Doom Wadarcheology - To dig, rediscover and enjoy the classics.

[Arrowhead]

Let Life Pass You BY - 03/17/2004 - played via GZDOOM 4.1.2

 

LLPYB is a creative ZDOOM-based level by Chris 'Chopkinsca' Hopkins. Hopkins is perhaps best known for the popular map Phocas Island. This WAD is very unique in that it relies on a kind of classic arcade-style score system for progression. Players progress through a series of ever increasingly difficult levels, which is shown in the top right corner, along w/ a kill counter, and a points tally.

 

The map starts off by pairing you against imps and hellknights, but this roster of enemies soon increase. Periodically, you will be presented w/ health kits, or new weapons to better assist you in your arcade journey. Essentially, you are restricted to standing on this 'car' that continuously drives through the map - you cannot leave the car, as it's boundaries are surrounded by impassable lines. The car has multiple pillars that are useful for dodging enemy projectile attacks.

 

I found this combat scenario very difficult to manage. I kept missing / failing to kill certain enemies, only to have them pepper me w/ projectiles from behind. This is a constant game of choices - you often have to decide which enemies to let live / die, as it is often very difficult, if not outright impossible to kill everything that is thrown at you. You'll need to be good at prioritizing Doom2's enemy roster, if you want to make a decent score.

 

I really enjoyed this map, and intend on coming back to it in the future. As it is ZDOOM based, I might play w/ full mouselook on next time, instead of just playing keyboard-only like I was in the video. That'd likely improve my score - as of right now, on HMP, I can't seem to survive much longer than 5-6 minutes.

 

I'm sure even more dangerous demons show up later in the map, but as of right now, I've only seen imps, HKs, shotgunners, and zombiemen. W/ all of the pillars present on this 'car', I wouldn't doubt if revenants, and arch-viles make an appearance at some point. I find it charming that Hopkins elects to warn the player to not play on UV; the readme actually recommends you play HMP - so that is what I did.

 

I recommend giving this one a shot, it's perfect for a bite-sized dose of Doom. This would also be a great WAD for practising projectile dodging, as you are constantly barraged from all directions. I didn't make it very far in the video, but I intend on improving! Great WAD!

 

:)

 

Spoiler

 

 

Download link:https://bit.ly/3rDlczt

Edited April 18, 2022 by Arrowhead

[Arrowhead]

A Little Shooting Practice - 08/12/1996 - played via GZDOOM 4.1.2

 

ALSP is a WAD by Michael Cortorno, an author fairly well known in oldschool doomer circles, mainly for his TAB series of levels. This is one of only two maps that Cortorno made outside of the main TAB series, and is actually one of his earlier WADs, as the file date for this map is older than that of the first level in the TAB WADs.

 

This is a pleasant, yet short proto-slaughter experience.Well, not exclusively proto-slaughter... There are ultimately two ways to play this map. The map is essentially a large single room arena that releases new monsters after each subsequent switch-push. You can, however, choose to release most of the monsters at once - I think this is by far the most entertaining way to play this map, instead of the easier intended method. Things got insanely hectic when the arch-vile showed up - the only cover in this map is a central cube, and a series of four pillars in the corners of the room. This arch-vile is particularly nasty - he tends to get surrounded by lesser tier enemies, so you should try to rush him, nail him, and then retreat. Rinse and repeat until that evil demon is gone! I got nailed twice by this archie, yet somehow survived my encounter - I'll be sure to say a small prayer of thanks to the Doom gods tonight.

 

Being a circular arena, you'd think you'd be able to just circle-strafe 'til you win! This is not the case, because of the aforementioned arch-vile, as well as the cruelly released PE's stationed behind some small caco clouds. This style of enemy placement is what stops this map from being a total piece of cake.

 

There are only just under 100 monsters in this WAD on UV - this seems like not that much, but when you're fighting 80-100% of the demons at the same time, it gets pretty crazy. The map is not much to look at, w/ it being an early Cortorno level - but I didn't see any egregious texturing errors, (I don't recall seeing any misalignments) and the map is quite simple and clean in its design. The only complaint I have about the look of this map is that it is a little monotextured. There really isn't much variance outside of different shades of brown. You'll likely be far too busy trying to manage the mob in this map than you will worrying about the map's appearance, though!    

 

Great little map, takes about 5 minutes to play! Make sure you release everything at once! That's where the real fun comes from! :)                                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

Spoiler

 

 

Download link: https://bit.ly/3L9M8yC

[Arrowhead]

diharder.wad - 08/10/1995 - played via GZDOOM 4.1.2

 

This is a town-styled map w/ a roaming cyberdemon, much like the previous shadow.wad I played recently. This is a map by Edward Buckheit, an author active during 1995. Buckheit also produced a level called Instant Death. Instant Death is the only one of his maps on /idgames that I can find. I was not able to find diharder.wad on /idgames - this WAD was found in the massive collection of old WADs that @thestarrover published recently.

 

This is a map that is a little bit difficult to describe, as there aren't really distinct separate areas in it - this level is essentially a large open area w/ a few different buildings situated. Almost immediately after starting the map, you will wake up a cyberdemon - this can be very difficult to deal w/, as there are so many random places that a cybie rocket could show up. I died a few times on this map to the cyberdemon - your first course of action should be to gather up as many weapons as possible - most of these are scattered around the map, often in the peripheries of the WAD.

 

The author states in the WAD that this is based off of the movie Die Harder, and that this level is set in an airport. Other than the singular road that could be a runway, I don't really see much airport-looking features present in this map. I commend Buckheit for attempting to recreate something so ambitious, even if the end result didn't really 'blow me away' visually.

 

I'll get this out of the way, this map is not the most attractive - mainly because of all of the misalignments. There are many textural errors in this level - mainly on the outside facades of the buildings, especially close to the windows - this is par for the course for a map of this age, I just thought I should make mention of it. Not every map has to beautiful! This map certainly plays nice enough for one to be able to look past the textural errors.

 

My favorite fight in this map is against the singular arch-vile and a pack of lesser enemies in front of him. You'll need to quickly annihilate everything in front of the archie, as he will be very difficult to hit at first. I got quite lucky in the video, (see 10:10 of video) as he moved to the far back of the large blue room - if he stayed closer to the door, I think it would have been very challenging to breach that area otherwise. Luckily, the author was kind enough to give you a surplus of rockets.

 

A very fun map! It can be a little rough around the edges, but what from this time period isn't? I don't think a map should be thrown out just because of some textural issues - if a map still plays 'well' otherwise, I'll still typically recommend it. This one will take you 10-15 minutes to complete, longer if you let the cybie live for too long! :)

 

Spoiler

 

 

Download link: https://bit.ly/3EOQlFo

Edited April 26, 2022 by Arrowhead

[Arrowhead]

Icedeath - 02/26/1995 - played via GZDOOM 4.1.2

 

Icedeath is a fun underground complex type level created by V.T. ICE. I was able to find one other level created by this author, Ice Nightmare 2. Ice Nightmare 2 seems to be a sequel of sorts to this level, but is played w/ Doom2, as opposed to this map that takes place on E2M1 of Doom1. This map is a huge sprawling underground fortress - even if you're playing at a brisk pace, you're likely to still take 20+ minutes to complete this one.

 

The map starts you off in a bit of a hot start. You see a baron of hell immediately, as well as a plaz rifle, and a single-shotgun. I assume most people would use the plasma to cut down the beefy baron, but I elected to lead him around to get blown up by barrels instead, I found that to be more fun than just straight-up melting him w/ the plasma gun. This beginning room is a sort of hub, as there is a blue key door, and a yellow key door here.

 

This level has a lot of traps in it - nothing too complex, though. You'll typically see the 'lower walls' type trap, or the 'open closet' type trap in this WAD. It was nice to see so many traps in a map this old - many authors of the time neglect to do so, and rely much more on incidental monster placement instead. Combat in this WAD is pretty good; things can get pretty hectic w/ the very large monster count for the time. I wouldn't call this an early slaughter-WAD, but it almost has nearly 350 enemies on UV!

 

Much of this map is a bit messy visually. There are a plethora of misaligned textures, in some areas there are more misalignments than alignments. The map also has a bit of an identity crisis - there are tech sections, brick sections, hell textures, marble textures, etc. The map's questionable visuals are never really that big of a deal, though - as the gameplay is very engaging for the time.

 

I highly recommend this to old-school fans, or for those doomers who are able to look past things such as poor texture alignment. There really is a good experience here; playing this has really made me want to check out the sequel to this map! Give it a shot if you've got half an hour to spare!

:)

 

Spoiler

 

 

Download link: https://bit.ly/3LBvp7I

[Endless]

SATAN'S CASTLE II

1995

By George Fiffy

 

 

There are not many WADs from the 90s (especially 1994 and 1995) that can be said to have survived the test of time, however, that doesn't mean that we can't appreciate a bit of the beauty of those times under certain unique specimens that maintain a solid foundation of retrospective quality. This small single-level WAD is the perfect example of a 1995 map that manages to hold up excellently. Created by George Fiffy, as a sequel to his original (which doesn't hold up so well), this level managed to bring with it new qualities that make it a solid, respectable example of the time.

 

As you might expect with that wonderful name, this map is set in a gothic castle of green marble, a texture as moldable as it is attractive, which exemplifies very well the fantastical part of the golden age. The map has a solid structure and variation of areas, combining different scenarios under a uniform presentation, which makes the progress feel natural and organic, progressing as we advance through the bowels of the castle. We can find courtyards, warehouses, dungeons, acid pools, altars and more. All of that done in a way that feels dynamic enough to contain itself within itself, maintaining its own boundaries and exploring a great combination of areas.

 

The visual aspect is decently handled thanks to its modest but well-applied use. You don't find excessively repeated textures, nor mismatched color palettes. This makes it feel like a real treat for the eyes, especially when despite the variety of settings, the theme manages to stay the same and area changes are well blurred, which makes it feel natural on its own.

 

The gameplay is pretty tough at times, considering the age of the WAD. While it’s not slaughter-styled, it does pose a threat thanks to the usage of tight corridors, high density of enemies and monster positioning, which requires to pay a slight degree of attention to avoid getting ass blasted into oblivion. This is a good balance that strikes me as perfectly medium. Medium-rare if you will.

 

Satan’s Castle II is a cool WAD that really exemplifies the fantasy-esque style of the 90s, alongside the obsession for some edginess as exposition, which, I gotta admit, I just love! It has an innocent charisma of its own that shines through the years. Give this map a try, it’s a good trip down the rabbit hole of the bygone years.

[Endless]

STONES.WAD

1994

By Michael Kelsey

 

 

We all know the first fan-designed WAD in our history. The iconic origwad. A single level consisting of two rooms and a door. That's all. Origwad, despite its extreme simplicity, was a WAD designed during a time when there were no design tools or anything like that, so the author, Jeffrey Bird, had to do it all by hand. Origwad deserves its own separate article but going back to STONES.WAD is where we find the first WAD that truly exemplifies the development of the fan-designed map community. Created with DEU 5.0, this single-level WAD manages to create a quite admirable design that, had it been the mold of most 1994 WADs, would have changed history.

 

You may feel a bit alienated by the fact that this is one of the first WADs ever created, and you may have the idea that it's probably just a meaningless union of rooms; more experimental than formal. Luckily you have me to tell you that you are wrong! This map is very well designed, considering the date, the circumstances under which it was made, the truth is that it is much larger than one would think. The 1994 WADs, in general, don't look this good, which is quite special for this little piece of work designed by Michael Kelsey. Of course, it's not a modern WAD with the quality-of-life that many get, but it's a level that offers an excellent layout, great visuals, and fantastic performance, which puts it on par with the IWADs, something that would take the community years to overcome.

 

The level has a fairly simple and short layout, with a straightforward progression without much loss, and even contains optional areas that you can explore, either out of curiosity or to get that exquisite 100%. The map is pretty impressive all things considered. It has solid visuals and good use of textures, as well as a great variation of areas, which manage to give us an experience as nostalgic as it is enjoyable. Particularly the area with the nukage, looks like something that would come out 4 or 3 years later, not on the original date.

 

Even if you are not a fan of the old days, you owe it to yourself to play this WAD just to enhance your perspective on the history of this community and its content. Particularly if you consider yourself a wadarcheologist, then you should play it! It's a great WAD that presents a unique specimen.

[FEDEX]

Thank you @Endless for reviewing this important part of history. It is so very well designed (for a 1994 wad) that could fit nowadays with community projects like Pandora

[Gibbon]

I’ll have to try this out.  For a 94 wad this is fantastic!  Nearly….  Professional I would say.  Looks like it has its bad parts like mono texturing and no depth to walls but I know the pain of mapping in DEU and this is beyond anything I could do in that tool.

[Endless]

The Bleeding Tower Of Pisa

By Michael Reed

1995

 

 

Found this one thanks to ERIWA #34

 

If you've heard of Michael Reed's name, chances are you're familiar with Hoover Dam. A WAD known for being one of the pioneers of the realistic map genre. On the other hand, after that, not many of Reed's WADs have the same fame, and it's a shame, because considering this particular level among his repertoire, we have a great designer who demonstrates a sweet talent for creating complex, expansive and intense maps.

 

The Bleeding Tower Of Pisa, with a quite unique name, is a single level WAD released in 1995. The map is, as you might expect, themed around a central tower which expands the level into a variety of areas to explore. With a simple visual theme, it makes heavy use of wood and green marble textures, as well as blood for liquids, giving it a gothic theme, reminiscent of Thy Flesh Consumed. The map features a considerable variety of architectural areas and sub-styles, giving it an appreciable atmosphere that can be felt during exploration. With good scenery and full panoramas, the map is attractive in every sense of the word. It doesn't go into over-detail, but it does manage to create a consistent quality that is felt from start to finish, add to that the huge number of distinctive rooms and areas it has, and we have a WAD with a real sense of exploration, that progresses as well as it evolves thanks to a great synergy between visuals and fun.

 

The Bleeding Tower Of Pisa is a great level that manages to strike a sweet balance between its appeal and its exploration. Surprisingly fun and expansive.

• A full review is available on the Wadazine website!

[LadyMistDragon]

(Sort of crossposted from Random Wad Adventures, but edited to remove most references to my personal experience)

 

Toxic Waste Dump 11/20/03 - played in Eternity

 

Sam Woodman's reputation is VERY mixed. A champion speedrunner with creative interests, his in-your-face combat approach has been praised perhaps to excess by some.  But unfortunately, his maps have a habit of boiling down to shotgunning Barons, not to mention he was caught at least once stealing music from a Duke Nukem TC, leading to his departure from the Doom community to...steal from something else, probably. This map, on the other hand, contains all the strengths of his maps - visually tasteful and tons of killing - while vastly minimizing the weaknesses. It's definitely much better than some dreck like Substation from Community Chest or god forbid, almost anything he had involvement with in Hell Revealed II.

 

This wad also requires a custom texture pack, supplied by Sam himself and created for the "Mortres?" series this was a part of. Thankfully, his website as a subsidiary of Doomworld is still accessible, so this can be downloaded.  The shotgunning of Imps and Sergeants at the beginning is a little bit braindead, but is honestly quite dangerous. Proceed slowly if you're not a speedrunner and you'll have a better chance of surviving. Bullets are quite sparing outside of the oodles of chaingunners located throughout most of the base, but you'll have enough to get by if you don't want to SS everything. By the time you get to the red key, the gloves really start to come off, as you're ambushed by chaingunners and Revenants the moment you pick it up. You'll definitely want to have your health above 50 percent because you'll have to run out of here, past a large gauntlet containing an Arch-vile and Baron of Hell and basically shoot from the doorway here.

 

Behind the red key door is a nasty cadre of hitscanners that force you to camp, lest you die, trouble being obviously that you'll run out of ammo at some point, so you'll have to rush in eventually, and um, yeah. Eventually, you reach a darkened room with the blue key and another huge trap, this one consisting of Barons of Hell and Mancubi and a Cyberdemon bringing up the rear, thankfully keeping this from becoming a generic HR2 grindfest. Do enough firing to keep the closest enemies off your back, and then the Barons and Cyberdemons should hash it out. In a tight space like their closet, don't be too surprised if the Barons come out on top. Heading to the exit, you may see some Revenants, but they're sort of tedious chump change at this point you may or may not have the ammo for, so do what you like.

 

As a Metabolist map that you probably haven't heard of, this is as good as expected. Are the other Mort maps similar? Guess you could always check idgames for that.

 

Spoiler

Link

Edited June 17, 2022 by LadyMistDragon

[Endless]

59 minutes ago, LadyMistDragon said:

(Sort of crossposted from Random Wad Adventures, but edited to remove most references to my personal experience)

 

Toxic Waste Dump 11/20/03 - played in Eternity

 

Sam Woodman's reputation is VERY mixed. A champion speedrunner with creative interests, his in-your-face combat approach has been praised perhaps to excess by some.  But unfortunately, his maps have a habit of boiling down to shotgunning Barons, not to mention he was caught at least once stealing music from a Duke Nukem TC, leading to his departure from the Doom community to...steal from something else, probably. This map, on the other hand, contains all the strengths of his maps - visually tasteful and tons of killing - while vastly minimizing the weaknesses. It's definitely much better than some dreck like Substation from Community Chest or god forbid, almost anything he had involvement with in Hell Revealed II.

 

This wad also requires a custom texture pack, supplied by Sam himself and created for the "Mortres?" series this was a part of. Thankfully, his website as a subsidiary of Doomworld is still accessible, so this can be downloaded.  The shotgunning of Imps and Sergeants at the beginning is a little bit braindead, but is honestly quite dangerous. Proceed slowly if you're not a speedrunner and you'll have a better chance of surviving. Bullets are quite sparing outside of the oodles of chaingunners located throughout most of the base, but you'll have enough to get by if you don't want to SS everything. By the time you get to the red key, the gloves really start to come off, as you're ambushed by chaingunners and Revenants the moment you pick it up. You'll definitely want to have your health above 50 percent because you'll have to run out of here, past a large gauntlet containing an Arch-vile and Baron of Hell and basically shoot from the doorway here.

 

Behind the red key door is a nasty cadre of hitscanners that force you to camp, lest you die, trouble being obviously that you'll run out of ammo at some point, so you'll have to rush in eventually, and um, yeah. Eventually, you reach a darkened room with the blue key and another huge trap, this one consisting of Barons of Hell and Mancubi and a Cyberdemon bringing up the rear, thankfully keeping this from becoming a generic HR2 grindfest. Do enough firing to keep the closest enemies off your back, and then the Barons and Cyberdemons should hash it out. In a tight space like their closet, don't be too surprised if the Barons come out on top. Heading to the exit, you may see some Revenants, but they're sort of tedious chump change at this point you may or may not have the ammo for, so do what you like.

 

As a Metabolist map that you probably haven't heard of, this is as good as expected. Are the other Mort maps similar? Guess you could always check idgames for that.

 

Link

Don't forget to add screenshots too ;)

[Arrowhead]

3 hours ago, LadyMistDragon said:

Toxic Waste Dump 11/20/03

Nice review, I'll have to give this one a try.

 

@Endless , We are only 2 reviews away from 250! Hard to believe!

 

I hope to get back to it once I get the couple projects I'm working on released. :)

[Endless]

High Climb

By Patrick McBride

1994

 

 

Conceptual maps, that is, maps that try to evoke a general feeling or idea, weren't that common back in the 90s. Usually, maps would just have names for attraction value, rather than actually works as little snippets of what the WAD is. This single-level WAD by Patrick McBride does actually give you an idea of what you're getting to with its name.

 

High Climb is a single simple level that makes the player ''climb'' through different areas to reach the exit. It employs a nice variety of rooms, layouts and design to give you a feeling of exploration that progresses quite well as you move through the level, making it feel seamless in that area. The smoothness of the architecture helps create a consistent quality that maintains an appreciable personality for the entirety of the map. It is quite simple, really, yet it does actually manage to offer a very cool idea with a nice execution that, despite the year and rather chunky presentation, it still evokes a nice feeling in its modest gameplay.

 

A good WAD that's quite short but fun, and one of the few that execute their own creativity with solid success.

[LadyMistDragon]

Trecias - 01/23/1998 - Played in Eternity

 

(Crossposted from Endless Wad Adventures)

 

A (probably) vanilla map from the late 90s, this definitely isn't your-run-of-the-mill map from this time. There are probably some odd design decisions and monster placements not really fitting so well, but this otherwise a map which has aged shockingly well.

 

Though the opening is a little silly. You open a corner door to exit your cell then shoot at some former humans with your pistol, but overall, this is a slightly open layout that still manages to press you forward. It's not exactly Jagermorder 1 or perhaps even something like meat2.wad from the very next year, but it does a great job for what it does.

 

Just take a look at the first courtyard with slime river running through the middle. There are Imps and Sergeants just below both of the openings that lead here, but beware, there are chaingunners that are hiding to the sides of each entrance. The yellow key trap you find here is just a touch awkward since you have to touch the pedestal its sitting on, but the following ambush is pretty cool.

 

The next indoor area might be just a little bit weaker though for two reasons. One, the dirt cave has enemies shooting at you from the sides with little room to move so it's just annoying to fend off hitscanners from the windows. Still not too difficult. The next room has you killing some Pinkies and a Revenant and you get a chainsaw to help you out. But hit a critical switch here and you find yourself facing off against some Hell Knights where your chaingun is the best weapon. This is the only section where I just groaned because of the fact that chaingunning Hell Knights isn't, nor ever will be, fun. There's only 4 of them though so at least it's not too bad.

 

But let's talk about the room itself. There's a woodengazebo portal-like structure and computer banks that each conceal the hell knights. From this point, you basically have to walk through the wood to raise some blockage that's in front of some switches that basically exist to lower sections of the floor that allow you to access the stairs here. Each of these stairs will eventually lead you to different isolated rooms that basically contain switches which will open the way to the best part of the map. Though the rooms do stand fairly well by themselves mostly. I really liked the ambush revealed by pressing the switch on the cross-shaped bookcase in the middle from whence you can also spot a hidden Supercharge.

 

Anyways, you'll eventually open a pair of stairs that lead you to some stone structures. The one in the middle lowers to finally give you a Super Shotgun as well as 2 Arachnotrons into the bargain that annoyingly will escape you for a bit since the platforms they're on will go up/down continously quite slowly. At least it's not some chaingunning Cacos bullshit from the Factory in Doom II though. Also, the switches their rooms will open the way to a huge outdoor area. There's a warehouse, a barn, a rocky structure that tells Central Park to eat it's heart out and quite a few other buildings you'll probably enter in a more or less linear fashion in order to  lower some stuff that that allows you to press a switch that opens the barn and a face-off with some wicked spider ladies.

 

Two more things: there's 13 secrets that all actually feel like secrets as opposed to some leap to an easily accessible platform nonsense. And the arch-vile placement is shockingly on-point if perhaps not to the same amount of cleverness as Doom_Dude's maps or something. I didn't want to break down all that in the level description as you might guess.

 

Still, it's a map that probably rivals whatever Kurt Kesler was doing at the same time, despite some annoying issues and stupid puzzles (like pressing against some lift textures to raise a platform in someone's basement for instance. Some cool texture usage and the combat especially grows good in the latter half. Like the 20 Cacos you face in the plasma rifle's location.

 

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

 

Link

Edited July 1, 2022 by LadyMistDragon

[LadyMistDragon]

GULAG.WAD - played with From Doom with Love - 02/16/97

 

(taken from Endless Wad Adventures, but not crossposted, because this deserves more)

 

 

Heretic wads are few and far between in the late 90s as it is, and most of them were made by the same sorts of folks that made the much-reviled styles of maps that make the 1990s infamous. They were probably just messing around with the editor and likely knew no more about mapping than the people who just did Doom. This little set from early 1997, however, manages to both set things on their heads with custom textures and solid gameplay, while at the same time indulge in the sort of needlessly cryptic progression common to computer games in the mid-90s. It's definitely not going to be everyone's cup of tea.

 

Let's just get the positives out of the way first. Though you won't be able to tell for much of the butt-ugly first map, an impressive display of custom textures is utilized here. Which can only be a good thing with Heretic's limited palette. But at first, you come upon an expansive beach, and later, you climb a couple of isolated outcroppings, infiltrate a rather cranial-headed island fortress almost like something from Legend of Zelda Wind Waker, explore a boat, and finally, travail an ancient town, complete with a colosseum and water fountain, and execution square.

 

It should be emphasized that custom resources were used though, because it would be quite challenging to create such authentic locations using Heretic texures. So maybe that's a slight tick down.

 

Secondly, combat is actually quite solid and doesn't feel overly punishing, despite that weapons are handed to you in a very-piecemeal fashion, having you suffer for a bit before you can actually have a dragon's claw, hellstaff and so forth. Time Bombs aren't that prevalent either, so you'll have to be careful when you use them. Don't wand-start either because you're not going to find weapons multiple times.

 

Lastly, there's a fair amount of puzzling there. Mostly, this is just about stepping on invisible pressure plates that open some nearby section of wall for a brief period of time. For the more visual gamers though, this might prove frustrating since there's a certain 90s sense of obscurity in the way things are activated - just check out the blue key puzzle of map 01 for instance. It's quite well-done, and you're not actually running across the map to acquire it, but some people might be rather confused. And we all know what Italian-Americans do when they get confused....might want to stay away from this on.

 

But this is where we get to the downsides. Some of the puzzles in Map 03 make basically no sense and make Eternal Doom look approachable in comparison. They basically amount to "head to this place; lower something that's not immediately obvious" and um yeah, not fun. Most of the other puzzles in other maps make more sense though.

 

However, if you can accept the 90s and accept spending a good deal of time figuring things out, this is definitely something worth checking out if you like heretic. It's competent and well-put together but perhaps just a bit too steeped in dungeon-crawling philosophy for most people.

 

Link

 

Spoiler

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[LadyMistDragon]

OTAKULVL.WAD - played with Eternity Engine - 07/26/97

 

(crossposted from wad adventures, with the caveat of lots of frustration)

 

Believe it or not, there was a point when being an anime fan was practically unheard of. This basically posits that demons have invaded the '96 Otakon convention in Japan and your job is to exterminate with them with a variety of weapons inspired by some character in a mecha anime because they...have....become real. I don't understand it at all, but they're mostly just replacements for the default weapons. Although the pistol (actually finger guns, lol) seems like it's slightly powered-up. Mark pulls off some truly impressive vanilla tricks though, such as the silent teleporter that's supposed to simulate you dropping from an aircraft to clear out the convention, or the mirror in the Revenant-manned bar. The start proves incredibly difficult, thanks to the copious amounts of otaku hitscanners that start to pour out the front door when you get close to it. And don't hang around near the windows, lest you get the Tony Montana-at-the-end of Scarface treatment.

 

Inside is lots of long hallways with side windows, like a school as much as a convention center, with a minimum of Doomcute but just enough detail to indicate the signs on the nearby doors are accurate. I particularly liked the theater room (apart from the bullshit of parking a rocket launcher right before you reach a pair of Spectres guarding the assorted viewer trash here), darkened at first but will slowly light up as you explore and hunt for switches. The vent with the teleporting yellow key is particularly nice trick, though I did spend some time looking for a door I failed to spot.

 

Behind the red key door....the map sort of starts to break down. A series of standard Doom textures in narrow corridors essentially, with a teleporter that takes you to the heart of the demonic invasion. You come here mainly to hit a red skull switch, which probably opens a door at the end of the following cave to the rooftop or whatever. At the end, you return to the start, only to see a series of mass explosions that seems to indicate the gate has been destroyed.

 

If you hate anime, skip this map. If hitscanners annoy you, skip this map. If you don't care about that stuff however, what's here is a largely fun wad with a high degree of playability. Certain 90s tendencies are evident in this map, but that still doesn't change how much it feels like a fun Doom map, outside the obvious weapon, enemy, and sound effects replacements. But this was pretty fun, after getting over a few deaths in the opening area.

 

Link

 

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[LadyMistDragon]

Charon - played with Eternity Engine - 8/10/1995

 

Every so often, you just get bored and start playing complete junk that you may not otherwise have the time for (or, you know, not making a map that will probably take something like 6 total hours if I actually fucking bothered), say, ancient Doom maps that may or may not be on /idgames. 70-80 percent of these maps are dreck for various reasons. But forgetting the rear hidden gem, you might actually end up with something like this. Charon.wad, replacing E2M7 and made by someone called Kamikazi (his real name does not appear to be in the text file) is a very solid sort of Doom 1 adventure. Uniformly techbase that clearly draws from Doom 1 thematics but raising the difficulty to be something a little closer to E4, this successfully manages to pack a punch. The secrets might be a little obvious but regardless feel cool. Like when you run down a slime tunnel near the yellow key to pick up a most delightful treasure.(plasma rifle)

 

This is not a monster-heavy map but one focused on simple exploration. The author says he also tried to make this more deathmatch-friendly than his previous release. Honestly, he didn't succeed, but there is something strangely satisfying about exploring a simple collection of square rooms sometimes. There are also a couple of homages to a couple of iwad maps that don't detract too much. The visual quality remains shockingly consistent throughout and outside the first room, this isn't especially symmetrical either. Only thing that was maybe a little annoying was the exit progression feeling a touch drawn out. But this is very solid, if unremarkable for the most part.

 

 

 

and some screenies i guess.

 

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[LadyMistDragon]

Enslavement - 07/18/97 - played in Eternity 4.02.00

 

(pictures in wad adventures)

 

A shockingly solid series of 11 vanilla maps, but contrary to the text file, they are all fairly short, taking 15 minutes at the longest in some of the trickier ones if you're slow. And they all have under 100 enemies. Difficulty is around the first third of Doom II so don't get your hopes up. There is also a small amount of Dehacked content. 3 of them are enemies. One is this fat floating cartoon Imp of sorts which replace the Lost Souls, a sort of venemous plant that spits these enemies out and a skull with some wires at it's back that replaces the Mancubi and fires a BFG ball that does the same amount of variable damage as their default counterparts' fireball attack. All but the latter feel horribly out of placeThe plasma rifle has not been so much replaced as modified, with extra red-lit wires running around the barrel and with the plasma shots now a bright-pink color instead of blue which pardon me, is just a nice thing to see.

 

This also replaces all the default music except in Map 10 with some stock music, tunes from Heretic, and a couple of other upbeat sci-fi numbers that sort of sound like something from Lee Jackson but probably weren't.

 

The map design gives little regard to thematic consistency and even less to continuity. Basically, there's a mild habit of placing techbase and wooden/dungeon textures next to each other in a rather illogical manner. You could argue some of these areas are like temporary outposts, but at a certain point, that argument loses its steam. And it gets even worst between maps. The first map starts you in a wooden building with boiling blood (one of the rare damaging floors in the wad) but for the next couple of maps, transitions to techbase with a strong ship/facility feel. The map after that is sort of underground ruin thing, the other one's a palace that's really a mansion, while the next map can probably be called a fortress (making a maze in dark blue is such audacity). After that, it's pointless to talk too much about distinct themes. Although I think Map 07 is a volcano monitoring station and 08's obviously a dungeon, though in a room or two with fucking SHAWN(i could rage so much about this, but I don't wanna). Map 11 is a stupidly easy Icon of Sin fight in a cavern of red rock. Basically

 

There are also some other and more noticeable mapping sins, such as some poorly-aligned doors and non-traditional textures being used for doors with some questionable accompanying context. Every so often, you'll come across thoughtless monster placement (Baron in lava easy to avoid and spamming of Lost Soul replacement) but combat is actually very solid for the most part, in the tradition of other easy wads like Revolution and Rebirth, but easier.

 

Two things to note. In Eternity (and probably Boom) there's a vanilla mapping trick in 06 where a certain bridge over slime lifts up but not correctly and you can't get back from the switch in front if you don't noclip. And in Map 07, you might softlock yourself if you press switches in the wrong order. Those are the only serious flaws I could mention. This is a good classic vanilla set, not all that visually competent, but good at what it does. Unlike that stupid Playmate model wad I plated sometime back.

 

 

Link

[Walter confetti]

Wizard 3 by Phil Burnham - Heretic, 1995, played with GZDoom 4.7.1

 

 

 

This is a pretty challenging and fun map for Heretic made by Phil Burnham and being part of a series that have only uploaded the last two chapters in the archive, is a map sets in a sort of huge water outpost where many puzzle items, the layout is strongly reminiscent of the original Heretic game with some small interesting modifications, the only lower point is that this map doesn't have a Iron Lich even if it's for E1M8 (why?) and some stuff doesn't seem to work... or at least i didn't find any way to trigger that part of the map and so unlock it without cheating. Be careful with your ammo usage, since this map is slightly stingy with that!

Despite it's flaws is a interesting map to give a play. Fun stuff!

[rabidrage]

If you all are still going, here's a great repository of WADs I just started checking out.

 

http://www.retroarchive.org/cdrom/index.html

[LadyMistDragon]

Palladium Electroplate Facility - 04/07/04 - Played with GZDoom

 

(Crossposted from Random Adventures, and took few photos for some reason)

 

Reportedly, this was Kaiser's first attempt at a ZDoom map. And unfortunately, he doesn't have the same energy for advanced level designing as he does for programming, because he HATED it. He made a few more after this, but ended up quitting the port for good after releasing The Community is Falling 3, the sort of wad I wish was actually made these days.

 

But anyways, it would be incredibly easy for me to say "if you've played one Kaiser map, you've played them all" but I like this sort of progression, if handled correctly. And this actually is the case here! It's no Internal Reaches, but the progression here is still among the best. There's a bit of an obligatory hub area at the beginning, and a Pain Elemental you'll run into going in one direction suggests that you can find stronger weapons somewhere nearby, and thankfully not in a secret like some clowns seem to like with their maps.

 

Detailing is up to Kaiser's usual high standards, with some textures being borrowed from Strife with music that also sounds suspciously Strife-styled and definitely familiar from any case. Also, all the glass here is breakable, like that Eternal Doom map Paul Schmitz made, which is a really nice touch. There is also a stab at realistic architecture, although it's probably safe to say Kaiser doesn't try to stuff in Doomcute like you might expect from other mappers, and in all honesty, it would probably clash with his overall style.

 

One of the best tricks in the map is when you press a switch near a large lift near the red key where through a series of processes, a massive collection of teleport pads is deposited onto the floor. Step on the ones that are more faded to proceed. Step on the wrong ones, and some Imps will be teleported in to harry you.

 

It does seem the combat could have slightly more teeth to it like most of Sam's maps. There was this one room with some Mancubi, chaingunners, and hell knights that were kind of nice, and there were a couple of nasty ambushes that might kill a player or two. Although the chaingunner one near the blue key is probably intended the rocket launcher on. And credit, that Cyberdemon that appears as the whole map shakes at the very end was quite cool. 8.5/10

 

 

Link

[Roofi]

REAL: DOOM2 Conversion by Joe Zona "JAZ" (1998)

 

 

 

Finding a jungle-themed wad from 1998 isn't a common thing ! Real features 6 maps and an epilogue one which just serves to conclude the wad. This wad is vanilla compatible and uses a Dehacked.

 

Real reminds me a lot of Rowdy Rudy, a vanilla project led by Doomkid and I'm 99% sure "Real" inspired him. However, while Real uses a Dehacked, the new assets have only a decorative purpose. Custom sprites of vegetation, rocks or water splashes can be seen and armor shards had been replaced by green potions. The wad contains new sounds which make the jungle environments a lot more immersive but it cruelly lacks of custom music. However, I can recommand to play it without music !

 

The way Joe Zona created tropical scenery is outstanding and represents the main interest of playing this wad. The other maps , whereas having great visuals, have a lot more generic themes. Indeed, you'll also explore a temple or tech-base in your adventure. Moreover, maps lack of substance since most of them don't have more than 20 ennemies !  Gameplay was relaxing thanks to the easy-to-find rewarding secrets and the low monster-count  but I was frustrated by how short the maps were. Every time I finished a map, I wished it was a little longer.  But that's the way it is, Real will occupy you for 10-20 minutes.

 

In any case, Real is a wad that has marked me. The use of new sounds really enriches the experience and the new textures add a lot of freshness considering that the vast majority of the wads of the time were limited to stock textures. Honestly , longer and more extensive jungle levels would have earned an A+ from me.

 

Grade : A

[Walter confetti]

Browsed around the thread last evening (iirc there wasn't anybody that asked for a graphic pack from the wads present here? Or not? I didn't find any... But i was downloading all the maps that leave the other people use their assets for doing it) and i saw that @Jaccident made a short review for Real in the first pages, yours is much more detailed but i just want to make you know.

Ah yeah, all the Google Drive download links from thestarrover are all dead, giving no dl...

[LadyMistDragon]

Vengeance SkyBase Sirius IV - 07/07/99 - Played with Eternity

 

(look, sorry, but I have way too much to get to right now)

 

Good and not especially challenging single-player map. Rooms are filled with computer consoles and it's easy to see how this is a base. There are also a few important rooms with crates and even a vent at one location. Visually, it doesn't really stand out from other tech maps, though the orange sky apparently came from Paul's cancelled Vanguard project. In one spot, there's an outside area that may be an outdoor lab of some sort, but it's too abstract to bother describing right now. There's also a sort of machine room with pipes running over the ceiling. Encounters are constant but not especially present until you get toward the end and Revenants and Arachnotrons take care to bear down on you. This does have its fair share of design issues and the progression is a little...odd, if not really obtuse (blue key is behind a crate and red key door is practically a few steps from the red key). However, good use of vanilla textures and solid combat make this hard to knock 7.5/10

 

 

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[Walter confetti]

Rocketeer by Qingshuo Wang (Doom 2, MAP01, 1998, played with Eternity "forseti" 4.0.2)

 

DOWNLOAD LINK

 

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If your hanging around the doom community you probably had the chance to have heard of this map before, i wonder why it wasn't known that much nowadays... i even thought it was part of the best 100 maps list (both the 2004 or the 2018 list)! Oh, well, i think i'll wrote something in this thread.

Anyway, this is a compact map by this Chinese(?) mapper, Quingshuo Wang (or piXel reX), a very talented mapper with many vanilla trickery under the sleeves and a overall great sense on detailing (i suggest to you take a play at it's other maps, especially Jagged Edges series) and while this is the simplest looking of it's works without many new special effects or detailing works, but it's a pretty entertaining small and compact slaughtermap centered upon the rocket launcher with really intense fights in tight places against hordes of zombies, imps and two cyberdemons, plus signature instant-popping monsters (hordes of reverants!) and other really neat combat scenario, the "bad" point is the unmarked exit but overall this is a pretty neat map that takes you 15 minutes of fun!

[LadyMistDragon]

Abbey of Desecration - 04/17/96 - Played in GZ Doom 4.8.2.2

 

It's incredibly rare to come up with a good Hexen map from randomly selecting a file. It's even harder to come up with one from the 90s like the map we're going to be covering today. Although it's not the most visually striking thing out there, this plays quite solidly and isn't so puzzling if you've played through Hexen at least.

 

It is a rather spare and minimalist layout, especially on the outside. Although this does bring up another point. The ground here is slippery for reasons that serve no gameplay purpose and only serve to add flavor. You do have to enter a cave to access the titular structure but it feels almost obligatory. But on the inside, there are a couple of buildings, one a tavern and the other probably an inn. These buildings are filled with some neat details; mugs, bodies on walls, and beds that are all completely vanilla but nevertheless keeps this place from feeling too empty. The central building has a cage in the middle that probably held a prisoner at a certain point, but now contains a teleporter. And you can tell this was recently used as a torture chamber.

 

The combat is forgettable, but I've never liked combat in Hexen. Ettins will constantly teleport in, so you've got to keep moving. And of course, there are slaughters which is admired by absolutely no one. It's not a huge deal though because while you're not overloaded with flechette potions, you're given enough ammo (at least on the first 3 skill settings) that it's not a huge deal.

 

Now progression....it's definitely not a sort of "find obvious switch and hit it" sort of thing. However, so long as you explore the dungeons below the ramparts first and find a certain key, you shouldn't be too frustrated if you're observant. For instance, there's one building in the central courtyard where you can spot a slaughtaur through a window and another one with a serpent or two firing at you. Now there isn't much room to get into the serpent closet. The building with the slaughtaur has a fairly long hallway though, and a wall you can probably figure will lower. a s

 

From here, you head to the central building where you can now access the teleporter here, encounter sf fights through the surrounding towers, fighting wendigos and finally, ending up where the serpents were, next to a switch you have to hit in order to access another questionably-placed passageway containing a key which opens the way to a chapel/graveyard in the central building from whence enemies were firing at you earlier. At this point, you'll have enough powerups to trivalize the mass encounters at the end. If you're lucky, you'll pick the side with the switch that opens the exit on the other so you won't have to backtrack.

 

Good Hexen map, surprising quality for a map of its age, although you shouldn't expect brain-busting puzzles. It's probably easier than, say, Faithless.

 

Link

 

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[Sena]

ArchDlux.wad, Mike Bowers, 1997, played via LZDoom

 

(crossposted from ER/IWA)

 

This map might have come out in the 90s, but it is absolutely infused with modern sensibilities. For starters, they actually use multiple archviles, and effectively at that, as they demonstrate a clear knowledge of the archvile's abilities, and how they can be utilised to become a genuine threat. Elsewhere, there is a similar level of variety, and a more general ability to use the different traits of the monsters in an effective manner, which also makes this one of the more difficult maps from this period. Granted, I do think its difficulty seems frustrating by design, such as by placing chaingunners too far out of reach to actually fight, having to dodge revenant rockets in areas absolutely packed with other enemies, and there's always the classic move of just putting 4 archviles in the same place to all come at the player at once. Still, I can at least respect a competently made and fair challenge that evidently encourages experimenting with a bunch of different strategies. Its level of detail could be better, and some of its interior sections could definitely do with more height variation, but this is a surprisingly modern level, it's got first person platforming, a multitude of different locales and visual motifs, one section with a wave of enemies who all teleport in at once, and is generally built with a degree of precision and polish that makes it worth playing.

Edited December 1, 2022 by Sena

[FEDEX]

Hi @Sena , wrong linked. Here is the right one:

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/a-c/archdlux

[LadyMistDragon]

Dark Nation's Wacky Adventures in Impse -  07/15/2004 - Played GZDoom 4-9

 

(crossposted from Random Wad Adventures, with minor edits)

 

A wad by @Cyb made in 2004, around the same time as Massmouth 2 came out, this was literally Mike trying to figure out how to use a variety of Imp sprites he possessed. It's clear from things like the Zort maps that he quite liked having a variety of Imps but maybe he just wanted to smoosh them together more concisely or whatever.

 

Anyways, you're basically infiltrating a lab in the first map. So yes, as the text file says, you infiltrate the facility using a crate which you then have to chainsaw your way out of, then it's basically crawling through various industrial corridors and vents with a high degree of freedom. Very cool electronic music that recalls big beat of the 90s. Not entirely though because ammo is quite spare and if you happen upon the Donnybrook (from Icarus)-inspired vent leading to the red key after you've been everywhere else, then you won't have enough ammo for the naga imps guarding the red key. No matter, I cheated my way through and should've done more of it. Not like it's bad necessarily, but it felt like I spent far too much time here. I do like the sort of door that will close and damage you near the beginning if you're not quick enough.

 

Also, Mike's sense of humor is ever-present throughout the map, mostly in the form of freakish Flynn Taggert-like reactions to spotting the various varieties of Imps and a strong sense of self-awareness with the repetitive vent crawling. Speaking of which, the comic-book inspired dialogue is a nice, if insignificant touch.

 

Eventually, you get to a subway station, which will only work if you've explored every corner of the map thoroughly and pushed some curious-looking ancient symbols which tend to show up in rooms containing scripted encounters. One of these encounters happens to be with a mass of Imps I'm fairly certain was inspired by a certain scene near the beginning of Army of Darkness because tiny ones start dropping down like a literal plague. Not much dialogue here because this scene pretty much speaks for itself.

 

The second map then decides to pistol-start you for no reason, plays a more mediocre-type of futuristic music that the protag even hates. and takes you to an industrial-style map where the goal is to slaughter various varieties of Imps, at first with nothing but a shotgun, but later, you get to a Dead Simple square where you get a rocket launcher to wipe out massive waves of these guys.

 

After this is over, you get a humorous message about traipsing through the various "...brownish corridors....", which was still one of my favorite lines.

 

Link

 

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[princetontiger]

I've noticed a lot of these maps aren't idgames... where are they from? I had a lot of fun with diharder.wad.