Liam

No doubt many of you have been tirelessly refreshing the Doomworld main page, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the late /newstuff Chronicles #204. No doubt many of you who have seen hundreds of /newstuff Chronicles written will remember a simpler time when there was one reviewer who valued quality over punctuality. And since the higher-ups here at the definitive source for Doom news, information and development saw fit to let, AndrewB of all people grace the front page once more, it would only be fair to let the Bard formerly known as the Bard make a guest reappearance and touch you all in a way that only he knows how. A loving caress which cannot be provided by DVORAK keyboard users and people with the word 'DooM' in their interweb nicknames. I'm here to review eleven new wads today, and keeping in the old tradition, I'll take all the time I damn well need. Badgers DooM house: Special ZDooM Edition by VMOS 690kb - ZDoom (Doom2) - SP (map01) - We're kicking off this week with a horrible acid trip of a map, a faithful ZDoom recreation of the author's surburban household. Set aflame. Infested with deathtraps and monsters. With an expansive marble torture chamber of a basement. According to the text file there is a long-forgotten plot, remnants of which show up in the scripting. In particular, the talking-to the player gives the giant badger texture that greets him at the beginning of the map. Seriously. This reality-map nightmare is wallpapered mainly in original doom2 textures, but custom textures are used to create real-life objects such as computers, bookshelves, and small animals that are scripted to greet you with their small animal noises. Now, ceilings don't always fit the grid, textures are not always aligned properly, and some of the ZDoom effects (which are used for eye-candy as well as the map design, creating the illusion of a fully-3d two-story house) cause strange graphical anomalies. But to judge this map for it's graphical hiccups would be akin to criticising Picasso for his anatomical imprecision. The gameplay is not the reason to play this map, but the ammo balance is tight, and I was forced to chainsaw or berserk fist my way through the nooks and crannies of the Doom House on several occassions. Given a very non-linear design, however, one could easily miss an ammo cache or two. Badger's Doom House is one of the least worst "my house" wads in history. It is unique, filled with uninhibited creativity, and it comes highly recommended. Lava Arena 3 by BloodSkull 318kb - Skulltag (Doom2) - DM (map01) - Bloodskull offers a roomy Skulltag arena for you and your friends to throw down in. Lava Arena 3 is not wholly true to its namesake, as the only damaging lava to be found is a small seldom-traversed pool at the map's center. The action here takes place in several large brick rooms dressed in metal supports and rimming, light fixtures, and randomly-placed crates that thankfully are not too in the way of the player. The design that is sound for balanced deathmatch play, accomodating for one-on-one and FFA games, and also pleasing to the eyes. Also, lots of little pickups such as armor and medkits are strewn about for fans of -altdeath games. Indeed, Lava Arena 3 would seem to be an accessible map for all kinds of deathmatch fans. But while this is a quality map as it is, nothing substantial would have been sacrificed in designing this it for doom2.exe or all limit-removing-ports compatibility. Skulltag/Zdoom features are either wholly visual (and the map looks good enough not considering a translucent texture or two) or add little of anything to the gameplay. For example, players may traverse a deep-water lavapit for the glorious reward of an ammo backpack, or grab the wonky Skulltag grenade launcher for more effort than it would take them to swipe the much more useful vanilla rocket launcher or plasma gun. Skulltag players will enjoy the map, but people who DM with other clients or ports miss out for the sake of a lame mod weapon and a couple particle fountains. The Boss Monster Resource Wad compiled by TheDarkArchon 2781 kb - ZDoom - SP (map01) A resource wad containing a number of different boss monsters designed to be used freely by modders everywhere. It comes with a ZDoom demo map showcasing all the big baddies. CREATORS Doom Graphics V0.9 re-released by FunDuke 76kb - Doom.exe A 1994 sprite replacement, re-released into the archives for some silly reason. Useable for Doom, Doom2, or Final Doom, this wad turns the Former Human and Shotgun Sergeant into digitizations of strange bare-chested men in leather jackets. Moving on... REACTOR1.WAD by Russ Walsh 49kb - Doom.exe - SP (E2M1) - A forgotten over-10-year-old tech base map uploaded to the archives for the first time. Everything that you'd expect from a 1994-era newbie map is here: poor texture choice/alignment, 'flat', linear, and uninteresting layout, way too much ammo, and excessive boss monster placement. What might have been clever then (staircase "arches" and fake exits) are gimmicky now in the context of such an otherwise dated map, making this wad good for a bit of nostalgia and little else. The best scenery to be found in REACTOR1.wad was captured in the screenshot. Technical by Macro11_1 48kb - Skulltag (Doom2) - DM (map01) - This is one of the more fetching DM maps I've had the privelege of playing. The author uses lighting excellently to add atmosphere to what is, aside from a texture misalignment or ill-chosen ceiling flat, a very well-concieved tech base featuring creative use of slopes and excellent architecture. Mind you however, that a small overall layout and claustrophobic hallways make technical a poor choice for free-for-all deathmatching. Plus, an easily accessible megasphere upsets the balance and encourages camping and an "I'm king of the hill!" playstyle. The crusher that guards it is a lousy attempt at punishing a 200 health/armor boost. Note that this is a skulltag map, as I saw no advanced engine listed as a requirement in the text file. It makes use of slopes and skulltag relics ("haste" and "drain") and weapons (the railgun and minigun). Despite it's flaws, Technical will be worth a look for one-on-one deathmatchers when it is released in January 20004. Don't leak it, pls. GOTHMOG.WAD by Nathan Kidney 49kb - Doom.exe - DM (E1M1) - 1994 wad re-release Nummer Drei: a Doom 1 deathmatch arena inspired by the ledges series of maps. Players frag in a number of cramped hallways and staircases branching off of a central arena, leading to small rooms and compartments where weapons and pickups can be found. Spawn points are placed in rooms disconnected from the rest of the map where the player can snag a free shotgun then teleport in to the action. Pickups of all kinds are everywhere, and even barrels are carelessly strewn about. Monsters are alsoy placed liberally throughout the map, meaning if you want you could have a monsters DM (which apparently wasn't so unpopular a concept when this map was released) or a frag'em-all challenge in singleplayer if you really want to. I could compare this map to something really ugly as a clever means of taking a stab at it's poor graphical everything, but it is a 1994 deathmatch map, so i'll not hold it to today's standards. Expect that the texturing is not consistent and that detail is bare-bones. In closing: this is not a map for your average ZDaemon scrub, it is a map for people who have a boner for ledges.wad or 1994 maps in general. If that sounds like you, grab this, enjoy it with your similarly-afflicted friends and keep your non-dwango poison far away from mainstream client-server Doom. Metro3 by Carlos Guariglia 132kb - CDoom (Doom2) - SP (map24) - A demo map of a giant railway the player can run on or go under, designed to show off the true 3D capabilities of boom-based port CDoom. Geo I by Agent Spork 6512 kb - ZDoom (Doom2) - SP (map01-map02) - Agent Spork contributes two maps for this week, beautifully done single player adventures that send the player through a Quake-esque alternate dimension, complete with slipgates and 'one more switch to go!' scripted sequences. Both of Spork's levels are visually stunning. "Unforseen Destruction" and "The Death Barracks" consistently sport a gothic theme full of deep browns and greys. They are intricately detailed, showing off metal supports and separators, ceiling and wall light fixtures, open-sky ceiling designs, decorative elements like pentagrams and pools, sloped architecture, and many other bits of visual eye candy. The mapper makes logical texture choices, and frequently uses atmospheric lighting. The player spends the better part of his playing time time indoors in a series of infested corridors, with the occassional grandiose main hall and precious few outdoor areas that showcase a gloomy animated sky replacement. Haunting the second map (not the first, for some reason) are a number of new monsters to gut. Most all of these baddies are palette swaps or edits of other Doom-engine sprites, including a Heretic Ophidian/Baron of Hell splice and several new cacodemons, one of which makes the beloved one-eyed floating thingy terrifying in a new way. Ammo/monster balance has obviously been thoroughly thought out. The player is at times forced to be miserly and save shots, while other times made to rely on melee combat or encouraged to engage in reckless fragfests after finding a generous ammo cache. However, Spork relies on some tired gameplay design cliches. For example, teleporting new monsters into already-traversed areas and forcing the player to backtrack. Or painfully obvious, red-key-on-a-string traps. Also, thanks to a thinly-augmented arsenal and abundance of thickly-skinned baddies, fights are drawn out for an excruciatingly long time sometimes, and you may find yourself wishing for a cell-based weapon that never comes. Thusly, people lacking an affinity for the Quake-inspired style may find themselves bored by tiring gameplay, but any fan of the gothic style will find Geo I a welcome addition. I would consider it one of this week's highlights. Beyond Death by Dan Stefan Oprean 852kb - ZDoom (Doom2) - SP (map01) - This hellish single-player map was originally designed to be one of the later maps of a now-defunct community megawad, but has now been released as a stand-alone map for your dooming pleasure. Beyond Death consists of several large 'sections', each of which have been given names that are scripted to appear every time you teleport into them. A treat for the eyes, Beyond Death has been designed the way a hell map should be: with creativity taking priority over obsessive detailing. Among the 'zones' of the map are: A large canyon overshadowed by a giant abstract structure which casts a patterned shadow on the ground. A cavernous area housing a lavapit crossable by way of a simply grand 3d bridge. Heck, the hell theme is even broken once as the player teleports into an area so Quake-inspired it uses Quake texturing, don't ya know. Despite all the good ideas however, the lighting job is quite shoddy, and adjacent very bright and very dark areas give the map an amateurish look. While I encourage doomers to give this map a peek, I would not discourage a god mode, I'm Too Young to Die!, or nomonsters playthrough. Considering the relatively small size of the map, the mapper saw fit to extend the playtime by dragging battles on forever through the sheer multitude of monsters present, particularly towards the end of the map. To deal with the massive threat, megaspheres and health/ammo caches are placed carelessly and extensively. The 'gameplay' usually involves hiding your doomguy in a corner and picking off the flood one by one as they come at you. This is not fun and I imagine most people would rather simply play a short map. Download Beyond Death to look at, first and foremost. Hordes of Chaos 3 by Udderdude 1887kb - ZDoom (Heretic) - SP (E1M1 - E1M5) - Whip out your firemace and clip-on elf ears, my favorite wad this week is for one of my favorite first-person-shooters ever, the vastly underappreciated heretic. Udderdude has taken five maps from a number of other Heretic projects and given them considerable touchups, then packaging them all as an extremely-appreciated gift to starved fans of the fantasy FPS. Every map here is largely loyal to the original Heretic formula; fantastical battlegrounds are created with not much more or less detail than there was to be found in the original Heretic mapset. Were it not for the ZDoom scripted sequences and visual effects, and for the introduction of items and monsters from other doom-engine games (such as Doom's monsters and Hexen's dark servant pickup), Hordes of Chaos might seem like an official expansion to the original game. That is, in my eyes, a very good thing. E1M1 intros HoC3 with a number of scripted fights and a boss battle you will fight with a Maulotaur dark servant by your side. E1M2 is a dungeon crawl the player will complete with the use of a trusty firemace and a zillion maceballs. In E1M3, the player will enter underground caverns and cross rivers low, as well as scale high cliffs and towers. E1M4 is a maze of a sewer complex where there's more than just stink to worry about. E1M5 is a fiery map that invites players to cross lava-lakes on narrow bridges and to fry their enemies with a generous supply of inferno orbs. The gameplay varies just as much as the map designs; you will fight through spacey battlegrounds and cramped corridors, on high platforms and thin railings, through environmental traps, against a hidden enemy, and every time you will do it with a different arsenal, guaranteed by the loss of all your weapons at the start of a new map. Ammo is plentiful on low-medium difficulty settings and tight on higher ones. Weapon placement is logical; you may already have an explosive phoenix rod, but be given a crossbow before entering a congested hallway. Battles do not draw on too long and ironliches and other tough baddies are used appropriately. Honestly, the worst thing about Hordes of Chaos 3 is the presence of imps and cacodemons. This is a godsend for die-hard Heretic fans, a worthy play-through for anyone with the Heretic IWAD, and a great way to finish off this week of reviews. This is Liam, signing off -- and remember: cool kids don't upload stuff on saturday!

Hey! It's Sunday! /newstuff on Sunday! Break out your preferred party apparel, consume a ton of your preferred harmful substance, and generally go wild in your preferred method because I'm not off schedule and btw if you were up at 12:01 AM wondering where this update was you aren't invited. Also, because this was popular last time; is your /newstuff measuring up at a pathetic 4 single-map wads long? Order /newstuff enlargement pills! After use a gnome bursts out of your chest and beats crucial parts of Liam's computer into dust so he has to sit around idly while the wads build up. Dueling Keeps by Pascal 'Gherkin' vd Heiden - - This week's opening act is a Legacy-based DM map running on Doom 2 Map01. Skimming duelkeep.txt informs me that the map was inspired by a Quake 3: Arena map... yes, I'm getting at the fact that the International Army of Faget Campars managed to hijack Gherkin's brainstem temporarily during the design of this map. Basically there's a 'blue base' and a 'red base', and a little outdoor area between them. Behind the entrance to each base there's a left-right fork, both paths of which lead to the same blue or red rooms which I assume would be flag capture zones if the most logical path to making the map was taken and it was designed as a Skulltag CTF map instead of a Legacy DM map. In each nonexistant-flag capture zone is a teleport to the other nonexistant-flag capture zone. So yes, during one-on-one games (which judging from the title is the focus gameplay type of the map) the chance of 'TEE-HEE COME THROUGH THE TELEPORT AND CATCH ME' is painfully high. There's also no real reason that I could see for this map not to be Doom2.exe compatible, the extent of Legacy's use in this map is colored lighting/fog and jump pads. There's a couple of 3dfloors but they don't add anything to the look or gameplay. Bottom line: Legacy DMers have quite a large selection of better arenas to pick from. You know it requires Doom Legacy. Alien Invasion by Ismaele - - This generic silver tech-base map takes the stage and faces an unenthusiastic crowd. Map15 of Doom 2 is put aside for architecture that's possibly even squarer and linear gameplay to rival something really linear. I understand that Doomers live by 'flip the switch, find the key', but Alien Invasion manages to be repetetive and boring nontheless. I really wouldn't recommend downloading this unless... oh yeah, I forgot about 'The RG Three'. 'The RG Three' are three excruciatingly retarded gameplay flaws that I guess were very very poorly executed attempts at trying to spice up the 1000 SHAWN/SILVER hallways that make up this base. I call them 'The RG Three', not because I'm an E-dick or anything, but because it rhymes. Flaw no. 1: tiny alcoves that house a rather trivial item such as a handful of shells and crush you to your death instantly when you try to pick it up. There is no warning nor indication of a crusher protecting those precious four shells. Flaw no. 2: a teleporter 'guessing game' some time after you pick up all the keys. In order to make it to the last area of the map, you must guess which out of five teleporters lead you there and enter. The punishment for guessing wrong? Being sent to some place in the map you've already been to traverse empty hallways back to the teleporters. Flaw no. 3: the worst exit room ever. Yet another guessing game forces you to press one out of many computer textures in order to lower the exit switch. Guess wrong? You'll be surrounded by a horde of monsters, amongst them a single archvile. Review no. 2: don't bother. Alien 2 - The Revenge by Ismaele - - I started this map up hoping for revenge against Ismaele for playing 'pick a hand' with me in his previous masterpiece, but unfortunately that is not what this sequel had to offer. Supposedly this map takes you on an adventure to the planet on which lives the alien species that invaded the 90-degree architecture base in Alien Invasion. Of course only one room of this map looks like an alien planet. My guess is that the author couldn't go two sectors without being drawn back into the spell of underdetailed sharp corners. Basically I'm catching the same gameplay vibe as I did with the first alien: hallways, switches, and backtracking. Most of the map is a brown/black METAL theme but the last few parts look exactly like the aformented SHAWN base in, yes, the previous alien. What's good is that 'The RG Three' has been downgraded to 'The RG One' as the only pimple of concentrated anti-fun that made it out of alien.wad and into alien2.wad is a crusher-alcove in one or two places. Wait, 'The RG One' doesn't rhyme. Damn you Ismael! xfire6 by Lee Szymanski - - A new installment in the xfire series makes the sun come up for this week's update (and it has a little cute baby's face in it too). Weathermen predict the sun will shine brightest on Doom 2 Map04. xfire6 shares the same STAR*/BROWN texturing scheme as its predecessors but sports what I think is the best architecture and lighting of the series. Fragging on this map, the participants will find themselves running up stairs, down stairs, and off ledges to reach the same elevation as their target. Weapons, ammo, and items are doled out liberally but also very fairly... as with previous xfire wads, this map is perfectly balanced. It looks like it would best hold 3-4 players but the action isn't too slow in one-on-one at all. So, DMers, take my advice: fire up a Doom server for you and your friends, don't forget the -file xfire6.wad, and let the cute baby-face sun shine its glorious rays of connective layout and balanced gameplay upon your putrid, naked bodies.

Hey DEWMERS, I've overcome PC problems and ISP problems both to make the scene once more with what I'm pretty sure is the biggest /newstuff update in the history of homeschooled Canadians. In fact, we guarantee that after usage of the /newstuff enlargement pills your /newstuff will reach a staggering 20+ wads and 60+ maps long! Zdoom SpinSpyder Collection by Dan Crowley (SpinSpyder) - - A 11-map Doom 2 deathmatch wad kicks off this huge update, the contents of it ranging from 'mediocre' to 'd**k'. The most balanced and enjoyable maps come off rather generic and ugly (Map01, Map06, Map11)... and a few major blemishes otherwise make this levelset hard to take seriously. For one, while this wad has 'Zdoom' in its name and mentions Zdoom in the text file, only two maps that I can remember actually use Zdoom features and the features used are very very irritating and very very unnessecary (PARTICLE FOUNTAINS!!!). Two of the maps back to back each offer a rough estimate of 512x512 space to DM in (Map08 and Map09), which really puts me in question of the mapper's skill, dedication, experience, or sobreity. There really isn't anything here that you can't see or do in other, better DM wads. Requires ZDoom (kinda). Steeple Chase by M. Eyre - - Heretic map ahoy! That wascally wizad D'Sparil always seems to be a step ahead of you; after being banished to the outlands for however long you were banished to the outlands (I don't know, Heretic 2 was really lame) you come face to face with the Serpent Rider at the bottom of a gigantic tower only to find that he has harnessed the ancient power of 'teleport linedefs' to jump all the way to the top. You know what you have to do. Steeple Chase replaces E2M7 of Heretic. The 'going up' gameplay here reminds me vaguely of Doom 2 Map29. Of course this is several times more challenging than Doom 2 Map29, there's quite the army to deal with here and disciples can get particularly annoying given the amount of space they have to fly around undetected. This is a nocturnal map and there isn't much in the way of lighting so many of the visuals are shrouded in black but what you can see of it is satisfying if a bit square. For Heretic fans this is a definite worthy download. Requires advanced Heretic port and sinful.wad. Must be played with jumping enabled. Mount Olympus by Spike - - Dark, brooding, and an exemplification of the visual candy possible with JDoom specific editing, Mount Olympus (Doom 2 Map11) takes you on a tour of a base turned torture chamber, while ambient sound and beautiful dynamic lighting enhance the experience (to think, all those nice big words for a teaser map, heh). Rather than using sector-based lighting all the time, torches and lamps are placed creatively and JDoom does the lighting. That may come off as an excuse not to use the more tiresome 'real' method at first, but the end result is very beautiful when executed carefully.The texturing is great and makes for a perfect moody tech/hell combo. There isn't much of a challenge to be found however, which is even worse when you consider this is supposed to be Map11 in an upcoming megawad and not a stand-alone start-from-scratch Doom map. Check it out if you have JDoom handy. Sphagne's Wads - Either this guy is trying to look productive or his mom drugged his Froot Loops because I know that if a sane, honest person was going to release thirteen wads ALL IN ONE DAY they would bother to make them into a megawad or at least put them all in one zip. To counteract this infringement on common sense I'm going to write thirteen separate reviews (WHO'S PRODUCTIVE NOW SUHFAGNEEH). No, they aren't extremely short and extremely generalized, put your contact lenses back in. All sins will be forgiven however, these wads are awesome. Almost every one sports a thought-out and connective layout, sometimes linear, sometimes nonlinear. The details and architecturing are simple but never unpleasant. Many of these can provide a tough game even for experienced Doomers. Dig in, you can't afford to miss most of these. All of them replace Doom 2 Map01 with the exception of 'Cavemen', replacing Doom 2 Map07. Afterlife - - A moody nighttime map that casts you as a spirit fighting your way through an infested city and an overtaken watership to your place in heaven. The map looks just ace; this is the sort of map I just enjoy running around in after everything's dead. The feeling of a dark netherworldish realism is communicated perfectly within the limits of the engine without coming off silly or 1994-ish. Avenger - - A very large and very challenging covering a variety of themes, not the extent of which are a deserted western town and a strange E1-esque base. Avenger sports a very nonlinear and connective layout ala the original Doom maps, and lots of neat architectural goodies spice up an otherwise bland map. Blood Runners - - This one sends you upstream a river of blood and into an infested Doom 2-ish base (which appears to do something like control the river's flow but that doesn't matter). Very progressive, intense gameplay here; the map gets more and more challenging the further you get and the ammo/health balance is perfected for Ultra-Violence. Cavemen - - Yet another large tech base, this time built into a twisty and turny orange-brown cavern. The architecture in this map stands out above all else, as you fight through the tunnels and caves you'll see the rooms and structures that make up the tech area appearing to be perfectly embedded into the rock, and beautiful nocturnal outdoor scenes immerse you in the game even further. Death Cycle - - Death Cycle is a compact map that covers a variety of different themes and texturing motifs. A network of tiny rooms, corridors, and alcoves are compressed expertly into a circular area that takes up some above 2500x2500 units on the grid. Of course, with so little dodging room, you'll find that a fast trigger finger and quick wit are nessecary if you're going to shy away from your quicksave button. Hell Harbour - - This one looks like something out of Doom's Episode 3 if you ask me. Hell Harbour takes place on, well, a green brick 'Harbour' floating on a sea of blood and carrying a heavy cargo load in the form of crates, the backbone of FPS game design! You'll need to call on your straferunning and strafejumping skills to get to and from most major checkpoints in the map (keys, important switches, etc.). The Living End. - - A refreshing Episode 2-ish tech-temple theme rears its head in the beginning of The Living End (it settles into more consistent texturing during the later half), a map which supposedly takes place at the end of the river Styx (and I might add that the river Styx is quite a bit less dark and forboding than I expected). Unfortunately though, that's all that makes this stand out amongst Sphagne's other releases; it's one of his dullest architecturally and also one of the easiest. Mothership - - Uh, a mothership! Docks, control rooms, waste pits, the whole deal all embodied in glorious hack 3D. Beautiful quasi-realistic detail and a variety of visual styles and structures make for yet another winner. Secret Lab - - This is another theme-blender; the 'Secret Lab' is apparently made up of all varieties of wood, rock, marble, and metal. This is one of Sphagne's earlier maps and it shows in the sub-par (for him at least) architecture and the use of *choke* S.S. Nazis. Space Station - - Blast your way through the inner works of a (consistently textured!) space station constructed with stylish black and brown. Think of a less... er, choppy version of Erik Alm's Europa3. Stronghold - - A very very grey map that forces you to clear out a couple of ASHWALL tunnels and valleys in search of way into an extremely unevocative marble keep. This is one of the dullest of Sphagne's set visually, and lacks the intense gameplay he's shown himself capable of incorporating into his maps. Symphony of Death - - This marble/metal complex is one of Sphagne's first wads. Most of the early action centers around a small marble hallway and the map comes to a head in a great hall larger than Map30 and packed with mancubi, cacos, arachnotrons, and a Cyber up front to top that all off. Not halfway interesting compared to the guy's other releases this week. Trojan - - You've been snuck into a castle textured with stone and brick of all varieties, and now you have to find your way to the main gates. Whilst exploring you'll come across a library, a kitchen, a bedroom, and storage rooms that account for the cheesiest realism attempt Sphagne has made yet. N.D.R. 3 by Tom Hooke - - If you look over here, you'll see a fairly straightforward single-player Doom 2 map textured very very brown. N.D.R. 3 replaces Map01 and struts on stage wearing tired, linear find-the-key gameplay in a collection of claustrophobic stone tunnels and overcrowded crate rooms. Most all of the action can be found in just four or five rooms of the entire map, two of which contain an irritatingly placed archvile making what fun there is even less fun. This is the kind of thing I expect to see when I pull some random wad from in-span. It's only a fifteen-minute play or thereabouts but with all the other cool junk reviewed this week I'd let it go. The NEW DOOM by Ernie Stockham, Brian Davis & Others - - This is a 31-map (Map01-Map28 + Map30 and secret maps) megawad for Doom 2 and whether it's a joke or not I'm not even going to justify its existence with a review. If you want to know what you're getting into take a gander at the text file and screenshots. That's all. Lego Base - Original Cut by Russel Pearson - - Hahaha, well I'll try to avoid calling it an excuse to make really really square architecture. I guess you'd know what to expect visually, especially after seeing the screenie, so I'll cut straight to the way this map plays. You know that gesture where you hold your hand horizontally and shake it a bit, but giving that weird whiskey face at the same time so you're like 'pretty good, but ehhh...'? Yeah, that. I give it that. Really I like the layout, it's connective and nonlinear, which you'd think would make for an ace map coupled with the perfect ammo/health balance but the frigging archviles just ruined this map for me. Monster placement is a skill and obviously Russel didn't spend enough time on the field after school practicing with the viles; these bastards tend to just POP OUT from behind a corner at random when you're already trying to deal with a herd of mancubi and imps. I died way too much because of a rogue vile I couldn't reach. Oh yeah, if you've played the first Lego Base you'll recognize this, it's an earlier version of that slightly more playable release. SEKKUSU by Mystic (Andrew McKie) - - Sekkusu replaces Doom 2 Map01 with a slick color-coded tech complex. The lacks of distinct architectural structures and detail is made up for by the visual style offered by the textures, sprites, and the absolutely beautiful use of Legacy 3D (at one point in the 'red' area I thought I was walking on a mirrored floor). The map gives off this whole 'futuristic dance club' aura with the bright coloring and the transparent floors; I'm not sure if that was Mystic's intention but if he tells me otherwise I won't hear him because I'll be jamming out to whatever crazyassed EBM groups they play in futuristic dance clubs. This one gets extra points for being nonlinear, there's no one direction you have to go from the start of the map to get to everything you need to get to. This adds a slight feel of exploration to the map, particularly in the early parts. Sekkusu's major flaw is its consistency. There's different colored areas with different shapes and structure but really this has the same motif going for it from start to finish. Personally I didn't find this to take that much away from the map however, and if you want one more reason to give this one a go, it has a multiple-story DM arena set aside from the normal map. Requires Doom Legacy. The Stronghold by Draconio - - Drac's first of three DM maps released in time for this update, The Stronghold replaces Doom 2 Map01. The map consists of a fairly square grey arena with an RLS, chainguns, shotguns, and green armor in each corner, catwalks wrapping around the edges and a large pit taking up space in the middle that's blocked by a low ceiling. You teleport into said pit from the fenced catwalks but unfortunately the only way out is via lifts, and although they don't have a long way to travel, the three seconds you have to sit idle is plenty of time for your opponent(s) to get a fast, easy frag. This is made even worse by the fact that there's no major reward down there, just more average weapons and more green armor. The map is balanced (for the most part), but due to its symmetry, clutteredness (bad ffa map) and that one major design flaw I wouldn't waste my bandwith hosting a server for this map. Subterranean Prison by Draconio - - This one is a bit more interesting than The Stronghold. Subterranean Prison runs on Doom 2 Map01 and takes the fragfest to a large open-roof arena made up of two squares connected at the corner. Pillars in each square area are topped with an SSG or an RL and can be reached via teleporters in a one of two series of small hallways added to the sides of the map. Chainguns can be snagged after a trek up a long ledge on either end of the arena and then brought to 'prison cells' for sniping purposes. It's still a symmetrical map but manages to stay fun with its unique and connective layout. I still might not use my bandwith for a Subterranean Prison server but hey I'd probably join one. Computer Core by Draconio - - ...and here's the third. Doom 2 Map01 replaced with a single grey room full of obstructive blocks and hugged by watery hallways that lead into weaponry rooms. Yes it's symmetrical, and yes it unfortunately lacks the interesting map design of Subterranen Prison to make up for that. Probably the worst thing about this map is how most all of the weapons are kept solely in the storage rooms put aside away from the spawnspots; this really encourages camping in ffa and turns those games into control contests ala Quake. I recommend you try out Subterranean Prison and leave this one and The Stronghold sitting in /newstuff.

Your Windows calendar probably tells you that I am once again late with my /newstuff reviews but if you are so computer illiterate as to take that for granted I recommend you install a more idiot-friendly operating system such as FreeDOS or possibly Redhate Lunix. And then strip naked and fling yourself down a muddy embankment. This is truly a good week for Doom players as wadsters worldwide conspire to release all their little planned projects during the exact same week in an attempt to break my E A S and D keys so that I'd have to spend next Sunday at the CompUSA getting a new keyboard instead of at home reviewing Doom wads! Oh no! DSV Episode 4: The Revolution: Eternity version, Legacy version by Kaiser - - Lookie, a Doom 2 megawad. Let's get the week started, shall we? DSV4 is a levelset replacing all 32 Doom 2 Maps. The backstory involves a computer virus and hell somehow, I could be wrong seeing as how I'm pretty sure I was off getting pop-tarts while the intro was running. Bah to the storyline though, the maps are absolutely great. The first 20 are base-themed, some reminiscent of early Doom 2 maps, some with a Doom 64 look and feel (appropriate considering Doom 64 sprites and textures were used frequently). The last 10 or so maps take place in an equally cool and kinda spooky Hell. DSV4 has some of the best base maps I've seen slip through /newstuff to date, with convincing detailing and lighting and connective map layouts. The difficulty on UV is moderate; the most expert of you out there won't be touched by DSV but nonetheless Kaiser did a good job of keeping the action flowing. You'd really be a fool not to check this one out. Requires Eternity or Doom Legacy (Legacy version recommended for netplay). Monster Base by Richard J. Sham - - This wad contains the most annoying 'pain' sound I have ever in all my years of dooming had the displeasure of hearing. With that in mind, on to the review! Monster Base is a single map of vague theme replacing Doom 2 Map01. I'll be blunt and say that the visual style of this map is pretty awful, the architecture is really rather square and boring and the texture choice seemed wacky during some parts of the map (see screenie for example. That's an awful lot of computers, a little SILVER/SHAWN may have polished it up a little). The map basically sends you on the typical three-key hunt, but Rich throws a curveball or two throughout the course of the map. Getting to each key usually requires you fight through one or more large rooms or halls flooded with monsters, sometimes hidden by remote doors or teleported in via 'teleport monsters only'. This didn't catch on with me much, although there was a maze of sorts in the second half of the map that was really challenging and fun. By far the most interesting thing about Monster Base was the unique layout, I did admire how the different sections of the map connected and worked with each other. It may sort of seem insignificant compared to the major project releases this week but Monster Base is worth checking out if you've got the time. Circle of Boredom by Dumb n00b - - Er well this'll be a nice easy review. Circle of Boredom is a Doom 2 Map01 replacement consisting of a medium-sized ASHWALL circle with loads of weapons and powerups, a few mancubuses, a boss spawn in the center, and an exit teleport across from the player start. Since you can finish the map in about two or three seconds by running past the mancubuses and into the exit I assume (with no help from the txt file) that the purpose of the map is to see how long you last in the arena with the constantly-spawning baddies. If that sounds remotely fun to you give Circle a go but even if you're that easily amused it's hard to take any map with an unmerged sector count of 4 seriously. Area_Hidden Death2 by Kyle - - You see I put this map and Circle of Boredom in the middle of the /newstuff because I assume that's the section that everyone is least interested in... I mean if I wrote a /newstuff and it had three new wads, and you only had time to download one of them, without reading the reviews or anything, you'd probably download the first or last, right? Blah. Well, the point is this wad is lame, a mess of empty STARTAN and REDWALL hallways with doors that don't reopen and trap you in little item closets, a constant 104 ceiling height, and two spider masterminds. Have fun. Dissolution by Bryant and Kevin Robinson - - Based on tha Robinson brothas' previous track record of rereleasing wads I'd say there's a 60% chance or thereabouts of Dissolution having come out under my nose half a year ago. This wad is really off da chizain though so I'm going to run the risk of being told that 'omg this was released back in 1976 you stupid dumb retarded stupid idiot' and review it anyway; Dissolution is a seven-map (Map01-Map07) mini-episode for Doom 2 that's meant as a side-story to their previous release 'Project Slipgate'. This wad pits you and your stylish Doom 64 weapons against six brownish-grey gothic stone castles worth of baddies (first map is an intro). The maps look so nice you can smell them and as I explored couldn't help but think about where I'd be putting all my furniture if I were to move into one of them (I also noticed some spots that would need wallpapering to cover up those nagging texture misalignments). The textures chosen in each map all work together nicely... the ambient sounds also take the atmosphere to a whole new level. Dissolution is undoubtedly a great-looking episode, where it fails is in the extremely linear map design. The gameplay feels very 'go here and do that', even for Doom. You'll also have to do quite a bit of backtracking through hallways you've already cleared to get to x door that y switch or z key opened. These little gameplay faults however I don't think took away from the overall experience and I'd wager that Dissolution is worth the download. Requires ZDoom. Carnage Galore III: Fury of Vuradi by Robert Eckhardt - - Jesus tapdancing christ in heaven it's a new Hexen hub. And it has a Tome of Power. New Hexen content, Tome of Power. I SAID NEW HEXEN MAPS (yes Hexen the undermodded Doom engine game with the three classes and the hub system) WITH A TOME OF POWER (yes that super-cool weapon powerup that was in Heretic but not Hexen), AND IF THAT IS NOT REASON ENOUGH FOR ME TO STOP TYPING AND FOR YOU TO HOVER YOUR MOUSE CURSOR OVER THE BLUE TEXT AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS LIST ITEM THEN YOU ARE FREE TO CLIMB INTO MY ATTIC AND REMAIN THERE WITHOUT FOOD OR WATER UNTIL I CAN DECIDE EXACTLY WHAT I WANT TO DO WITH YOU. If you're one of those silly gits expecting a real review, here: Carnage Galore 3 is a replacement for the entire first Hexen hub. It's made up of a series of 'town' maps connected by a Wastelands-esque outdoor hub map (the hub works sorta like Necropolis and its tombs). The maps are excellently detailed; the architechture is very beautiful and well thought-out... the town maps looked convincing in particular, and I'm glad the author chose not to try to be too realistic within the limits of the engine. The gameplay is also perfected, each map provides a constant challenge while avoiding the 'humoungous armies of evil d00ds' and the 'guard each valuable item with a remote door hiding a humoungous army of evil d00ds'. A wealth of new enemies and items were added to the mix including the loveable clinker from Heretic, the Tome of Power, and a regeneration potion... also notable are the 'marketplaces', or areas set aside in each 'town' where you can use gears er I mean coins that you collect along the way to buy much needed mana or armor (or even a new weapon or puzzle piece). The only possible downside to this wad that I can think of is the need for JHexen and the painful and slow installation process. This is the levelset Hexen fans have been craving for a long, long time. Requires JHexen.

As a tribute to my 'unprofessionalism', /newstuff was delayed a day. Sorry. The /newstuff gods have responded to our sacrifices with six new wads this week, and I do believe there's a little something for everyone. DMers, SPers, Guns'N'Roses fans, and AndrewB will all be overjoyed with this gift from the heavens and if they aren't they'll probably be smitten. Better playing Ralphis maps than smitten, right? Thought so. Narcosis by Espi - - Narcosis is a Doom 2 Map01 DM replacement that consists of a circular marble arena lined with catwalks. A metal structure in the middle of the map cuts off the player's view of the opposite side and creates three seperate paths in and out of each side... it's an uninteresting layout if I may say so but it works just fine. One nice little aspect of the DM play that made me squeal was the variety in availiable weapons; that is, this isn't just another big arena with SSGs littered in random places. You'll have to make good use of every projectile weapon in Doom but the BFG9000 (and the plasma doesn't even get spammed, imagine). The map is comfortable for 2-4 player DMs, spawnfrag-safe. The only real downside to the map is that it has some qualms with playing correctly in Doom2.exe, so whatever OlDsKeWlErS actually read my reviews may have to tear themselves away from the dos prompt for a few games. Narcosis is kind of like a refreshing one-week myrtle beach vacation away from the frantic SSG duels forced by ZDaemon's 29 Dwango5 servers and 1 Vex DM server... minus the seafood diet and the insane heat. Advanced Doom port recommended. Eidolon's Lair by Alexis Aiello - - Amazing, a new Heretic wad... nothing too original though, rather a conversion of Hexen 2's final boss map to an older engine. Eidolon's Lair runs on Heretic E1M1 and gives you a choice of three opponents (D'Sparil, a Maulotaur, or an Ironlich, all of which are some three+ times easier than Eidolon himself) depending on the difficulty level you choose to play on. I also noticed that this map is also quite a bit, eh, smaller and brighter than the Hexen 2 original (or I need to play Hexen 2 again). That's kinda it I guess... if you've played the original you may have some fun with this one but it's really safe to stay away from, even if you're a Heretic. The Rocks / Mossvale Estate by Alex Parsons - - Alex Parsons returns with his best-looking and worst-playing wad yet! The wad with the variable name sports an impressive monster count of 700+, irritating chaingunners placed on very high ledges and pesky revenant gangs withstanding. The map is set on a series of cliffs textured with, yes, SP_ROCK1. Said cliffs surround a marble ruin that you'll weave your way in and out to get to the exit. Really I think the architecture looks like a million bucks, it exemplifies beauty through simplicity. Like all his previous maps however, there isn't much in the way of dodging room and there's a lot more to deal with in this one. Playing it on UV felt more like work than a game; I had a blast running around like an idiot with -nomonsters on though. Maybe I'm just retarded. Advanced Doom port required. Telekenesis by Black Void - - A semi-hellish map to replace Doom 2 Map01, Telekenesis (eh) had me hitting the quickload button a bit more than I'm used to doing. This wad is really visually lacking... save a swank archvile fight in a dimly-lit metal room there isn't much to distinguish it from a bunch of twisty hallways but man this map hits home with me gameplaywise. The ammo is placed almost teasingly and you'll be forced in and out of tight spots and near-death experiences. If you don't aim your shots carefully you may find yourself having to box with a revenant or make a mad dash through a horde of demons for the box of shells at the other end of the room. I also got a rare chance to use my head once or twice too, although I try not to work it too hard and doom does a good job of keeping. Telek...e...nesis gets my personal recommendation but your milage may vary... just give it a shot and see. Advanced Doom port required. Anarchy by Dejan - - CAUSE SHE'S PLAYIN' ALL NIGHT! AND THE MUSIC'S alright which ones are Guns'n'Roses again? Bah, it doesn't matter, this is a three map replacement for Plutonia Map01-Map03 (yes I said Plutonia, but I didn't see any problems when I tried it with Doom 2, feel free to give it a go yourself). The first two maps take place in what is either some kind of cavern or mine, or texture misalignment Hell... the third takes place on the surface. The detailing is the strong point here, all the construction and architecture looks well thought-out and believeable, and there's touches of nostalgic early realism (beds, toilets) in the first map. The wyKkEd tYtE mine environment of the first two maps makes the wad worth downloading, despite a texturing job that looked intentionally bad in a spot or two (no, not talking about the giant Guns'n'Roses poster in Map03). Too bad the gameplay got played-out after the first map, I really think a little less ammo would've made things a bit more exciting; having a plasma and 600 shells halfway through the first map dulls things up mighty fast. Oh and there's a music replacement too, I'll leave it up to you to figure out who it's by. AndrewB Still Sucks It by Ralphis - - My comrade-in-arms and well-respected community member Ralphis harnesses the power of WadAuthor to bring us the only single-player Dooming experience of this caliber since 'AndrewB Sucks It'. The wad replaces Doom 2 Map01 and consists of a flesh arena speculated to be the interior of a certain person who is said to 'suck it'. Surprise, he is filled with dangerous hell demons from hell and it is your job as Corporal Flynn Taggart to clean the place up, undertake the rigorous search for the red, blue, and yellow keys, and escape in one piece. In true andrewb.wad fashion, you will be rewarded for surviving the onslaught with a nifty piece of automap art, drawn in the 'avoid creating anything remotely resembling architecture' style. So the textures are misaligned, so the map is short, so there's no detail, the fact that I'm here reviewing it makes it a work of ironic genius and it's staying in my /pwads dir.

Two major Doom projects released in one week and I'm on a tight schedule, imagine. As you're reading this I'm probably down in Florida or Texas or wherever Myrtle Beach is so before you post any complaints remember I won't hear them for a while. Five wads, forty maps, let's get started. 2002: A Doom Odyssey by Various Authors - - Hey, lookie, an Ultimate Doom megawad. That means, like, no SSG. ADO replaces every last bit of the Ultimate Doom, each episode respectful to the original it replaced. The maps look very nice save some blatant texture misaligning and the map layouts well thought-out. The effort put into the maps by the authors to keep ADO as doom2.exe compatible as possible is admirable. Also, amusing backstory. 'Tommy the Trooper', heh. Robotic Nightmares by Kim Vidal - - Remember a couple weeks ago when I reviewed 'Robotic Dreams', that ucking fugly couple of poorly textured silver platforms that you were supposed to dm on? Only three weeks later, the magic of monsters and keys has allowed the cutting edge in DM maps has become the cutting edge in SP maps! Robotic Nightmares consists of four SP wads, each one replacing Doom 2 Map01 and each one bearing the exact layout of Robotic Dreams but with varying amounts and types of monsters to distinguish between the 'easy' and 'hard' (nah) versions. I'd expect this gem to have a cult following of speedrunners too because that's about all anybody's going to bother doing gameplaywise. The verdict on Robotic Nightmares: 'suck'. xFire5 by Lee Szymanski - - More xFire dm goodness from... eh, that guy with the hard-to-pronounce last name who makes the xFire wads (*cough* sorry I don't reply to your emails more often I'll get around to it really :(). This one runs on Doom 2 Map03 and shares the same TEKGREN/BRONZE texturing scheme as the previous xFire maps. The map is made up of a series of indoor hallways build around an outdoor pool with a 'big pickup' (a bfg for skill 5) in the middle. The Umbrella by Epyo - - Although this author is the one and same Epyo that brought us the dismally awful 'Crackers'n'Tea' some week or two ago, Umbrella (Doom 2 Map01-Map03) is a much more concentrated effort and a much more worthy play. Theme consistency, logical texturing choices, and ammo/health balance are starting to show through in Epyo's maps, all that's lacking is advanced architecture/detailing. I'd wager the best of the bunch as map02, a strange half-techy labratory map. Requires ZDoom. Ni'mRoD - IXNAY on the HOMBRE by UNHOLY Software - - I feel almost guilty right now because I've never done a single thing to deserve getting to play Nimrod. I haven't had so much fun playing not just Doom but any FPS game in a long, long time. If somehow you don't know already this is a ten map (Map01-Map10) Doom 2 partial conversion for Doom Legacy that gives you the role of a half-machine warrior 30 years after the happenings of the original doom games. 'Oh no, I detect a hint of plot!' Yes, there'll be a twist or two... coupled with the awesome dark, apocalyptic atmosphere, Nimrod would make a swank comic book. As for the maps themselves, they're well, simply beatiful. Legacy 3d is used expertly to create complex architecture and scenery and lighting levels are used excellently to add that 'creepy' feeling where it's needed. The gameplay borders on the line of an adventure game, with puzzles to solve next to the classic shoot'em'up gameplay. I'd write more but I'm being forced out the door as I type so keep in mind that Nimrod is frigging amazing and you should download it now.

Welcome to my review column! I kiss you! This week's measly two-map offering won't keep you in your seat much longer than an hour and a half, so crawl out from behind your computer screen, go outside, breathe in the fresh air, and try not to choke on a bug or melt or anything. Then you wouldn't be able to play the wads that show up in /newstuff next week... because you'd be dead. Not dead like dead in a tech base or Gothic ZDoom map, but dead in your front lawn, and you probably haven't seen that in Doom. Blinded by Fear by Patrik Hoglund - - Grul's own 'teleport monsters only' palace for Doom 2 Map01. This one's a tech-y map sorta reminscent of a few of the early Doom 2 maps (Map04, Map06)... except with better architecture. Architecture I believe was the high point of Blinded even though gameplay was the author's focus. It's a golden example of beauty through simplicity and makes for a very convicing starbase map despite a few 'ugh' texture misalignments, while the 'stand in front of a teleport and shoot everything that comes out of it' thing got very tired very very fast. Aside from a pretty cool archvile battle and a hallway where monsters teleport in from BOTH SIDES (woo), Blinded gets no awards for fun from me. Of course it's one of two stinking wads this week so you should probably download it to prolong your inevitable death (by choking on a bug, the little flying bastards). Sin by Inferno_45 - - Hey, swank dungeon. I'd want to live in this map if it wasn't for ZDoom. Inferno/Bardcat/whatever you're used to calling him shows off this intensely challenging Doom 2 Map01 replacement. Sin forces the player through an awesome looking Gothic castle, most credit for the 'awesome looking' to the atmospheric lighting. Think of all the stuff you could hide from your parents in the dark corners... yeah. Anyway, cool gameplay factor: you have to make good use of every last bullet and pick up every bit of ammo you can find. Missing a few shots can leave you having to tyson your way past a horde of baddies later for the ammobox across the room. This map isn't a pushover, and that leads us to one of the problems with sin, it only appeals to veteran doomers since difficulty settings are not implemented. The other problem is that 95% of the ZDoom features used are just fluff. A doom2.exe compatible map could've been made out of this and the gameplay would've been almost the exact same (death to particle fountains). Oh yeah, there's a soundtrack by Julian, rock on. Requires ZDoom.

Five new wads, twenty new maps, and seven more days of Doom until the next /newstuff. This week you'll frag your friends in a tech-base arena, try to escape from the claustrophobic hallways of a marble temple, stare in disgust at messy texturing gunk, and take a visit to whatever planet that shub-niggurath thing comes from. Also someone please mail me and tell me just why ZDoomGL takes screenshots in .raw format. The Real Crusher by Black Void - - The fun this week starts with 'The Real Crusher', a Doom 2 Map06 replacment with a good fifteen-twenty minutes of the same old 'hide, shoot, clear the room, move on' action. The stone and blood and marble suggests that the map takes place either in a cave or in Hell, I'm not exactly sure but either way it's pretty ugly. Ammo and health are balanced reasonably well but that doesn't make up for the consistently dull gameplay. Safe to pass up. xfire4 by Lee Szymanski - - One 'Fen Boi' brings us this in-your-face Doom 2 DM map (Map02), fitting for serious one-on-one games or 3-4 player FFA. Xfire4 sports a typical, circular arena-type design, although the doom2.exe 'instant lift' in the inner circle adds a little spice to the DM action. I disagree with the usage of the soulsphere, especially when it's so easy to grab, but I didn't find it to seriously harm the map's balance. Er, yeah, probably a nice alternative to Dwango 5 too *cough*. Worth a look. Crackers 'n Tea by Epyo - - As much as I want to sum up this entire wad with 'ugh', I think that'd reflect poorly on myself as a reviewer. Crackers 'n Tea is a six map wad replacing Doom 2 Map01 through Map06, each map with it's own little storyline (paragraph walkthrough of the map in the txt file). Each map is also made up of a variety of different themes (including 'palace of disgusting mancubus textures that suggest Epyo has his gamma off kilter', 'some whirlpool palace or something' and 'big wood temple with furniture on the ceiling'), and has a thumping soundtrack containing midi covers of ridiculously popular rock bands like Tool. Short maps, bad architecture (with the possible exception of Map05), terrible texturing, back to the drawing board. Oh and you'll need Zdoom for this one, but only because of a particle fountain or two and a single ledge that's too high to reach without jumping. The Temple by Sébastien "Darkstalker" Roy - - A very simple vanilla-compatible Doom2 map taking place in a green marble... uh, temple (which has a nice, pretty view from the outside), The Temple is a worthy play if you're disgusted by the next wad reviewed for whatever reason. The map is fairly straightforward gameplaywise; shoot your way through some hallways, flip all the right switches, get all the keys and make it out alive. The major downsides to the map is the disappointingly simple architecture past the first outdoor area and the minimal usage of lighting, both of which did loads to take away from what could've otherwise been a very atmospheric map. Check Temple out if sourceports aren't your thing. Project Slipgate by Bryant and Kevin Robinson - - Hey, remember Dark 7 and the Dark 7 mission pack? From the exact same mapper(s) that brought you those delightful wads comes Project Slipgate, a tasty 11 new ZDoom maps (Map01-Map05, Map12-Map16, Map18) that are very true to... uh, Quake. As a matter of fact, almost all the sounds, textures and graphics come from Quake, and the authors recommend playing this wad in ZDoomGL with the ZDGL MD2 pack to give your weapons and enemies that low-quality poorly-animated zing that the Quake models had. Hey! Don't be too afraid. Just cause it looks like Quake doesn't mean it's lost all elements of that classic Doom gameplay you all know and love... it just eh, added a few new elements in. In any event, I would hope nobody would pass this up because you need a jump key, these maps are balanced, fast paced, challenging, and save a few gross texture misalignments, some of them look damn good. Worth looking into, requires ZDoom.

It's a Deathmatch-oriented /newstuff this week as two new DM wads for a total of 33 DM maps wiggle their way out of /incoming and into /newstuff, including the already insanely popular megawad Green War. If you outplay that, there's one extra map here for your fragging pleasure (or possibly pain). Load up ZDaemon, the Doom Connector, MSN Zone, or whatever you use to frag your friends and enjoy. Robotic Dreams by Kim Vidal - - Kim Vidal takes idiotic plasma spam to a whole new level with Robotic Dreams, a 2-4 player DM map running on Doom 2 Map01. Compressing four player starts into about 5% of an arena consisting of three gigantic gray platforms of varying height, this gem's gameplay consists of spawning, firing your plasma around like an idiot until you get killed by the guy behind you, and respawning. Rinse, lather, repeat. If you get bored you can always teleport up a few platforms to snag a soulsphere but I guarantee you'll be about ten frags behind when you get back down. Playing one-on-one fixes that little map design issue, but it doesn't help the repetetive gameplay at all. Also the new textures don't tile. At all. Safe bet to pass this one up. Advanced Doom port required. Green War by Jason "Hellbent" Root - - Avid DM mapper Hellbent releases this awesome Doom 2 DM megawad for your fragging and not-playing-Dwango-5 pleasure. Green War consists of 32 mainly outdoor base-like maps in the vein of the early Doom and Doom 2 maps, some good for one-on-one, some more suited for 4 player FFA, and some which offer great DM gameplay for either one (unlike, say, Dwango 5). The majority of the maps have an extremely deathmatch-friendly design (read: multiple entrances to each area, good mix of spacious arenas and narrow hallways, no irritating nukage pools or dead-ends, no megaspheres or badly-placed soulspheres, etc). Where the wad fails is in the architectural design... not that detail is of high importance in a DM wad but some maps don't have anything to distinguish them from the next 'series of rooms and hallways' fragfest. I didn't find that to do anything to lessen the experience however, so with the exception of one or two 'spam maps' that snuck their way in *cough*Map25*wheeze*, Green War is a winner. ZDaemon regulars should eat this one up.

Four nice new wads this week, including a brand new 9-level Doom 2 episode. Yeah, I'm late again before you say it. Stop waiting until late Saturday afternoon to upload your maps or I will send an army of elite lizard warriors to flay the skin from your bones. Fountain of Pain by frwl - - Fountain of Pain is the author's first map... and uh, heh, well, it's a first map! This one's a DM map replacing Doom 2 Map01. The fragging here takes place in two main areas connected by teleports: one terribly textured marble/stone/vine courtyard (with a gigantic 'fountain' in the middle), and a small series of tech base rooms. Unfortunately though, there's more than enough silly gameplay quirks and balance issues to keep me from wanting it on a ZDaemon server. First off, the courtyard is almost stupidly spacious for a dm arena. An easy-to-reach plasmagun makes the tech base area a haven for fagot campars. Just grabbing a single-shotgun requires a 10-second hike up an extremely narrow spiral staircase. If you dare attempt to grab a rocket launcher, you may accidentally find yourself falling into a teleport leading to a tiny cage near the fountain, in which case you can do nothing but sling rockets around like an idiot and hope you get a frag before your opponent(s) notice you're helpless (which is harder than it should be due to the large amount or ROCKET EATING WALLS). Though, if I've sparked your interest somehow, it couldn't hurt to spend 10 minutes in it with Skulltag or OPNdoom. The Highlands by Alex Parsons - - Feels like I've been here before, feels so familiaaar, feels like I'm slippin... *ahem* ok I'll stop. Despite the feeling of deja-vu caused by the fact that the map looks almost exactly like his previous work 'Outlands', I found Alex Parsons' newest offering a blast to play. The minute you spawn in this SP_ROCK1 fortress you'll be assaulted by a pack of Revenants, and it'll take some MaD sTrAfErUnNiNg SkIlLz to find safe haven. From that point on you'll have to fight your way past tunnels packed with imps, cliffs and ledges guarded by sniping chaingunners, a pesky cacodemon squad from beyond, and enough revenants to make you start hearing their screeching battle cries in your sleep. The monster count on UV is frightening considering the size of the map, but with some speedrunning experience and the aid of a megasphere or two, you'll make it out alive. Oh, and someone record a 100% kills demo for extra love and kisses from Liam. Advanced Doom port recommended. Flow Form by Jason "Hellbent" Root - - A gem of a Doom 2 DM map, Flow Form offers perfectly balanced deathmatch play (for one-on-one or ffa games) and a unique, nonlinear map design. It kinda looks like a stone ruin or something, but that DOESN'T REALLY MATTER because there's NO stupid dead-end hallways, NO plasma spam, NO powerup hoarding, and NO retarded nukage pools. The Doom2.exe instant lift trick rocks here too, even though it's implementation is simple. Also, the botplay rules. Hellbent knows his game so download this now, and then download all his other maps and play them instead of Dwango 5 plz, thnx. One Bloody Night by Erik Alm - - I hope you like your quickload button. I'm finishing this joyous week off with a 9 map Doom 2 episode, Map01 - Map09. There's some particularly cool maps in this one, including one of the best town/city maps I've seen in a while, a sweet Map29 knockoff, and a particularly cool Icon of Sin arena. Although the maps generally look great, the wad is so challenging you may have trouble surviving to take in all of the scenery. The last few maps will leave even experienced doomers in a pile on the concrete under their apartment window. Though, if it's too hard for you on UV I highly recommend you swallow your pride and step down a difficulty level or two, it's worth it. Insaaaane props to Erik for doom2.exe compatibility and for resisting the temptation to teleport in Hell's entire revenant population every time you snag a soulsphere or a key. Music replacements ranging from 'swank' to 'repetitve' to 'irritating' included. Can't wait to see some demos for this one. Absolutely recommended.

Sorry about the major delay, folks, but I was up and out of town, busy with family stuff. If you didn't already go rooting through /newstuff to find these five new wads when you realized T/nC was missing, I've reviewed them as always to make picking your downloads a little bit easier. Deathmatch Street by Pascal "Gherkin" vd Heiden - - Let's get things started. Deathmatch Street is, well, a deathmatch map set in a large street. Replacing Doom 2 Map01, DM Street sports a unique layout. The street itself is very empty, although the buildings on either side of it are full of cramped hallways, alleys, and passages (this is also where many of the goodies are stored). This one should be suitable for about 3-4 players. The text file recommends that this map be played in Doom Legacy with the gravity set to 0.6, although it's not a requirement. Satan's Arena by Pascal "Gherkin" vd Heiden - - Gherkin's second map this week, Satan's Arena is a single deathmatch map built with Skulltag's Instagib mode in mind. The action takes place in what is essentially a stone pit, surrounded by cliffs and ledges of varied height and size. You can use it for a normal Doom 2 DM, but it's very, very cramped. I'd suggest you fire up Skulltag and play it the way it was meant to be played. Should make for intense one-on-one games. King of Pain by Sean Bernard - - This here is a four-map wad for Doom 2 replacing Map01-Map04... unfortunately though, it's not very good at all. It's supposed to have an 'industrial' theme... although the choice in texturing doesn't really seem to suggest any particular theme or setting. The gameplay, for the most part, consists of running through boringly square stone or metal hallways and arenas with a chaingun blazing until you find a key, just to backtrack empty rooms to the right door. Lighting is used infrequently and uncreatively. There's three times as much ammo as you really need and all the battles should be a breeze even for a novice doomer. There's a humorous new texture or two, though. I wouldn't recommend downloading it unless you're really groping for new Doom maps. Sinistrad by Alex Parsons - - Man, Alex Parsons sure does spend a lot of time in front of WadAuthor. A single-player map replacing Doom 2 Map01, Sinistrad is his fifth wad in five weeks. Taking a break from the 'dark caverns and chasms' theme of his last few maps, this one takes place in a very bright shrine of zimmer, wood, and stone. Novice and intermediate doomers will be driven to tears with this map (tiny rooms and corridors stuffed with revenants, barons, and archviles)... but the Doom elite should have a blast trying to tackle this map on Ultra-Violence. You can be sure, however, that no matter what your skill level, there's enough ammo to get you to the exit. Advanced Doom port recommended. Outpost of Hell by Ismaele - - Outpost of Hell is a fairly large Doom 2 map replacing Map01. There are two separate themes used to create the map as a whole: a painfully underdetailed marble maze, and a typical gray base area. While the map is big, it probably won't keep you entertained long enough to get to the exit... the gameplay is very generic and very repetetive. In a sentence, you run through some halls, find and flip a switch, then backtrack to the door it opened and continue. There isn't anything interesting to see architecturally either, it's rare just to see a major change in floor/ceiling height. What variation there is is usually just irritating and pointless, like the little door puzzle next to the yellow key. Savegames don't work properly with Doom2.exe. I wouldn't recommend this one.

Thank you for shopping at /newstuff, that'll be four PWADS please. Foul Ruin by Alex Parsons - - Alex Parsons releases yet another map this week, the most challenging one in his series so far. Replacing Doom 2 Map01, Foul Ruin takes place in a dank stone labyrinth filled with demons, traps, and obstacles. Much more varied and interesting than previous Parsons maps, which were consistent almost to the point of being boring, you're never quite sure what Foul Ruin will force on you next. It's a great challenge on UV; play with the 'run through the map like a madman and shoot stuff' attitude and you'll break your quickload key. The map looks great without detailing to the point of slowing Zdoom down to 3 FPS, and the gameplay is fresh, exciting and balanced... a worthy download without a doubt. Advanced Doom port required. MAD STUFF FOR DOOM 2 by Paul Corfiatis - - Paul Corfiatis creates this 6-map wad for Doom 2 almost 9 years after its release to demonstrate the shocking and widely-unkown fact that the doom monsters are stupid and can kill each other. Consisting of six (probably) intentionally terrible-looking maps and offbeat sound/music replacement, it warns 'serious doomers' in the text file that this 'may not be worth the download'. Unless you get a kick out of seeing your favorite doom monsters perform various entertaining feats such as 'hurt themselves' and 'hurt other demons', I really recommend that you not waste seconds of precious download time that you could be using to play Map20 or something... Into the Breach by Philip Renshaw - - Here we have a simple but fun single-player Doom 2 map replacing Map01. Breach.wad takes place in a fortress of stone and wood, vaguely similar in theme to some of the later Doom 2 originals (although much brighter). There's very little in the way of detail. It's obvious the author was focused was on gameplay... Into the Breach provides a considerable challenge on Ultra-Violence, even for the seasoned Doomer. The map is small but the time it takes to clear each room without killing yourself ensures that it'll be a long road out of Hell regardless. Nothing too exciting but worth the download if Foul Ruin wasn't enough for you. Complex 867 by Simon "Volte-Face" Broadhead - - I'm finishing this week off with yet another single-player map running on Doom 2 Map01. Complex 867 has good looking rooms and bad looking rooms, gameplay highs and gameplay lows alike. It covers more than one theme, as you teleport from tech base to marble fortress and back. This one doesn't take up a lot of space on the automap but, like Into the Breach, there's enough opposition to make sure it doesn't end too quick. There's a ton of secrets to be found (17 total), some obvious, some cryptic, and some just useless. The ammo/health balance is good enough and there's a good variety of cramped, claustrophobic rooms and hallways and gigantic outdoor battlefields to keep the gameplay interesting. Safe to ignore but a fun experience anyway. Advanced Doom port recommended.