Doom 2 In Name Only

3 stars because this wad is VERY unballanced and the ending simple sucks.

There are some beautifully designed, textured and decorated gems in here. To balance that, some turds were also thrown in. Maps from 21 to 30 are very good, and MAP29 shows some unique and excellent ways to apply skin textures.

oh yes, one of the more anticipated megawads that ended up being mostly average, but why? with such a fantastic concept, making levels for each Doom 2 map by taking the names literally, what went wrong? the mappers who made these maps all took their own interpretations of each particular mapslot, and then we got a result here.

 

in most cases, the concept of a name is certainly there, Entryway is clearly an entryway. Waste Tunnels have waste and have tunnels. Tenements have apartments, Nirvana feels like paradise, Catacombs are easily catacombs, Bloodfalls have bloodfalls, Abandoned Mines seem abandoned, Industrial Zone definitely has the industrial vibes, and The Factory is certainly a factory. some of these do miss the mark, like The Courtyard which is difficult to distinguish which is the main "courtyard" (at least with The Crusher there is one major one, despite there being several more). other level names were cleverly interpreted, just look at The Focus and you probably didn't think an area that suffered from an earthquake. Suburbs you probably didn't really think the tunnel part of it would make sense but surprisingly it does. and Downtown, err, there's a "town" and the "down" portion being all that underground shit.

 

but you see, the big issue I have with D2INO may just be how the levels play. most are alright, but one major caveat is how long most of them take. why does Dead Simple just evolve into bitchloads of triangles? it's supposed to be SIMPLE. just cut out the rest. the aforementioned Suburbs has a few major monster problems with how they are laid out (that ambush of chaingunners plus the teleporting horde. many levels just pad on length with stuff that doesn't make them better. the worst of which are most likely Joseph Lord's maps, and most especially MAP27 (which is missing the crucial yellow key and an important teleport destination on ITYTD/HNTR). this is easily a mixed bag, one that was so unfortunate.

Some of the maps are bad but most of the maps are fun to play. I would recommend this wad because of the challenge it brings and the interesting concept behind it.

I dont get the hype for this one. It's average for the most part, no masterpieces but also no really bad maps. Typical example of "not as good as fanboys say, not as bad as haters say".

This is a real mixed bag, while there are good maps, they are far outweighed by the bad. One really sees the problem with doing realistic locations like this when looking at maps 4, 22, & 26 which are just really stringy levels that are pretty boring to play. I see quite a few new mappers here & the lack of quality really shows on their maps. The good maps here are 1, 2, 3, 14, 15, 19, 20, 28, & 31. There are other maps that have good ideas, but not enough to make them really stand out.

Thanks! Just been playing this on my iPad via Gameception from the app store! Great stuff!

They are not FAR outweighed, it is perhaps an even mix, cannonball always delivers for instance. Can't complain about most of the smaller levels either, it's some of the larger ones that don't hold up as well (but not all). I'd say worth downloading to at least see the concept and play maps from the better authors. (I think bruce, cb, Egregor, an_mutt, mouldy, ProcessingControl, and Xaser for instance definitely worth following the work of.)

A very interesting map pack, while quality varies, at worst it is "acceptable". Its something that typically feels "awesome", even if map detail might not be the best at points, and sometimes perhaps the gameplay; the ideas themselves are incredibly unique and worth a look.

The description above sounds like what might happen when a bunch of doomers sit around too much weed lol... Some gems in there but some maps really drag. Most are ok, though some annoying traits do pop up (all those awkward cybie fights with poor cover/motion do get tedious, for example). Couldn't get map 07 to play with GZ+Brutal no matter what i did with the settings, big downer. Gameplay wise, you're definitely getting pounded on!(up my alley). Overall a worthy effort, though no classic. 3.5/5

I don't know where you guys found bad maps in here. At worst, there's a few mediocre ones. IMO, thanks to the concept, almost every map stands out and is atmospheric, memorable and interesting, unlike when mappers focus on the gameplay, almost ignoring other aspects such as making a map interesting for those of us who aren't satisfied by gameplay alone. Sure, it may be polished and play well, but at the end of the day it's forgettable. This wad I will remember for a long time, and will certainly replay.

It is not as good as you might think. The levels just are bland, not fun to play, unnecessarily long. The most disappointment i got from MAP07 - Dead Simple. It SHOULD be simple.

I was eagerly awaiting the release of this Doom II reimagination. The idea of the project was great, but if more than 50% of all levels aren't fun, the whole thing is a loss. IMHO, some of the maps also simply were dragging on for too long. Eventually, around maybe map 19, I called it a day. It's a pity for the roughly one third of the pack that was OK - a "best of" wad with just those contributions (Jaws In Space mentioned them pretty much) might be a good idea still.

Should have stayed in name only.

More then a half of these maps sucks, most of them are just tedious. If you download this be sure to play MAP01-MAP03 MAP14-MAP16 MAP19-MAP21 MAP31 MAP32 2 stars because of the other maps.

Great wad, but some maps didn't feel executed properly. Still fun to blast through, gave me a challenge :)

Yeah, it's a mixed bag but I enjoyed the majority of the maps.

I think the team should have spent a little more time polishing this. There were a couple of levels with progress-breaking issues (7 and 34 in GZDoom for me under Doom compatibility even with infinitely tall actors enabled) and some of the levels dragged on too long. Still, it's not all bad and I look forward to seeing Ultimate Doom in name Only. 3/5 stars from me.

Congrats guys, it was a long haul but you persevered. Awesome set of maps with a great concept.

Very interesting concept, glad to see it was well executed.

This is Very worthy of a Cacaward !!!

LOVE this wad, awesome.

I don't know why this is getting so much hate. People, your standards are too high. It's always nice seeing a community wad make it out the finish line. 3.5

I was expecting this to be a really great mapset...and ended up a little disappointed. I haven't played all of it yet; I've currently played up to map 8. The maps were generally okay, but a few were just terrible. The Crusher was an awful, boring map. Dead Simple was atrocious...obscene numbers of Revenants and Arch-Viles, and triangles everywhere, this map was just one big tedious eyesore. Hopefully some of the later maps will be better. I rate it 3/5 so far, pretty average, with a few duds.

I fell asleep on map 19. It was just to big and TOO MUCH OF THE SAME OVER AND OVER. Same with map 15. I think on either 17 or 18 there was a hallway where 8 barons of hell pop up on the left and right and the doors get closed. I got stuck in that hallway. The doors wouldn't open. There were some cool level designs, like map 31 for example. Overall it's alright.