The /newstuff Chronicles #444

• Doom Batch file creator/Doom launcher v1.3 - Mark David Bowman
  N/A - Vanilla - N/A - 2308350 bytes
  Reviewed by: Melon
  This is an upload of an old DOS program that makes bat files to launch Doom with. It doesn't explicitly state on it when it was originally made, but it does mention Windows 98, so I'm guessing it's from 1998 or 1999.
  
  I think it's pretty clear that nobody is actually going to use this these days over the more modern launcher utilities available, but hey, it's an archive after all. It's a cool curiosity if you're into that sort of thing.
  
  
• The Five Zones - mno (aka mno)
  Doom 2 - ZDoom Compatible - Solo Play - 122157 bytes - (img) (img) (img) (img)
  Reviewed by: Memfis
  This is a weird weird map with a transformation theme. By the time you reach the exit, most of the areas will be totally different from their original form. It's worth playing just to see all these amusing changes taking place and to participate in some mindless semi-slaughter action. The design is crude and nonsensical though, almost jokewad-like, but you might find it adorable depending on your opinion of the 1994 wads. So if you aren't very picky when it comes to visuals, maybe you will enjoy this.
  
  
• Shrek vs Doomguy: The Phantom Pain - chesse20
  Doom 2 - ZDoom Compatible - Solo Play - 30742899 bytes - (img) (img)
  Reviewed by: 7hm
  As somebody who has never played a jokewad before in his life, I'm not sure if Shrek vs Doomguy: The Phantom Pain is intended to qualify as one, or if chesse20 was just trolling, or what. Apparently this is the third in a series, so he's clearly put some time into whatever it is he's doing here. Shrek 3 consists of three levels, and I did actually play it the entire way through, so either I was successfully trolled or the joke is on me. The screenshots pretty well speak for themselves as far as the monster replacements and mapping go (single texture series of hallways and rooms), and suffice it to say the sound and music replacements are equally bad. Ah, you say, but how is the gameplay? Also terrible.
  
  
• Nina Dobrev 2 - TimeOfDeath
  Doom 2 - Limit Removing - Solo Play - 286092 bytes - (img) (img) (img)
  Reviewed by: 7hm
  Nina Dobrev is a Canadian actress. This wad is a slaughtermap. When you beat the one, you get pictures of the other (...or at least pictures of Nina for beating the map, it probably doesn't work the other way). The aesthetic is plain and lightly detailed, but it uses some nice height variation and is actually not that bad on the eyes; nothing garish or out of place. The fighting starts off indoors and ends outdoors, but either way wide open spaces predominate.
  
  Like most slaughtermaps, the gameplay is heavily dependent on gated hordes, but ammo is plentiful and monsters go down quick. (Except the Cyberdemons, of which there are many. Hope you're good at the BFG two-shot.) The real value of this download is the 18 minute demo that TimeOfDeath included with it. If you've ever wanted to vicariously experience a slaughtermap being taken down by its own author, this wad is for you.
  
  
• Aerox - David "Springy" Spring
  Doom 2 - Vanilla - Deathmatch - 14787 bytes - (img)
  Reviewed by: Preliatus
  A dueling deathmatch map.
  
  As someone with no friends that have an interest in Doom, and no resources to host a server for the map, I decided that a bot in Zandronum would have to suffice for my late night DM partner. Sadly, it could not keep up with my skill, even on Nightmare.
  
  Anyhow, Aerox is your standard bland dueling map meant for vanilla, I believe. It's a simplistic sore to look at while you're sensually slapping your favorite bot partner with a super shotgun.
  
  One of the gripes of mine is the lift contraption to get the BFG. I've never seen a map that does this, and it leaves the pause between the lift lowering and raising far too long to be left out in the open to suffice. While I admit that the BFG grab should have some difficulty to it, a single-lift with a long pause between lowering and rising is not a significant application for this. During my review I had no issue, simply due to the bot hugging the wall and unloading its shells into it as I waited, dilly dallying around for a few good seconds until the lift raised, and I ran over to the BFG only to lose it seconds later when my bot-buddy finally figured out that walls are people.
  
  Secondly, while the map does have an exit, the goodies within the exit don't seem to be worth the trouble to open the door. When I was expecting a chainsaw to shred the flesh of my hapless bot-partner, I was greeted by green armor, and significantly perforated by the bot after grabbing the armor. SSGs do not feel great from behind, or in any direction at close range.
  
  Thirdly, there is a switch that lowers one of the pillars in the side room with the BFG switch that reveals a plasma gun. While I'm certain that the placement of the lift and the lack of view of the lift from the switch is common within other dueling maps for revealing "secret" guns within pillars, it took me several deaths caused by my bot-partner's thick rockets slapping across my side to make me realize what it reveals.
  
  While I'm not a fan of spending time romancing a bot within Zandronum during a duel map, I'm certain that this isn't up to par with the detail or design as other maps.
  
  It would seem that if the mapper decided to make it visually snap, it would be much more appealing next to the dueling maps within today's standards.
  
  It's not bad for a vanilla dueling map either. I say take it if you want a night of vanilla dueling, or a simplistic dueling session.
  
  If you're looking to caress your opponent's body with a chainsaw in close quarters, then look elsewhere. There is no chainsaw here.
  
  
• Defender - Tekbomber
  Doom 2 - ZDoom Compatible - Solo Play - 34649667 bytes - (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img)
  Reviewed by: mrthejoshmon
  "This is my first ever wad. I only have couple weeks experience with doom Builder and slade3"
  
  Oh no.
  
  This is a first wad by Tekbomber, and I got to say he has potential and definitely can put some real effort into his wads, but unfortunately he seems to be misplacing this effort and potential into things like "Defender".
  
  Defender is (at least to my knowledge) a six-map wad with many new pieces of music, sprites and sounds (many of them being random and honestly quite crap). You play as some annoying high pitched legoman who is on some sort of mission to stop the devil after bible revelations stuff happens (the wad author was not very specific), and you are going to be stopping this devil throughout five canon levels and one tribute level (MAP12 for some reason) with some horrible digitized sprites of things like a Dyson vacuum cleaner and some sort of Cross.
  
  MAP01 begins in "A nightmare" where both the music and texture work pierce your very soul (seriously, it is awful) whilst you do some of the worst platforming to ever embrace my ZDoom (seriously, you not only need pixel perfect accuracy but you will also need to use automap or mouse look for this). After you get past that awful section, you get to go near some cartoon girl to finish the level, yay.
  
  MAP02 begins with some sort of female imp thing with massive breasts attacking you whilst you stand on your bed (or at least on UV) as you fight it off with your digitized pistol. You then explore a one-floor flat that is apparently your annoying legoman's house; you then press the door to leave.
  
  MAP03, this one started off promising actually, you spawn in a kind of nice looking room until you turn around and see some guys from "Batman Doom" just standing there on the other side of the fence. Then it gets bad, really bad, as you enter the next few 64-wide rooms for some of the most overly cramped encounters I ever had (and that is coming from me of all people). There are some breaks in the ice with more open rooms, but generally this map is super cramped and for some reason devoid of ammo; I had to hold off two Barons, a couple Cacodemons and even a Mancubus with a digitized cross (chainsaw, in other words)! Trying to find ammo in this wad is like trying to get a girlfriend, damn it (and that is a very complex and fruitless task for a guy such as I)! The current situation for this map set is looking pretty grim.
  
  MAP04 is somehow even more cramped than MAP03... This map was an absolute pain in my ass! I can't even begin to describe how screwed I was, especially seeing as though somebody forgot to give me enough ammo and health to even take on those multiple enemies in this dark and super cramped hell hole! And just to rub it in, some sort of HOM door locked me out of the second room by breaking the actual door into the room forcing a restart! Next map please!
  
  MAP05 is some sort of city area. As soon as I heard the cyberdemon roar, I knew I was going to be here for a very long time... Let me put it this way: there wasn't enough ammo again, the "city" could have been easily made in ROTT. There were just so many enemies everywhere, you were just drowning in hostiles before you even got anywhere near the cyberdemon.
  
  I'm just glad I got that over with.
  
  Also MAP12 (the sixth map) is a another FPS platforming monstrosity; I didn't even want to complete it.
  
  Overall, this wad is a bad step in Tekbomber's mapping career. Learn the basics before you put hentai instead of ammo in your levels, please.
  
  
• Save the World! - Canofbacon & Calmperson
  Doom 2 - ZDoom Compatible - Solo Play - 1022771 bytes - (img) (img) (img)
  Reviewed by: Melon
  Have you ever heard the saying "A picture says a thousand words"? Well here's a "joke"wad that tries to say as many words as possible with its DECORATE monster design. This review is going apply the same concept. Take a look at the screenshots and they will tell you all you need to know. Don't waste your time with this wad.
  
  
• WOOO - Various
  Doom 2 - ZDoom Compatible - Solo Play - 6914535 bytes - (img) (img) (img) (img) (img)
  Reviewed by: Melon
  Let's not beat around the bush, this is one of those jokewads where the joke is that it's intentionally as bad as possible. As you might expect, the vast majority of this wad consists of unplayable garbage that's not worth your time, whether the levels are broken from a technical standpoint or just unbearably tedious.
  
  But as is the case with some jokewads, there's the occasional nugget of hilarious and creative brilliance that shines through to make the whole thing worthwhile. Mock 2, for example, had the opening level where it tricked you into chainsawing a barrel, or TurboCharged Arcade's Matrix level with the bullet-time slowdown. WOOO has its own share of funny moments, ranging from one level's music being the opening beats of D_RUNNIN on loop, to the art gallery in "Bioshock Infinity", or that glorious intermission picture, or the ridiculously overdetailed and copy-pasted level that ends in a particularly unexpected and hilarious way.
  
  I imagine many people reading this review already have some idea about what to expect from this wad, and they're absolutely right. Compared to wads like Mock 2, I'd go so far as to say that this wad is one of the best bad jokewads around, with a much higher ratio of actually funny moments. It's still an incredibly low ratio, but when it comes to jokewads you take what you can get.
  
  
• Doom Music Inversion - Mr. Chris
  Doom/Doom 2 - Vanilla - N/A - 472843 bytes
  Reviewed by: Preliatus
  This is a simple alternative music wad designed to switch the high notes with the low notes. As I really don't like taking screenshots, I felt this wad is the right thing for me.
  
  First off I tried out Doom 2 with the wad. Simply put, the new mood for the game gave off a happy tone. While I did not have any issue with any of the music for any of the levels, I avoided playing a level that played the same music as another, though I did hit all of the music in Doom 2. As a forewarning, it turns Map30 into a high-pitch buzz sound that might be out of the hearing range for some Doomers, notably those of great age, rendering the music on that map silent.
  
  Next off, I tried completing my review of Ultimate Doom. From Knee Deep in the Dead the music was immediately jarring as E1M1 became a high-pitched anthem of ear destruction, and it only urged me to beat the level faster than my record time of 10 seconds. From then onwards the music ranged from orchestral fanfare to dark moody themes like in Doom 2.
  
  While the inversion for the music destroyed my taste for E1M1, I personally found the music of E1M9, E1M4, and E1M8 to be fairly decent within KNitD. Episode 2 shifted from the cheery mood of the new music of Episode 1 towards again, a moodier feeling. Oddly enough, Episode 3 was quite cheery and uplifting in the altered music. While blasting demons in their faces with my shotgun I had sudden urges to hop through fields of flowers; wait, not hop... skip! As my demonic-fueled rage subsided as the Spider mastermind in E3M8 died within five seconds from two BFG blasts, I was greeted by the soothing fanfare of the intermission screen.
  
  What followed was the infamous rabbit on a stick, and the music changed to a constant cheery, happy theme, even as it approached the segment that darkened the mood.
  
  My final say on this? If you're looking for a new set of tunes to Doom, I recommend this inversion wad. While it makes little alterations to the Doom music, it turns Doom's music into the status of a teenager suffering mood swings, ranging from cheery, happy music to dark and brooding demonic chants, while reaching octaves that go beyond the hearing range of the elderly in spastic attacks.
  
  If you wish to keep your ears intact, then skip.
  
  
• Anomaly - Colt "Inkie" Burton
  Ultimate Doom - Vanilla - Solo Play - 30277 bytes - (img) (img) (img) (img)
  Reviewed by: Zalewa
  This is a E1M8 replacement for Doom 1 that is small, easy and quick to beat (but a bit longer than Doom 1 E1M8). It also features a boss battle with bruiser brothers, where their attacks are much easier to avoid than in the original map. Author states that this is their first released map, and while not impressive in overall, I can say that it's fairly okay. The design revolves around a central temple-like structure that you first see from a window, and then you slowly get closer and closer while circling it. There's also a bit of simple detailing and some odd angles on walls, which are both quite good.
  
  Players shouldn't expect anything mind blowing or skill exercising here, but I guess this is a good map to start a slow morning. As for the blatantly bad things:
  
  - there is one case of incorrectly applied textures that I noticed,
  - lava pit has no escape and you have to die there,
  - you can get stuck inside bruiser brothers pillars and have to reload or noclip to get out.
  
  These are all pretty minor, and my rambling should be only treated as tips of what to avoid in next maps. I think the author shows some potential for better maps in the future.
  
  
• The Agonizing Vault - MatthewDoomer
  Doom 2 - Vanilla - Solo Play - 41363 bytes
  Reviewed by: Vise98
  A not-Terry wad by MatthewDoomer? That's gotta be my lucky day! And I'm ever luckier to be the reviewer! ("May Not Run With...: Broken Legs" Damn, that has to be the cheesiest joke I've ever heard.)
  
  Anyway, let's begin with this review! This wad for Doom II is made of a single map and some new music (which is not bad).
  
  The map is techbase/storage base themed and it takes about 5 minutes to complete. There are no secrets and little ammo/health, so you better be careful. Generally, its style is pretty simple, though enjoyable.
  
  Not the best map I've ever tried, but it's OK; try it if you have some spare time. Not bad as one (not the first one though) of the first serious wads though!
  
  
• SOCCOR CTF - Michael M. "DG93" (AKA: Doomguy93)
  Doom 2 - Skulltag / Zandronum - CTF - 226391 bytes
  Reviewed by: mrthejoshmon
  SOCCOR CTF is a face paced arena set in a "Soccor" field where the only real method of play is the Capture The Flag game mode, which is to be expected of a map with CTF in its name.
  
  The gameplay is what I would call bullets to the face; you all spawn in an open area, and you all have to do is run into the other team's net, grab the flag from said net, and put it into your net. Simple as that.
  
  I only played it on 3v3; I had a very hard time scoring a flag due to how open the map is. This map can get extremely hectic when you get into the middle of a battle with only a goal post as your cover and nothing but rockets heading your way (there are other weapons on the map, but the RL is most effective).
  
  Overall this map can provide a decent bit of fun and humor for a while, but ultimately you will not be playing this for hours on end.
  
  
• Unholy Realms - Brian Knox
  Doom 2 - Limit Removing - Solo Play - 9292587 bytes - (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img)
  Reviewed by: kmxexii
  It took forever, but Brian Knox finally got Unholy Realms out the door (and he got by with a little help from his friends). Knox will be the first to admit that Unholy Realms has a very distinct style of combat which I've heard described as "Scythe arenas", which basically boils down to lots of fights where players are forced to deal with multiple enemies on multiple fronts without much if any "safe" space to retreat to. They're also fairly short, so if you measure success by your time between level exits, you won't be held up too much outside of some of the most brutal maps, a few of which are by his talented guest authors.
  
  The themes should seem familiar, if not the textures. Knox takes us from military bases to varied outposts floating in the aether to our favorite warm place. They also owe their existence to a broad time spectrum, starting back in roughly 2009, so the earliest levels don't quite compare to Knox at his most imaginative (see MAP28), but it's still crazy fun and crazy action. Thanks, Snakes.
  
  
• Parallel Phobos Texture Pack - scifista42
  Doom/Doom 2 - N/A - N/A - 310786 bytes
  Reviewed by: walter confalonieri
  A bunch of interesting textures based upon the "Knee-Deep in the Dead" texture roster (plus a pair of modifications of SUPPORT3 and METAL textures that aren't in episode 1), made by scifista for Ultimate Doom and Doom 2 (it comes in two different wads). As I wrote before, this is a pretty nice texture set, with lots of "modernizing" of the original textures with interesting edits and recoloring, but the only thing I wanted to see is more recolored textures (especially for the hexagonal floor and the back textures), adding more variety to this pack. But I think an intelligent usage of these textures will create some interesting maps.
  
  Check it out if you want; it is a nice texture pack waiting to be used!
  
  

7hm said:

Nina Dobrev is a Canadian actress.

lol, Vampire Diaries was on tonight... *drool*

TimeOfDeath said:

lol, Vampire Diaries was on tonight... *drool*

Watch True Blood instead, it's miles better. Ahem.

I'll see if I can try spit out some reviews to get through the backlog: we can't rely on Creaphis now! On a side note, I think someone uploaded a heap of DoomwaR replica maps to the archives under a different name, which might be worth investigating.

kmxexii said:

Thanks, Snakes.

Thakes.

Over 180 WADS? Could this mean that peoples interest in Doom is finally dropping?

In any case this means I just might have the excuse I need to go play some more Doom! Its been a while. I might review 1 or 2 wads this weekend.

Lol maybe just for the lulz I should upload all my wads to make the queue even longer by like 30-40. And when it finally comes to them, you'll get T/nC consisting of nothing but my wads. jk lol.

Memfis said:

Lol maybe just for the lulz I should upload all my wads to make the queue even longer by like 30-40. And when it finally comes to them, you'll get T/nC consisting of nothing but my wads. jk lol.

You should totally do this. For serious.

Melon said:

You should totally do this. For serious.

Agreed.

Pretty cool that a screenshot of Save the World is on the front page of Doomworld!

hardcore_gamer said:

Over 180 WADS? Could this mean that peoples interest in Doom is finally dropping?

You should probably have read that sentence over again before posting.

Yeah, it's "people's", not peoples.

I think he's more referring to the fact that if interest in Doom was dropping, there wouldn't be over 180 WADs.

NiGHTMARE said:

I think he's more referring to the fact that if interest in Doom was dropping, there wouldn't be over 180 WADs.

I know, I was just being a dork. :P

Considering that there's solid blocks of noddy little projects by BreezeR and the Bazley brothers in the more recent past, Memfis might as well upload his 30+ maps in one go as well. Or do what I did and just chuck them all in one .zip so that can be not reviewed for months on end instead, but also not block the queue up much.

I suspect the main reason for the lack of reviews is the one I have for not reviewing - there's a lot of shit stuff coming out and I don't really have the time or inclination to go through it all so we can unearth the gems that are already visible in the Wads & Mods section most of the time anyway.

I have seen my maps reviewed over the last two N/S and I have to say that this is one that I fully agree with why? Possibly because Aerox is the creation I didn't like much at all, yet I had a person who quite liked it over on Zandronum (along with my tester; CQ75) so I kept it like that in the end. While the others were well written, they seemed a bit too lovey dovey and could have been criticised a little more but thank you to Eligrand and Vise98 for those reviews I am glad you enjoyed them. Never really liked the visuals or the game play for a lot of my maps except from my Arsehole map and a couple of select maps from a DM wad I was making, (now contributed to FreeDM). Though I am glad too see that people appreciate a few OS duel maps that took a very short amount of time to do.