs and such is offset by poorer choices such as doors rising into sky near the end. This map is an improvement over tree1, and some of the traps are fun, particularly the penultimate one, plus it has more monsters and fewer obscure design choices or puzzles so has better flow. But with a couple of exceptions it's mostly clearing enemies in front of you. It's not horrible, just needs better design choices.

A trio of 94 maps being the next instalment in the tree series. E1M1 is repetitious and cramped, but does do a good job at catching out the player with close quarter monster closets. The final part with the monotextured crate mazes is weak though. M2 is better and has a statement arch near the beginning, with curved doors. M3 has a space section - it looks genuinely good and is impressive for the time but the music is inappropriate. Gameplay on all is ok to meh - if playing I'd suggest skipping E1M1

This level is reasonably made but very short. It consists of about 3 or 4 rooms and would be trivial were it not for the barrel gimmick. The puzzle is fairly simple to an experienced doomer but equally is kind of cute. Beyond this, the level is good with decent use of height and light variation for the time but is mostly low-level enemies and is not long enough to be stand out otherwise. Ok for a few minutes fun and for the puzzle.

This is a remarkably primitive and bland episode. Asides from a couple of spots in the last levels there is practically no height variation whatsoever. It's all just a series of monotextured empty corridors connecting individual rooms in automap patterns, with a tiny dose of barrel spam starting to creep in. There are practically no traps, maps are small and sparsely populated and gameplay is almost entirely about shooting low-level monsters in front of you. This is not horrible, just weak - even for May 94

Knowing to look for the initial secret improves the map somewhat, though it's still some way from the best. At worst this map has ugly corridors with confusing progression and required secrets, yet it has germs of something better. The larger areas in general are much more interesting, with traps, lowering platforms and such. There are odd crossfire situations with minor enemies. Your mileage will depend heavily on how you find the progression (hint the red key is in the large blood & pipes pit)

I agree this is quite average - it mostly boils down to rooms and interlinking corridors (which are particularly bland) in a drab, green techbase. The gameplay is straightforward and offers a good steady pace of mostly gentle low-level opposition to clear. The only concern is hitscanner attrition as health is limited, but adequate. 5* ratings seem excessive even for the time (compare Scythe). This is a competent but unexceptional map. Play if you want a quick dose of slightly meh but ok, easy dooming.

A pair of levels with a sequence of mostly flat, monotextured rooms with simple "monsters always encountered in front of you" room clearing, replete with not unpegged door tracks that disappear into the sky in randomly shaped sectors. These aren't 95ish - they'd be bad even for '94. If you're willing to try 94 levels, then don't play this. I guess the author deserves credit for trying and it seems to be their first maps, but there is nothing to recommend here.

I came into this with high hopes given the below comments, but was disappointed to be greeted by a small, almost symmetrical map with a preponderance of bare, narrow corridors. The map sees you being hit early with demons when you may only have a pistol and forces you to run through slime, unless you find a secret chaingun. It sounds oppressive but once you find a weapon you're set. The red key area is completely superfluous. I think this map is well made but not nearly as special as the comments suggest

This is quite a sprawling, slow-burning techbase with marble and wood elements. It has varied and interesting areas that interlink nicely, but it is non-linear and populated mainly with low-level monsters, with oodles of ammo and several soulspheres and megaarmours. The non-linearity seems to be the kind that makes much of the map optional - I came to the exit having only seen 2 3rds of it. It’s very leisurely and sedate which is ok for a sunday. It is meh for the time but as the author was 14 I add a star

Whilst this level is certainly above the standard for the period, I think it falls short of the best. The technical issues that kept causing crashes, were easily cured by resaving in a modern editor so I won't mark down for that. The map is a leisurely shotgun romp from a small spaceship to a mix of E1 and marble. The strengths of the level are the varied and interesting rooms which you battle through. No boxy rooms here. It's not quite as impressive as say, k9.wad imo but not being best is still good.

Largely monotextured dark corrridors connecting random rooms, with isolated set-piece encounters, usually with just one or a tiny handful of monsters. Perhaps a couple of rooms have some sort of interesting design, but the level as a whole does not. This probably deserves the "most pwads suck" characterisation of the time and can only be of (highly limited) interest to speed runners, imo.

I wouldn't call this shit, but it is a rather cramped and constrictive level with an overabundance of switches. Combat takes place in a series of little rooms, with various switch related mechanics to trap or allow you to progress. It does have several rather nice little details, but like the level as a whole they're small & fiddly. The author seems technically proficient for 94 - had he pursued a more open, free-flowing paradigm he might've made good levels. But this is ok for 94

A nice, quick and action-packed E2 map built mainly around 2 fights with an expanding initial area. There's a noticeable lull in pacing between the two, but in a small map like this it doesn't matter. Texturing is a clean tech-subset of the E2 theme and looks good. To say it was inspired in using the containment area theme, there aren't any crates? (Not that it has to have crates) But it's a good fun-filled 6 minutes or so of action regardless.