|
The /newstuff Chronicles #100
Classic Doom - Posted by The Ultimate DooMer
- 70 Comments
Well, the wait is over! Break out the cola, sausages-on-sticks and party hats, summon all your
friends and celebrate because today, the /newstuff Chronicles has reached its centenary! Yes,
it's chapter #100 coming your way, and it contains a bumper 14 new wads with 22 maps, as everyone
comes together to release their wads upon /newstuff to celebrate this special occasion (which is
a double-header for me because this is also my 500th post!). We have a huge variety of great wads for
your DooMing pleasure: single player, deathmatch and sound/music only replacements, ZDoom, Heretic
and Vavoom as well as vanilla DooM 1 and DooM 2! And finally, I've decided to mark this occasion
by providing twice as many screenshots as usual!
So without further ado, let's jump into this special centenary set of wads, which are guaranteed
to keep you busy for the whole week:
-
The Fortress of D'Sparil by
SlayeR -
- This is the first of it's kind anywhere in the world - a ZDoom Heretic map!
Yes, that's a Heretic map with ZDoom features! They're not used extensively,
(except for the warping flats) but that's not a bad thing here,
as it still feels like a normal Heretic map. The areas are nicely detailed,
with a large number of different Heretic styles present here. The gameplay is
good, with all types of weapons and good monster placement, with ammo and health
balanced quite well. The powerups are not that common, with many of them hidden
away, which improves the balance. However, the fight with D'Sparil at the end
of the map is very frustrating once you've dismounted him, as most of the floor
becomes fiery, he teleports around and spawns wizards as usual, and there's no
rings, wings and armour to help you out. But that's the only bad point in the map,
as the rest is extremely good and well worth playing, even if you're not a Heretic
fan. Replaces E3M8, and requires ZDoom. (you can run it with 1.23 beta 33, as
there are no morph eggs in the map)
-
VSlayeR1 by
SlayeR - The first of 3 (!) Vavoom demo maps in newstuff this week,
This is a small but detailed tech map designed to show off the various
features of the Vavoom engine, which include Quake-style lighting
(normal and coloured), 3D floors and deep water sections. The gameplay
is pistol-based for a little while, then becomes normal, with a few big
creatures along with a population of mostly small creatures. Ammo and
health are balanced OK, but the main focus here is the graphics, and
showing off the capabilities of Vavoom, which it does so quite nicely.
(I particularly liked the sewer room).
Unfortunately, Vavoom doesn't seem to be able to take screenshots, so
you'll have to download it to see for yourself. The latest version of
Vavoom is available here.
-
Dark Whispers by
Bryant Robinson - Another Vavoom demo map, this is a Quake 1-based map.
Taking bits from various metal gothic levels (including the textures and sounds),
this demonstrates the lighting and 3D floor capabilities of Vavoom, while being
averagely detailed and having a fair spread of monster types. Ammo and health
are balanced ok, as is the difficulty, but I would stick to the original Quake.
The latest version of Vavoom is available here.
-
Storage Area by
Bryant Robinson - The last of the Vavoom demo maps, we're now in Quake 2
territory. Inspired by the warehouse levels, this demonstrates scripting and
coloured lighting as well as normal lighting and 3D floors. Like the previous
map, it looks similar to the original in terms of architecture, but still has
basic detail. This time there's too much ammo, but the health balance is ok, and
the lack of a super shotgun means (thankfully) it can get fairly difficult in
some places (notably when the big monsters are alerted). But, again, I would
stick to the original Quake 2. An additional problem is that it's 4 megs in size,
due to the inclusion of the Quake 2 textures wad (which is required to play it).
If you want to play this, then go ahead and download it, but if you're not a Quake 2
fan and/or you're not fond of tech maps, you'll probably want to stay clear of this.
The latest version of Vavoom is available here.
-
Grind by
Kara C. Rader -
- Overlooked for newstuff #99, this is a small deathmatch map for DooM 2.
It contains a number of small areas, each with its own weapon. Some of
the texture choices are a bit suspect (ie. a grey texture area feeding into
brown city-stone and wooden panelled areas) but there is some nice detail,
notably the overhead pipes. Ammo and health are scarce, meaning you'll
probably need to go for a new weapon after each frag. Armour and powerups
are also present, but are hidden. It would certainly get chaotic if more
than 3 people/bots were in it, so it's best to stick to a 2 or 3-way fight.
-
MP2 Music Definitions for JDoom by
sparky - This is a simply a definitions file for JDoom, allowing you to play all
the original DooM tunes in mp2 format without having a large 60 meg file. (but you
still have to download all the tunes yourself)
-
Death Comes Not Gently to the Wicked by
Rex Claussen -
- It's been a while since the last one, but ReX appears at just the right
time to deliver another high-quality map. Replacing map 18, this is a city-based
map with several large buildings, many of which are only accessible by teleporter.
The architecture is impressive throughout, even the narrow passages don't escape
the author's keen eye for detail. The gameplay is also impressive, with many
traps and combat scenarios just waiting to catch you out, as well as a good mix
of monsters without going over the top (ie. minimal Plutonia-style gameplay). Despite
this, the map is extremely difficult, as the ammo is balanced very finely indeed, and
it's easy to make a tactical error and leave yourself out (there are monsters placed
solely to waste your ammo). You certainly can't waste any, and the health is also
balanced finely, and there is no armour to be seen. However, all these features
disappear in a rip-roaring final battle in the last area of the map. Perhaps a chainsaw
or berserk placed at the beginning would have helped the lesser-skilled players on UV,
but there's always the lower skill levels implemented. To sum up, it's an extremely good
wad which everyone should play, especially those who like a challenge.
-
Congestion Control by
Karthik Abhiram -
- It's certainly the time for comebacks at the moment! This time it's Karthik, who after quite
a while since his last release, appears at just the right moment to deliver another
high-quality map. This is a small DooM 2 map with an extremely rare quality of
architecture, since it manages to blend gothic, modern, hi-tech and Plutonia styles all
together in the same map! A couple of Plutonia textures, some hand-made graphics and the
red sky from Evilution all add to the atmosphere. Gameplay-wise, it's fairly challenging
with some sneaky traps at the beginning, but doesn't really get harder, except for one or two
areas later on. There's more than enough ammo to go round, with a fairly good health balance,
but the confines of the map's rooms and passages means it's not plain sailing. (and there's
also a few surprises along the way...) There's also a special secret (in a Quake 2 sort of way)
to be found, along with three others and a cool ending. In short, play this wad now as it's
well designed, brilliantly detailed, and good fun, too.
-
Io Anomaly by
Exl -
- Quite a rarity these days, this is a DooM 1 map. Replacing E1M9, this is - you guessed it - a
Phobos-style level. It certainly looks and feels like E1 in terms of architecture and atmosphere,
(ie. not overly-detailed, but authentic) and it has the weapons, ammo, health and secrets to
match, but where it differs is the monsters - there's tons of 'em! This map would win the
'how many monsters can you cram into a small space' competition, but this is definitely not
a bad thing here. The monsters are of E1 type only (ie. no cacos or barons) and their numbers
certainly made the wad more enjoyable for me. The only downer is, as you might expect, you only
fight with shotgun/chaingun all the time, but there's so many monsters to gun down here, you'll
soon forget that fact while you're having a blast with this wad. Download and enjoy!
-
Marvel vs. Capcom DooM by
Andrew Locmel - Another of those graphics/sounds/music only wads that have been appearing a
lot recently, this one replaces a couple of graphics, and all the music and sounds with Marvel
and Capcom stuff. Sadly, when played it seems that everyone and everything is just screaming
things in another language, without much difference between the samples used (I couldn't even
find a 'hadoken' or 'sho-ryu-ken' in there!). For Marvel and Capcom fans only.
-
Redux by
Daniel Trim (BB_) -
- This is an impressive 6-map replacement for DooM 2. Comprising of brown/metal industrial maps
with a dash of silver and slime, this is the author's first wad but like the Scientist wad a
couple of weeks ago, it certainly doesn't show. The detail is impressive throughout the levels,
with some really good industrial architecture in some places, and the atmosphere is great. It's
also pretty challenging, with lots of nasty traps and big monsters in right from the start, and
the ammo is balanced very finely indeed. In fact this forms one of the flaws in the first half -
there's not enough ammo to kill all the monsters, thus calling for evasion tactics in some fairly
tight areas. The ammo problem disappears in the second half, but the harder traps and gameplay
there means that you'll probably struggle for health quite a bit, meaning that UV is for skilled
DooMers only (lesser skilled players would be better off on skill 2 or 3). This wad might annoy
those who don't like close-up battles in tight spaces, ammo crises and sneaky traps but those who
like a challenge will eat this one up, as will fans of industrial/modern/tech maps. In short,
this is the best multiple-map wad I've seen for a while, and is definitely recommended!
-
OMFG by
ZarcyB - -
A silly wad, released specially for newstuff 100. See the screenshot if you want to know how silly.
-
Newstuff 100 by
Nick Byrd (frwl) - -
Another silly wad released specially for newstuff 100, but this one is a bit better. In fact
this might prove quite a challenge to beat, as you race over the letters, dodging the monsters
along the way. A speedrunner's paradise.
-
Captain Mancubus by
Epyo -
- And finally, coming in right at the end, is Epyo's latest creation, which is also the first of its
kind, as it's a hub-based ZDoom episode! (EDIT BY LING: uh, Tei Tenga? Hell Factory?) 6 maps are here, one 'hub centre', 4 maps that you can
visit in any order, and one boss level. The wad certainly has its tongue firmly in its cheek, as
you play the role of a mancubus, right down to the sprites, sounds and fireballs! (albeit only 1
at a time). Prepare yourself for a roller-coaster ride through this one, as although each map
has a different theme, they all have one thing in common - the pace is extremely fast! The maps
themselves are fairly detailed, with ZDoom features improving the architecture in each map, and
the atmosphere is greatly enhanced by a MOD soundtrack on each map except the first. You'll be
fighting in open spaces, confined spaces, solving puzzles and even bouncing around!
Gameplay is pretty tough, with lots of big monsters and a fair few archviles as well (including
stealth varieties!), which means that, UV at least, is definitely aimed at better DooMers. The
health and ammo balance is pretty good throughout, except on the boss map, where monster in-fighting
is called upon quite a lot to avoid running out. Everything is beautifully scripted, with some
impressive special effects in a lot of places, not to mention some surprises along the way. The
only downer is the high difficulty (if you're a lesser-skilled player), and the inclusion of a
modified Capslocked map (if you've played Capslocked), but this wad has broken new ground in
ZDoom editing as well as being really enjoyable. Consequently, this wins the coveted "Newstuff #100 Wad
of the Week" award. Requires ZDoom. (1.23 beta 33)
|
|