Hey look, it's me. You know Doomworld is hitting a rough patch when I'm doing t/nc. What happened see, is that Deathz0r decided on Sunday he wasn't going to do /newstuff. Five minutes before he left he rounded up me to do it. What does this mean for you? Some hardass reviews of the six newest wads off the Doom grindstone. Well, there's no need to describe everything that's here right at the top, read on.

Wart 02: Heart Of Fire - Brad "Carnevil" Carney
4.08m - Skulltag v0.95b+ - SP - (img)(img)(img)(img)
Yay, a Skulltag map! From the man himself, a sequel to Wart 01. I think this map can best be described as "Fucking tough". Admittedly, I'm not a great doom player, but I spent most of this map reloading my quicksaves. Tons of monsters with nary time to take a gasp for air, and not exactly generous with health and ammo. Although there wasn't really any points where I had time to look, a close inspection of the screenshots shows the map has some quite nice detailing, with particularly sexy lighting. The map is done in Hellish style, somewhat like Inferno but for the most part original. He did a fine job mixing the old monsters with the new, making them feel like part of Doom rather than segregating them and making it feel like a TC at points. The only real complaints I have besides the fact it kicked my ass are some y-misaligned stone blocks under a pool of lava (don't ask) and a rocket jump trick at the end that assumes you still have rockets left (I was lucky not to be on fist at that point) so make sure to save some. Oh yeah, and that you can grab the blue key through the window, although it does take a little effort. Despite these minor issues, I recommend you get yourself the newest Skulltag and check this thing out pronto.

Mars War v2.0 - Nathan Lineback
2.05m - doom2.exe - SP - (img)(img)(img)(img)
Out of nowhere comes a new megawad. Well, OK, it's an old megawad but it's new to the archives. Right off I should admit I didn't play through the whole thing. I have a shitload of homework to do tonight and I don't have time to be playing megawads. But judging from the first 8 maps, this is a pretty fine little set. The detail is pretty average and there's a few misalignments but the level progression is truly interesting. As for gameplay, it's hard to say. It's mostly a bunch of rooms with easy guys in it but on occasion he likes tossing a ridiculous amount of foes at you. So perhaps things pick up a bunch where I left off. Anyway this certainly has its interesting points and you should probably check it out if you don't mind a slow start and a few misalignments. But if you're looking for something that screams 2003 you should probably pass on it.

Props to Xaser for uploading this.

The Imp Nest - Templar
36k - EDGE 1.27/Doom1 - SP - (img)
Stupid EDGE jokemap. Whether or not that's what the author actually intended this to be, that's what it is. Swarms of imps and buddy marines duke it out. And then there's some humongous imps somewhere that are bigger and deadlier or something. The regular Doom weapons are modified too but I wasn't really paying attention. Anyway don't bother with this.

JarJar's Last Pinenapple Fritter - B.P.R.D
444k - Advanced Port (not Boom) - SP - (img)(img)
Yes it's a jokemap, but thankfully this one is original. New music, sounds, and items and some funny ideas, are compressed into a fairly crowded map which is the author's trademark. In short, if you liked nuts2, you'll like fritter.wad. If you didn't, then you probably ought to pass on this one.

Quick and Deadly - DooMBoy
40k - doom2.exe - SP - (img)(img)(img)
To end things on a more serious note, here's a DooMBoy map. But it's pretty good, I swear. A very small map, but quite nicely detailed and with very standard tried-and-true Doom II gameplay. The architecture is simple but nice and it plays very well. The theme is about like Ola Bjorling's Tantrum, although this is all indoors. Doesn't take much time to play and it's certainly worth what it does take. Check it out.

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sargebaldy said:
because you need a new monitor?

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DooMBoy said:
OMG, I actually got screen of the week! /me orgasms violently
Heh, and I thought my level would get a bad review.

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Carnevil said:
I can understand why. There's like 20 arch-viles in it, all of which are fucking bullshit hard.

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sargebaldy said:
heh, there was three, and don't go off pretending wart02 wasn't bullshit hard :P

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Ichor said:
The hardest part of the map isn't the Arch-Viles. It's the lack of ammo.

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Torn said:
Doomboy's map is okay. However I found it annoying for speedmapping with some of the map's space a bit too tight.

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DooMBoy said:
Heh, Torn I think you meant speedrunning :P

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