The New Oldstuff Chronicles #11

40 reviews or so this time. Now I've added the year the wad was made in to the review, because I think it's pretty interesting thing to know. I originally intended to add monster count on UV and the number of levels too, but forgot. Oh, well maybe next time :)


thehell Enrique Garcia Guarneros 23 %
1997

One ugly level with so much health that you could propably lose 50 health in every monster and there would still be enough. I also tried if it is possible to run out of pulse rifle and I killed every monster with it and it wasn't. There are enough monsters though to make it kind of interesting, though the nazis should be replaced. It was too hard to find the way too. This level sucks but at least it has a personal feel in it.


thegwave Reviver 21 %
1998

Well, this level is not too easy. Unfortunately I still didn't like it because it isn't the kind of hardness I like. There are a few rooms in this level, all filled with monsters, usually all being the same kind. Booooriiing... Also, you get only one kind of ammo before a battle so there is only one weapon you can use and so much ammo that there isn't any left after the battle. This is one of the most linear maps I've ever played as there is no choise in routes or the weapon you use.


thegate Joe Pallai 62 %
2000

This level is nice but nothing more. It's a little too short and easy and it doesn't look very interesting because of the simple texture use and the architecture needs more detail. It has some enjoyable action though.


the-end Roman & David Ost 18 %
1996

Well, it's not too easy but it doesn't make it good alone. The level is underdetailed and texrture choises are bad and the gameplay is boring as you can't kill all the monsters to save ammo. You also have to run around in big halls invoking monster fights which isn't fun either. And itäs impossible to get 100% kills.


thecrypt Wes Burd Jr 30 %
1999

Fairly good looking level but far too symmetric. It feels like you have to kill every monster and activate every switch twice. The level is also too easy. There's also an area in which monsters should be spawned but you can press the switch in there and get out without any monsters being spawned.

Thecrush Matthew Parrish 10 %
1995

A poor deathmatch type level. Very easy, short and boring.


thecraze The Dark Lord 8 %
1998

A maze level in which you start from the middle and try to get out of the maze. Ugly and pointless level in every way.


thecnyon Slaytan 41 %
1995

This level looks just great. Not many textures have been used but the hellish canyon with a blood river looks just cool. It's sad to see a good looking level like this to be wasted as the gameplay of the level is quite poor. There's too much ammo at the end and there's too many invulnerabilities, megaspheres, soul spheres and medikits. Also there's at least one wall with a nazi texture and it's stupid to show the head of John Romero.


theclave ? 67 %
1995

This level sure is interesting. There are lots of tight tunnels, normally I don't like that but in this level ti didn't bother me. Possibly because mainly shotgun gyus and imps are used as enemies. The level is also good looking and very original too. Only the final part of the map sucked as there was a small teleport maze battle and you can't even see where the teleports are.


thecity Thomas Giboney 4 %
1996

A "city" with a few square buildings and only shotgun guys as monsters. Don't play.


thechop ? 5 %
1996

A crappy level made by a Mac fanatic. It's one of those bad levels that have been seen a thousand times already.


thechase Darryl Ashton 11 %
1996

Just another not-even-worth-trying type of level. Long hallways and few monsters, it even looks like that the author has forgotten to change some of the textures in the crate area. The only promising part of the level is the first area, and it isn't even made by the author.


thebrig Jon Fussell 71 %
1999

This level is both challenging and quite good looking. Unfortunately it isn't that fun as there is very few health and some very annoying chaingunners. It still a good level and propably the best prison themed level I've played so give it a try.


theatre John Scragg 8 %
1995

Another very old and ugly wad with one crappy cinema level meant primarily for deatmatch play. The only interesting part for me there was to look at the screens and try to identify the movies playing.


the_void Andrew Moore 72 %
1996

Well, the author sure is proud of his level here. It tries to be the most advanced level of it's time with invisible sectors and "sloped" floor, but Invisible floor isn't used very well and the gameplay of the level is a bit boring. It has nice and oringinal feeling though so it's certainly worth playing.


the_hunt Alexander Weening 2 %
1996

I had more fun reading the text file of this wad than actually playing it. That should give you a good picture how much fun playing this level is. If you want to know more about the level, then play it.


the_best Candice Graham 3 %
1999

Another joke wad trying to be the worst ever created. It's most common type of the joke wads as the only weapon is bfg and there are a lot of invulnerabilities lying arond, so no new ideas to make even worse level in this one either. The sounds in this wad are very bad though, one of the worst I've heard.


the W. Davis Thornton 65 %
1995

This level is pretty cool, which is very rare for such an old wads as this is. Most of the inside areas are pretty good looking, but the outside area is too open. The gameplay could be a little better too as there should be less health.


thaturbn Christian N. Hansen 63 %
1999

I haven't reviewed Christians levels for a while. This one is primarily meant to be played in deathmatch, so it isn't that good in single player. Actually there's not much wrong in it either but somehow it's just so ununique, small and boring looking that I didn't enjoy it very much.


thab Derrick and Rich Allen 43 %
1998

The author says he's sure that this is one of the best wads ever created. Hmmph, I wonder if he's lying or if he really thinks that way. Anyway, the good thing is that it really shows that the authors have tried to make a good wad, unfortunately the levels are too mazy, there are too many of those narrow tunnels and so on. The gameplay is quite good though, with not too much ammo or health. Five levels by the way.


tfc2 Eeva Marin 28 %
1996

A level made by a Finnish girl? Cool, although the level isn't that cool. It's a house level, but this time it's the house of Doomguy, not the author's, which is a step in the right direction. The level is very underdetailed and texture choises are bad but the gameplay is a little better.


tfa ? 45 %
1997

There's no text file in the zip and there are crappy sounds and music in the wad, so you could expect the six levels to be very bad. Suprisingly they aren't that bad at all. The author has tried to make these levels very hard, although only some parts of the levels are hard.


teutoni2 ? 53 %
1995

Hmm, this is a weird one. It could be another joke wad as it clearly shows that the author has levelmaking skills but has used wolfenstein textures and nazis. And there isn't text file either. The gameplay of these two levels is quite good, although there as some annoying chaingunner traps. There aren't any wolfenstein textures or nazis in the second level, but it is quite strange too. You might want to try these levels just to see how strange they are.


testsite Raymond Schmitz 58 %
1997

The gameplay of this level is quite good, but the structure of the map could be better as you don't always know what happens when you press a switch. You get a map though which helps a lot. I had some trouble with ammo so I had to use fists at some parts, but it wasn't that bad a thing.


test Patrick Friedl 69 %
1996

When I saw the first room of this map I instantly knew that it would be a good map. It looks good as textures and lights are well used, although the textures could be aligned properly. The gameplay is also quite good with lots of action though the level is too easy, at least the megasphere is too much. All in all a good level that suffers from easyness.


test1 Lee Howard 16 %
1995

A small, easy and ugly level. And extremely unoriginal.


terror Karl Jackson and Matt Hindle 22 %
1995

This level has mostly bad looking areas and the gameplay is pretty boring. It's also too hard to find some of the doors. Aso features a dehacked patch that makes the chaingun ultra-fast.


terrain Smirnov E., Lomovsky E., Bukolov D. 54 %
1996

We have a pretty weird mix of good and bad here. There are six levels in the wad, all of them pretty much the same type. The weird thing is that some parts of the levels look pretty good and detailed as most of the areas look quite ugly. Gameplay is quite irritating too as sometimes you need to activate a switch and then walk to the other side of the level. Some invisible platforms have been used too, some of them in good places, some of them not. Some hexen textures have been used, normally I don't like that much but in this wad they are used actually pretty well. And oh yeah, the new sounds are TERRIBLE.


terrain2 Rishabh Mittal 10 %
2000

Just a terribly ugly looking level with so few health that I played most of the level with 10% health or so. There aren't much ammo either so you have to use chainsaw nearly all the time. Very boring and stupid level, could have been in mock2.


tenesmus Steve Milne 66 %
1995

This level isn't very detailed and it's pretty flat, but it's fun to play and the monster and ammo placement is good.


temples Aaron Nichols 56 %
1996

Three levels with weird texture choises and some missing textures too. The gameplay was suprisingly good though and kept me semi-interested all the time. I couldn't find the way to open one "door" at the first level so I had to idclip through it.

temple ? 1 %
1995

Wow, this level goes right to the top 10 worst levels I've ever played.It's not terribly bad looking and it's not too easy or hard either, but the key to crappiness here is the terrible level design. Just for a test I tried to finish this level without cheating and I think I played the level for about two hours and finally used the map cheat. It is just SO HARD to find the way that even hexen or some of the map in eternal doom are piece of cake compared to this! You just know there must be something wrong if you find something new and you hope that it's not just another secret. I think I found all exept one of the ridiculously hard secrets in this map and could find the exit, which was a door in a perfectly normal wall somewhere in the level. It's pretty hard to tell anything about the gameplay either because 99% of the time I played this map was used for running around the level looking for the right way. Try this level if you are a masochist.

temple21 Bill Robertson 40 %
1995

Hmm, I can't seem to be able to say anything intellingent about this level. It's very short easy and ugly, but not terribly bad. And the level has nothing to do with temples as for example computer textures have been used.


temple2 Sébastien "Darkstalker" Roy 80 %
2002

Wow, this level actually looks like a temple of some sort! I was expecting a bad level because of the name of the zip, I just hate it when people name their levels and then notice that the name has already been used and then just put number 2 at the end. This level is extremely good though, it's well detailed and textured. The marble textures have also been used in a very cool way. The gameplay could be a little better though as you don't have enough ammo to kill all the monsters, maybe you would if you killed all the demons with fists but as there isn't berserk pack in the level it would be very boring. Otherwise the low monster count fits this level pretty well and makes a temple feeling even stronger. Exellent map!


tempevil Jefferson Bjoraker 46 %
1995

Two levels, first one being better. The levels are quite easy, but ammo and health are quite well balanced. The second level is a lot worse as there is annoying maze area with no automap of course. Might be worth a look because of the special feel in them.

telly 3
1997

telekill Vince Lupo 37 %
1995

Heh, this level has the weirdest start I've seen yet. Unfortunately that is the only original thing about the level, the rest is pretty boring and looks ugly too. Most of the points came from the cool start.


tekbas3 Jim Ritchey 43 %
1996

The blue key is far too hard to find in this level and there was an annoying "send the player to the start of the level" teleporter at the end. It is also too easy and the dehacked patch makes it ten times easier so I suggest not to use it. Considering the age of this level it looks pretty good but the gameplay sucks so you propably don't want to play it.


te Various 80 %
1997

I didn't like the first two levels of this 13 level wad, but after that it gets a lot better, although there are some poorer levels later on too. The level design is simple in all of the levels but there are some quite nice looking areas and fresh ideas too. The gameplay is also well planned and the later levels are harder than the earlier. There's one idiotic mistake though as in level 9 there is an area you cannot get out from without using idclip. It is said in the readme file, but I noticed it only after I had tried ten minutes to get out of there. Besides, it makes the mistake even more silly because it is such an easy mistake to fix and it was still not fixed before the release. Recommeded all in all.


tcsas Tomcat 47 %
1995

Another wad with unnecessary sound replacements. This time they aren't that annoying though so I'll forgive them this time. The music replacement fits very well in the level though. Gameplay of this level is pretty unusual for a Doom level so that gets some originality points, though I don't like this kind of gameplay where careful play is needed usually. I liked the gameplay in this one though, but the map looks just ugly which ruins the experience. It's supposed to be a city map but all the rooms in the buildings are completely empty and the texturing is awful. Might be worth a try if you don't mind the ugly looks, and it's not that bad for such an old level.


tbeast Adam Windsor 79 %
1996

These three levels are from author of demonfear, a very cool megawad. The levels are much like the ones in demonfear: fun to play and quite short. The only drawbacks in these demonfear type of levels is that usually you first kill nearly all of the monsters in the map and then go look for the keys which is usually just boring as there will be just few monsters left to kill, the other thing I don't like much is the low creativity and imagination used in making these maps. There are no traps, no hordes of monsters and pretty much nothing else than simple, same kind of gameplay in every map. These maps are as good as in demonfear but I still like demonfear better as I think that this kind of short maps fit better in larger wads than just three maps.


tbd21 Tony Baxter 55 %
1995

I was expecting at least better than average levels when I read the text file, because the author says that the levels are not original and not very good in any other way either. After all the wads that their athors call the best ones ever made are usually one of the worst. Anyway, these three levels are quite fun to play, but they are very short and easy. The third level has a good idea that the primary mission in the level is to get the rocket launcher to reach the exit by using rocket jump. Unfortunately the RL is far too hard to find and finally I had to use idclip to find it's location.


tbb_1 Michael Gorsich 81 %
1995

This level has pretty good quality considering it's age. The level is challenging too, and I had to use a lot of berserk fists because of lack of ammo, but that is propably quite unnecessary if you get the huge amount of plasma at the beginning and not in the end like I did. So, if you know what to do and know the secrets this level is propably pretty easy. The level is exceptionally nice looking for an old level too.


tattoo John Schultz 24 %
1996

The design of these five levels isn't terribly bad, except for walking through walls, but the gameplay is the weakest part here. There are soulspheres, megaspheres and mega-armours are lying everywhere on the level. Taking a soulsphere accidentally when you already have 200 health is perfectly ok. If you for some reason want to try these levels play them on -fast or nightmare difficulty.


tantrum Ola Björling 89 %
1995

Wow! For such an old wad as this is this level looks amazingly detailed and texturing is perfect too. Too bad the gameplay is a bit annoying as there is very little health in the level so careful playing is needed and you need to snipe some monsters from distance, especially the blood falls room could have been done in a better way. But overall this is a map no one should miss.


tantrum2 Ola Björling 89 %
1998

This is the same level as above but with new areas, and most importantly, a lot more monsters. The high amount bigger monsters makes the gameplay in some areas nearly hr2 like, meaning there's not much room to fight and the rooms are filled with monsters. At the beginning I was annoyed by some irritating chaingunners that prevented rushing in the rooms and finishing the monsters quickly but luckily the chaingunners aren't problem at the rest of the level. Both of these levels have their stong areas, this one is longer and more challenging, but the first one might be more fun to play, especially for less skilled Doomers. I can't really say which one I liked more, but I certainly was amazed more by the first one because it was made so early.


tang24 Sparkle Tom 55 %
1998

This level is very ugly with huge rooms and no detail anywhere. Gameplay is the one thing that saves this level though, it's quite fun to play and challenging too. Well, I can't seem to be able to say anything intelligent more about this level. Give it a try if you desperately need more wads to play.

Nice reviews, I see there was a Chris Hansen, Darkstalker, and Ola Björling map reviewed. I may actually play some of these levels later on :)

Oh Boy!! I just love these.
Thanks

Since you're doing this in (inverse) alphabetical order it'd be by far easier to find specific reviews if the thread title included the range of reviews included (thehell to tang24, in this case), or else maybe an index would do the trick nearly as well.

I don't see how people have enough time for these... I hardly get any time just to work on my maps... They are good reviews though.

myk said:

Since you're doing this in (inverse) alphabetical order it'd be by far easier to find specific reviews if the thread title included the range of reviews included (thehell to tang24, in this case), or else maybe an index would do the trick nearly as well.

Sounds like a good idea. I'll edit this and all my previous thread titles when I find time for it. Thanks for the tip.

Thanks for your interest everyone!