Dark Side of Deimos

Played with pistol starts, UV, GLBoom+

 

This doesn't really get the balance right at all, in my opinion. First five levels are very straightforward, too much so in fact, and can quite easily be completed without dying on most attempts.

 

The final three levels go to the other extreme. There doesn't seem to be any armour whatever provided, and ammo is fairly scarce. Six and seven are a pretty decent challenge, but in the final map there is barely enough ammo to beat the Cyberdemon, at least on the top difficulty level. I eventually killed him with my final bullet after about 20 failed attempts, but it wasn't much fun by the end.

 

I'd also agree with the reviewer who thought the levels looked too similar, with little to distinguish them. There are better E2 replacements than this. It doesn't quite merit a full three stars: 55/100 would be more like it.

Visuals are good, layouts are inspired, but weapon and monster distribution is completely awkward. How about teleport face-to-face to some spectres, or three maps in row without chaingun but with regular dozens of these damned bastards? So -fast is playable, but without much fun, that mean (for me at least) low replayability. /hth

Some nice levels with solid level design and fun, not too hard gameplay.

Latter levels get horribly confusing when it comes to switch hunts and figuring out what the switches do, but all in all the levels are done pretty well so I can't actually give it less than 4 stars.

I certainly liked this a lot.

Now this was really enjoyable little episode!:) Just what I needed after -barely- managing to slog through D2INO.

Отл ;ичl 5;ый вад ;.

switch hunts galore and rooms with no purpose. I didn't like this at all.

Interesting and rather nice level design along with reasonable challenges and atmosphere. Recommended.

Amount of work: 4/5. Very good lightning: 4/5. Having said that, it looks like a half succeeded yet-another-attempt to improve E2. Extremely rectangular, switch hunts thus endless walking, very little variation in architecture. Monster placement is very unbalanced. Gameplay just does not gets exciting. Overall: a small 4/5 for the attempt/efford, but I won't play it a 2nd time.

Pretty good episode. Fine map design and enjoyable challenging gameplay. 4/5

Vintage Doom fun! Perfectly balanced old school maps. No cheap difficulty, no frustrating traps, nothing of that crap so many modern mapmakers love. Visuals are pleasing and clean, just good ol classic Doom look. These maps are easily up there with "...the Way id Did" wads. Must play if you are tired of endless slaughtermaps and gimmick ridden wads, and want to be reminded why so many of us fell in love with Doom. 5/5, I hope to see more from this author

Highly enjoyable classical maps, with almost professional level of balancing and polish (this appears to be author's first wad, but based on quality of this wad I have a feeling he have probably been mapping for quite some time under different aliases). Definite recommendation!

Excellent episode that oozes professionalism, full of classic Doom 1 fun. Manages to be challenging but never frustrating. 5/5

If you don't love these maps then you don't love Doom. No gimmicks, just solid, professional-standar d map design with well-balanced difficulty and varied gameplay. Textures aren't simply unthinkingly 'aligned', they actually fit the architecture. My few nitpicks (e.g. huge steps in E2M1) are minor. This episode is a real treat, especially for anyone sick of being mobbed by revenants and arch-viles.