From my experience in the Doom community, I've realized what can really make an incredibly fun and addictive deathmatch map...its fast-paced construction. Who wants to play a deathmatch that gives you one frag every few minutes when you can have one frag every 30-60 seconds? This isn't necessarily from spamming with a BFG, then laughing it up while your opponent dies so quickly that he respawns in time to see his character being gibbed. It's the fun and connectivity of a level. Liquid DM has the compact design which lets you have a great frag-fest with your other opponent in a one-on-one match. Despite that, the fast-paced feel just wasn't there for me. Special effects in levels are great, but they don't necessarily make for good levels.File name: liquid.wad Author: Mike "Cyb" Watson Map Size: small/medium Map Summary: Four Boom enhanced, Quake 2 inspired DM maps. (Excerpted from liquid.txt)
Level 1: "Hazard"-
The middle flanks stretching to all angles of this level made it *very* accessible. However this is probably the most open you're ever gonna get. Good? Bad? That's your decision depending on how you play. The most impressive part of this level was the lava-effect... if you died on the surface, your burning corpse would sizzle while sinking downward. The construction was pretty basic, and the textures chosen blended nicely considering there weren't that many being used in the first place. I got a kick out of that lil' hallway with the BFG though, where you can jump down onto the main floor then blast away!
The water in this level is probably the highlight of its innovative design.
Just the name of the level implied that there was something new to expect.
But if you look closer, you'll notice that the water comprises the majority of the surface
(which you can sink through to the bottom). Unfortunately, that gives you very
little moving room around the level. There's an upper section
you can access by using a slow moving lift. Once there, you can attempt
to grab the BFG, most of the time falling into the water :) I do
give [the author] credit to his creativity on this one, but the design
is just too crammed to really lay back and have some fun.
Level 2: "Walking on Air"-
Level 3: "ju4r3zh0u53"-
My only guess as to the reasoning behind this
level's simple and unoriginal design is that since it has the same water
effect from previous maps, said effects were supposed to impress the players just as much. Unfortunately,
once is enough seeing how eye candy isn't something that can simply make a level
good off the bat. Maybe the name of the level was another attempt at faking
us out, but that didn't work either. Although there is a small
indoor area with some crates to jump on and stairs connecting to the exit (which
is the best part of the level), that area wasn't worth taking a screenshot from.
It's even plainer than what you see here.
"The maps are focused more on gameplay than looks".
Level 4: "ph33r"-
Who said this?
You guessed it...the author of the map. Now, someone please tell me what's
wrong with this picture. If this level was focused more on gameplay than
looks, why would it have annoying blood-pool floors (which you can fall through)?
Not only that, moving through the stuff hurts you (don't ask), and what's with those pretty looking
signs hanging in the distance? This levels gameplay was quite simple. Chase your enemy
partially through a miniature hallway, and then finally, right before
you're about to pull the trigger for the fatal shot...WHAM! You fall
into the blood, and everything on the screen fills with red. This level goes on the pile
that I tossed level 3 in. Nice looks, but fairly annoying play.
Review by Xtrackt
The Doom DM Resource Recommends:Get Liquid from Cyb's Homepage.2 Players The fastest paced settings you can find, to make up for the sets' slow-paced design. LAN play would be great for these levels, and internet would be fun but NOT for HPBs. Try not to get stuck against the walls as much as I did.