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CROSSING ACHERON

   (98 reviews)
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About This File

As in my first level -- DANTE'S GATE -- I have tried in CROSSING ACHERON to achieve a gaming atmosphere that is not only fast-paced (once the fur starts to fly), but just plain creepy. Once again, I went for the aesthetics (you know: The Look); but this time, I also tried to keep the game from being too easy. I think once you get inside, you'll find that CROSSING ACHERON has been fully optimized for DEATHMATCH. But it's just as enjoyable (if I do say so myself) in Single-player and Coöperative modes.

CROSSING ACHERON (pronounced 'ak eron) is a sequel to DANTE'S GATE -- thematically, anyway. (It's an E1M3 only because I thought the music was more appropriate than M2.) For any of the two or three of you out there who have read Dante Alighieri's THE DIVINE COMEDY -- or even only "Inferno" -- I'm sure you've been able to appreciate the many allusions to this work in DOOM. I have tried to take a tack of my own along the same lines. (I do this not only because I think the idea is neat, but so that people will think that I'm very clever.) I'm not so naïve as to expect everyone to rush out and get a copy of "Inferno" (I mean, it IS pretty tedious stuff, at times), but it's well worth the read -- and a little patience is a virtue that is often well-rewarded.

(By the way: Acheron is a river in Hell (basically). But don't look for any rivers in here: I tried it several different ways and just wasn't convinced.)

I thank those of you who sent me mail on my previous effort, and I hope to hear from more of you about this one. (Just a line would do: "It's great!" or "It sucks!" or "Now I know what John Cormack MEANT to do in "Unholy Cathedral.")

Thanks. Hope you like it.


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MoreMending

  

Quite barren even on UV, and the bfg secret was a pain.

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Azuris

  

So this Wad was on one of the dutch Mega Doom CDs i came across yesterday and is the first i have played from them.

To my surprise, it is a pretty good and fun Level! (I mean, i expected the worst from such CDs)

It has a really nice Layout and Church like Design, compared to newer Wads it feels very much like on of the Temple Levels in Doom 64 (i mean that in a very good Way!).

 

There is some nice Teleporter Trickery, that gives you the feel to have been send to a small part of Hell.


 

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reignof2k

  

kind of dissapointed, not much variety

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Roxor ViceCity

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Rating 3/5 stars.

Playtime: Average for a single map(around 10 minutes)

Completed to 100% in: 11 minutes

Difficulty: Easy 

I really love this map for the placement of its enemies and traps. The design is absolutely gorgeous and he did good to choose E1M3 because it's song fits perfectly.

Now, the biggest problem in this map are the freaking teleporters around everywhere. They are extremely confusing and if you go for a 100% they will give you a minor headache, especially because lost souls can teleport through and wander around the map aimlessly. Seriously, if it wasn't for the teleporters I would give it a 4/5.

Do I recommend it?

Yes, even for the teleporters, this map is a short but sweet one and I think you should play it!

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Stale Meat

  

One of Dr.Sleeps earliest works, Crossing Acheron is a simple but atmospheric map made in a time where mapping tools were both simpler and more user unfriendly than the Doombuilder of today.

 

Gameplay wise, it is quite subdued compared to his later maps in the Master Levels and Thy Flesh Consumed, with an enemy count and difficulty on par with most of Doom 1. The action is fairly brisk save for a few more intense areas, leaving the player a good bit of breathing room between fights to take in the sights and decide how to proceed. It is fairly nonlinear and doesn't give you a strong sense of direction other than searching around for more bad guys and bigger guns. It isn't enough to be completely lost, but you may want to keep an eye on the automap to figure out where to go next. You can get the entire arsenal in this map, but chances are you will probably kill most everything by the time you get it all. There is definitely enough ammo and health to take care of things with a good margin for mistakes anyways.

 

Layout wise, it looks its age but not necessarily in a bad way. There are some not so obvious lifts, a few spots where sectors are angled oddly, and the texture placement is a little rough, but otherwise it is pretty close to the standard of Id's own levels at the time, all with Dr.Sleeps signature emphasis on ambiance. His choice on E1M3 for the music fits well with the level, and combined with the sky and temple-like architecture it leaves a sort of eerie serenity as you wade through the chapel and surrounding open ceiling hallways. Compared to many WADs of later years it certainly pales in almost all aspects, but by even today's standards it is a fairly solid if simple level that can very well be a good standard to compare ones own early works.

 

Overall it is neither a spectacular experience or a particularly flawed one. You could probably skip it if you aren't attracted to its history or care much for shorter and simpler levels. But if you are interested in studying Doom history, making levels yourself, or even just want a fairly quick and laid back experience, I would recommend you check Crossing Acheron out at least once.

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Guest

  
well made

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Guest

  
Great for '94 and not too typical of it's era. Still fun to play now. Give it a quick play. -TRRobin.

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Guest

  
Overpraised. Unlike other great levels from top'94 it has no style or concept at all. Except a cathedral part (which executed quite poor even for '94) design here is just a room-by-room 2D drawing. Texture choice is very poor too, most of level consist from green stone without much differencies between walls and floors. Gameplay is average but those countless teleporters are real annoyance. /hth

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Guest

  
Actually not too bad but quite overhyped 1994 level. All-over a bit simple and sometimes chaotic, but has beside a lot of typical 1994-type flaws, some nice ambiance and @ UV gameplay with a few amusing moments. Rated as a 1994 map: 3*. BTW @ all 5* raters here: there are a sh*tload of 1994 maps which blow away this one completely on all aspects, so 5* is obviously ridiculous. /nofi

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Guest

  
I always like a delightful challenge on Ultraviolence, and this WAD offered just that. It presents itself as a classic style DOOM map, as the atmosphere of the map is quite flavorful and faithful to id's depiction of Hell. Play it, you'll die! -Amphedark

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Guest

Unknown date

  
For it's time.. and still today, unbelievable. A must have for everyone who calls themselves a doomer. -Fusion

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Guest

Unknown date

  
Even today I still love playing this map I just like this one alot, an nice old school map and in some cases even better than maps you see today 5/5.

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Guest

Unknown date

  
classic ***** -sargebaldy

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Guest

Unknown date

  
Very good map, the teleporters and key locations kept it a challenge to find the exit. 4/5

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Guest

Unknown date

  
I like Dat Shi

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Guest

Unknown date

  
Dante fan? Good job

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Guest

Unknown date

  
I wouldn't call this the best release of 1994 (Eternity or TEU, as those are whole episodes), but as far as level design is concerned this is remarkably close in quality to the original and more or less the best you'll find from '94. I'll even sneak a 4/5 from today's perspective.

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cs99cjb

Unknown date

  
All doors have bad ceiling textures and it's easy by modern standards (how many soul spheres?!) but never ugly or boring. This is mostly about puzzles not slaughter. Best just to go with the flow. Completed in 18m. 4/5.

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Guest

Unknown date

  
It's awesome, but it doesn't seem as creepy as I thought it would be but it's still a good WAD. Indeed a worthy download.

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Guest

Unknown date

  
One of the old classics. On par IMO with his TFC maps.

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Guest

Unknown date

  
A true classic. I got so much of my inspiration from Dr. Sleep. It deserves no less than 5. -PC

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Guest

Unknown date

  
Amazing, a great old school style with nice clean map design

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Guest

Unknown date

  
Updated version here: http://www.doomworld .com/idgames/index.p hp?id=13978

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Guest

Unknown date

  
Gameplay in singleplayer is good, so its hard to think that he designed this with deathmatch in mind.

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  • File Reviews

    • By Mizuki_Jun10 · Posted
      It turned out to be a surprise for me because I didn't expect it to be such a fun level, when he said he wanted a lot of monsters in his level I didn't imagine that amount of monsters, but it was definitely fun.   I consider it a very good map, for its time, for a first map made by him, for a very humble map.   But overall I don't consider it a great or extraordinary experience, I don't see myself revisiting Crusher, but I can't call it Average because what he did is super interesting.   And it's a long level, which I also didn't expect, but to be more precise, the exploration is interesting, the layout was a little diverse, and the action on the map kept me focused and entertained, some rooms had poorly aligned textures and didn't seem to have been looked at at the last minute, which is a bit strange because he said he spent a lot of time developing the map, but I imagine why since at that time there wasn't an "Ultimate DOOM Builder" with automatic texture alignment, or maybe there was one automatic alignment?   And the maze everyone mentioned was annoying, yes I admit it lasted a lot longer than it should have, and I feel like it could have been shortened in Wad's release, it made the level feel longer than it is too, but I don't feel so much that the level it got worse because of it.   The positioning of enemies isn't that great, but they make you take cautious measures at times, but at times I was like... "It could be better..."   But that's it, it's a good level, it hasn't aged well, it could be better, but I feel like it would be unfair to call this level average, it's a level that I enjoyed, did things that weren't that common at the time, and seemed to use of resources that at the time many used wrongly, I don't feel like I wasted my time. I deserve to see more from the mapper.... (If he released something after that of course...)
    • By Mizuki_Jun10 · Posted
      Surprising even, one of the newest community maps out there, 1994, wow, but it's still a bad map, the encounters are interesting, the layout is the most superior aspect here, but it still doesn't support the technical errors that even for 1994 were already guaranteed by the original DOOM maps. Weird textures, lack of variety, lack of a more interesting design than platforms going down or going up in the dark, some moments were really fun like the dark cave itself, but the fun lasts very little, with spaces that are too tight, and a shallow exploration.
    • By Mizuki_Jun10 · Posted
      I love Quake, it's my favorite Shooter, and I totally forgive the lack of detail and technical refinement that Mapper concluded here, but I have to say that even though the map is still recognizable compared to the classic E1M1 from Quake... The map just doesn't have such a refined texturing, a good light variation, and many of the areas don't even carry the classic Quake identity, as the best example: The part where we get the Nailgun, there aren't even monsters and an encounter with Zombiemans in that room , there is very little positive to consider here unfortunately, but it was a bit fun in some parts. Either way, there are a lot of negative things that make it impossible to ignore while playing the level, a horrible map, how sad.
    • By Mizuki_Jun10 · Posted
      Normally I would define these two maps as maps with interesting premises whose execution does not positively complement the result, Chicken.wad has such a simple layout that it is disappointing at first sight, which keeps you at a higher height than Cyberdemons that you They wait in sectors that flash between dark and very light, I can only be direct in saying that although the battle between the Cyberdemons is fun, the map doesn't present you with anything other than that, and it is even impossible to cross the other side of the bridge endless to eliminate the rest of Cyberdemons. Completing Chicken (Even though Chicken doesn't have an exit on his map.).   Let's go to Gangstar.wad, you can see a somewhat open space, different from the previous experience, but with the classic theme of a UAC warehouse style E2M2 from DOOM, but the boxes here are a little distorted? (Perhaps spacetime begged the mappers not to finish the maps so it distorted the map space causing this visual curse.) As much as the open spaces of the map are fun to navigate, the fun is short-lived with several of the structures being distorted. carrying with them ill-adjusted texturing. Clearly a superior map to the previous one, but unfortunately still poor, the repetitiveness of the texturing, plus a bland design and several other missing details, make this map yet another disappointment unfortunately.   The verdict is that both maps are completely disposable, I would love for the mappers to continue with their work after such complicated work, so they would at least be able to build more and improve the quality of their design work.
    • By Devalaous · Posted
      One of the classic megawads, and the successor to TNT Evilution. I've played this several times over the years, and its grown on me more with each play as my tastes mature.   Still has a bunch of maps that got me killed in 2024, after ive finished stuff like HR and AV, and plenty of maps are memorable. Only real downsides is some of the levels have little content, showing its age.
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