brick

MAP04 "The Genome Labs" This is the first real challenge, a much more expansive map with many highlights. I'm always impressed with the doors-swing-open trick in Doom, and here it opens into absolute madness. There are a ton of hitscanners and imps, with some very strategically positioned arachnotrons, and it was not safe no matter where I ran. Establishing a foothold is tricky, and scoring this crazy beginning to Holst's Mars is very fitting. Even after things settle down there are some more surprises. Going into one of the dark labs, only to have the walls slide open and reveal shadows of test subjects makes for some fun visual storytelling. The main hallways are expansive and impressive, with the bright light contrasting well with the darker areas. The cyberdemon is announced quite a bit before getting to his arena, though BPRD does The middle finger of these fights and gives us a blursphere, which makes avoiding the rockets harder rather than easier. The plasma rifle softens him enough to finish him off with the SSG, but you could also just run past him (this might be luck-dependant, it worked for me but it seems others had more trouble). I got to a point eventually where I was down to the chainsaw but it's not so long as to be obnoxious, ammo is well balanced to be a problem but not a showstopper. The finale with the self-destruct button blowing up the army of inactive clones is such a satisfying cinematic cap. It's a great map... at least on continuous HNTR. MAP05 "Equinox Transport Hub II" We return for another very shot trip through the hub, but with a few small changes. There are visible signs of damage compared to the much cleaner MAP02, the small underground passage in particular holds a nice protective bonus. Ammo continues to be extremely scarce, the chainsaw saw much use. Not much else to say for such a tiny map. I like the reuse of the MAP02 music theme.

Brick | 1 wad | 9 maps Adventure | 8 wads | 28 maps Infernos (2013) by ReX Claussen. 9 maps for vanilla Doom. This is the last in a trilogy where @ReX took each of the IWAD episodes and embellished the maps, adding detail, increasing combat difficulty (while still limiting enemies to their respective episode, eg no cacos in E1) and changing the map progression to create new surprises. In terms of the latter Rex doesn't go overboard, think Wonderful Doom and small rearrangements of familiar architecture, rather than KDIZ. I'm not a huge fan of some of the design decisions, Rex has a tendency to take more open-ended maps and make them much more linear, it's very noticeable with Pandemonium and I think the remake is a lesser map. I was also a bit irked by a bug in Mt Erebus, the BSK is not properly tagged and doesn't appear on all difficulties, making the map impossible to complete (it is needed for both exits). Elsewhere though the changes work really well, Unholy Cathedral is an unpopular map but the streamlining here has done wonders to make it more fun and less of a chore, and all while preserving almost every sub-section that makes the original so recognizable. Warrens follows a very similar concept to the original E3M9 but the map is much more dynamic than a simple there-and-back now and the Cyberdemon surprise is both more challenging and more fun. Dis is now a medley of familiar pieces that then lead to a final fight in several stages, the Spiders are still easy to defeat (the huge caco cloud helps more than it hinders), but it's a lot more substantial than the original E3M8. I was impressed with the aesthetics, E3 can be frankly more ugly than the other episodes but Rex has managed to improve it tremendously, sometimes with added detailing but often simply with better texturing choices, even Hell Keep looks nice now. Phobos Revisited is still my favourite (maybe because I love E1 so much) but I think Infernos is better than Slight Return, the whole trilogy is great fun though.

GZDoom, Doom compat, software, HNTR, blind, continuous with saves. MAP02 "Equinox Transport Hub" I thought The Singularity Complex was the first Doom wad to use repeating maps to simulate a hub structure for an episode, but Equinox had already done it a couple of years earlier. It's a very small map with very light opposition. The map's strength is atmosphere and nonverbal storytelling, giving a glimpse of places that will be visited later. The Jupiter hologram looks great. MAP03 "The Canyon" This is meatier than the previous maps but still pretty straightforward. The canyon cannot be crossed directly but the sideway passage is pretty obvious, I'm very fond of those zigzag linedefs to create the impression of broken architecture. The air duct maze is a bit boring but thankfully doesn't go on for too long. The lab with obvious nasty experiments at the end is a nice atmospheric touch, especially since we did take the Genome Labs teleport back at the hub.

I wasn't initially planning on participating this month but I ended up playing Equinox over the weekend, so I might as well write up a map by map commentary. My impressions of each individual map is still fresh in my mind, so I'll write them up as if I had no knowledge of the later ones, reflecting my state of mind as I played each one. Spoiler alert, my opinion of the wad will not be homogeneous, but then it seems from hints dropped by others that I may not be alone in this. I'm also using the QOL patch that Devalous made (thank you!) and so will assign the map names from the patch, I always find names help me remember distinctive features of different maps more easily. GZDoom, Doom compat, software, HNTR, blind, continuous with saves. Continuous is a no-brainer for this mapset. HNTR turned out to not be a great idea, more on this in a few days. Normally I play with GZDoom's Strict compatibility settings for whatever the map type is, but I made an exception here because BPRD recommends ZDoom as a port of choice. MAP01 "Equinox Facility" In retrospect, knowing The Mucus Flow exists prepares us for this map, but for those who at the time had seen Nuts and expected BPRD to release a quick succession of jokewads, this must have come as a shock. Visually there's a lot to take in straight away: the new status bar, the pistol replacement sprite, that beautiful dark blue sky, and the grand architecture right in front of us. The impressive facade of the Equinox facility looms ahead, an obvious sign from BPRD that he means business. The inside of the facility looks just as good, with the very clean look of the main hall and the not so clean side passages that hint at hidden menace. Combat is very straightforward, but since we have nothing but the shotgun I'm not complaining. Secrets are delightful, whether those hidden inside the facility, or the stairs that take us all the way down to the beach, the footsteps in the sand and the very cute hideout. Short and quick playing map, but what an incredibly promising start!

Brick | 2 wads | 2 maps Adventure | 7 wads | 19 maps Hell 77 N°02 (2018) by Gillibert Raymond ak (Ramon_Demestre). 1 SP map for Doom II in limit-removing port. After @Endless gave such a superlative review I felt compelled to try it out. I'm glad I did, because this is indeed an awesome map. I didn't even bother with difficulties and started straight at HNTR; even there the combat is not what I'd call easy, but it's manageable with some patience and reloading while learning the layout. And more importantly by learning that there are very few safe spots at first. What's masterful is that Gillibert doesn't go for the easy way by just having everything be open so that projectiles come from all directions. There are offshoot passages and plenty of things to hide behind, but openings are positioned and passages bend so that there's always a little bit that's exposed, enough for the occasional fireball or pellet to hit when least expected. And speaking of open, the architecture is beautiful, the marble cavern with red rock and lava and blood is a marvel to behold, everything is interconnected and windows open the side passages onto the cavernous main rooms. Gillibert doesn't have a lot of wads on the archives but this has made me want to check them out. Europa 3 - The Dark Side of Vrack (2002) by Erik Alm. 1 SP/coop map for Doom II in Boom. This is the last in a loose trilogy that Erik released before he hit it big with Scythe. I admit I'm not a huge fan of the previous Europas, they are large and expansive maps with confusing layouts, way too much backtracking, and large and completely empty open spaces that quickly fill up with projectiles travelling from miles away (as mentioned in my Hell 77 comments that this isn't my favourite design). Europa 3 retains some of the design philosophies but refines them into a much better map. As you can guess from the subtitle it draws inspiration from the famous Vrack trilogy, most obviously by using its textures, but it still carries Erik's gameplay at its core. The outdoors are a large open space and indeed many projectiles will fly, but there's enough cover to make rushing from one section to the other very fun (this must be a blast in coop). There are two obvious arenas indoors, neither is very hard, the trickier combat parts are actually outside, as several progression points trigger a new wave of enemies and many opportunities for infighting. Some of the setpieces are trivial but are entertainingly cinematic, such as the windows opening on the distant archvile that can then be sniped with rockets. Visually the map is gorgeous, detailing is incredibly high but manages to remain uncluttered, much of it is ceiling eye candy and so doesn't interfere with gameplay or movement at all. Despite its size it's not a very long map, I was surprised when I realized I had killed everything and already opened up the exit, but it feels like it has excellent pacing with very little filler. It's probably the best of Erik's early maps. I'm pretty sure this isn't aimed at me, but just in case I wasn't clear I wanted to point out that I was playing on HNTR and continuous, as I always do unless the wad explicitly claims pistol-start is the only way to play (and most of those end up enforcing it through death exits or mapinfo). I think my problem with balancing stems from a darker version of "the way it's meant to be played", namely when UV is the intended difficulty and is the only one that is balanced for and tested, resulting in HNTR being more ammo-deprived and effectively harder than UV. I just realized that I could have remedied this, GZDoom now allows switching skill difficulty even during continuous play (it switches at the next map) so I could've confirmed this myself, but it didn't occur to me while I played. I'd like to come back to the wad in the future and try it out again on UV. I really enjoyed your review even though we have different opinions on some aspects of the wad (and the mapper in general). You also made me realize that I didn't focus on the visual storytelling as much as I should have, many wads try their hands at it (and there was some of it all the way back in E1) but Equinox has some of the best and most consistent I've seen, and all without a single typed word. Thanks for a great write-up.

Brick | 1 wad | 13 maps Adventure | 5 wads | 17 maps Equinox (2001) by B.P.R.D. 13 maps for Doom II in limit-removing port. My opinions on BPRD's work is very polarized. There's the jokewads, which I consider among the laziest and a low point for low-effort (and I'm not even talking about Nuts). Then there's The Mucus Flow, which I find visually magnificent but whose gameplay wows me and makes me want to format my drive to wipe all traces of it in almost equal proportions. I hadn't played Equinox before but knew to expect a serious work, but even then the first impression was overwhelming. There are lots of neat little touches (the pistol sprites, the status bar, the music) that give it a lot of personality, but that grand architecture greeting us as soon as the map opens makes such a a strong first impression. As I went on there were other neat ideas that I appreciated. MAP02 gets repeated (with some changes each time) every few maps to simulate a hub structure, I always thought The Singularity Complex was the first wad to use this "fake hub" approach but this was a few years earlier. The final map reprises the opening vista, with changes to colours and lighting to give it an incredibly ominous appearance. MAP04 was my favourite, there's a very hectic start, more grand architecture, such a fine ammo balance, and a great cinematic ending where we expose a lab with hundreds of demons being cloned then blow it all up (clever use of multiple Romero heads). Unfortunately, at the halfway point I ran into a severe problem with the way the wad is balanced for HNTR, namely that the monster count is almost the same but ammo is halved. I don't know if this was just a lack of playtesting or if BPRD did this on purpose (it's hard to tell with him) but it made the later maps such a slog. Infighting works in some cases, MAP09 is very good with this and was the most fun in that half, but on MAP07 and MAP10 particularly I just found some parts impossible to get through. It's a shame because some of the ideas there are very cool, such as MAP10's entire premise with the alien ship (and the "aliens") but greedily counting every cell and shell that I use and still having to chainsaw archviles (on continuous play too) was too much for me. In many ways my impressions are the same as for The Mucus Flow: amazing in some ways, top-notch architecture and level design, but some incredibly frustrating gameplay decisions.

Brick | 3 wads | 3 maps Adventure | 4 wads | 4 maps Alpha Map (2008) by Maarten Pinxten. 1 SP map for Doom II in ZDoom For something made so long after the game's release, and for a port with so many possibilities, hearing Running From Evil blaring out of the speakers is almost unforgivable. At first glance the map has a nice layout, there's good use of verticality and a good contrast between open outdoors and indoor spaces, but progression has that touch of randomness about it where you go around and push buttons and things happen but there's never a feeling of purposeful structure to it. At one point I spent some time trying to figure out what I was supposed to do in the NW area to keep progressing, then gave up and went elsewhere in the map, and then reached the exit without ever figuring out if I was supposed to do something there. Combat is likewise a bit all over the place, some of the encounters look like they could've been built in an interesting way but the shotgun and chaingun are the main staples (mostly the former due to ammo availability), outside of a secret SSG. I won't go as far as call this bad, it's just such a plainly ok map with nothing remarkable. My Soul Trapped in a WIN98 PC (2015) by Lukasxd. 1 SP map for Doom II in Boom. And on the other side of the spectrum, we have something definitely memorable. The title and "story" blurb made me expect something silly, and in some ways it is (how could it not be with those custom assets!) but there's a surprisingly solid use of these textures, they almost intuitively make sense (case in point, I never had trouble finding doors, lifts and switches) even while everything looks completely surreal. For anyone who was around in the late 90s seeing all of the banners for Netscape, Shockwave, Winamp or mIRC is certainly a trip down memory lane (funny to see Yahoo Mail on there too; I still have an address there). There must be a shortcut exit because I reached one with a full third of the map still unexplored, but I was enjoying myself so much that I kept going. I don't know if the map's inherent silliness will be everyone's cup of tea but I love it when an apparent jokewad masks some creative ideas and actually good mapping, progression is really well done and there are some delightful secrets to find. Thank you @lukasxd I had a great time with this. Island (1995) by Sean Mathews. 1 map for vanilla Doom II. And we're back to Running From Evil blaring out of the speakers, Sean's only wad on the archives, this is a relatively large map that could have been pretty good in an era with more advanced tools. There are glimmers of ideas in here, such as those columns at the beginning or the way various sections seem to have some purpose (the library is evoked well with very little detail). Unfortunately the map's also mostly flat, completely blocky, very brown, almost entirely in full bright. There are hundreds of enemies, mostly hitscan hell, and for a large part the only usable weapon is the regular shotgun. Not one that I can recommend.

Deviled (2018) by Mysterious Haruko(Misty). 1 SP map for Doom II in GZDoom. There are several nice custom assets here, including a pretty cool palette and several brightmaps. Everything looks different thanks to the modified colours, and the early use of portals adds to the feel of otherness. The map falls quickly into the more familiar Doom gameplay, with large groups of enemies attacking from multiple directions. I found the first segment for the BSK (which now looks more purple) to be ok, though the combat setpieces are not hugely interesting, slowly going through the big group of knights is more more about patience than skill. The YSK with the open sea and islands was more irritating, there's too much happening from too many directions, and the map is incredibly stingy with health and armour. The finale is against a much tougher Cyberdemon variant (not to be confused with the regular Cyberdemon guarding the YSK). I wasn't a big fan overall but it's not a bad map, and it certainly looks interesting.

Brick | 1 wad | 32 maps Adventure | 9 wads | 57 maps Unholy Realms (2013) by Brian Knox. 32 maps for Doom II in limit-removing port. Brian contributed to multiple projects over several years all while working on this, his magnum opus. Despite the requirement for removing static limits the maps are not very large and rarely go on for too long. If I had to guess I'd say Brian ran into the limits because of the detailing, many of the maps look beautiful. They can play very deadly too, Brian isn't shy about throwing nasty ambushes or using instant drop-down floors to throw the player into bad situations. I have to say I was impressed with the way some ambushes are setup so that monster closets will only open up on a repeat visit (usually after getting the key) but not the first time we walk past, I don't even know how this is possible without scripts or even Boom conveyors. Some of the ambush setups get very repetitive but I was still enjoying myself a lot, until MAP11 pissed me off, between the pitch black darkness, the very cramped fighting, that teleporting Cyberdemon finale, and a death exit to top it off. MAP12 is a nightmare of ammo starvation and shotgunning revenants, mancubi and barons in an open space with little cover. MAP14 had some obtuse progression: a switch with the RSK texture doesn't need a red key; elsewhere red bars won't open even with the key, which sent me looking for a switch that doesn't exist, other identical red bars elsewhere will open both sets. Unfortunately this is the point I realized I was no longer enjoying the wad or the direction both combat and progression had taken and my opinion never recovered from this dip. The last straw was a softlock in MAP26 due to incredibly poor design of the YSK trap. I stuck with the wad though because Primeval's music is simply incredible, this is one of the best custom soundtracks I've heard in a PWAD. I really can't stress enough just how good the music is, despite my gameplay misgivings I just wanted to hear all the wonderful tracks. Some were obvious remixes of Bobby (and even one form Kevin!) tracks ("Everybody Told Me About id" is masterful), some more or less subtle homages, most are completely original compositions, and every single one is awesome. Ultimately the music and the often gorgeous visuals made trudging through worth it, and those who like their combat challenge ramped up to the max will enjoy the combat a lot more than I did.

This sounds like a case of using a non-current version of the port, the latest stable GZDoom is 4.12.2 and if you look at the changelogs you'll see several fixes for MBF21 features that were previously not working properly. I'd advise updating and trying again.

This took me a while. Some of these choices will probably raise a few eyebrows. It makes me realize the number of wads I played each year is very variable, in some the choice was so easy because I've played so few in the first place. 2020 and 2021 were probably the hardest because there were so many good things in both years, and so many wads that appeal directly to my tastes. I changed the 2020 lineup half a dozen times, and I'm still not happy with it. 2021 first pick was the first one I made for the whole list (technically CG3 is still unfinished, but that was the year of the latest big content update) and then I spent forever making up my mind for the runner-up. I've played almost nothing from this year, I guess this will eventually change. I hesitated about including IWADs then decided for full PWAD selection (Romero ended up on the list twice anyway...). I'm happy how many times Heretic shows up, even Hexen is represented.

Brick | 2 wads | 2 maps Adventure | 8 wads | 25 maps CHORD1 (1997) by Malcolm Sailor. 1 map for vanilla Doom II. Malcolm had already been mapping for a bit but this was by far his most productive year. He released piecemeal his Nosun series, his collaboration with Black Star Coven bore fruit with The Talosian Incident, and he released several maps in what would become his most famous solo work. Being the first, the elements that would lead later Chord maps to acclaim are in embryonic form here. It only uses stock assets but I found the map rather nice to look at, Malcolm was always good with contrast and he does light and shadow rather well. As always with him though, the meat of the map is in combat, and I'm impressed that he manages to make it tricky using only 38 enemies on HNTR. The start is an invulnerability-powered berserk rampage, I think there's a way to get a chaingun quickly but I went the other way and had to punch a lot of things on a strict timer before getting a weapon. I can't deny it was a lot of fun though. The map then settles into a more traditional keyhunt, but I enjoyed the setpieces and the beautiful lighting. As often with Malcolm's early wads the text file is bursting at the seams with teenage energy and it's funny seeing him hate on (without ever naming him) a certain wad author that ended up at id and that is not universally well liked, though there's also a cute bit where he thanks his dad for testing HMP. Hell Keep Remake (2007) by Paul Corfiatis. 1 map for limit-removing Doom. I think I saw Roofi roll this one earlier this week? As you can guess from the title this is a remake of E3M1 occupying the same slot. Like many others @pcorf thinks that Hell Keep is ugly and could be made to look more like an actual keep, so he did just that. The changes are almost entirely cosmetic though, while the architecture obviously looks different progression is an almost identical beat for beat copy of the original. It certainly looks a lot better, coming out of that starting pit and seeing the keep, with moat and all, certainly tops the original squat flat facade. The demon corridor is likewise much better looking with the windows. Lighting is peak Pcorf and looks great. However it still is the same old Hell Keep, by design, and whether you like this map will depend on what you think of the original's gameplay. Personally I think that had this been the version that shipped with the IWAD it would still not be a favourite but its reception would have been much more favourable.

Brick | 1 wad | 9 maps Adventure | 6 wads | 23 maps Southern Cross (Gold Edition) (2004) by Bryant and The Solution. 9 SP/coop maps for Doom II in ZDoom. I rolled the original Southern Cross earlier this year, this is from a couple of years later, released as a separate file so both versions are preserved on the archives. Just like its predecessor this claims Boom compatibility but that's not quite true, the final map won't work properly in Boom or any port that can't read the old MAPINFO format (once again the Robinson brothers recommend ZDoom). The general map layouts seem similar but everything else is very different. Gone are all the PSX sound replacements. The maps are much better detailed, they look very good now and the lighting in particular is very nice. Gameplay has also changed a lot, I wrote that the original used the Doom II bestiary sporadically, but Gold goes all out very quickly. Unfortunately this is not always a good thing, there are some maps where combat is now unbalanced, when I don't remember it being so bad before. The worst is MAP03 with a swarm of PEs and cacos; a dozen of the former would be annoying enough (especially since Lost Souls are not limited in Boom) but to top it off the ammo starvation is utterly ridiculous (and this was with carryovers; good luck doing this from pistol start). Thankfully the wad gets better afterwards, though there are still some questionable decisions in weapon availability (the first RL doesn't appear until MAP05, and in a secret to boot). Combat setpieces are more interesting, mixing up teleport ambushes with more traditional ones where everything wakes up and comes around he corner at the most inopportune moment, some of these fights are really fun, especially since (aside from the MAP03 hiccup) ammo balancing is well done later on, I had what I needed but never found myself filling up. Rockets remain a precious commodity until the very end, and the BFG only shows up for the final fight. Speaking of, it's still an easy one-on-one against a Cyberdemon, in a map that acts more like an atmospheric finale than anything. I tried to recognize the exact spots where I took screenshots when playing the original but I think I missed several, although I recognized every map they look (and more often than not play) considerably better. The ammo flaw in MAP03 is the most serious, but setting it aside the rest of the wad is an improvement on the original in almost every way, and pretty good in its own right.

Brick | 1 wad | 9 maps Adventure | 5 wads | 14 maps Knee Deep in Phobos (2009) by Sniper 109. 9 maps for Doom II in ZDoom. This is another wad where the port requirement is unclear. Is it meant to be Boom-compatible? It would at least need a port that can read MAPINFO for the secret exit to work. The wad template itself is vague but there's another readme file that mentions needing PrBoom or higher but recommends ZDoom, and there are some uses of ZDoom-exlusive cosmetics here and there. Speaking of, the text also mentions it being in the same vein as Knee-Deep in ZDoom, but the wads are markedly different. KDIP for one completely lacks KDIZD's lust for detailing, in fact the early maps look a bit plain, though later ones get better at a more classical style of detailing and look quite good. There is a similar attempt at expanding on the original maps but even this is handled differently, KDIZD kept most of the original layouts and just added a lot of extra areas, but when familiar architecture appears in KDIP it tends to feel more like an homage or an inspiration, with the map otherwise looking and playing differently. The maps are also much smaller than in KDIZD, they take longer to complete than the IWAD originals but not by much. Of the two new weapons, the Rifle does seem to come straight from KDIZD; the machine gun on the other hand becomes useless very quickly, the chaingun is functionally identical but with more power. Since the wad is for Doom II most of the sequel additions show up, the SSG is still the main workhorse (though the Rifle gives it a run for its money when ammo is available) and there are plenty of knights, mancubi, revenants and chainies to dispatch. I think the SS is reskinned and just looks like a rapid-fire zombieman, I like its use as something more threatening than the most basic enemy but not as dangerous as a chainie if unnoticed. I was a bit surprised to run into a few barons earlier in the wad but the ones in the finale are replaced by a much tougher variant with tons more health and something like a slightly toned-down archvile attack. Finally I have to mention the intermission screen, a remake of the original that I loved for looking so familiar yet being obviously a made from scratch render. The wad is not as impressive as KDIZD but at the same time avoids its excesses, YMMV on how much this is a good or bad thing. I really liked it overall, most of the maps are different enough to not to feel like rehashes and most of the additions mesh well with the original map's themes. Thank you @Sniper109 for are enjoyable wad! I'm sure it's only temporary, and just like last time you'll reclaim your rightful spot soon!

Brick | 4 wads | 5 maps Fellowzdoomer's 1 Hour Map (2014) by Fellowzdoomer. 1 SP map for vanilla Doom II. This was apparently a submission to Doomworld Mega Project 2013 that Fellowzdoomer then released separately. It's... a map. The shotgun is the only weapon. There's a mancubus. A demon ambush at the blue key that can be easily avoided. A bunch of PEs and an archvile and good luck doing this fight, I just ran past. That's it. Minos (2017) by Kloki38. 1 SP map for Doom II in Boom. I believe Kloki is a Czech author, also credited on Czechbox and Czequisite Corpse; there are two more wads mentioned in the text file but I can't find any sign of them. This is a large and complex map with intricate architecture and almost 500 enemies spread across its vast distances. The biggest problem I had with it is that weapon distribution is so incredibly unbalanced. I found the SSG about halfway into it, and while I had a chaingun and plasma rifle ammo for both was so limited I almost never had any. This meant having to go through 200 enemies with the shotgun, and that's way too many mancubi, nobles and archviles to go through. I've seen this design used and defended before, the idea being that you keep pushing ahead trying to find weapons, but making it through half a very large map with nothing but a weak weapon can go too easily from being challenging to just plain boring. It's a shame because the architecture is very cool and it's obvious that a ton of effort has gone into the map. shrek vs doomguy: a battle of orge proportions (2013) by chesse20. 2 SP maps for Doom II in GZDoom. The text file doesn't even have the decency to mention port requirements, I had to go digging through the wad lumps to figure out that it definitely needs ZDoom, and is probably made for GZDoom. Initially I was worried ICID had rerolled that horrible Shrek terrywad he made us play a couple of years ago, but I needn't have worried, this is a completely different and unrelated wad. It's not that much better mind you, the architecture is nonexistent, the texturing is awful, there are HOMs and softlocks everywhere, the console dislpays a bunch of errors in the scripting at startup (unknown if they break anything important), the only enemies are some insects that swarm but go down easily, and Shreks that can hurt a lot but (unlike the terrywad, where they were practically invincible) they go down reasonably easily. It doesn't help though because I don't think it's possible to end either of the maps, both have an exit wall with a door texture and that's marked as player-cross to activate, which naturally is impossible because, well, it's a one-sided linedef and there's nothing behind it. Stomping Grounds (2009) by Morpheus. 1 SP map for limit-removing Doom II. We thankfully end on a good note! Honestly compared to what we've been through here this one's great. Detailing and lighting are excellent, the layout is small but has a couple of interesting beats, and the map generally flows very well. Most of the opposition on HNTR is small fry, which is good because it's just shotgun and chaingun for the most part (there's an SSG in a secret but I didn't find it until later). The blue key room is a bit of a surprise, the key disappears before us and then a door with half a dozen barons appears, with no rocket or plasma weapons in sight. Maxers might find this annoying but I just herded the barons and ran past them all, into a cool looking little underground passage that goes to the blue key (and then ran past the barons again on the way out). The archvile surprise at the end is a bit mean, considering the lack of heavy weapons, absence of cover, and how much time the AV has to resurrect things before we can get to it, It's a fun little map with great visuals and definitely the highlight of the day. I don't know if I have the stamina for CC4, it's an excellent wad but they're long maps and it would probably take me most of the adventure's 2 weeks to go through it.