The Complete RAVEN SERIES Maps 1-11

Fast and easy series, under-detailed but for a 95' mapset it's ok. Nothing much memorable.

Mediocre, and I would generally recommend you to avoid in this day and age. I won't slam the mod, or what I played of it, for being ugly. They didn't have the tools we have nowadays, but the level pack is uglier than the original games. No, what made me stop playing this WAD was the poor level design.

 

The first map opens with a big open room, containing a thick pillar in the middle. Right in front of you, you have a SSG as your first pick up. There's a green armor and a blue armor right next to each other to your left. This room also has an archvile, which I died to because I wasn't prepared for it at all. Other than the very first room of the very first level, the first three maps are quite easy and don't pose much of a threat (with the exception of the baron trap).

 

You'll almost instantly get your entire arsenal of weapons in the very first map. There's ammo everywhere and you'll find loads of armor everywhere. The item and weapon balance is rubbish.

 

The first map continues with a bunch of rooms senselessly linked to each other without any flow or really any guidance to where you should go. You won't get lost because everywhere leads to everywhere, but you get the feeling that the map layout hasn't been thought through at all. Level two follows the exact same recipe as level one; you'll get your entire arsenal early, loads of ammo/health/armor, and you'll meander about a pointlessly interconnected map. Level three is somewhat less of a big area with walls between, but even less enjoyable to play. It ends with a 50/50 choice as how to exit the level. The one I chose threw me into an acid pit that let me exit to level 4 with 6 hp. Level 4 begins with a room containing 3 machinegunners. Here I died again. This is the kind of poor level design I'm assuming the majority of this WAD contains. I kept playing map 4 for a bit longer, but just straight out quit partways through due to boredom. The level design simply fails to impress and isn't good at all, especially compared to all the great packs we have nowadays. I wouldn't suggest it even if it's just for curiosity's sake.

I can understand the reasons for some of the very polarized reviews of this wad, but feel that both sides of the argument miss the mark. 

 

True, there are plenty of weak points about it. It's very easy - you are more likely to die in an inescapable nukage pit, or from carelessly standing near exploding barrels, than by becoming a victim of any monsters. Far too much health and (especially) armour is provided, and whereas I'm not a fan of currently fashionable 'resource management' approaches to ammo provision, it's still probably too readily available here - it's possible to use the SSG for the majority of the game, even on zombies and the like, without running out of shells for very long. There are other annoyances too, like the baron pit in map 3, which doesn't seem to work properly, or the mind-numbingly tedious and pointless teleport puzzle at the end of map 6.

 

On the plus side, it's fine for an hour or two of quick, unrestrained blasting fun. The environments can be a bit bland, but are generally better than those in many early Doom wads, and are occasionally quite impressive (eg map 11). While the difficulty level is, as mentioned, pretty low, this makes these levels ideal for beginners, if that doesn't sound too patronizing: and for more experienced players, the wad could be an interesting challenge if played with mods like Project Brutality or Project MSX.

 

Played on UV difficulty, GZ Doom.

 

If you like nostalgic WADs play this - if you like """good""" WADs don't. It's as simple as that.

For 95 map set it is really cool. But it lacks final boss.

This is a reasonably playable episode, if rather dull, but it's from 1995 and it's not all that bad for then. Master Levels are slightly better though. A low 3*, I feel this is just nice enough that I can be generous to it

I found nothing that visually horrible about these levels (they were made in 1995 after all) but the gameplay was quite dull with minor annoyances like excessive badly placed armor and lame secrets. Not as bad as the criticism of these levels in the chord1.wad text file suggests, but reading that text file was still more amusing than playing them.

Sometimes cool architecture elements here & there, but with very bland texturing. Monster density is way too low (boring even on -fast)

insanely old skool mapset. nonlinear, which is quite unique for its time, but didn't seem to show much promise otherwise as its not really detailed or amazing. okay to play though but don't expect anything memorable as gameplay is quite boring, barrels everywhere, monsters used sparingly, nothing much. far too easy given the supplies handed out. this is almost what would be considered a hidden gem, but it isn't since nothing here really can be called a gem.

I found it by a easter egg in Quake :)

3 stars? Why? This classic WAD is better than the vast majority of WADs you would see back around the early days of community level design. They didn't have Doom Builder or any other great level design software we have today. Sure, it hasn't aged well. For example MAP01 & MAP02 don't have much lighting, but as others said, it gets better as you go on. Had it not been for his love for level design, we wouldn't have some of the great levels this guy created in the Master Levels for Doom 2.

Although it got a little better as you progressed through the mapset, the levels weren't that great. Fava Beans, Serenity 3, hell even the default Doom and the majority of the Doom 2 maps were much better than this. I'm surprised iD software hired him for making these crap levels. 2/5

Eleven maps dated April 1995, from a brother-sister design team that was quickly snapped up by id (Willits went on to be, and remains, the company's co-owner). These maps tend to be visually horrible, easy, packed with monsters, fast-moving, good fun; perhaps id reasoned that technical design could be taught, whereas gameplay was a natural talent. Overall it feels like eleven good old 1994 levels crammed together in no particular order and I enjoyed them all.

Two of the first things people always criticize in maps are misaligned textures and poor creature/item balance. These maps are full of misaligned textures and way too many power-ups. When I do that stuff I get ridiculed; this guy does it and becomes co-owner.

The gameplay is very good but the design in some of the levels isnt that good, especially some unnessacary full lit areas. But MAP11, that city level is simply the best of the lot.

Definately his best work, zero stars

those who say this map is trash are trying to hide that they can't complete it and that they really are trash this is a great levelset! 5/5

A solid set of maps, though not among the very best of the early wads.

Well, not so bad for its time, but it misses the feeling...

overrated There were much better maps at the time of it's release. 0/5

Honestly, the only reason this wad is rated so low is jealousy. Some guy builds a competent wad and gets to wear a suit, peddle soft drinks, and instate always-on DRM policies while we just rot away at our computers playing a 20-year old game. From an objective viewpoint, the first six maps are pretty dull, but the rest is good for '95. MAP10 and 11 are definitely worth playing, although the lack of an endboss is disappointing. 3.5/5

Shit. Avoid.

trash * -sargebaldy

I remember this being the very first custom set of maps I ever played. To this day I still find these very fun maps to play, whether or not they *look* as good as the standard that has been set for mapping in the past few years. I truly do not understand anyone who gives this anything less than a 3. They may not be the greatest maps from the time, but they certainly are not anywhere near horrible. Overall this was/is a great set of fun, mostly balanced maps, and that's what's important. 4/5

This wad IS easy. Play it if you don't believe me.