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Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #047

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Year 2 Month 01 Day 16

 

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

 

[1] Escape from Alcatraz III by Jon Fussell (2000)

 

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A very large single-player/deathmatch wad. You've been thrown into the brig again, for the routine incident of assaulting a commanding officer. As luck would have it, the prison comes under assault by the aliens as you are sleeping in your bunk. Of course, what could wake you from a good night's sleep? Nothing. So..in the morning, you wake up at your own accord to find a ravenous zombie bending over to take a bite out of your neck. You frown and quickly twist off its head, then grab the pistol it was carrying, along with a few full clips. You look around to find your fellow cellmates mutilated beyond recognition. You think to yourself "Shit..I gotta stop taking those sleep pills." Rumors that you've heard from long-timers bring up the fact that this place is not just a prison, but so much more...Welp, time to haul ass and bust out of this slaughterhouse.

 

It appears that the Doomguy got eventually jailed after killing countless monsters in random wads. What a criminal ! This level uses Doom 2 as an iwad and only has a custom music concerning the custom resources.

 

In order to escape the hi-tech prison (or castle?), you have to clean the prison of cells, survive at the middle of the inner court under the fire of the chaingunners located in their miradors or even picking all the ammo and weapons that the guards left on the ground just for you. Doom's enemies are really kind , isn't it?

 

"Escape from Altacraz" presents a lot of doomcute with its jails furnished with beds and toilets,  the cafeteria, the slime leaking from the faucet in a specific part of the map, the large grassy courtyard where you can take a short jog, the hidden space rockets (wtf) and at last the wooden overboard in order to leave this cursed island. Add to this , the rocking music accompanying your flight. This level is at the crossroads between a perilous adventure and a ballad.

 

Indeed, besides the cute aesthetics, this level is quite challenging. The level starts softly with close-quarters fights against zombies and some inoffensive mid-tiers you can get rid of with ease. However, once you leave the central building in order to reach the interiour courtyard, things get spicier ! A lot of chaingunners are sniping from the miradors, several mid-tiers conquered the ramparts and the court, and above all, two cybers are on their own islands located far away the alcatraz prison. Be careful of their rockets each time you're in their line of fire.

 

"Escape from Alcatraz III" is the perfect classic adventure map. I absolutely loved it between its pseudo-realistic aspect, the cheery rock music or the right balance between challenge and exploration.

 

Grade : A+

 

[2] GEORGIA.WAD by James O'Vary (1995)

 

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A nice Death Match WAD for D2. Nice big rooms and an OK outside. Fun for the hole family...

 

You are at the state of Georgia and everything is green and empty. Your greenish marbled fortress-mansion has not yet been furnished  and and you should landscape your big garden because the trees are starting to wither. GEORGIA.WAD figures among the countless bland DM maps polluting the idgames archive.

 

[3] THEKEEP2.WAD by Norman Scott (1994)

 

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TheKeep2 is the final update of The-Keep.Wad. The medieval castle has few secrets to give away but playing a deathmatch can be fun. The chaingun appears to be the weapon of choice in this wad. There are two places now to pick it up.

Thekeep2 is a castle with towers, dungeons, and a moat. It has a good deathmatch or single-player layout.

 

Thekeep2 is an old-school castle for Ultimate Doom I already came across in some old compilations. Thanks to my foreknowledge, I didn't struggle finding the obscure exit. I order to reach it, you have to open a wall which doesn't look like a door at all. and press a switch which isn't very easy to spot.

 

The gameplay is unengaging for the most part because only few enemies guard this rather insipid keep. The hard part resides in crossing the toxic moat without falling in. It fortunately doesn't require a SR50 jump but be careful from where you jump. It would be miserable to die in the liquid after choosing a gap that was too large.

 

Unfortunately, the indoors are not really worth exploring since every place is cramped and monotextured. You will not miss a lot by not this playing this map. It's still enjoyable though.

 

Grade : C+

 

[4]  The Genocide Center by Shannon O'Neill @Major Arlene (2013)

 

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I call this the Genocide Center because there's tons of victims just hangin' around (ba dum tiss). Also, a few impaled zombiemen are in here, but don't worry, they don't bite. Note: This is not a reference to WWII genocide. Just genocide in general.

 

I don't know if it's conspiracy or not , but even the wads released I get from the 2010's still look like maps made in 1994. Jokes aside, I got the first baby map from Major Arlene this time and I'm kinda surprised that it works on vanilla because she's nowadays mostly known for her advanced gzdoom maps.

 

Still, if someone had told me that Genocide Center was released in 1994, I would have believed without doubt. This genocide center features random oversized distorted flat room linked by ugly overlarge doors. The enemies are there, just waiting to be killed or you just can skip them.

 

Concerning the visuals, it's hideous to say the least. I've seen 1994 maps which were a lot prettier haha. On the other hand, the choice of textures is sometimes really trippy and unsettling. The huge room with bloody walls and flashy red lights ceiling catched my attention more than the others. The numerous hanging corpses contribute to make this place...  cursed and the visual glitches such as the tutti-fruttis contribute to make me feel under LSD.

 

If you're not a shovelware enthusiast, this level will waste few minutes of your life. For my part, I like the quite disturbing visuals.

 

Grade : C

 

[5] Reconstruction/Decomposition by @Da Werecat (2015)

 

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A silver spaceship with custom textures. Loosely based on Termination by mrthejoshmon. The second map in the wad is just a small "outro" level.

This is version 4. For a changelog see the CHANGES lump inside the wad.

 

"Reconstruction/Decomposition" or "RC/DC" (to not confuse with AC/DC) is something. It's a horror experience you will never forget, I guarantee you.

 

I never played the original level by mrjoshmon so I can't say how Da Werecat improved it. Anyway, the most glaring things you instantly notice about this map is the new texture set made of detailed tech textures and alien ones and the unsettling ogg soundtrack which announces the color. However, beside the music, the absence of Doomguy's head and  the fact it was replaced by a broken screen is by far my favourite and the creepiest detail about this wad. I don't know if the adventure would have been as immersive without this statbar change. Da Werecat really has an eye for detail.

 

RC/DC takes place in a corrupted tech base which is reminiscient of Doom 64, PSX Doom, Doom 3, and also Silent Hill for the wooden bridge crossing the darkness and the very old TC of aliens about the alien textures. RC/DC doesn't look like any Doom level you played and for this reason, it's an unique experience. I have a fav for the animated textures such as the unusual organic damaging floors, or the ominous rotating fan glowing in the darkness near the end. RC/DC isn't exceedingly detailed or long but the atmosphere is here  and the silent transition to the decayed alien section represents my preferred part.

 

About the combats, I would have appreciated if the monsters were less present, as TNTR's map 12 where you visit a lot of rooms without encountering one single monster. Nevertheless, the gameplay remains classic and delightful for the most part. The arch-viles's fight was reasonably intense and well choregraphed. However, the last cybie was disappointing. You can peek a boo him with your SSG.

 

Anyway, RD/DC is an atmospheric masterpiece, one of the best horror-themed levels I have ever played. The outro map also deserves to be visited

 

Grade : A+

 

[6] The Volcano Facility by Eternal Dreams (2005)

 

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The Volcano Facility is a wad that takes place inside (and outside) a factory/base nestled inside a volcano, as the name suggests. It's made for all modes of Skulltag except for CTF.

 

Building a factory in a volcano seems to be the most stupid idea ever. The concept here is to navigate among paths surrounded by lava. However, you can't really fall in the burning goo except if you decide it. The theme is pretty cool and I like how the mapper made ramps in order to create height variations but the aesthetics prove to be rudimentary.

 

[7] KALRAC5.WAD by Thomas Schrantz (1995)

 

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This Level is HARD! I built the thing, and I have a hard time beating it, even on Hurt Me Plenty.

 

This level is maybe not hard about its combats but rather on the possibility to appreciate its design. Kalrac 5 is a "tech base" made of symetrical thin and long corridors. You will meet enemies inside and some of them are tougher than usual such as several cyberdemons and arch-viles. Wah.

 

Ammo and health aren't abundant indeed but you're not forced to kill all monsters. I advice you to not explore every room because the whole map has no aesthetic value and you will waste your ammo for nothing. This level also has an uneffective Icon of Sin you can skip (The level would have been much worse if I had to defeat it)/

 

KALRAC5 is a mediocre attempt at creating a "hard" map but I like the music choice. It makes me feel like in a sweet dream.


Grade : D+

 

An armada of revenants fell on me after generating a wrong code in 2countrv I guess...

 

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Year 2 Kill (2000 i guess)  by Andrew Loly (Eternity)

 

A map supposedly designed for deathmatch, however, it feels more like a massively subpar single-player map. For some reason, this guy like to put multiple Pain Elementals together in locations where they serve no purpose. Texture misalignments are literally everywhere, and many rooms are in sharply-pointed shapes that feel randomly-drawn. Underscoring this is the sudden and rapid texture changes that I'd like to extract some purpose out of....but the only tunnel that really made sense was the dirt one with the Super shotgun. There was 1 odd softlock in the room where you access it from and the teleporter seemingly leads to a dead-end METAL room with nothing but ammo-draining enemies. Key placement feels random as all hell with no signposting. Finally, making the exit accessible by placing a switch in a room behind an exit sign and then making said exit room with a...Cyberdemon with nothing but METAL everywhere and some clumsy attempt at lighting is the laziest thing ever. 2/10, mostly because there aren't any keys hidden behins random walls. Below is possibly the most wasted room. The 'water' will make you losw 20 health per second for no reason.

 

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IHRKE2.WAD (1994) by Jim Ihrke (Eternity)

 

Typing the dude's name out was more effort than anything. Ok, not really. But you've got this small and largely wooden DM map with a side corridor at one end curving around with vines basically plastered down without any clue on how you're supposed to double them with other textures, and the other one an outdoor courtyard with yet another curving side corridor leading to the exit. Some monsters have also been placed, but they are of little consequence. The lift-textured raising and lowering wall in the middle was cool, especially the shadow-filled center. 5/10 because despite the project goals, halls sort of curved needleesly in the southeast, but ammo distribution is fine and it still seem like it'd be fun for a bit.

 

 

 

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Blue Fire Park (2022) by @Lawrence (Eternity)

 

A map I reviewed that I had to delete from Wadazine's Newstuff Guide because there was little that stood out and only so much can be put in basically. That's no comment on its competence though: despite rectangular and square layouts prevailing everywhere, there's a strong sense of place in all of the outdoor areas. Despite that only vanilla textures are used, a surprisingly convincing tree-filled outdoor area. I think that's a collection of pipes near the sort of sewer exit area, but maybe not. Enemies do have some thoughtful placement applied to them. And best of all is the increased deadliness of the traps toward the end, such as the Mancubi/sergeant gauntlet not far from the exit hallway. But beyond the square layout, the biggest problem is the random placement of certain objects like keys, and also switches. It doesn't really make progression cumbersome but these thing placements definitely felt rather unnatural. 6.5/10

 

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D-Day invasion by BiNaRy01 is some kind of ill-conceived nazi fantasy where doomguy fends off the Allies' storming of Normandy. 0/1,000,000 do not recommend

 

 

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DAMMIT.WAD (1998) by Harq (Eternity)

 

3 map set from 98 that's not bad I guess.

 

Map 01: Lots of generic marble corridors eventually give way to the titular structure, mounds ahead of something like Hoover that was played a month or so back for the shovelware society. The exit feels so clumsily placed though and i dunno how to get inside the structure with the plasma rifle. But otherwise, it's almost heads-and-tails above the last section if we lead the wooden stockades out.

 

Map 02: Incoherent, and also ridiculously hard to squeeze through if you wanna get where the shotgunners at the beginning are. There's only one spot here wide enough. Worst is the fact that you've got to walk a Chasm-like walkway in a very narrow room if you don't want to risk instant death from hitscanner. At least there's a Supercharge. Eventually, you'll find yourself in yellow lava caverns and from here, techbase with Cyberdemon at the end you have to push something not so obvious to reveal. Some battles with enemies on the way back out to another area in the same outdoor area which leads to the exit.

 

Map 03: A mansion. Ignore the shitty Wolfenstein textures at the beginning. The Doomcute is shockingly on-point, and I really liked the large pool here. Keen room seemed a bit pointless, but nice use of lighting here, and I liked the tower.

 

Probably would have been more boring if I hadn't played it with.....

 

 

 

Weapons of Destruction (2004) by @MasterOFDeath (Eternity)

 

A little mod that OPs most of your weapon. While pistol might only have a slightly-boosted sound, the shotgun is now fully automatic, chaingun is replaced with a pair of giant gatling guns with more power behind them then an  entire battalion (but don't get giddy, this isn't Russian Overkill). The rocket launcher now fires a cluster bomb-type projectile that creates an awesome area of effect sprite that doesn't display correctly in Eternity. The plasma rifle is now a rail shooter that consumer 10 cells and thusly should probably be used a touch more conservatively than you might be tempted and the BFG is the expected mass alien weapon that actually doesn't look too much cooler. All in all, good little mod 7/10

 

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OK guys this is the big one! Going live in say 20+ minutes - 50th episode of me doing this and will be nuts. Unlike regular eps I will play through a whole bunch but skip boring and broken ones - guests and random times lets see what happens

 

this is actually quite the milestone for me and Im excited

 

 

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Goatse (2014) by savagegrant (Eternity)

 

A simple spirite replacement that switches out Cacodemons by a large brown sprite that looks suspiciously like a cooked turkey, although I'm a little unsure if I can show it on Doomworld. Better safe than sorry because it's kind of disgusting.

 

 

HERHOUSE.WAD (1997) by Guy Babin

 

A myhouse wad for Heretic! How unusual! Actually, it stinks about as bad as you'd expect. Like think of  an actual house resembling a map in Heretic and you might start to see the problems. Even worst is the darkness prevailing in the basement and outside dark area, necessitating a torch in the basement that's really not so easy to get, not when you're under assault from weredragons and golems seemingly everywhere. And picking the crossbow up is also no easy picnic. But considering the lack of ammo for the Dragon's Claw at the beginning, there's no choice. I guess the silver color of the house is nice but the Doomcute is the best part. I laugh at the idea of a TV and computer existing in Parthoris though. Frankly, the world of Parthoris never got beyond the Iron Age. In any case, this map is shit, boring, and stupid. 2/10, why bother making myhouses for Heretic, omfg.

 

After this, I got a frontend not related to DEU I can't really locate and you know, it just means I get to 3,000 slightly slower. So the next one.

 

 

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The Lava Labs (2014) by Jim Flanigan (GZDoom, Eternity, whogivesafuckitsbroken)

 

So aren't terrywads supposed to look good at first? Because everyone I've played has this real uninspiring textures. Long rectangular corridors and obnxious hitscanner placement don't change the fact that the little lift in the east is totally broken in newer versions of GZDoom. Supposedly, when you walk through the red door, you're supposed to be teleported to a massive room of Touhou girls I won't bother showing here. Although considering I probably missed some homophobic script, that can only be a good thing.

 

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Edited by LadyMistDragon

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i|\|5@|\|i1y W3@p0|\|5! (2004) by MasterofDeath(GZDoom)

 

Did I get two weapon mods like this in a row? I don't really think so but in any case, there are a few pilfered visual resources along with some whacky stuff that doesn't necessarily do all that much for me. Like the chaingun is now the MSPaint shotgun and while each individual bullet is probably more powerful than the normal chaingun, it's clearly not exactly a rapid-fire weapon, the plasma rifle replacement uses sound effects from a Xaser mod but really isn't different, apart from having green shots and firing twice as fast as normal. Pistol is the zorcher from Chex Quest, whereas the rocket launcher now has a skull on the barrel and shoots pinkies at the enemies. You know, this might actually be one of the better ones. I still vastly prefer the Freedoom shotgun because of the cool reloading animation.  But this is still a half-baked novelty mod, and one that leaves little impression. I guess you can say he at least tried though but in some cases, the weapon are bereft of functionality. 4.5/10

 

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Byron's Amateur Maze (2013) by Almighty Byron Kellett (GZDoom)

 

And here's the entirely disposable map I played. I really had to take a look at the date to make sure it was last modified when it was uploaded because this is so mid 90s, it hurts. Odlly angled walls everywhere, structures that don't really make much sense, and a very stringy approach to level design complemented by the awkward combat. The titular maze is actually not so much a maze as a collection of small square rooms with crushers in every other one. I do like this area because of the use of lighting here but the switch-pulling and key-collecting here is so tedious for its short length, it's not even worth relating. But we'll say anyone who decides to place the exit next to the start needs to come up with a damn good reason for it because otherwise, it underscores a serious lack of thought. But I also hate puke-green marble too so that doesn't help matters. 2/10

 

 

 

Rest in Pieces Part VII (1994) by Jeremy Drye and Nick Tucker (Eternity)

 

It's really hard to believe two chuckleheads worked on what is largely a visually bland deathmatch map with questionable marking of the better-looking side rooms. And I dunno about the maze in the middle, but it seems like one of those things for people with "mad skillz" or smth. Ammo distribution is fine I suppose, but bottom line is it's unfun, ugly, and some half-baked bits of randomness. The only plus side is the squarish layout is not a hard one to navigate. 3/10, learn to mark your damn doors. Music is the best part.

 

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Edited by LadyMistDragon

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Hahahaha! You fell for it? no way I'd quit! Where would I be without you guys and gals <3 ... well, probably playing actually good maps, but where would be the fun in that?... actually, that does sound quite fun. Let's not think about it too deeply and let's move on to today's presentation, straight outta 1996.

 

Rude Awakening by Andrew Gerhard (1996)

DSDA / UV / 100% kills /100% secrets

 

Hmm, how come people didn't have nicknames back then? in fact, I do remember most IRC chatters using shortened versions of their real names as handles.... weird.

 

Aaanyway, what we have here is actually... a fairly strange map; and the good, offbeat, wtf kind of strange I always hope the /random button would lead me to.

A first map apparently, a marble castle where, to the tune of Beethoven's Fur Elise, we find about a hundred of demons to slaughter. The main gimmick of the map is hidden elevators, usually dropping you into a sizeable moshpit of assorted enemies - especially the final encounter almost resembles some sort of proto-slaughter setup. All weapons are encountered, and the mapper doesn't shy away from giving some nastily placed Arch-viles abundance of meat shields. One of the secrets is actually quite a clever setup, as it allows you to take early potshots at an otherwise excessive crowd you'll encounter later. 

 

The texture work is janky but strangely enticing, the map's layout is ridiculously non-streamlined, health is scarce but ammo abounds. 

It's easy to see how many features of this mapping exercise's end result came out of inexperience; yet, this is one of those cases where naive incompetence unintentionally bred something quite interesting. 

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On 12/6/2022 at 5:37 PM, Clippy said:

OK guys this is the big one! Going live in say 20+ minutes - 50th episode of me doing this and will be nuts. Unlike regular eps I will play through a whole bunch but skip boring and broken ones - guests and random times lets see what happens

 

this is actually quite the milestone for me and Im excited

 

 

 

This was a nutty time - and you're lucky I made this list cause im lazy - but here is all the maps played, the timestamps & links

 

00:00 Being Trapped Is Hell by Travis "TravyB" Belke https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/s-u/trappedhell
30:00 Secretdoom: Disrepair 2 by Cyberdemon531 3 of 11 maps https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/d-f/disrpar2
58:42 SuXe by Bzzrak Ktazzz https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/s-u/suxe
1:17:52 Unruly Evil by John Cartwright https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/a-c/cell
1:24:58 Mountain by James Mitchell https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/m-o/mount
1:33:26 Playboy Doom 2 https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/themes/x-rated/i_am_old_enough_to_look_at_this/pbd2
1:34:55 OOWSFMLD by Chaingunner https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/m-o/oowsfmld
1:47:05 Wolfen-Steined! by George Fiffy https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/0-9/2fiffy1
1:58:23 INFERNAL by William Quijada https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/g-i/infernal
2:09:38 Courage 1.0!!! by MIKEsoft https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/a-c/cotl10
2:18:34 Christmas DOOM 2 by Yukio Ide (from Japan) *( Waizu ) https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/v-z/xmas2
2:25:25 XMAS DOOM '99 by Jonas Feragen (Chrozoron), Yashar Garizbadeh (Gemini), Darkfang, Stian Skj0ndahl (Zsignal) https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/themes/xmas/xmas99
2:31:38 cacoland by Michael "Optimus" Kargas https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/a-c/cacoland
2:56:45 UAC's Auditorium by Armani https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/a-c/audit
3:03:53  Cubos and Landing by  Pedro Imaz, Jorge Llubi (Jorge Llubia) https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/s-u/superwad
3:24:58  Heavy fight wad by  Doug Ryerson https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/g-i/hvy_fght

 

dont expect an event like this for some time, maybe if I get to 100 - but it was a wacky memorablle experience - thanks everyone for coming along!

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Year 2 Month 01 Day 17

 

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

 

[1] Doom Classic 10: Mercurius Pools by Jan Van der Veken (2003)

 

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A level in the classic Doom style. Theme = Base

 

As the description indicates,"Doom classic" aimed to imitate the style of Ultimate Doom's Tech Bases. However, contrary to what you might expect, it's not "Doom the way id did" before "Doom the way id did". Doom classic resembles more of a cross-over the two first episodes. It uses the textures and monsters from both episodes.

 

it's a single-level wad but the size remains medium. It's a tribute to the most popular iwad, not a big ass map. However, it has quite a lot of secrets because I only found 25% of theme whereas I found several of them (even the secret cyberdemon !)

 

The most notable difference compared to the Iwad's maps reside in the more intense ambushes involving teleporting monsters and the weapons you obtain. There is a lot of rocket boxes , cells and even a BFG at the end of the map, but these items don't have any use if you don't look for the secrets. It's a strange level-design but I enjoyed playing this homage to the the most popular iwad. I recommand this one.

 

Grade : A-

 

[2] Intergalactic Xenology v1.1 by @Dreadopp and @Lord_Z (2020)

 

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The alien menace has returned to haunt you even after their defeat. A new wave of adversaries have begun their assault. You wake up in a dark corridor and begin your trek through a new nightmare.

 

It's not the first time I got this fantastic  ancient aliens - themed episode. I already reviewed it during month 7 day 10.

 

Now, instead of repeat myself with a second review, I want to give a small comment on each map :

 

Map 01 : A linear and steady introduction. To be honest, the first map 01 is pretty bland visually speaking compared to what the wad offers.

 

Map 02 : A creative level taking place in underwater. It's my second favourite map of the set.

 

Map 03 : A lovely "city" map where you can obtain three scaterred keys in the order you want. The use of mid-tex is really classy here.

 

Map 04 :  I love the massive courtyard but it was the most dull map in terms of combats. Maybe the only map where I had a mild opinion.

 

Map 05 : An epic serie of combats among the clouds. This direct homage to Ancient Aliens's map 24 wons the prize in this small mapset.

 

Grade : A

 

[3] E1M1 ReMIXed by VolraSlava (2020)

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A simple map that I've started and finished creating in just about 3 days, it started looking a bit like E1M1 so I just stuck with it and went from there. It ended up being a fairly short level, taking just under 3 minutes to beat but I am nevertheless happy with what I ended up with. It's my first map and I am mainly looking to dip my toes into using Doom Builder to see what mapping is like in the idtech engine. Would love to hear feedback on possible issues and mistakes that you might encounter throughout the map, or even ways to improve my mapping should I start another project after this.

 

When an artwork, either it's a music, a painting or even a doom map has right to countless remixes.  Sometimes, it undoubtedly improves the original creative but unfortunately, the opposite may happens too.

 

I don't know who VolraSalva is , I never saw that nickname until now. So, I easily suppose that he was a beginner when he (or she?) made this map. From a pure technical point of view, this map is a success : everything works well. I never got stuck and the items balance was fair. However, as a tribute to E1M1, I think it's a mediocre one.

 

The layout proves to be a lot more squarish and less more organically interconnected. The progression tends to be a lot less fluid. Moreover, this map has a more questionable use of textures. Between the beige startan and bricks, the hellish outdoors or the clashing colors in the main room housing the mancubus, the visuals attack the eyes more than comfort them.

 

At least, the layout doesn't look copy-pasted, so I still felt playing a new map.

 

Grade : C-

 

I stop here for today.

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A SEWER 2 by Byron Collins is a pretty typical 90s map. It's not the best I've played but the combat was actually enough to keep me interested, and the progression was pretty straightforward. Not much to say about it, but at least I wasn't stuck wondering where to go with no weapons?

 

 

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200 Minutes of /vr/ (2014)  by /vr/, more or less (From Doom With Love)

 

Yes, I rolled myself a megawad I actually bothered to play. However, since it's not some ancient, obscure,  and crappy megawad from the 90s, I knew I was never going to finish it. So I continued until I died....which wasn't actually very long as you'll soon see! Interesting enough, this collection contains Cheesewheel's first maps, as well as an entry by Doom community vet RjY who's more involved in backend-type stuff these days if anything. But anyway, on to the maps!

 

Map 01: Well, this was the only one I really liked, filled with that ever-so-endearing /vr/ spirit. I don't mean that "REEEEEE" is spelled out on the walls like in one map of Ad Mortum which is a lot more subtle with its jabs otherwise. I mean that there is a certain sense of care and place that seems to get left on the cutting room floor in many other mainstream wads. Like you start in front of some guy's desk, and the secret is one of those Eternal-esque outdoor things with a beautiful backdrop of a...barn. Ok, maybe not and there are a few too many Imps inside said barn to the extent I felt a little bit cheated of the shells I'd picked up. The fact remains that all the ambushes here are well staged, the only problem being you'll miss 10 enemies if you don't attempt to explore a bit more of the map. Also, the red key felt a touch more obscure than it needed to I felt, regardless of its location in the library. Good debut map overall.

 

Map 02: This one on the other hand, clearly did not have as much raw talent. The crate maze at the beginning was kind of stupid, the sole secret is all but unmarked, and it generally felt quite unexciting

 

Map 03: Oh wow, here it comes. Shitty industrial tan, no secrets and even less enemies. Well good thing was that we didn't suffer for very long because of our inability to escape from a Lost Soul/Hell Knight deathtrap in a rocky area that frankly might've been slightly embarrassing, but no matter. When your user name is essentially spastic jibberish, perhaps I should be relieved.

 

IThis wasn't too bad, but I do wish I got a little farther. It's pretty clear that many of these people weren't necessarily the most experienced mappers at the time. Who knows if some of them got user names and went on to bigger things? I suppose maybe the guy who did the last map in the original release of Ad Mortum could've got their start here. I won't be grading it, but I've got the suspicion this was probably ranked below the first Heures 'd Agonie but I could be wrong.

 

Not so many pics, I'll say. There wasn't the time for anything eye-catching.

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Edited by LadyMistDragon

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Installation B: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/a-c/ap_013

 

A short, and very so-so techbase level. It has one or two decent looking areas, and its gameplay is at least passable, but it does very little to generate any real interest, just running from one side to another gunning down zombiemen, usually slowly and painfully due to the sparse amount of shotgun ammo. It is not a confusing level by any means, but it is also not one that feels cohesive and like it has a natural progression to it, and it certainly has a pretty annoying ending with an area that can firstly softlock the player, and also involves a long walk across nukage without any radiation suits, and a fight with a hell knight that is somewhat tedious due to the lack of any real firepower. Although its gameplay isn't there, its use of outdoor sections is at least decent, and while it would be nice to see them expanded upon, the level they ended up with is far too rigid and plain to really be worth your time. 5/10.

 

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3 hours ago, thelamp said:

A SEWER 2 by Byron Collins is a pretty typical 90s map. It's not the best I've played but the combat was actually enough to keep me interested, and the progression was pretty straightforward. Not much to say about it, but at least I wasn't stuck wondering where to go with no weapons?

 

 

 

Ah yes, I rolled this one a few ER/IWA ago. I remember not being entirely disgusted, but also not particularly plussed. The DN3D squids are fucking creepy. 

 

 

 

 

The Subterranean River by Keith Phipps (1996)

DSDA / Thou Art a Smite-Meister /100% kills /100% secrets. Played with Wayfarer's Tome.

 

 

Heretic time! My actual childhood fps, though I feel it didn't age as well as Doom. It's probably the abysmal amount of texture and the flatly colored sprites. Anyway, what we have here is a rather expansive single map, where we follow a river through what it looks like some sort of subterranean garrison. The geometry and layout work is great - it camouflages well Heretic's very poor looking stock resources, and manages to give off a sense of progression and 'place' with little resorting to Hereticute.

 

Unlike some of the /idgames reviewers, I didn't find the combat particularly easy. Sure it's no Elf Gets Pissed, but mob density was definitely above IWAD and, with some beefing up from Wayfarer's Tome, I often got through hordes of golems and fire gargoyles by the skin of my teeth. Ammo is abundant and all weapons are encountered - I even managed to snag myself a mace! - but health, on the other hand, is sort of scarce, though not to the point of annoyance.

 

A rather decent Heretic map, especially for its year!

 

EDIT: forgot to mention, I also use HeresyPal. This is why the water doesn't look like Kool-Aid. 


 

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Edited by Thelokk

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Back with another Friday play.

 

A relatively recent one this time - s4MAP01.

 

Stated as from 03/17/12

By: Lukas "Omegamer" Wilhelm

 

Definitely feels like a newer map, as it hasn't got the '90s square, flat, uniform lighting feeling. Which is a nice change.

 

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/s-u/s4map01

 

Played HMP, with GZDoom 4.10, freelook, mouse and nojump, so I didn't see the bug reported by one review. I didn't get the secrets though. Textures and lighting etc. didn't show any errors - at least nothing that I noticed during play - which is the point I guess... I liked this one.

 

Here's the playthrough:

 

 

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The Dead Soil - Leon Kelz, 17 August, 1998

Played On: GZDoom

Difficulty: UV 

 

Not pretty but pretty expected for that time. Actually, The map isn't that bad for maps from that time and is very interconnected which I like. However, the biggest WHAT THE FUCK? from me was the fact that the outside ground damages you (and 20 damage per second at that). There is barely any indication and I only noticed that because of the death message (Mutation). The map is confusing at the start. It took me a long time to find where to use the blue key but after that the map becomes less confusing and very manageable in terms of navigating. The use of the Nazis is always seen as pointless by me and guess what the Nazis are one of the most common enemy in this map. I didn't get all the kills and skipped the Archvile at the end. Still, I somewhat enjoyed this map even though it had some questionable choices. I will give it a C-.

 

Video:

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Edited by SuyaSS

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Year 2 Month 01 Day 18

 

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

 

[1] Death Match Arena by Robert S. (1996)

 

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Duke it out with your friends in this cool 4 floor arena, with a sludge pit at the very bottom. (If you REALLY wanna' have fun, play death match with the monsters on, you'll have a little suprise at the beggining!)

 

"Death Match Arena", which probably is the most inspiring name ever for a wad, takes place in a pit filled with toxic sludge. A stuck cyberdemon guards the zone and while he's completly pacific on Ultra-violence, he transforms into a sentry rocket launcher on nightmare mode. This map has a kind of "progression" on single-player. You start at the deepest part of the pit, in front of the boss and your goal consists to use the elevators in order to reach the exit located at the top.

 

The placement of the cyberdemon is funny and I guess the cyberdemon represents the main cause of death on multiplayer.

 

[2] Lincon95 tourney by Mårten Lundgren, Jesper Hansson (1995)

 

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This level was used in the doom2 tourney at the Lincon95 convent. It's a deathmatch only with all weapons but the hideous BFG ( the plasma dosn't have to much ammo either ). And there is no exit, so if you wich to se who fragged who most times, we recomend a time limit. One last thing, the arrows points at elevators just push the walls and they go down.

 

"Linc95.wad" centers around a vast canyon with planks used as floors. You can explore a wide variety of places such as a small warehouse, a marbled temple or classic brown base. The logos displayed on some walls look great but this DM map has nothing special.

 

I stop here for today.

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Artica(1998) by Mike "Cyb" Watson

 

After the hilarious disaster known as Doom Jr, Mike Watson would improve his craft in a surprisingly short amount of time, although perhaps not quickly enough if this supposed set of 2 "maps" is any indication. But supposedly, he'd already scored himself a spot in Hell Revealed II if artica's text file is any indication.

 

So anyways, the first map takes place in what basically seems to be a generic and largely cramped marble indoors area (no, I'm not calling it a temple because it isn't and there's also some signs of base habitation marked by some rather curious structures. Woe betide you if you take the left-hand path (ahahaha) first because you'll be forced to contend with a hell knight or two, along with an Arch-vile and a Mancubi. This last one is on a round slippery surface that I suppose gives the wad it's name. I admit, it was quite amusing to see him attempt to move on that surface.

 

But really, you're probably supposed to go left. Although the chances are that you'll end up chaingunning the quad of hell knights in the large outdoor place. Past that is a warehouse building containing a Pain Elemental you may not want to spend your hard-earned bullets on and some Imps. You do pick up a single-barreled shotgun beforehand but perhaps it's not so bad.

 

The next room contains some rather curious structures again, a sort of stockade that contains a crusher at one end and a gazebo with the red key on the other. Unfortunately 1)there was no clear way to obtain the red key without cheating and 2)you're immediately confronted by a pack of cacos that are guaranteed to tear you a new one if you don't immediately run forward to grab the rocket launcher and rocket ammo sitting behind them.

 

The red key opens easily the best-looking part of the map and the sort of thing Mike would gain an increasing reputation for. There's a series of docks, deep water that Doomguy starts to drown almost instantly in because he's apparently a descendant of Simon Belmont, and, of course, a Cyberdemon who confronts you when you step onto said docks for the first time. This fight actually isn't too bad and has decent staging and ammo placement, the main trouble being that it all feels a bit dull in 2022. The last hallway then flatlines horribly, placing some Imps near the exit.

 

Map 02 then feels like some unfinished idea. A single square room with a Spider Mastermind in the middle, and afterwards, some ascending stairs leading to a fireblu wall which you can then pump some rockets into as if though to taunt you for making it this far. This is nice scene-setting, but Mike was still something like 16 at the time so maybe it's not so surprising he couldn't resist another troll or two.

 

3.5/10, mainly for some of the visual touches because playing through was quite unpleasant

 

PS. Forgot, you see scrolling fireblu trim near the beginning.

 

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outpost of death by Brian Glines (1996)

DSDA / UV /100% kills / 100% secrets

 

Here we are again, in full mid 90s territory. Ah, misaligned CEMENT, what would life be without you? 

The map is, simply put, terrible. It's unfair, but not the Ribbiks or, more appropriate to its time, the Plutonia kind of unfairness. No, it's the first time mapper's amateurish unfairness, where you can just imagine them holding down the 'insert chaingunner' key while thinking with a smirk 'that'll teach them!".

 

Ahem... no. Starting off your map with a chaingunner ambush, no armor, a medikit and spare change doesn't make your map hard, it makes your map dickish. Of course I could take the opposite way and end up, armed exclusively with my pistol, into a multiple imps cum pinkies that randomly teleport behind me... shame, 'cause the architecture is certainly better than some stuff from the same ear I've seen. Still, outpost of death is such a joyless trap, designed to be punishing in an unfun way, that it immediately turned me off to anything else the mapper might have done. According to this post, Glines actually worked for the company that made Call of Duty, which explains a lot - as that also happens to be another overhyped, overrated piece of junk.

 

Utterly disappointed. 

 

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Year 2 Month 01 Day 19

 

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

 

[1] DOOMPIT Ver 1.7 by David B. Cox (2005)

 

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Another level in my multi-player training series. A good deathmatch level. Very difficult to play. I put the Exit Switch in the entry room for the faint of heart. Have fun.

 

An another versatile doom map from the 90's but uploaded 10 years after, playable on multiplyaer and singleplayer. You start in one of the many barracks organized in grids, which is  filled with many weapons, armor and megaspheres. The switch located next to you exits the map in the case you're a  "faint of heart", what a kind man !

 

However, don't be delighted too soon because you have to kill many monsters and notably a cyberdemon in order to leave the building in safety and you're likely to waste the megaspheres by trying to dodge the projectiles. However, don't look for a "very difficult" wad to play. it's not the easiest old wad I have ever played.

 

Pretty fun overall, I like this kind of challenge.

 

Grade : B+

 

[2] Deathmatch Incarnate 7 by Stephen "fUnKyMoNk" Noonan @funkymonk (2000)

 

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A deathmatch level.

 

An early limit-removing deathmatch map which uses a new detailed texture packs made of rusty/gothic assets. After playing so many wads using stock resources, a new texture pack brings a lot of fresh air , but I'm not very convinced by their usage in this amp. It looks a tad too monotextured for my taste and the combination with the grass or water surrounding the island doesn't please me too much.

 

I stop here for today.

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SUPJOSH.WAD by trar (2018)

DSDA / UV /100% kills / 100% secrets

 

And it's a first map! I love these, one can still smell the enthusiasm and excitement put into every vertex and linedef. Though, in the author's own words, 'it's a godawful map', and it's not entirely untrue. Even for a first map, this one is very, very rough around the edges. Fourteen enemies, two painfully obvious secrets, every square inch at fullbright and - save for a sorta clever key trap - all enemies in a line in front of you, ready to be deleted by an overpowered PG. The outdoor area is slightly more interesting layout wise, but the texture work is still far from convincing. 

What else can one say? it's a first map, nothing more, nothing less. 

 

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hexarena (1996) by Unknown (Eternity)

 

A fairly small but entirely open square outdoor deathmatch map, it's admittedly a bit low-frills, but powerups are everywhere and there's also teleporters that'll take back to the upper level when you drop down to the lower. It's admittedly kind of dumb but on the other hand, I know people like playing maps like this 5/10

 

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Exploring the Lost (1994)_ by Denver J. Curtis (Eternity)

 

What an archetypical '94 turd. Generally monotonous texture patters, massively overscaled hallways and rooms and the occasional (or perhaps all the time here) hideous texture choice, specfically, the use of that stupid black texture with red lights on many of the floors. Among other areas are the incredibly cramped red maze that teleports us around everywhere, a stupidly long slime hallway that we unfortunately take the one on the left the first time around and an island over a sea of lava. This was also intended for deathmatching, but the trouble is that such an irregular, indescribable layout would be fun for almost anyone and that stupid red maze can go crawl in the deepest, darkest hole. 1/10.

 

 

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Rolled Beware of Falling Angels, but I played this (excellent) map less than six months ago, so it's a reroll!

 

MPFORT by Marten Pinxten (1996)

DSDA / UV /100% kills /100% secrets

 

Uploaded in 2018 but, according to those who know better than me, straight outta 1996. Replaces E1M1 and, just like my previous entry, it's a beginner's map through and through. Microscopic monster count, telegraphed secrets (well, sort of, the zerk one was sorta cool), rife with misalignments and unnecessary elevators - coated in SHAWN, of all possible textures. Almost every indoor sector is impossibly bright, and... what did you say, support textures? what's that? can I eat it o-0?

So, just like last time, very little one can wring out of such a tiny, amateurish effort. It does have some minimal height variation, which I guess gives it bonus points, but little else. 

 

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ALOHA.WAD (1995) by Unknown (Eternity)

 

So basically, a couple of maps originally made for Doom were converted to Heretic in the laziest fashion imaginable. The person who uploaded couldn't even be bothered to put down the maps being replaced! Probably something you could find on H!ZONE but in either case, the first map, despite using some nice dark blue walls is godawful, too many dungeon corridors and a serious ammo dearth that make it  unplayable after a certain point! The second map is a little bit more playable but also has some serious ammo distribution issues and just has such a crappy square layout basically everywhere, even though I sort of like the outdoor temple thingy at the bottom  here. 2/10

 

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CRAP.WAD (1994)  by Hew Yang-Wahn (Slayer)    (Eternity)

 

Who knew that practically at the dawn of Doom mapping (this was released toward the middle of May '94), there were people that were playing with the glitchy visual effects of Doom to produce something truly mind-bending? Yes, you could defifinitely make lilith.pk3 in '94 if you were only so bold. Perhaps a certain Squonker 2 map would be more applicable Not like the base visuals are anything to sneeze at, basically a collection of square outdoor hell areas, but you definitely had to have used some utility to make some map glitchy as this. To be quite honest, I would almost put this Doom Wadacheology, but it's not exactly recommendable from a gameplay standpoint since I'm unsure it can be finished, and maybe I just missed the plasma rifle at the beginning, but either way, it might be worth a look for curiosity's sake.

 

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Playing through Mapgame at the moment. Good stuff. But this is not what we're playing here today!

 

 

 

ANGRY by Joe Winter (1997)

DSDA / UV /100% kills / 100% secrets

 

"I like good shoot-em-up games, this one will keep you running. It's a standard 3-Key game with plenty of action, ENJOY."

 

If I had a penny for every time I read this in a .txt file... we shall see, Joe Winter, we shall see. 

 

... no secrets ;-; you hurt me, Joe. Though I have to admit it was a bit of a hot start, especially for 1997, considering the large hitscan ambush that preyed upon me the instant I moved from the starting courtyard of this... umm, techbase castle? Yeah, the texturing is typical 90s fare, but at least it's not fullbright. You could have spared me the random teleporters though, and the dickish 'hitscanner behind the corner' skit was probably already old in 1997. 

 

Save for a few inexplicably hidden doors, progression is fairly linear, there is a rather fun elevator fight that, sadly, can be easily cheesed. After this point, thanks to a few required hidden switches, progression became rather arcane and obtuse, which as usual I didn't mind at all: it's a fucking castle, people. Jump a ledge, grab a yellow key, and then we get probably the best fight in the whole map, a 30+ enemies, quasi proto-slaughter ambush with a slowly lowering platform included... now we know where Sunder stole its stuff from.

 

Final stretch and, thanks to a few backpacks, I'm now swimming in ammo and can simply go gun crazy. Gun down the defenders of an ugly as sin COMPBLUE room, and you're done. Special mention to the MIDI, a rendition of "Night on Bald Mountain' by Musorgskij - classical music is awfully underutilized in Doom wads. 

 

What can I say, good map! The sort of gunny, mindless fun I used to hate, and now I'm coming round to. 


 

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I actually rolled Doomworld Speedmapping Compilation #21 but...I'd already played it some months back and while there was 1 map in particular I glossed over, about half of the maps aren't really worth revisiting. I may do something about that one map next time, but it's running late as it is, so let's move on to the next hit....

 

COOL.WAD (1994) by Sal Buttiglione (Eternity)

 

 

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This is my first attempt at creating a level from scratch. I included a little bit of all the things I like in DOOM. This level is extremely hard, and should be played by experts only.

Soon as we start, it's quite clear that this map is, as stated by the mediocre emo band Return to Earth a "beautiful mess." While all the textures used are various shades of brown, the way industrial and not-so industrial hallways branch out from the starting room show some rather curious architectural choices to say the least. Teh layout is fairly pointless to talk about, it's just series of often curving connecting hallways linking various rooms.The hallway behind you leads to a series of raising and lowering platforms with damaging slime that takes off 20 health per tic. I failed to get through here from the starting end. Naturally, there are also lots and lots of unmarked secrets behind differently-textures walls and in at least one case, hides a critical progression point. The red key is laughably placed in the middle of a hallway next to the blue door and is entirely unnecessary. The teleporter that actually leads you to the red key door is only one-way for entirely incomprehensible reasons. Finally, I'm not sure what the hell room is doing here, but I somehow like the sort of mall front orientation to it. There are also some shitty, if not unstoppable enemy placements, some stuck enemies including a jittery Cacodemon,  and a pair of Cyberdemons in a room with questionable lighting that will exit you with a somewhat obscure switch without any preamble whatsoever.

 

Honestly, it does feel like Sal tried, really. But the "difficulty" isn't really consistent, and the Cyberdemons are hard for all the wrong reasons. 4/10, maybe a little adventurous but trips over itself quite a bit.

 

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Year 2 Month 01 Day 20

 

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

 

[1] GEYSER by TORU TONAMI (1995)

 

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This is my first wad

 

Hey ! Take a look to what I have found ! An ugly and totally abstract deathmatch map with grey and green marble textures. Play this map if you think your life is useless.

 

[2] Barney DOOM! by Bill Neisius (1994)

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At last! the TRUE EVIL genius behind DOOM is revealed to be... Barney! and his Sponge Minions!

 

I pass on this file. It has a lot of disorganized files with obsolete format. I have to alterate my DOSBOX just to install this. No thanks.

 

[3] Bubba.zip by Robert Schwarz (2010)

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Only one way to find out, must play.

 

I already played Bubba.zip during Month 9 Day 15 on Dosbox. I decided to play this map made in 1994 with prboom+ in order to kill the 108 enemies populating this map. I got stucked the first time I played this level, which of course frustrated me but the adventure turned perfectly now.

 

I graded this map C but I think I was a bit rude. The elevator music and the low difficult result to a pleasant light-hearted Ultimate Doom level. Moreover, it has quite memorable structure such as the watery outdoor hub or the layered circular room which surprisingly looks detailed for a 1994 level. Bubba suffers of too many 64 pixels wide corridors but I can forgive this.

 

Grade : B

 

[4] a2 (1997)

 

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pretty good d-match wad

 

All those question marks in the text file let me think that the mapper didn't know what he was doing , or maybe he was too ashamed to reveal its real or invented identity, or maybe both.

 

Just joking , it's another lost deathmatch map with jumbled weird designs. The unknown author placed "a bit" too much ammunition and medkits and has a fetish for fake walls. Some monsters and notably a mastermind take cover behind them.

 

This kind of works oozes laziness from all orifices but I drool in front of this overbundance of items.

 

[5] Deathmatch Field -or- Field of Screams by Nick Di Cresce (Arch`Vile) (2000)

 

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A big flat area floating somewhere.. just a deathmatch level recommended for lots of players. It'll support 32 players. Kefka suggested we just do a big flat area where there's no place to hide... just constant shooting heh

 

"Deathmatch Field" represents the quintessence of Doom deathmatch mapping. It has all and only the things you need : a combat zone, weapons and items scattered everywhere and a poor rendition of "Master of Puppets" from Metallica. Yay !

 

If you're alone, you can let off steam on your inoffensive opponent which doesn't want to fight against you. However, don't go too far or he will incant his strange magic that will kill you in a flash. (The author forgot to remove a voodoo doll.)

 

[6] pig666 by Sean S. (1997)

 

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Replaces Demon with a pretty damn fast satanic pig.

 

This little mod replaces the pinkies's sprites with the pigs from Hexen. It will not consequently enhance your life but maybe this cute mod can brighten up a bad day for a bit.

 

[7] University Hell Hall by Philip Ward (1995)

 

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University Hell Hall is a traditional university map where you investigate between a lot of empty copy-pasted classrooms. "UHH" replaces map 10 and therefore it uses one of the most uncanny Doom 2 music.

 

UHH is quite challenging. You have little ammo and little heatlh , unless you find the secret megasphere. Unless you already know where to go, expect to tyson lot of enemies in order to save ammo for the tougher ones. Each classroom features various profiles of students : the arch-vile bad boy , the imps weirdos... Each room injects a small dose of dopamine and anxiety. I like this feeling I usually get on university-themed wads.

 

I mentioned the music, but the use of the red brick makes the level a tad more unsetlling in my opinion. Seeing so vivid colors in a such lifeless place tends to worry more than reconforting. I feel like in the horror game. Also, take into account you can turn off the lights in order to create creepier settings.

 

After you collected the yellow key, you are allowed to enter in a more classic place which looks like a bit of a cafeteria but I'm not sure. The principal Cyberdemon will gather all his forces in order to prevent from you from escaping from the school ! In my case, I was wondering where the RL was hidden because I found lot of boxes of rockets but not the said weapon.

 

Well, it's a pretty exciting school to explore. I love this kind of map.

 

Grade : B+

 

[8] Tellerstein by Ericson Willians (Tellerstein) (2012)

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A darkly delightful WAD with some thought in it.

 

Tellerstein is a gzdoom-compatible containing 7 maps. However contrary to what you might expect, it has no fancy gzdoom stuff but rather badly imported resources which force you to switch to the most modern existing port.

 

Tellerstein brings you to a strange realm where 1994 crappyness coexists with dark gothic pictograms and ambiance. You play a kind of vampire who seems to come from a 1930's horror movie : Your weapons, your hands and your statbar became black and white. I don't know what Tellerstein want to tell but it's odd.

 

If you take a look at the screens , you'll immediatly notice the blatant mediocrity of the maps. The custom textures totally clash with the stock ones, colors never match, the layouts were randomly drawn. It concentrates all the 1994 tropes . I can evey say Tellerstein proves to be more 1994-ish than the actual 1994 maps. I easily guess the mapper doesn't have the required mapping skills to create an oustanding wad but I played so much better poorly designed first baby maps. It sometimes imitate the 1994's gimmicks so much that I strongly believe it was an artistic choice...

 

However the striking contrast between the quality of the maps and the custom resources is the oddest thing about this wad. Of course, I think the resources need a lot of rework but I really dig the statbar, the fancy mp3 music or the demonic black and white pictograms. I suppose the mappers created all of them by himself and I dont doubt that Tellerstein lacks of creativity. According to the release thread, he composed the music and I liked hearing them.  I don't know how to decide if it's a joke or if there is a real attempt to create an atmosphere but the author really had no skill in mapping. I think those custom would fit like a glove in a gothic/horror-themed mapset.

 

Between the unique resources and the crappy level-designed, Tellerstein didn't left me indifferent. It's not a good wad but it has its merits.

 

Grade : C

 

[9] Condo.WAD by Rick Kelly (1995)

 

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A compact, fast-action deathmatch wad. Good ambush and sniping spots, but don't stay in one spot too long. This is a frag- a-second style wad. With 4 players on a net you will always be fragged or fraggin'someone. Not much "dead" time..ha ha ..

 

A versatile brown doom map which turns into a shooting gallery on singleplayer at least. Most of the combats are not enthrilling since they consists to kill some zombies in crampy hallways. I like the use of worn-out textures in the outdoors parts. I feel like adventuring in a tiny ghost town. Playable but nothing worthy.

 

Grade : C

 

I stop here for today.

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Thanks for playing, everyone! Congrats to Clippy on the big 50th episode :)

Here's the new thread: 


 

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