Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #020

[Roofi]

Month 6 Day 13

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I die/stop.

 

File 1) Hall of Pain by Bob Arthur (1994)

 

Spoiler

 

Quote

1st level of upcoming epic (I hope :-) )

 

A rather modest map that can be finished in less than 10 minutes, taking place in a base with no specific theme, considering the diversity of textures used: brown rock, marble, bloody flesh, computers...

 

Moreover, the level has only a few height variations, so that it feels like playing a Wolfenstein 3D map with rooms having more varied shapes. The Doom functionalities are better exploited in the dark warehouse thanks to the possibility to climb on the crates.

 

On the other hand, Hall of Pain is in my opinion a good level compared to the 1994 standards. In spite of the weak coherence of the themes, the progression remains clearly indicated and quite intuitive. The gameplay, although not very challenging, is fun and quite faithful to IWAD. To reach the exit, you have to venture into a labyrinth a la E1M2.

 

Small funny detail, the author has created a txt file called "HINTS" with some little tips!

 

File 2) SOS DOOM version 0.3 by SOS DOOM Team (1999)

 

Spoiler

Quote

SOS DOOM is developed by the SOS DOOM Team to support the efforts of the Save Our Sailors (SOS) campaign, which aims at keeping Sailor Moon on the air in North America. Please visit the SOS homepage at:

http://looney.physics.sunysb.edu/sos/

The latest releases of SOS DOOM as well as screen-shots can be found at:

http://dau.physics.sunysb.edu/~ming/sos/sosdoom.html

In common language, this is called a cheap total-conversion where the colorful world of Sailor Moon contrasts strongly with the dirty environments of Doom.

 

SOSDoom is a wad of three levels that take place mainly in sewers or quite insignificant bases. The level design is not really bad, but too simplistic for the levels to be worth replaying.

 

Concerning the changes made by the TC, you eat cakes and ice cream to increase your health and you don't have an armor gauge anymore but a clothing one, which sounds much more feminine maybe. Concerning the magic, it is perhaps coherent for the pistol and the chaingun which were replaced by the lunar sceptre. On the other hand, the shotgun and the SSG have not been replaced and so everything loses its coherence. In the same way, only the imps have a new sprite about the monsters. Maybe the team was lazy.

 

Anyway, I really like that the pellets generate rainbows. It's cute.
 

File 3) Matrix Match by Matrix (Flagg) (2005)

 

Spoiler

Quote

Deathscription: This is a functional Deathmatch wad. It ain't pretty, and I didn't pay a lot of attention to textures. The reason: I wsa sitting at work saying I need a new Deathmatch with lots of windows and dark rooms. Well, I whipped it up in 45 minutes, called my buddies up into the computer room and said, "Alright, let's go, 4 players, let's rumble!". We had hours of good play from it so I figured I'd share it. Have fun Ladies and Gents. May the Frags Be With You! Oh yeah, I didn't put in an exit. If you want one, Do it yourself!

 

A DM map that I already played during Month 5 Day 26. I decided to play on gzdoom this time instead of Dosbox and finish this map at 100% even though there is no exit.

 

I don't want to be mean, but I think it's objectively bad, even for 1994. The 17 monsters to kill and the only secret to find are the only interest of the map.

 

I didn't manage to survive the 7th wave in the first map of the invasion wad Ultimate Torment & Torture Invasion

 

Spoiler

[Walter confetti]

45 minutes ago, Roofi said:

 SOS DOOM version 0.3 by SOS DOOM Team (1999)

 

It's not that bad, but i agree with you that it's pretty simplistic in theme terms, as well as for the layouts.

But the concept is cool and for me it's a pretty historical wad, since is one of the maps that i firstly downloaded through the anipike site. Not good as Otakon or Gatchaman Doom, but still a nice map for me, like the Yukio Ide maps.

[Walter confetti]

DEATHPIG by GROND - Vanilla Doom 2, 1996, DM, played with zandronum 3.1 alpha

Spoiler

A mini episode of pretty basic arenas, MAP01 and MAP02 layout looks cool but todays isn't my day on DM. Worst offender is MAP04 and whatever the fudge is happening there. Weapon placement is pretty good and gameplay flow is good and hectic to play. Music and sounds aren't that crazy but... idk is kinda annoying.

[Arrowhead]

3 minutes ago, Walter confetti said:

DEATHPIG by GROND

Funny you came across this today - I just finished going through these maps no less than an hour ago. The name was what attracted me, lol - quite a good funny name for a WAD...

[Sena]

Day 14: Rangex's Pit https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/p-r/rangex

 

On the one hand, this was 2009, and also the author's first map, so maybe I should be nice to Rangex. The opening area is visually impressive, especially those spinning pillars. However, he says he was inspired by The Chasm, which are words I do not think anyone would ever want to hear, and this level's just as bad, but not for the reasons you're thinking.

 

As much as I disparage levels for being "so basic they could be in Wolfenstein", at least they aren't mazes. It's not even good in Blood, I have never once played a game in my life in which I enjoyed having to navigate around some parallel rooms that are as devoid of width as they are of anything to actually do in them, the combat encounters that are over as soon as they start, in particular they used a lot of pinkies who seemed to have their pathing completely broken, which you might say isn't their fault, it's the AI's, but the AI was probably written in the first place with the expectation that the maps wouldn't be this fucking boring. Mazes are always boring, it's one of the most memorable parts of Equinox for all the wrong reasons, and it's the schwerpunkt of this level, nearly the whole thing is a maze, so I did the only reasonable thing and noclipped out of that shit and had to deal with a BFG spam fight with teleporting barons, hell knights and archviles with no cover, before falling because I forgot I was playing a worse version of The Chasm, and the idgames reviewers inform me there were cyberdemons, so I didn't miss out on much. I'm not allergic to maize, but that didn't stop this map from making me feel nauseous. 1/10.

[Endless]

That is, like, an actual torture maze all in all. I would have quit Doom right there.

[Arrowhead]

52 minutes ago, Sena said:

...MAZES...

I was just recently playing a WAD that I thought would work for the Wadarchaeology project - only to find out at the last second that the blue key I needed was hidden behind a random nondescript wall in a horrifically dark maze -I couldn't possibly recommend something w/ that horrible of a flaw. I only ended up finding out when I opened the map in DBX in frustration...

 

It was a mystifying choice, as the author was actually really good at crafting decent combat scenarios - the WAD is 'RIGEL I' by Scott Lampert. I suppose it was 1995 - but I don't think that fully excuses it...

 

Sorry for the wall of text! :)

Edited November 29, 2021 by Arrowhead

[ICID]

Sorry I couldn't participate in this event, guys - but holy cow, you all did a great job without me! Special shoutouts to Teo Slayer for a great first adventure and LadyMistDragon for the awesome map-by-map review of ARMAGEDN.

 

A new thread (that I will actually write for, lol) awaits!

 

[Teo Slayer]

1 hour ago, ICID said:

Special shoutouts to Teo Slayer for a great first adventure

Thanks man, it was fun for me to join the adventure. A bad thing is that I'm being given lots of exams and I can't catch time which also explains why I'm less active now. Thanks again :D (How many points do I have and can I have an explanation about how they work?)

[LadyMistDragon]

On 11/29/2021 at 8:03 AM, ICID said:

 Special shoutouts to Teo Slayer for a great first adventure and LadyMistDragon for the awesome map-by-map review of ARMAGEDN.

A new thread (that I will actually write for, lol) awaits!

 

Thanks a lot! It wasn't really even very good, as you can probably tell, but I pressed on!