The /newstuff Chronicles #154

Well well, we got a rather interesting week of /newstuff this week. From MSPaint-drawn weapon mods to seriously bad levels, it's all in here! but of course, there just has to be some wads that are geninuely decent. As much as I hate finding a small amount of negatives in them, I still have to review them all. In a nutshell, there's 5 SP wads and 5 DM wads this week, so now nobody can complain about how there's too many/little of such and such, and certain people can't complain about how I leave wads out, since there was none of that old junk this week! Huzzah!

Cyb says: Indeed, /newstuff is 12 hours early today, and it's by deathz0r! better send some space heaters down to hell!

• Fountain of Myth - Daniel Carroll
  29kb - Legacy - DM
  To kick off /newstuff this week, is a Legacy DM wad. The detailing in this is somewhat average, but I really like the connectivity between rooms and the decent weapon placement. Something you don't see in many DM wads nowadays are maps that are not symmetric, and this is one of those. A fun wad in my opinion, but everybody plays dwango5 anyway, so it makes little (or no) difference within the mainstream DM community.
  
  
• IMMORAL CONDUCT: LIZARD EDITION - Lizardcommando
  205kb - ZDoom - SP
  It's been in development for a long time, and now it's finally released. The best thing about it is the comic feel to it. Maybe it's just me, but MSPaint-drawn weapons and other sprites make Doom more interesting to play in. Then again, my mind is literally warped, so that last sentence isn't really valid.
  
  This is another damn weapons mod for EDGE (seems that a lot of them exist), which is from what I gather an unofficial Immoral Conduct release. Makes sense, no? Why it's even called Immoral Conduct is beyond me, but enough bitching about that. The weapons are somewhat dull and repetitive. If you don't really understand what I mean, there's a billion firearms and about four weapons that are explosives. In my opinion, weapons mods that are nothing but firearms get really boring after a short while, and I was definitely insisting to delete EDGE once again after I had a bit of fun with this. I didn't really see any of the friendly entities be of any use on the normal Doom 2 maps. Personally I wouldn't recommend this a weapons mod, but I definitely would as a novelty modification... those MSPaint drawings just look so interesting.
• Intelligent Acid Structure Pool - Jow
  131kb - "GL Port" - SP
  Excellent map, I had zero clue on what to do after obtaining the blue key. Oh yeah, the detailing from what I saw is sub-par in many areas, so if you're looking for something you'd expect to be made in 1994 or 1995, with a bookcase of bugs, this is it.
  
  
• Kill.wad - Richard "Twiztid" Long
  1.9mb - ZDoom - SP
  Ugh. Stolen graphics, sounds, barely any health on the ground, everything about it is horrible. Avoid.
  
  
• Moneyman's Close Combat - Moneyman
  140kb - Doom2.exe - DM
  This DM wad oozes in gameplay, but seriously reeks in texturing. Upon first glances, you'd mistake this for something from 1995, but after playing it for a while, you get used to it somewhat quickly. The gameplay in this is very decent, with secrets at odd places. Connectivity is quite smooth, easily enough for four gameplay-seeking people to enjoy. Weapon placement was also planned very damn well. Thumbs up, Moneyman, you've made a damn decent wad, even though detail is lacking and some walls are misaligned badly.
  
  
• Tanis Base - Rodrigo Acevedo
  590kb - ZDoom - DM
  Wow, this is the surprise wad of the week... if it was a SP wad. From literally out of nowhere, some beautifully detailed DM wad appears! Detail in DM wads is one thing, but the most important factor is connectivity and weapon placement. Weapon placement is a bit of a letdown, since the plasma gun is in such an incredibly easy to reach place, that it encourages people to plasma spam (not a good thing in maps like this). Connectivity isn't also the greatest, as doors really slow down the paceness of DM. On the bright side though, there's not one trace of elevation, so those who hate maps such as dweller2 map11 and judas23_ will find this a lot more relaxing to aim. It's also a good thing for those people with low connection speeds, as autoaiming is one of the main weaknesses of high pingers. If you're the type who is sucked in to detail (crap like gothicdm for example), then you'll definitely love this. Those who expect great gameplay should look at Moneyman's Close Combat or TLSD2003.
  
  
• Their Selfish Realms - Samuel "Kaiser" Villarreal
  306kb - boom Compatible - SP
  I had played through every wad except icdlizard.wad, and I was hoping for a decent SP wad this week. Playing kaiser_3.wad (see the last review, I sort them out by title name (alphabeticly)), I was expecting the same thing. I was shocked to find yet another incredible SP level by Kaiser. I had reviewed kaiser_1.wad a few /newstuff's back, and I was impressed by the gameplay. Their Selfish Realms kicks the living snot out of it. The detailing is great, and the gameplay is even better. I was annoyed by a few cramped Revenant fights, but other than that, it was one great experience. The fake 3D bridge you see near the start (if you don't go through the other doors first) caught my attention as well. The amount of health is great for my playing level (and I suck at SP), and there's plenty of ammo around, especially shells. There's also a few surprises around corners, which really adds to the suspense that this level can create. A really enjoyable wad, download it and experience something that you most likely couldn't replicate, or do better.
  
  
• The Last Strike Deathmatch 2003 Edition (fixed and now with wangotag) - Gothy, Jackass, and Chrono
  2.79mb - ZDoom-based - DM
  basically a rerelease of tlsdm2k3.wad, with a few bugfixes and for some reason, wangotag.wad maps. I'm guessing the reason why Chrono decided to place wangotag maps in is because wangotag.wad isn't in the archives (kinda hard without a text file either). I know that this has been reviewed before, so I'm not going to thoroughly review it.
  
  TLSD2003 (also referred as TLSDM2k3) has 16 intense DM maps. Some are symmetrical, while others have really innovative layouts (airplane anyone?). The best thing about all of the TLSDM wads are the incredible music that Chrono places in them. Once again, he picked each song so it'd give a more intense feel to it. Most of them are detailed very well, except for MAP02 and MAP16. I could babble on about how they credited me in the text file, but I know how awesome I am anyway. Still, this wad is definitely one to have in your collection of DM wads, as it mixes detail with gameplay very damn effectively.
  
  
• The ULTIMATE DM-WAD - Jow
  187kb - JDoom - DM
  Reading the title of this wad, I was expecting it to be the best DM wad ever. Then I remembered that I created "You Can't Hide!", so it automaticly sinked down to second place. Upon opening it with ZDaemon (even though it requires JDoom for some lighting stuff), I discovered to see a serious flop. Tutti fruiti effects on every wall, and that some rooms were so incredibly dark, that I considered exiting out of the map within a few minutes and deleting it. The insane amount of tutti fruiti alone scared the hell out of me. In conclusion, don't download it, it's a lot more healthier for your mental state if you don't.
  
  
• Untitled - Samuel "Kaiser" Villarreal
  41kb - boom Compatible - SP
  I don't entirely know if I should consider this as a joke wad or a technical wad, since the texturing and gameplay are debatable, yet the technical side of it is incredible. I can't really say much, as text nor pictures can really describe how amazing Kaiser implemented these boom tricks. Go check it for yourself, it's unique to say the least.