Bloodshedder
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- DethAwsm: Maps of Fail - Cheetahmen
Doom 2 - ZDoom Compatible - Solo Play - 511301 bytes - (img) (img) (img) (img) (img)
Reviewed by: BloodyAcid
Before I had downloaded this file, the first review had caught my attention. "...Terry". My immediate reaction was "Damn, what am I getting myself into?" Hesitant, I pulled opened the first map in DoomBuilder 2. Hey, it's not that bad looking, let's give this shit a whirl.
Let's cut to the chase. No detail, no gameplay, no storyline. Period. I only commend the author's effort in making this wad. I mean, mirrored sprites, custom sounds, shitty music, shitty cutscenes, shitty maps, shitty names, etc.
If you were to download this, you are a lost cause.
- JENESIS - James "Jimmy" Paddock
Doom 2 - Boom Compatible - Solo Play - 6665129 bytes - (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img)
Reviewed by: mawcor624
For starters, I certainly hope that JENESIS is featured at the very top of the next /newstuff, and I've been looking for some sort of Doomworld font that involves flashing lights and foghorns in an attempt to draw people's attention to this ridiculously fantastic megawad. In fact, I don't even feel worthy of being the one to review it, and neither did the previous claimants, having withdrawn from the immense responsibility. I should also note before diving in that this megawad contains all the maps from the author's previous mapsets of JENESIS 1, 2, and 3, which have been leading up to this final release.
In short, this megawad represents perfection in all things that are Doom, and I can easily say that it is near the very top of my all-time favorite episodes. To begin with, every map is absolutely gorgeous with excellent design choices both in textures and the architectural design of the map, so much so that entering a previously explored area often gave the sensation that I had not been there before. In addition, monster placement and UV difficulty are spot on, with well-planned skirmishes that are both fun and challenging.
Every new acquirement of a weapon is followed by perfectly tweaked combat thereafter to compensate. Further still, ammo distribution is almost perfect to the point that I received new rounds just as as was beginning to run out, yet not so low that I had to plan every shot. Even the titlescreen and music replacements are top notch. I could go on extolling the virtues of the map design, but suffice to say that every level is id quality and will keep you hooked from the very start.
So exactly what are the qualities that make the maps so fantastic? It would be a supreme endeavor to list each moment of surprise and awe that explains just why this represents everything that is good about Doom, but a rundown of the first two maps should be sufficient to whet your collective appetites.
Map 01 - A fantastic representation of a remote power plant, with echoes of E1M1 written all over it, but more epic. Like I stated before, the ammo distribution and monster placement were perfect, and someone had obviously playtested the very marrow out of it prior to release. It contained a mix of both close-quarters and open combat, with scattered treats involving revenant shotgun duels towards the end. Never once was a previous area spanned without another well-thought-out battle taking place, and I can honestly say it brought back the nostalgia of first playing E1M1, but with ramped-up difficulty to meet today's demand for carnage.
Map 02 - Leaving the power plant and going more rurally into the mountains (or such was how it felt), it seemed like I was going downstream with the chemical drift and seeing for the first time just how bad the eldritch infestation was. Being introduced to the hell knight in this map felt very genuine as two of them guarded an archway and ate your shotgun ammo while trying to smash you with energy balls; suspending my disbelief at having slain so many thousands of them over my years of Dooming was not a difficult feat to accomplish with the presentation. Clever fights abounded, with one U-shaped area used to make revenant fireballs continuously home in on the player. One devious trapped key introduced the baron of hell as the room went dark and left you alone to battle him and his band of revenant cronies.
What else can I say? Has this gotten anyone interested? It sure should have, and what it really boils down to is this: if you enjoy playing Doom and want to have just as much fun playing it as you did the first time, and without paying a cent, then you need to download this immediately.
- Hell's Gate - JCA
Doom 2 - Limit Removing - Deathmatch - 126061 bytes - (img) (img)
Reviewed by: walter confalonieri
Hello, this time we have a fancy medium-sized map for FFA, and it's a Quake 3 map remake on Doom's engine with the same name.
The level is pretty brilliant in the texture choice and detail department, gameplay is fast and really fluid. If I had to point out a bug, it's that bots sometimes love to jump into the lava pits (actually noted by the author in the known bugs section), and for a very brief moment I found myself without any ammo.
Recommended!
- Brickwater - JCA
Doom 2 - Limit Removing - Solo Play - 105753 bytes
Reviewed by: udderdude
A short map for Doom 2. It's entirely symmetrical, mostly consisting of enemies attacking from opened doors and teleports. Not very difficult until the final battle, where you're in an arena with two cyberdemons and a bunch of mancubuses and nowhere to hide behind. I died a bunch of times on this until I realized there was an invulnerability sphere on the other side of the room. My strategy was to kill the cyberdemons off first while invincible, and then hide in the entrance area to to kill the mancubuses with plasma/rockets while dodging their shots (and there were quite a few coming at me). Other than that, nothing really stood out. Try it out if you want a short, fast-paced map with a lot of traps.
- DBM Random Map - Demmon Break Master
Doom 2 - Vanilla - Solo Play - 170568 bytes
Reviewed by: udderdude
One map for Doom 2. A short base map. It's pretty average in terms of gameplay and level layout. The layout is cramped, but doesn't detract from it. Really not much else to say; play it if you're looking for a quick blast.
- Doxylamine Moon: Overdose - Lainos [B0S]
Doom 2 - Limit Removing - Solo Play - 5263773 bytes
Reviewed by: udderdude
One map for Doom 2. It's a large and sprawling city map, with some impressive architecture and detail, nice custom textures, etc. Unfortunately, everything past there is downhill. There are major framerate issues in parts of the map. It brought even my Core i7 920 to a crawl. I had to lead enemies into parts of the map that weren't killing my PC in order to fight them.
There's a really weird bug where shooting monsters with hitscan weapons causes your shots to either go through them or disappear completely. I noticed this especially late in the map, and since all you really get is the shotgun and chaingun, it renders the map nearly unplayable. I don't know if this is a BSP issue, a weapon mod issue, a ZDoom issue, or what. All I know is it ruined my play when I couldn't actually kill anything anymore because half the time my shots went right through enemies, and ammo is already tight enough as it is.
And as usual with maps like this, once you reach a certain point and you're stuck, finding what to do is a pain in the ass. If you're going to "play" this, don't bother. It's got too many issues. Just admire the pretty scenery in god mode.
- Deimos: Slight Return - ReX Claussen
Doom 2 - Vanilla - Solo Play - 1697288 bytes
Reviewed by: udderdude
One episode for Ultimate Doom. It's a remake of Episode 2, so close to the original layouts that they're basically identical. The only real additions are more monsters and more detail. If you wanted to play Episode 2 with more detail and monsters, this is your best bet. Everyone else will probably want to pass, as there's nothing new or original here.
- Test zero - ArchFurry
Doom 2 - Vanilla - Deathmatch - 3088 bytes - (img)
Reviewed by: BloodyAcid
A 2 minute map that has no detail, no layout, no gameplay. At least it was called a test. Avoid.
- Sandy DooM I: Entryway to Homogeneity - Sandy Claws, aka You know who -_O
Doom 2 - ZDoom 2.50 or Chocolate Doom 1.6.0 - Solo Play - 90844 bytes
Reviewed by: udderdude
One map for Doom 2. This map is an obvious tongue-in-cheek spoof of Sandy Peterson's mapping style. It ends up looking and playing like a lost map from Episode 2, with more monsters and Chaingunners thrown around. I could go into a long and tortured discussion over whether this map truly captures the essence of Sandy Peterson's mapping style, but whatever, fuck that. Play it if you want a quick blast through a classic Doom-ish looking map.
- October - NoneeLlama, purist & valkiriforce
Doom 2 - Vanilla - Solo Play - 296809 bytes - (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img)
Reviewed by: mawcor624
This WAD comprises six maps which were distributed as "presents" for various Doomworld forum members with birth-dates in October, and regardless of the premise, I found much to be enjoyed within the compilation.
The talent of all three mappers shows throughout various parts of the WAD, but I also feel that the maps do not live up to the mappers' skill, or were even meant to represent them. Keeping in mind that they were made as gifts for forum members, and not as part of a personal/major project, it should be enough to enjoy the bits of genius that do shine through the many poor design choices.
Map 01 - purist: This map had an interesting premise owing to the extreme absence of ammunition, and I was forced to use the chainsaw throughout most of it. The initial area contains a very necessary shotgun which felt like a secret that could easily be overlooked, and the author's use (in all of his maps) of a Romero head to end the level seemed to be a statement that he was not taking the map designs seriously. Overall, a fun map.
Map 02 - purist: While the first map's gimmick was the lack of ammunition, this one is a slaughterfest which forces you to use a rocket launcher throughout. It begins with a poor design choice of putting the launcher many paces away between multiple hell barons and mancubuses. There is no way of automatically knowing that you need to run forward and grab it as soon as the map begins, or be clawed to death in your attempt.
However, after restarting the map and grabbing the launcher, I can't say I didn't like it. The fighting was intense throughout, and I had to be continuously on alert to ensure there was enough space with which to fire rockets. I then killed my second Romero head and moved on to the next map.
Map 03 - purist: This map is completely unplayable, as it begins with a hallway of lava which cannot be spanned without dying. Even with 100% health and 100% armor, the hallway is simply too long, and the only way to get across is by continuously jumping, or possibly by having grabbed the megasphere in the previous level and having held on to most of it. The secret invisibility sphere in the initial room doesn't help anyone in that regard.
Pretending for a moment that the lava hallway didn't exist, this was most likely my favorite map of the bunch, with several moments reminding me of the wave combat in Scythe 2, but in more contained quantities (being a good thing in this case).
As with the other maps, this wasn't the most attractive environment to look at, with one of the areas being a morbidly boring, brown rat maze populated by random hellspawn, but after snagging a key, I dropped down to a cave system below. If more time was spent on the map, and if I didn't have to activate a crusher to smash another Romero head, I feel it could've been a real gem.
Map 04 - valkiriforce: Knowing valkiriforce from his dual-megawads, Doom Core and Reverie, I can easily say that neither of his contributions here are his best work, though his natural talent still shines through. His maps also mark the end of the Romero heads.
Sitting here now, I'm having a tough time remembering any sticking details of the map, though I can say it had some good fighting, was fairly attractive, and if you're familiar with valkiriforce's other maps, had plenty of secrets and switches. Overall a good map, but not reflective of his full potential. It also contains a game-breaking bug (screenshot 4) which forced me to use no-clipping mode to continue.
Map 05 - valkiriforce: This map's gimmick seemed to be the endless availability of invisibility spheres, and it began with a fun battle which forced me to dance about with an arch-vile and his imp brigade before I was able to lower a super shotgun and dispatch him. This was my second favorite map of the compilation.
Map 06 - NoneeLlama: Though this wasn't my favorite contribution, I felt that it was the most well-designed as a comprehensive map, and probably the most attractive. Personally, I just really liked the skull throne (screenshot 6) and the giant lava crater with the mancubuses dwelling within, which later played host to an aggravating battle with several pain elementals.
The October birthday compilation is by no means a masterpiece and contains a couple of game-breaking errors, but it did certainly leave me satisfied. I'd venture to say that it'd even be worth holding onto for future playthroughs if it was cleaned up and re-released.
- Doom: Repercussions of Evil - Meatbag
Doom 2 - ZDoom Compatible - Solo Play - 59001 bytes
Reviewed by: udderdude
One map for Doom 2 using ZDoom. So, apparently someone had too much time on their hands and made a ZDoom map based on everyone's favorite Doom fanfiction. No, not the one with the imp, the other one. It's short and has some interactive parts, but seems like a lot was cut out in order to make it seem somewhat more serious in tone, even though it's obviously still a joke. Try it if you're bored and/or easily amused.
- Smooth Weapon Animations - Per Kristian Risvik
N/A - Boom Compatible - N/A - 145863 bytes - (img) (img) (img)
Reviewed by: rsl
Many Doom players surely know (and love) the set of enhanced/smoother weapon animations made by Per Kristian Risvik. This weapon set had so far been made available only to "advanced ports" players like ZDoom or Eternity, namely because the need to manage a large number of additional sprites/frames was more easily supported with a custom scripting language such as DECORATE or EDF - and consequently, vanilla purists were left out in the cold.
Now - despite those who deemed it impossible - this mod by Jon Vail finally re-implements the set using pure DeHackEd, thus making it virtually compatible with *any* port.
Sure, some frames had to be sacrificed with respect to the original Doomsday/DDF version (this is mostly evident on weapons like the plasma rifle or pump-action shotgun), yet the result still looks largely better than the default vanilla set. Also, since some custom levels tend to provide their own DeHackEd patches, this one might interfere a bit.
To sum it up, if you favor one of the more "classic" ports such as prBoom(+) or Chocolate Doom, or simply like a more purist approach in general, this is definitely recommended (even as an auto-loaded WAD!). On the other hand, if you usually play using a port which runs one of the previously available versions (find them here) you won't probably be interested in this version.
- Sandy DooM II: Fractulous Fate Entwined With Imaginary Vocabulary - Sandy Claws, aka You know who -_O
Doom 2 - ZDoom 2.50 or Chocolate Doom 1.6.0 - Solo Play - 290460 bytes - (img) (img) (img)
Reviewed by: udderdude
One map for Doom 2. It's a very open ended map, but at the same time, a very closed off one. The passages you choose to go down close off and re-open after you enter and leave them, although you still have to visit most of them to complete the map. Ammo is tight early on, but thankfully you have the chainsaw from the beginning. You need to get at least two keys to open the exit up, and it's up to you which ones to get. Pretty good map that reminds me of Doom 2's open ended maps, give it a try.
- TOT COMICS DOOM REMASTERED - Joe Anderson
Doom 2 - Limit Removing - Solo Play - 402464 bytes - (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img)
Reviewed by: kmxexii
This is a "remastered" release of TOT Comics Doom. I'm not sure what's been changed; I'll take the author's word that it's been improved. It's a rough around the edges set of six short single player maps and one deathmatch map. Quality is as mentioned a little shady but very playable; it's for all the world like one of the more charming works from '94. The primary locales are city blocks (with some jokes) and infested office buildings, with a few underground areas and jaunts through Hell. He's also replaced a few of the sounds. I dislike the fireball impact noise but the plasma rifle is a bit less annoying.
Gameplay is pretty easy; you have plenty of guns and ammo to confront Anderson's challenges. The most novel maps are MAP04, which is a street war with several Cyberdemons and tons of riffraff, and MAP06, which is perhaps the best put-together level of the bunch. It's got a few interesting fights, the major one being an elevator battle at the finale. Though it lacks substance, TOT Comics Doom is an amusing, light-hearted diversion, and leaves one nagging question: who the Hell is General Kass?
- Miniture Meyhem - fiend-o-hell
Doom 2 - Boom Compatible - Solo Play - 243510 bytes - (img) (img) (img)
Reviewed by: udderdude
One map for Doom 2 using Boom. It's a survival style map, where enemies constantly spawn in the same room/area that you're in the entire time. There's a conveyor belt that constantly spawns possessed humans. Unfortunately there is a major bug with this conveyor - if you go to the end of it and run in, you'll appear on the other side, except you'll be stuck in a wall. You'll have to noclip to get out of it. Maybe this bug only happens in ZDoom, but somehow I doubt it. Anyway, avoid the end of the conveyor belt.
Other various enemies will also appear over the course of the fight. The best place to camp out and avoid getting destroyed by the constant swarm of enemies is in one of the additional areas that open up. Going out in the open is quite dangerous due to constant chaingunners surprise attacking you.
There are some nice custom textures, but unfortunately there are some really ugly texture misalignments lurking around. Considering how small the map is (one big room), this is pretty inexcusable.
This map isn't particularly interesting unless you like survival style maps, so if you aren't into that sort of thing, I'd say pass.
Does this /newstuff Chronicles suck? Does your wise ass think you can write better reviews than these jerkoffs? Then get over to the /newstuff Review Center and help out. I know you must have a Doomworld Forums account because you like griping about every edition in the comment thread, but if you don't, you need to get one to submit reviews.
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03-02-12 01:30 
