The New Oldstuff Chronicles #8 (biggest to date!)

[DooMer 4ever]

I would have posted this on friday, but I couldn't get on Doomworld. The result for this is that there are a massive set of 45 wads.

uwc_wad V. Alan White 10 %

I played the level and it looked just one of those maps with dozens of empty rooms. Then I read the text file and it says it's a campus level, sigh. This level is suprisingly made by a teacher, not student, but it doesn't make it any better. It looks ugly and is boring. It deserves some points though because there isn't much ammo or health like usually in this type of levels.

uw1_w11 Patrick K McGowan %

First I tought: wow, a multilevel wad! After playing it a while, I thought: make the pain stop! The author of these levels has been überlazy. He has done one room and used copy > paste on it dozens of times. In map 4 for instance there are 15 exactly the same kind of level with exactly the same monsters. That's when I stopped playing. Not only was the author lazy on doing the levels but I don't think he ever tested them properly. I swear that there was no way to finish map3 and I didn't find the way in map4 either, mostly because there are many doors that can only be found by automap. It's hard to give any points to these levels, they look ok (though they are too easy) but they are completely unplayable, so this is my revenge: I am lazy and don't give it points at all as a revenge for the author being lazy ;)

utopia ? 80 %

Wow, these levels ( 2 ) sure have a LOT of monsters, but in a good way. Majority of the monsters are bigger monsters like hell knights, barons of hell and cacodemons. The challenge is good and there is plenty of ammo to kill the monsters. The levels don't look very good, but still ok and there are some weird things like monsters firing throgh walls and linedef unpeg problems. The best part is the gameplay so I decided to give it as good points as these.

usq \/\/ilbur (Chris Willacy) 35 %

Another univeristy level, or actually two of them. The first one is playable and there aren't so much empty rooms and tall door textures as usually. There is annoyingly much posessed though. The second level is just a joke. You can run right to the exit without killing any monsters (nothing but dozens of cacos).

urban Graham Evans 40 %

I played this level, went to school, came back home and now I should write a review. And I don't remember much about the level :( Well, at least it wasn't very good. I liked the ending "puzzle" but it was very underdetailed and easy IIRC.

upr ? 30 %

At the start of the level I was thinking that this level might deserve even 60%, but as I went futher the level got worse and worse. There is an ashwall labyrint in which I found the yellow key but couldn't find the yellow door anywhere. I used Idclip and found a room with nazis. The good think about this level is that there isn't too much health, there is too much ammo though. Oh, and no text file.

upfront Dave Johnsen 50 %

A medium size level with a little boring but ok monster plasement, too much ammo (no need for pulse rifle), misaligned textures, unpeg problems. There is also a few new textures of naked/half naked women, and it doesn't fit to doom at all, this isn't Duke Nukem. The architecture is a little better than average.

unseenfx Derek Illchuk 75 %

This is one of those levels that looks great but the gameplay is annoying. The map is very well detailed and looks good, apart from the room with a cyberdemon and dozens of switches. There is not enough ammo to kill the cyberdemon and you have to press the switches so that part of the level is very annoying. Unfortunately most other parts in the level are nearly as annoying. The unseen effects in this level are deep water and opening cage. I don't know if those effects were unseen at the time of this level was released...

Unseen Chrish Fischer 10 %

This level is mainly for deathmatch and should be in deathmatch folder. Well, it has single player mode too (sort of) so I guess I have to review it. The level is from the same author as zelda.wad (TNOC1, 5%). This level has much more detail and some parts of it look even quite good. On single player this sucks though because there are just a few monsters in it. On deathmatch it could be a decent wad.

unleash Andrew Harvey 60 %

This level consentrates mainly on fights with cyberdemons. Unfortunately their placement was quite annoying. You have to fight with them in tight corridors or you could lure them out but there are trees in your way. The health is well balanced but there is too much ammo, and they heve been placed annoyingly to the center of the hallways which looks stupid to me. The level look quite good but nothing special. If you enjoy cyberdemon fights then you may want to try this level.

unisin Merlin of Pleth 35 %

Four levels: First level is ugly, easy and nazis as main enemies. Second level is a little better, but too dark and easy. Third level is a lot better, and best of the wad. It has ok achitecture and it's not too easy anymore. Fourth level is the hardest, but it has nazis again. The architecture is again ok but In one point I was lucky to find a way. If you want to play this wad, it could be better to warp to level3 as the two first are not worth playing.

uni ? 0 %

In the text file the author says that it is unliear level. Well, in this level it means that you need to try one of the many doors, and if you make the wrong choise you'll soon die because there are no weapons in the room. When you know what to do the level is very short and I completed it in half a minute. And yes, it is a university level (sort of, only two room of university).

unholykp Aaron M. Fisher 68 %

This level was good, but it had a few flaws: there are too many soul spheres and decorative things are often placed annoyingly so that it's hard to shoot monsters behind them. Texturing is good and details are ok.

unholy02 John Walker 70 %

It's a small well-detailed level. A bit easy but still good, too much little monsters for my taste. The crate area was quite boring, but most of the level was interesting.

unholy01 John Walker 78 %

First part of the unholy series. I liked this one more: the level was longer and the monster placement was better. It was too easy though, mainly because there was a soul sphere and no need for one. Texturing and details are professionally made and there are some light effects too.

unholy Josh Bergeron ?

Doesn't work

undrwrld Marktin Tallman 15 %

A wad with empty rooms and vey few textures used. It wasn't as easy as usually but the monster placement was boring since there were mostly only shotgun and pistol guys.

undrseig Gene Spinks 15 %

There are just a few monsters in this level and not enough ammo to kill all of them. The idea of a ship level is good though, and there wasn't too much health. The ship is very underdetailed and some of the texturing looks stupid. And there's a box that works as a lift, stupid.

undrland Wayne Leutwyler 30 %

Some of the areas in this level look quite good but most of them are badly textured and are underdetailed. The different areas often have too big height differences so sometimes you have to wait a long time for a lift. The monster placement was ok, but I forget all about health and ammo placement. I didn't have to load a game even once IIRC so it coulnd't have been very hard...

undrfire Jeff Cruser 5 %

Ugly looking level with large empty rooms and boring texturing. There could have been something good about monster placement but the amount of health ruined the gameplay: there were at least four megaspheres in the level. I guess this could have been even worse so I gave it some points.

undertow Gregory Dick 80 %

Two good looking levels in this wad. Not very detailed but there is good light effects and it really looks as a professionally made level should look like. Difficulty of these levels is high, unfortunately it is not hard in a fair way. Often there are many shotgun guys coming from many directions and there is no cover, so you end up loading your game very often. If one would try to complete these levels without saving, it would be very hard because you'd need a lot of luck too, especially because there isn't much health. I still enjoyed these levels, but I don't think I would play them through again.

undergnd Mneumenth 35 %

This level is very small and it looks like it has been mainly for illustration anyway. I looks quite good as long as it lasts but it's so small that it's kind of hard to even lose as much health that you would die. And there are two imps inside the walls, stupid.

under Brian Hogg 50 %

Hmm, everthings so average in this wad, that I don't know what to say. It looked better than most of the newbie wads in the archives, the gameplay was a bit harder and architecture was a little better.

unameit3 Vincent Lozupone 35 %

A boss shooter activates when this level starts, and hearing the sound a few hundred times is VERY annoying. And even worse is that the boss shooter didn't have any meaning in the level because I never saw the spawned monsters. Some parts of the level look ok, some ugly.

unameit2 Vincent Lozupone 50 %

Part2 of the unameit series. I liked this one more, there was no ugly looking texturing, though a larger variety of textures could have been used. There are even some good looking light effects. The level was very easy because the choise of monsters, but at least there wasn't any soul or megaspheres in the level. Ammo balance was quite good too, because I had to change weapons so that I wouldn't run out of ammo. Runs on map 13 btw.

unameit1 Vincent 53 %

Best level in the unameit series. I wonder how did the author start making worse levels later. Anyway, the level is just as easy as the other unameit levels but this level looks best. Some light effects are used and texturing is good, better than in part2 because larger variety of textures have been used. I think the monster placement was a little better in this level too.

unaided Christian N. Hansen aka Dykanden 89 %

First I was going to mention about weird use of ashwall textures, but then I found out that the wad is for Final Doom and I had to play it again. Well, that's what you get for not reading the text-file before playing. The level looks absolutely amazing: the detail level is very high and light effects can be found everywhere. I didn't like the gameplay that much because there were many shotgun guys and only little health. I don't know why, but seems like most of the really good mappers make a gameplay like this. This time the gameplay was better than in this type of level usually. There are many other monsters than shotgun guys too and the shotgun guys are placed quite faily. I would have given the level 90 % but there were a couple of monsters shooting behind a window texture which looked stupid. Possibly the best wad I've played for The Oldstuff Chronicles anyway. Runs on map10.

ultima6 Ken Wieczorek 0 %

Ugly wad with huge rooms and monster count below 10.

uf R?gis Le Boit? 15 %

Idon't know how to write the name of the author, sorry ;) The idea of the level is quite good but how it's done sucks. There is nothing but doom1 monsters and too few of them. This makes the level too easy and boring, especially because the hallways and doors are too big.

udc12 Rich & Derrick Allen 20 %

Big level with lots of ugly textures and annoying Schwartzenegger sounds. Some of the textures are new and they look really bad. The Doom2 textures are some nazi textures and they're ugly too. Monster placement is bad, especially because of the nazis, but suprisingly ammo and health balance is good.

ud_10 Chris Welch 15 %

Just one of those wads with empty rooms and almost no height differences. This is a little better though, because there were more monsters than normally in wads of this type. The archviles placed behid hell knigts and barons of hell were quite annoying though. The beginning of the level isn't too easy but after getting the megasphere it is.

uacps John D. Corrado aka DOOMFLYNN 45 %

Not-so-bad-looking level, that has too many health and ammo packs and too few monsters. If more monsters would be added the level would be a lot better. I don't know why everyone puts a pulse rifle in a map if there is no need for one.

uachq ? 20 %

Two flat levels. The same textures have been used over and over again so the levels don't look good. The good part is that it wasn't too easy, unfortunately it is hard in an unfair way: there is no health and lots of posessed in the first level. The second level was a lot easier after you survive the first room. Btw, you have to be really patriotic to listen to the midi in the first level ;)

Uaccorp Martin Friberg & Christopher Sund 85 %

Ah, I've always enjoyed levels that have furniture and rooms that look like real places, if they are well done. These two levels certainly are: the texturing choises are exellent and the detail level high enough, and it isn't even too easy. The first level is a bit short but the second one is a lot longer and I liked it more than the first one. There is a lot posessed as monsters and just a few hellspawn, but all of them are very well placed so It's not a bad thing in this level. There is just one flaw: most of the furniture look too big.

uacbunkr Aaron M. Fisher 65 %

Well, this level isn't too easy, and there isn't too much ammo, but I still didn't like it much. It it hard to figure out where to go next because of the high number of teleporters, and if you go to "wrong" direction first you might run out of ammo. The texturing didn't look that good to me but it was still ok.

uacbase2 Brian J. "B.J. Blazkowicz" Rowan 60 %

A shotgun and ammo box is hidden at the start of the level, if you don't find them it's very hard to kill all the imps and demons, good ammo placement otherwise. There was too many 90 degree walls and texturing could have been a lot better, but the level looks still quite good. I couldn't find the way after pressing the "power swich" and there is at least one spot in witch you can get stuck in a room with no way out.

uac3 Kara C. Rader 50 %

Well Nanami, teh day has come :) I found the newstuff review on the wad, but I don't think it's that bad. There was indeed to little health, but there was enough ammo (well, maybe not enough to kill the cyberdemon). Gray textures have been used too much and the detail level is not very high, but I wouldn't say it looks bad. At least the textures are well aligned, altough there are problems with the door sector side linedef textures. The gameplay is the biggest problem of this level: in the inside areas there are too much posessed, at least there could have been a bit more chaingunners, but when most of them are pistol and shotgun guys it gets a bit boring. It is also too hard to find the way. I think I killed most of the monsters but then got stuck and never found the yellow key. I didn't get the idea of the blue and red key either. The dehacked patch was interesting.

uac2 Kari Westerholm, Markku Steen & Janizdreg 85 %

A multilevel wad with 11 levels, and exellent quality too! The levels look great, they are not overdetailed but light effects have been used nicely and architecture and texturing is interesting. Monster placement is mostly good but especially in the first maps chaingunners are placed very annoyingly and sometimes shooting through window textures. I never got stuck but for too long time but in some map I was about to, because a switch was too hard to find. There are some problems with ammo balance in most of the levels though, usually there is too much ammo. In map 10 there is too little and on purpose so you will run out of ammo. I had to punch dozens of demons and some hell knights, mancubuses and revenants to death with berserk fist. Not very fun... And yes, all the authors are Finnish! Hyvä suomi! :)

uac_wet Ben Turner 60 %

One big level. Most of the areas are a bit underdetailed but still look quite good. There's a sewer part in the map too, it looks quite ugly and I've never liked the sewer parts in wads anyway... Especially if the nukage hurts and there is no radiation suit. The worst part about the sewer area is that there is a puzzle. It's just too hard and I was lucky to complete it. Gameplay of this level was very frustrating, because there is so little ammo. If you want your ammo to last you will have to kill nearly all the demons and maybe some imps too with your fists and the berserk pack is at the half of the level. Map 14.

uac_com ? 5 %

No text file so I had to find out in which map it runs by myself. It's map 13, not that you would ever play this level. Most of the level looks very empty and underdetailed but suprisingly there are a few ok looking areas. The gameplay of this level sucks: there are just a few monsters and too much healt, a lift that takes nearly a minute to go down/up and areas you can get stuck so that it's impossible to complete the level.

uac_cntr J.C. Bengtson (Sailorscout) 55 %

An E1M2 like insipired level, unfortunately the only part that looks good on the map is the starting area from the original map. The monster placement was interesting but there's just too much ammo and health fot the gameplay to be interesting enough.

uac_cave Sam Dickie 50 %

The idea of this map is pretty interesting. The start of the level (the truck is cool) is very promising but sadly the rest of the level isn't that good. The cave area is just too mazy, big, underdetailed and easy. The final cyberdemon fight can be easily avoided too.

uac ? 10 %

Huge rooms and long hallways and too few monsters in them. Hmm, I can't remember anymore anything else.

u2doom Mike 0 %

One big, nearly square room, very few monsters and no exit.

u_chasm Christian Hansen 68 %

Another level from Christian, this time one of his earlier production (his third level). It's a hell-city type of level, or something like that. The architecture and detail level reminds me a lot of one of the Doom2 city maps, though a little better. So, not very nice looking but the gameplay is ok, tough there could have been a little more ammo and maybe some more monsters too.

The TNOC award goes for uac2 by Kari Westerholm, Markku Steen & Janizdreg. Well, unaided by Christian Hansen is better but it only has one level.

[Nanami]

Yay, it got reviewed! =)

Yep, all the down points you mentioned are there. Overuse of gray, boring gameplay, etc. That was my first released level. The DeHacked patch was added at the last minute to make the level easier because I kept getting beat up by the humans. Hopefully my newer levels show some progress in my level making abilities.

Thanks for the review. =P

[RjY]

Nice one

DooMer 4ever said:

Uaccorp Martin Friberg & Christopher Sund 85 %

This is great but it's a bit easy. The architecture is very well done.

uac2 Kari Westerholm, Markku Steen & Janizdreg 85 %

Yeah, personal favourite, not at all easy to do each level from scratch without reloading, also interesting to play through all in one run as the levels follow on from each other. It's pretty linear. The status bar numbers were replaced with green versions, except for 3 which looked very odd.

uac_cntr J.C. Bengtson (Sailorscout) 55 %

Having played the author's Containment Area tribute I sought out his other stuff and found this, which also has E2M2-inspired goodness. The original version I played had an outdoor area with a cyberdemon but that has since been removed and it made it easier and possibly not so interesting but still pretty enjoyable.

[Searcher]

My gosh you've been busy. 45 maps.

Keep up the good work, I'm sure I am not the only one that loves these reviews.

Nice job.

[drav35]

Good Reviews

[Black Void]

Duuuuuuuuuuuuude... not even I would go that far - 25 is my max limit! :-P

[DEMOn]

unholy wads were ahead of their time. very nice IMO.
from what I know of these maps, your reviews look spot on. good job.

[DooMer 4ever]

Nanami said:

Hopefully my newer levels show some progress in my level making abilities.

They certainly do!

Thanks for the comments everyone, I'm glad you liked the reviews. Expect more next week, or maybe even this week :)

[Nanami]

Now I'm waiting on Doom2's Gatika.wad and Ultimate Doom's Ill.wad to be reviewed. =P One is co-op and one is deathmatch.

[DooMer 4ever]

Might be a long wait since no one is doing reviews on deathmatch/co-op wads ;) It would be interesting though if someone did.

[myk]

Well, as you may know, coop WADs appear in the general sections of the archive. so, you are doing coop WAD reviews. Only DM maps have their own directories.

[DooMer 4ever]

Stupid me, I didn't think about that. Well, there aren't many wads anyway that are mainly meant to be played on coop.

[Fredrik]

Wow, you must really have put some time into writing that. Thanks for the reviews, I'll check out a few of those levels :)

[DooMer 4ever]

The writing part isn't that bad actually. It may be even better to do something else after playing a wad that is really bad than playing more. It's good to do some boring writing so it feels good to get back to playing.

[Nanami]

Yeah. Co-op demos are in the regular section. I don't think there's enough ammo or health (I don't think there's any health at all) for single player. I made the level because I was tired of the Cajun bots sucking in co-op, so the level is round and arena-based so that they really CAN'T go anywhere else.

Gatika.wad. Best played with item respawn on and a bot or three. More than three is just too easy. I don't suggest ZCajun bots because they're insanely stupid.

[Grazza]

Thanks! Useful stuff; I've downloaded a few, and with a bit of luck might have time to play them some time soon.

Nanami: A nomo demo of UAC3 might be useful, given that neither I nor DooMer 4ever managed to get to the exit. I did kill the cyber though :)

Black Void: Perhaps you are already aware of this, but Maikl Novikov seems to have taken on the task of producing max demos of every pwad he can find, starting at the beginning of the alphabet (he's near the end of the B's at the moment). You may find these demos useful, given that that is "your" end of TNOC. They're at DSDA.

BTW, when suggesting the name "New Oldstuff" I had in mind a couple of tiny villages in Denmark called Ny Nyby and Gammel Nyby (New Newtown and Old Newtown), which I always found hilariously funny for some reason.