Eviltech: Soul Of Megawad (compatibility fixed version)

Interesting compilation of maps from the past and... from the not so past at the time of writing this. They had cool MIDIs, some of them got ingrained in my brain like it or not.

From map 10 onwards the difficulty starts rising and some of the later maps were infuriating me a lot and even ragequitted some times. From 11 onwards (with counted exceptions) the maps start to get really big, like, 25 to 40 minutes of play time for each map, which translate to approximately 1 hour in my case. 

The enemies that are placed, the absence of the SSG in episode 3 (in episode 1 wasn't a problem)... This feels like it was a Doom 1 wad at first and then it became a Doom 2 wad to use some of the new stuff but that was forgotten during in the making of these maps or something. I get that some encounters would've been trivialized with the SSG but otherwise they become a drag if that's your only weapon with ammo, and if you are low on health oh boy...

In map25 you have to collect keycards to progress, you teleport to where the red key is, two Barons rise from the floor, and the same teleporter you come from now leaves you at an inescapable room with two monster closets facing each other, full of imps and pinkies. I used hard saves for the level starts and quicksaves for level progression, so there was no way to revert this and had to start all over again.

Map29 was cool conceptually and aesthetically but in execution ehh... Hitscanners hitting you from the other side of the room in the central arena where there's almost no light (on software renderer, with ZDoom sector rendering this is not an issue), the ridiculously long maze with the spectres and imps, and thank god there was an Invincibility power up for that "encounter" with the Cyberdemon and the SEVEN ARCHVILES that they almost made me hit the ceiling lmao.

Apart from that, yeah I've seen some stuck enemies, non-intentional misaligned textures, etc, etc. They're almost forgivable considering this was the second wad Nicolás released (and it's not easy to update files on idgames afaik).

Overall, a raging yet fun experience. Seems like difficulty is part of Nicolás style because I tried Rupture's first map recently and they wrecked me there, which fitting for an Episode 4 wad.

Played on dsda-doom 0.24.3 on HMP difficulty, continuous play for the first map and just exploring maps 31 through 34 on GZDoom.

Legendary megawad. Certainly one of of best 5 I've ever played. All maps after 11 are huge, with a lot of monsters (about 600 average, but some have more than 1k), intricate but not overly confuse design and challenging gameplay. It's a MUST play if you, like me, love these kind of maps. But keep in mind 2 things about this megawad: some maps could take more than 1 hour to beat and MAP 34 is a bit unfair due to the amount of archviles. 
 

[EDIT 27/07/2022]

(Disclaimer: this is obviously an old review, I'd word my thoughts in a complete different manner nowadays so take this with a grain of salt)

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Done with these settings:

- PRBoom+ 2.5.1.4. complevel 9, ZDoom 2.8.1

- Hurt Me Plenty, Ultra-Violence for the bonus maps.

- Continuous combined with a pistol start mindset.

- Saves every 10 minutes or so.

First of all, whoever reads this, I recommend to run this with ZDoom. If not, PrBoom+ complevel 9 as a second option, despite what the txt file says, not any limit-removing port works fine with the wad. Regardless, expect some bugs. 

A mixed bag of maps that left me with some positive and negative feelings. There is no TITLEPIC or level titles in the wad itself, but that's not a major issue. The wad is full techbase with some very nice visuals, caring not to feel repetitive. Map 17 comes to my mind, kind of a subway/sewer level. However, there were a bunch of HOM effects most notable in bars textures. 

The strongest feature is the music in my opinion, a whole set of cool midis, some known songs like Maniac and Nada Personal (by Soda Stereo), as well as this football theme in map 29 (sports are not my strength). In contrast, gameplay was a complete roller coaster, for a moment real fun, suddenly tedious, then acceptable, then annoying again.

Of all three episodes, I'd say the best one was episode 1, but it still wasn't really amusing. Very short and easy, UD-monsters only, and the last map has a disappointing cyber as just meat shield. Map 10 is one of my favourites though. Episode 2 felt too long from the very beginning, most maps have obscure progression, a LOT of cheap traps with chaingunners, and a LOT of obligatory damaging pits, something I personally find unbearable. Still appreciate the non-linearity. Only really liked maps 18 and 19. The worst is map 20 (of the whole wad), only the SMM-trio felt great, the rest was unbearable. Episode 3 gets better, same kind of traps and pits but shorter maps, clearer progression and some cool encounters. Map 21 is the one I mostly liked. Secrets levels were a mix bag, map 31 was funny until the cyber-duo which was a chore. Map 33 is completely pistol-start unfriendly, the first archies may or may not teleport out (in PrBoom+), and then a lot of hitscanners and barely no health, plus a SMM that never teleports in anywhere, had to play this under IDDQD (edited: tried on without god mode, it's still a core with the hitscanners). Map 34 may be broken or GlBoom+ doesn't support it, the yellow switch activates HOMs everywhere and doors stop working (edited: played with ZDoom, one of the best maps actually). For map 32 I must point out a couple important thing for readers, just to avoid potential frustration: do not grab the first invul sphere, leave it for the last part; there is a blur sphere after the fourth switch, take it but don't rush in the lift, instead wait until the effect is gone, then rush for the invul sphere and proceed, you'll going to appreciate this advice. Also, do not take the secret exit, it warps you to map 01 instead of 33, I guess that's for ZDoom players. Nevertheless, one of my favourite maps, as it's full of Doom 1 homages.

Aside from the negative things mentioned, some bugs like a switch in map 32 that doesn't work, stuck enemies like a SMM in map 29. Almost no cool cyberdemon encounters (except in map 32 but that depends on, my previous advice, and map 33), which was a letdown. Despite what the author recommends, I don't think I'll ever pistol-start in this mapset, as most maps do not provide proper weaponry until much later when you don't need them anymore. An example is fighting ambushes of pinkies/spectres with the shotgun and finding a chainsaw/berserk with the map 3/4 done. (This is not a letdown though, just something else to comment).

But not everything is negative, the way monsters were introduced is an interesting aspect. In episode 2 you get to see pain elementals, revenants, and mancubus. In episode 3 those never make an appearance, instead you get hell knights, arachnotrons and archviles. Also the SSG is only available during episode 2, and not again until map 30. Secrets were really easy to find, if you make good use of the automap, and in general very rewarding.

So, if I don't forget something, overall it's a mapset that didn't fully convince me, some good moments, some bad moments. It's a 6/10 for me.

amazingly enough, Eviltech is surprisingly very memorable in just how things are presented, despite not really offering anything brand-spanking new aside from level layouts. you have some ridiculous level names (all themed after subway stations) and some weird music tracks, some from the old days of Mr. Smiley Head's Safari, others are MIDI's of Spanish artists or Nirvana (btw please make sure if you're gonna use a midi of Smells Like Teen Spirit to include a midi that has fucking drums, goddamnit), and other midis are pretty annoying and don't fit right for the levels they are in (MAP12's midi got super old and MAP23's midi is dumb too). btw, playing on ITYTD, it is possible to survive the two death exits at full health and armor.

but let's not get too hasty, as the wad is split into multiple episodes and actually manages to lure players in with a very nice classic Doom E1-style episode in the first 11 maps. combat is very much like classic Doom, introducing those monsters in that game only and giving workable and not-so-long layouts.

then it explodes at MAP12, the layouts are huge but surprisingly fluid and you probably won't get lost in them despite them being long (shame that that music track sucks). you also see chaingunners and the SSG in this level. MAP13 gives you pain elementals, and MAP14 revenants, then MAP15 mancubi, although you'll be trying to work your way around everything in this game as you fight. the secret maps are truly odd, first one has loads of SS and a large layout, the other amalgamates the three episodes of classic Doom, and the third annoys players with an open layout plus hitscanners in lots of places, the final one actually still annoys players with teleporting hordes in bad locations. other than MAP32 I'd say these are misses, and then I go back to the remaining levels in the long episode. MAP17 was best, while MAP18 is a breather level before MAP19 and it's woods-like sections full of teleporting hordes. some secrets are broken in this map too. MAP20 does suck, and then we go on from there to...

the final episode. things take a turn back to the E1 style thing, although you unfortunately will be lacking an SSG while starting to fight the remaining monsters that haven't been introduced as of yet (Hell Knight, arachnotron, arch-vile). many of the maps are slightly longer than E1's maps but much shorter than E2's and are still workable, though there's plenty of hitscanners to watch out for in MAP22.

so it's quite obvious that Eviltech, despite being a mixed bag, is surprisingly nicolas monti's most memorable set. this set showed some real classic-style levels before monti delved into very abstract layouts you might have seen in Mano Laikas or Erkatanne (MAP29 of this wad does show some shades of abstract though). in all honesty it is the best of any of monti's wads due to how memorable its levels were, and given this guy came out of nowhere at first, that's saying quite a lot.