The /newstuff Chronicles #466

• Forevermore - Demonologist
  Doom 2 - Limit Removing - Solo Play - 3039119 bytes - (img) (img) (img) (img)
  Reviewed by: vtm
  This map is "meant to be challenging but not insanely up". I died at least 40 times, so I don't know if I'm good at playing Doom anymore. I find myself dying multiple times in the same ambushes; these ambush consists of revenants coming from behind, more than 100 monsters spawning in front of you, or archviles running around.
  
  The map is very well done, well detailed; it has a beautiful aspect, good texture combinations, and uses textures taken from Heretic and Hexen, but I found the song not appropriate for the map.
  
  It annoyed me that I died more than ten times in the same room against the same enemy wave. It seems to rely on monster in-fighting; I had to use it to be able to go through most fights, as without it seems impossible. It doesn't have difficulty settings implemented; ammo is very abundant, health is scarce at the beginning—for some fights a megasphere is supplied—and the final fight is nothing compared to what the player had to pass to reach the end.
  
  
• Sonic.exe(alpha) - Grek6500
  Doom 2 - Zandronum 2.0 / GZDoom - Solo Play - 33824286 bytes - (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img)
  Reviewed by: vtm
  This project mixes some "creepypastas" with Doom gameplay; it is centered on sonic.exe creepypasta and includes Tails doll creepypasta too. The author states that this is a demo. The story puts the player inside a bad dream where weird things start to happen; soon the player sees themselves going through the sewers (the only part that scared me) and soon meets a creepy Sonic. In this mod, it's important to look for all secrets, since they allow you to find more maps that change where the game ends. The secret maps are inspired by other creepypastas like Ben Drowned/Majora's mask creepypasta.
  
  Overall the scripts are well done, creating nice scary effects, also including some screamers, some very ugly monsters, and too many cheesy jumpscare moments. The weapons are done to fit the moment, and health is supplied when necessary. In some parts the music will change or will be turned off to create an atmosphere of suspense. It also needs more work in some scary parts, aligning some textures, balancing some weapons and making the boss fight less long. I couldn't find how to enter map666 without using the changemap command, and I have to add that I played it in GZDoom.
  
  If you like this kind of stuff, try it, you may like it, as it had some good parts. If not, you can pass from this one.
  
  
• Max Saga: The Doom Dragon - Mike MacDee (Impie @ Doomworld)
  Heretic - Limit Removing - Solo Play - 61430 bytes - (img) (img) (img)
  Reviewed by: vtm
  A good quality map for Heretic; it's made to look like a temple inside a cavern as its story says. The action is well-balanced, health amount is fair, and ammo is abundant. In my opinion it wasn't necessary to add the mace sphere here. Also, it's impossible to get all items. If you like Heretic you should really play this one.
  
  
• You Dig v1.7 - Tuxlar
  Doom 2 - Boom Compatible - Solo Play - 889958 bytes - (img) (img) (img)
  Reviewed by: vtm
  An interesting idea here, You Dig v1.7 puts you to dig of course. You will be using your shovel to open your way through the entire level, and certain rocks can only be broken when you have acquired a certain key.
  
  As the author states, playing on skill 4 is not recommended for the first time, as even at others difficulties it gets challenging.
  
  New textures are used and some Boom effects to; it is well constructed but it lacks some decoration. Taking your time to do careful digging can save you from exposing yourself when fighting. I really liked the song used for this map, as it goes well with the look of the map. The only downside is that there is only one map; it would be cool to play an entire set of maps.
  
  I do recommend this map—you shouldn't miss it.
  
  
• The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Bandit Experience: Retro Edition - Chaosvolt
  Doom/Doom 2 - ZDoom Compatible - N/A - 2746693 bytes
  Reviewed by: vtm
  For those who are not familiar with the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series nor fan jokes, "cheeki breeki" is part of a line used by bandits in the games, but fans often joke about masked men or bandits in ridiculous situations, or joke about glitches and physics bugs in the games.
  
  So this mod is aimed at those fans who enjoy mocking with the cheeki breeki meme. It replaces all the Doom songs with the song often heard in the bandits' radios in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. With alt-fire you taunt your enemies just as bandits do in the games, and it alerts monsters. Enemies like zombiemen and shotgun guys drop vodka that can be used to restore a small amount of health and give you super strength, and as a downside you aim like a drunk with its respective camera shakes. The Doomguy grunts are replaced with pain sounds made by the bandits. The only thing it lacks is that it doesn't have custom skins to make look the player like the bandits, and it could be a nice addition, since it's also functional in deathmatch.
  
  If you are a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fan and like the joke, you may want to play with this mod. Personally, it bores me quickly.
  
  
• Innocence II - Donnel "Jazzmaster9" Enriquez
  Doom 2 - ZDoom Compatible - Solo Play - 719683 bytes - (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img)
  Reviewed by: walter confalonieri
  Innocence II is the second chapter of the "Innocence" series by Jazzmaster9, the prolific author of 32 Over 32 and its sequel. This mapset is a short mini-episode (six levels, five playable and one secret) based upon a certain Doom episode. Also, this episode contains new monsters from the Realm667 bestiary (I guess).
  
  Also, the author likes to quote some anime or movies in level titles, like:
  
  MAP01 (Neon Genesis) - A level that resembles an original E2M1 that fell on it, with some helping marines that will fight at your side in this battle. The level is kind of easy and straightforward. The title is an homage to the Neon Genesis Evangelion anime.
  
  MAP02 (A Certain Scientific Chaingun) - This level is pretty cool, isn't extremely homage-y like the first map, but the E2 feel is strong with this one. Kind of reminds me of a weird mix of E2M3, map14 of Doom 2 and some TNT vibe. Title is an homage to the anime series A Certain Scientific Railgun (Toaru Kagaku no Rērugan).
  
  MAP03 (Towers of Evil) - In this level we reach the abyssal lands of hell in an ominous large red castle. We also find a much more hellish version of the imp, revenant, mancubus and archatron (the last two are also pretty badass looking, I liked them, especially the mancubus!). Again, title is a (probable) homage to the 1972 horror movie "Tower of Evil", but I don't the hand on the fire here... (??????)
  
  MAP04 (Beyond the Boundary) - another hellish level, set in another fortress-looking place, with huge lava pits here and there, lots of enemies and a "maze" look for the base. The title is the English name of the anime "Kyōkai no Kanata" (That I haven't watched... yet)
  
  MAP05 (Execution) - The boss map; you fight a Cyberdemon on steroids that shoots three rockets at time. The level itself kinda resembles an E2M8 homage arena. The title... comes from nowhere, nothing found.
  
  MAP06 (Crouching Baron, Hidden Caco) - The secret map is a nice map, looks like E2M9, with a hint of E1M9 in it (monsters in a cage). The title is an homage to the movie "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", also already used for the map04 title of Deus Vult 2 (with other monsters).
  
  So, after this trivia, this episode is worth of playing? In my opinion yes, yes it is! Layout-wise it is pretty simple and has a strong classic feel in every map. The perfectionist will probably find it obnoxious to look at some of the misalignments you can easily spot here and there, but the levels are fluid, fast and fun to play.
  
  Gameplay-wise this wad isn't really difficult until you reach the hell levels; there's a few well-placed monsters, and the new monsters are pretty cool (again, especially that badass hellish mancubus). There's no lack of ammo (although it isn't filled with ammo and health) and there's also some nice ZDoom-isms put in the maps, like the puzzle switch in map02...
  
  Overall, a recommended download!
  
  
• A Doomers Requiem - Endowed Creator
  Doom 2 - GZDoom - Solo Play - 50078583 bytes - (img) (img) (img) (img)
  Reviewed by: vtm
  An interest concept we have here, an overall beautiful mod, with an interesting way to tell the story in a symbolic way relating to religious imagery and using music to create a good ambiance. The story goes about the player living the faith experiences of another man.
  
  The map decoration is spectacular in my eyes, using recolored textures to create nice environments and places, adding beautiful color combinations. It lacks in decorative objects in some areas, but to compensate the author uses map constructs to create them.
  
  It doesn't have many combats scenarios, but it doesn't affects the gameplay; maps are short, but you won't find your self in boring exploration.
  
  I really liked it and it's definitely worth your time. The combination of decorative elements, narrative, and music goes really well, and I would like to encourage the author to try to make more maps like this, since he is good at this.
  
  
• Cassie Steele - TimeOfDeath
  Doom 2 - Vanilla - Solo Play - 489128 bytes - (img) (img) (img) (img)
  Reviewed by: vtm
  A really good map; the author must be very experienced at making maps.
  
  This map is so huge, it took me nearly an hour to complete it. It takes places in subterranean catacombs. The author states that this is a nonlinear vanilla map and he did it well; you can basically decide where to start, and it won't matter much since all ways are challenging. The difficulty lies in the several revenant encounters at the very beginning, and it's probably enough to make people to step down from this map.
  
  The structural design is very well done and is very well decorated. The only downside about the design is illumination; I found some places to be very dark.
  
  About the story: well, the map shows nothing related to the story.
  
  I do recommend giving it a try, as after the starting area it gets a lot better.
  
  
• DooM IIII - nub_hat and dingdang
  Doom 2 - Limit Removing - Solo Play - 883739 bytes - (img) (img) (img) (img) (img)
  Reviewed by: Canofbacon
  This WAD is off the chain, man. There is nothing like running around bland rooms filled with tons of monsters while trying to defend yourself with a chaingun. I had to use resurrect so that I could keep going in the WAD. I don't recommend downloading this unless you like seeing bad WADs like me. In my opinion, it provides some entertainment until it starts getting old. (Which happens quite fast.) If this is the author's first WAD, and I think it is, then they should try to improve their mapping skills a bit before another release. This is a decent start I guess. I think this WAD was made with speedrunning in mind since the textfile talks about speedrunning and whatnot. So if you speedrun then this might be good for you.
  
  
• Senators of Volition - Getsu Fune a.k.a. Hurricyclone
  Doom 2 - Boom Compatible - Solo Play - 241640 bytes - (img) (img) (img) (img)
  Reviewed by: scifista42
  It's a single 2048x2048 unit map, a tweaked version of MAYhem2048 MAP10 (made by the same author). Quite a charismatic map. It consists of abstract and surreal rooms, textured mostly by skin, flesh and other hellish textures. In addition, there are lots of curves and crazy light gradients, making it feel "organic" on the whole. At the same time, it's rather crude, with some steep height differences on lifts and staircases, and sharp transitions between textures, light levels and shapes. Maybe it's an imperfect design, but it works well enough.
  
  The map is nonlinear, unusual for a limitation map like this, and I like it. Your goal is to find and press several switches across the whole map, then an exit platform lowers. Gameplay features lots of gimmicky monster teleporting, but they're not very threatening at all. The map ends with archvile spam, which shouldn't be challenging either, because you can run anywhere in the map to find cover and an advantageous position to attack. Or just wait a few moments while the exit platform is lowering and then quickly exit.
  
  Neither a bad map nor a thrilling one. Give it a try if the screenshots above get you interested.
  
  
• Hell 77 N°01 - Gillibert Raymond ak (Ramon_Demestre)
  Doom 2 - Limit Removing - Solo Play - 227944 bytes - (img) (img) (img)
  Reviewed by: scifista42
  One map, taking place in a hellish temple. Stock textures only, but nevertheless, many areas look great (more on that later). The map uses a melodramatic music track by Paul Corfiatis, and I'd say that the atmosphere works well.
  
  The map is moderately long and has a nonlinear, highly interconnected compact structure. Regarding visuals, it's kind of a mixed bag. Some rooms look very impressive and elaborately (but reasonably) detailed, but other places have noticeably lower detail level, worse texturing, and strangely-shaped thin sectors. It feels like if the map was made by two authors (one skilled and one not), or like if the author was very talented, but he got bored in the middle of mapmaking and did a sloppy job on finishing the rest. Anyway, it's very worth checking out the good architecture here. Aside from the good layout, there's one more good thing about the author's style: he doesn't tend to make his map out of rectangular rooms and hallways. Instead there is a lot of interesting shapes, angles and curves; orthogonal architecture is only used where it makes sense in a temple. Also, the map is fairly decorated with torches and other things.
  
  Despite a relatively high monster count (200), gameplay is casual. There are only two notably difficult moments: the start (you're not safe to camp there once you start shooting), and a Cyberdemon encounter. Other than that, it's usually easy to outmaneuver the monsters or retreat to safety. Enemy placement often feels random and not as threatening as it could, not really in a bad way, but rather a good "oldschool" way. Anyway, there is a possibility of dying if you don't play carefully. There's much more than enough ammo in the map, usually distributed in big packs (two shell boxes next to each other, or four bullet boxes etc.). Similarly, health is distributed rather generously. The mapper's weak point is monster teleport ambushes: they're non-threatening and also very ineffective; sometimes it takes half a minute between two monsters trying to teleport in to the same place. If I wanted to kill them, I needed to stay in the place and lurk for them.
  
  At one point, there was a barely visible switch built in a wall, required to make a certain teleporter accessible. I didn't find the switch, but I beat the map anyway thanks to a shortcut involving straferunning, and it worked just fine.
  
  For me, the map was entertaining to play through and explore, thanks to its nonlinearity and freedom of movement. And good looks, too. I completely forgive the map its "worse" parts, as they were never too bad. Try the map out, it's a fun little adventure.
  
  
• Just As Christ Teaches, Orange Rules You - JMickle
  Doom 2 - ZDoom Compatible - Deathmatch - 149001 bytes - (img) (img) (img) (img) (img)
  Reviewed by: joe-ilya
  A well-designed and detailed duel map for ZDoom. It's a regular deathmatch map where there are a quite a few patches and places to go and explore to get the goods and stuff.
  
  Great to play with bots, humans or by yourself. In one sentence, "This map is good", nothing to be negative about except the claustrophobicness.
  
  
• GZDoom Speedmapping Session #1 - Cyberdemon531
  Doom 2 - GZDoom - Solo Play - 100548 bytes
  Reviewed by: walter confalonieri
  This speedmap megawad by Cyberdemon531 was, well, a huge shipwreck of disappointments. It was THAT BAD. Although I haven't played this guy's other work instead these speed mapping sessions (no, I haven't played SecretDoom yet), I was expecting some level of quality similar to "Countdown to Extinction", but this is not a megawad of maps made in one hour, but 30 LEVELS MADE IN A HOUR!
  
  Ah, you've got me, Cyberdemon531! What a superb master of trolling!
  
  But the result? The result of this experiment was shit.
  
  I know that making a thing like that is pretty hard to have a Requiem clone in under one hour, but this is just a reunion of bland STARTAN rooms with some weird tricks in it, like you exit touching some random object or weird things like that. Anyway I don't like it at all, sorry.
  
  And this written from a guy who participated in 5-minute speedmapping sessions and made a megawad of 10-minute levels (that now are lost forever in the seas of the Internet) is pretty hard.
  
  Skip this one.
  
  
• BREEZE, BRAVADO & a revised 1.2 vs. of BRAVE - Brad Kiefer
  Heretic - Vanilla - Solo Play - 292826 bytes - (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img) (img)
  Reviewed by: subject_119
  I've been waiting since it was released to be able to claim it. Breeze, Brave & Bravado are three maps for Heretic; we don't have much information about it, not even when it was mapped. The only real thing we know is that it was made in over a hundred hours. I guess those were made back in the day when Heretic was pretty successful, and we still see maps made in those times being uploaded to /idgames.
  
  The maps aren't bad at all if they were really made back then. They are pretty big, with a good variety of monsters, decent texturing, and I don't remember the gameplay being awful. I tested the maps with my mouse and keyboard (and it's VERY easy), but the author says "In skill 4 you need to be able to strafe and use your enter key !" which might mean it's made for keyboard; it would explain the incredible amount of stuff we find in the levels. The levels also contain some sort of "puzzle" where you have to press a hidden switch that you have to spot by lighting changing or something. The gameplay and visuals are pretty much the same in the three maps, but I think the third one is the best; it offers some challenge at moments (even died once against one of the minotaurs), and lets you have fun with your stuff (seventh screen: activate ring, activate book, have fun).
  
  It took me around an hour to complete the three maps. Considering the incredible amount of shit made for Heretic I could test, these are good. If you have some time I think it's worth a go, though not fantastic. Good maps are rare for Heretic, and for when it was made, I think the rating is pretty fair.
  
  
• Bricky - Gwenvael Le Bihan (subject_119)
  Doom 2 - Limit Removing - Solo Play - 198188 bytes - (img) (img) (img) (img)
  Reviewed by: scifista42
  A single map. While it's not bad, it can be seen that subject_119 is a beginner, or he was when making the map. The map is relatively long and extensive, considering its gameplay (more on that later). Semi-linear progression: main path + some optional side paths + revisiting areas. A low level of overall interconnection; instead, the map is corridor-room-corridor heavy. Admittedly, there are some large and/or detailed outdoor and indoor areas. They look good, but not exactly nice and beautiful, though. Various kinds of textures are used throughout the whole map, and sometimes they unpleasantly clash with each other or tile improperly. The map feels like a strange and inconsistent place, but still like a place, mostly. On other occasions, it resembles an abstract playground.
  
  The map goes on and on and provides more and more monster shooting, but the challenge only consists of basic ambushes, and the rest is plain killing monsters in front of you. That's the main problem I can see. Some of the side rooms don't reward the player any way for exploring them, another beginner-alike misconception. The map was prolonged simply by adding more and more corridors and rooms to the main and side paths, but that just adds more and more raw, basic gameplay. Difficulty itself is moderate and gets harder at a couple occasions. I found the ammo to be well-balanced; there should always be enough of it.
  
  Not a bad experience at all, but it's far from being quality stuff. An average of sorts - even though it's a long map. It's well possible to enjoy it, so feel free to give it a try.
  
  

Good thing I didn't play DOOM IIII. Thanks Canofbacon for warning me. As always, I'm too busy with The NIGHTMARE! Palace, even when getting wads.

Haha, the reviewer of Forevermore didn't shit all over the wad in a butthurt-induced rage. Serves you right, Demonologist.

An announcement about the "Innocence II" review of mine on this weird phrase:

I don't the hand on the fire here..

Actually, i wanted to wrote [B]I don't put the hand on the fire here..[\B]...

Da Werecat said:

Haha, the reviewer of Forevermore didn't shit all over the wad in a butthurt-induced rage. Serves you right, Demonologist.

Indeed. And it's great that there are reviewers capable of writing weighted stuff without giving up to emotions, even if the wad in question isn't really their thing.
Thank you for the review, vtm!

dang that ol newstuff queue is lookin pretty short man

once more, with feeling

Yeah I'm going to go ahead and say that Jactory.wad got a non-review. It's really a cool map that deserves more attention than 2 lines would suggest.

kmxexii said:

"NEWSTUFF HAS BEEN BACKLOGGED BY APATHY"

In fact, it's no longer true! Or at least close to it, depending on your point of view. :)

walter confalonieri said:

Actually, i wanted to wrote [B]I don't put the hand on the fire here..[\B]...

I still have no idea what that means

"I'd not put my hand in the fire for it." is a common phrase in my native language, with the meaning of "I'll not bet my life that this is so." Doesn't this phrase exist in English, really?

I wouldn't bet on it

I wouldn't dickslap a cactus for it.

Demonologist said:

Thank you for the review, vtm!

You're welcome!

One part I like about Sonic.exe, the Author used my resources of my 7869 fanmade Creepypasta wad.

Yes, so you know, anyone can use anything from my stuff.