***Wad Reviews***

[bioshockfan90]

Corrupted Cistern (2022) - Chris Lutz

 

(sidenote: reviews for some more PWADs are on my Backloggd if you're curious. Chances are, if it's in the IGDB, I'll just review it there.)

 

Quick, breezy map to play through as a nice tech demo of what a godly vanilla mapper is capable of with a more advanced toolset. I was playing on HNTR as per usual and did notice it was hard to fight the Cyb at the end with just rockets and SSG, but infighting mostly killed it off so it wasn't a bad fight or anything, I just didn't find enough secrets. I was somewhat expecting the water to be annoying to swim in, but even without mouselook it was just a matter of holding down jump, just a sign that we've come leaps and bounds when it comes to ZDoom swimming from the days of old. Details are beautiful as it goes with most Lutz maps, layout was maybe a bit confusing but nothing that didn't sort itself out in the end. I do wish the map was a bit longer, and I do wish there were *more* maps, but for what it is, it's a great foray into UDMF by a seasoned vet. Love love LOVED the cavernous slope-y sections in the middle, very cool to see how monsters handled their own on that uneven terrain! Very cool map, nothing blew me away but it was very fun to play and I have no complaints.

 

3.5/5

[pcorf]

On 4/22/2023 at 1:35 AM, Garlichead said:

2022 A Doom Odyssey .....

 

Thanks for your awesome review. This wad has not had the attention compared to the original but I am most proud with 2022ado, a good way to finish my mapping career. I also made two maps in Episode 3 (E3M4 and E3M9).

[Walter confetti]

Time to revive this thread with...

 

Doomworld Mega Project 2023: Professional mapper edition - Various people, 2023

 

A little episode for Doom 2 and boom compatible ports made by mappers from Doomer Boards (creating a little controversy in that site between sites people), made using the unusual gimmick of not testing the map while been done until playtesting by other people in the site, having some game-breaking fixes by the project host @TimeOfDeath666, 8 maps with simple themes are been done from January to November 1st.

MAP01 and MAP04 are mine, so i know them very well, as well as other maps i played while the project was done, usual map-by-map review will be wrote here!

MAP01 (Slade to the riddim): A small brick structure with a Pier and a small boat, lots of missing textures but it's fun. This is also the first time i made a map with Slade3 map editor (hence the title, a parody of the Grace Jones song "Slave to the rythmym")

 

MAP02 (Grey Nightmare): a basic but fun map and also the first mapping effort from it's author sets in a open space techbase made of grey and rusty walls, simple but enjoyable.

 

MAP03 (Cavern Level): A simple and fun map sets in a cavernous setpiece with a brown and rusty metal outpost, similar to Quake maps. I liked the lava platform structure in the middle of the cavern.

 

MAP04: A medium sized brown map sets in a canyon with some flesh monstrosity been "mined" and collected by the UAC people for... Some reason. Toxic slime falls running everywhere but not in the right direction (silly me and not understanding properly how to do scroll floors and walls ... Especially without testing), monster closets reveals at every step, it's  kind of challenging too imo, especially for the ambsh attack of the Archvile.

 

MAP05 (No 3D mode Island): A pretty good and fun map sets in a island with a techbase of sorts in It, the station reminds me of Toxin Refinery in layout terms for some reason. The gameplay is pretty challenging as well here too, there's a lot of Archviles, A LOT of them.
It's hard, but fun. I didn't understand how to open the "hidden" door in the mountain area where the cacos are locked, a unseen bug? Or something that i don't know how to activate?

 

MAP06: Second released map for the project by TimeOfDeath but put firstly, a impressively good and gloomy map with a lot of boom effects trickery, sets in a dark castle/prison in fire-y hell world, reminds me of DMP 2018 thematically, lots of puzzly and slaughter action that It will not be for all, but it's a very good map!

 

MAP07: First map released for the project, a large, open map with challenging gameplay and fun attitude, pretty enjoyable map! I liked the black cubic textures usage here!

 

MAP08: This squared and terrifyng arena with it's inhuman monster placement doesn't really liked at me, AT ALL. A slightly unfunny
BFG blastfest where other parts of the arena can be revealed without any hint or reason. I didn't like this.

[NiGHTS108]

It's not a whole wad, but I do have a map I'd like to talk about quite a bit.

Community Chest - Various, 2003

 

I wanna talk about Citadel At The Edge Of Eternity, Community Chest MAP29, and the last map ever made by Magikal, mainly as something of a redemption what I’ve said of this map in the past, and to serve this review as a sequel to my previous review of it, from almost two years ago on the Doomworld Megawad Club. I’ve declared it my “least favourite map ever made” privately and maybe publicly, and have a two and a half hour video on YouTube of my idiot past self dragging through it for the DWMC, and generally not having the best time in the world, but now I’d like to state the inverse of this opinion. I have to admit, I did not replay Citadel At The Edge Of Eternity before writing this, mainly because I don’t exactly feel like replaying a grinding, 2 hour long map right now, and I think anyone who’s beaten it will agree it’s memorable enough that you never truly need to replay it. It’s a map that breaks out torturing setpiece after torturing setpiece, right from the dimly lit computer room of the opening to the rooftop shootout of the ending, Citadel At The Edge Of Eternity pulls out magic trick after magic trick, of which you must endure every last one to see that beautiful stock Doom II intermission screen as your release from this purgatory. Honestly this is why I didn’t replay Citadel At The Edge Of Eternity, frankly because I didn’t necessarily think I’d enjoy myself, though as you’ll see, that statement will not get in the way of my praise for this map. I’m not necessarily going to imply Citadel At The Edge Of Eternity is “unfun on purpose” such as rage games like The Impossible Quiz or Jump King for example, however I will imply that this map achieves an impeccably impressive mapping trick, the likes of which has only been glimpsed maybe once every good couple of years in the Doom community. I’d argue that Citadel At The Edge Of Eternity is a map that exists only for itself, ergo, a map that only exists for its creator, Magikal. I can’t exactly make an enormous review and drop this like some final mic drop, so I’ll just say now that I think Citadel At The Edge Of Eternity is a completely uncompromised creative vision of what Doom can be to its creator, overflowing with clarity and truth to itself, much like, oh, say, The Mucus Flow is. I think The Mucus Flow makes for an extremely interesting comparison to Citadel At The Edge Of Eternity actually, and I find the maps have dozens of similarities between them. Both maps are quite frankly oppressive as hell, with one making you crawl on the floor and beg for ammo and health, while the other torments you medieval style with gore drenched trap after gore drenched trap. Both maps are also remarkably strange experiences, with very peculiar design decisions that haven’t been mimicked much outside of them, like the bizarre tiny switches in The Mucus Flow or… actually almost anything in Citadel At The Edge Of Eternity. Of course the main similarity in my eyes at least is that I think they share the same supremely mystical quality, that both of them are totally uncompromised creative visions in Doom maps, refined not at all towards the expectations of any hypothetical players, and asking you to pick up the pieces and understand it, rather than the map having to understand you. I think every choice in Citadel At The Edge Of Eternity was made completely on purpose. Just like The Mucus Flow again, if you somehow pointed out any of your “issues” to Magikal and got him to change the map, would he? Well, maybe, but would it be as good? I hypothesise absolutely not. Look at any of this map’s quite frankly bizarre puzzles, the odd murkiness of the outdoors area combined with Community Chest 1’s sort of hideous 3rd episode sky, the consistent use of these extremely strange yet actually quite impressive bridges, well, when they’re not breaking on you anyway. Who knows, maybe if Citadel At The Edge Of Eternity had a sense of humour like The Mucus Flow’s bizarre nose at the top of a mountain it would share a similar vastly rich legacy in 2023, however I don’t think this map needs humour to make it more honest to itself. I can see why fate has chosen it so The Mucus Flow lives on with homage after homage to it while Citadel At The Edge Of Eternity lays hidden, as the ultimate final Dracula darkly lurking at the end of Community Chest 1, though maybe how forgotten this map is lends yet further mystique to its art. When The Mucus Flow and all of B.P.R.Ds maps are rightfully lavished with praise for their philosophical honesty with themselves and pure truth radiating from the soul of them, I think what some people are quite frankly neglecting is that, softly and quietly, a year before B.P.R.Ds much celebrated masterwork, an equally enormous and no less beautiful dragon of a map slept hidden away in Community Chest 1, it’s just a little more secretive about its inner beauty. So, in closing, do I like playing Citadel At The Edge Of Eternity? No. Not really, however I have more respect for it than almost any other map in the world. Then again though, I’m not really jumping at the chance to replay The Mucus Flow either, right? When I glimpse these two maps, I see two works of art by people who knew, years and years before anyone else, that Doom can truly be anything. They took this thought, ran with it, and never stopped running. Citadel At The Edge Of Eternity is unequivocally at least the second best map in the entire Community Chest series by quite frankly a landslide. An unrecognised and underrated behemoth of an experience.

Edited January 21 by NiGHTS108

[tonytheparrot]

On 11/17/2023 at 8:37 PM, Walter confetti said:

MAP08: This squared and terrifyng arena with it's inhuman monster placement doesn't really liked at me, AT ALL. A slightly unfunny
BFG blastfest where other parts of the arena can be revealed without any hint or reason. I didn't like this.

I just found this review months after and honestly, you are right, this map is TRASH, my worst release by more than a mile.

[stylo]

I wasn't sure where to post this, but I finished Trooper's Playground by Matthias Worch as part of the Unity port's addons feature, and really dug it. 4/5 ⭐️ 

 

My first non-iwad! 

 

Maybe I should make like a 'LTTP newcomer plays wads' kinda thread and go more in depth as I play through these things.

 

As I said it was my first time playing a full fanmade episode; can't imagine what awaits me. Exciting stuff 

[june gloom]

Hope nobody minds my bumping this thread to link my nascent boomer shooter blog, which covers Doom and Doom-engine stuff but will eventually encompass a lot of things.

 

(As a bonus here's my more general review blog.)