Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #048

[ICID]

^{(logo by @4MaTC)}

 

ICID, what the hell is this now?

Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures is a small project of exploration, interaction, entertainment and reviews where we meet once every two weeks to select random WADs in search of hidden treasures, lost promises, or our worst nightmares! We use the /idgames archive’s special feature that lets us search for random files. Of course, sometimes the results are resources or unplayable stuff, so we focus on looking for WADs.

 

So, what do we do here?

1. Play at least one random WAD in a two-week period of time. WADs are selected using the Random File feature on /idgames or from the list below.
2. Post a review of whatever you play.
3. Always provide the name of the WAD, the name of the author, and a link to the file.
4. Play however you want, on any skill level, and with any source port, as long as you play the WAD as intended/in working shape.
5. Be respectful. It's okay to criticize a map, but remember that many mappers read these review threads and behave accordingly. Also, please don't tag mappers into a negative review of their work.

 

What kind of WADs are we looking for?

Any file on /idgames is fair game, but most of us choose to stick to singleplayer Doom or Heretic WADs that work in our sourceport(s) of choice. If you're worried about finding Terrywads or broken files, I also pull at least five random WADs for the event. Feel free to play them with me if you wish, or look for your own! The point of the event is to encourage you to explore this vast, random world. 

 

Recommendations for reviewing:

Spoiler

1. Please take screenshots or video of your adventures.

2. Commenting the source port and difficulty level is not required, but provides helpful context to your review.

3. Try to stick to no more than 1 WAD per day to avoid burnout, but this part’s all up to you, champ!

4. Reviews of all formats are valid. Both longform and shortform are good as long as you write with integrity. 

 

Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures of this event:

1. Chaingunner's wad pack
2. Poisonous Prison, or Get Poised

3. Achluophobia.wad

4. Newgothic Movement 2

5. 8 Pointed Star Chamber

 

Spoiler

The Top 10 (out of 56):

 

1. @Roofi | 5460

2. @Sena | 2320

3. @LadyMistDragon | 2270

4. @Walter confetti | 1410

5. @ICID | 710

6. @Thelokk | 590

7. @Endless | 575

8. @Clippy | 430

9. @smeghammer | 410
10. @Biodegradable | 320

 

Join the Doom Master Wadazine community for more events like this! » https://discord.gg/Q2RKn4J

[Clippy]

did that stream get me extra points or something lol - no idea how it works

[Endless]

18 minutes ago, Clippy said:

did that stream get me extra points or something lol - no idea how it works

There's usually extra points for being creative and/or prolific, ICID is the keeper to decide your fate.

 

[Thelokk]

Jajaja sixth place, climbing 'em ranks one insufferable MYFIRSTMAP.WAD at a time. 

 

How many extra points for enduring all of NewGothic2?

[Endless]

hex.WAD | By Peter Rodriguez A.K.A. VileSlay | 2002

 

 

An old WAD that's pretty damn simple yet nice enough to be playable. There's no major 90s tropes here, and it's actually enjoyable for the most part. The office-like environment, semi-labyrinthine nature and dark atmosphere of it reminds me of SCP. It's a nice little thing.

[Sena]

Rec Facility: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/d-f/dtwidrec

 

I managed to find E1M2 of DTWID, in what I presume is the only level in the whole mapset that happens to be uploaded independently by its author. Never actually played the original WAD, but I did play both KDIZD and whatever KDIKDIZD is (remake? demake? un-make?), and both of them seem to cover the same premise, take the original levels, and expand upon them, while keeping one or two rooms similar enough to keep them recognisable. And as far as remakes go, this isn't half bad, it isn't a particularly ambitious level, but it manages to make particularly good use of curvatures in the floor to keep it from feeling entirely generic, and it's certainly a lot more open than E1M2 is, although its openness does make it like a Doom 2 level at parts, it does also have a lot of flat corridors that manage to connect the more open areas with each other. It looks good, and definitely makes more careful and thoughtful use of lighting than a lot of other levels, but in some ways it is held back by being an E1 level, although I probably can't complain about that if I am playing something that is specifically meant to evoke E1. 6/10, this one doesn't do anything special, but the fundamentals of gameplay are all there, and it looks interesting enough to be worth of your time, unless you're the author, in which case, "AAAAAAH this sucks, why did I create this?"

Edited December 13, 2022 by Sena

[Thelokk]

Gamarra's soul story: Mission 4 "The Trolls" by Giulio Galassi aka Glassyman (2007)

GZDoom / UV /100% kills / 100% secrets

 

 

Glassyman again :S why?

Judging from the sheer volume of diss maps I have come across, on both sides of the fence, I must concluded Glassyman had to be the most hated guy on Doomworld, by a long shot. Never interacted with them, so I won't throw opinions around - I just wish I stopped coming across crappy slander maps, either by him or the guys who hate him.

 

This time around it's Galassi's side of the story: trolls have slandered him on DW, so now you must exact revenge by destroying them. There is a whole UD replacement's worth of this nonsense, fortunately not every map has combat to plod through. So...

 

E1M1: apparently Pikachu has teamed with Glassyman to get revenge on the trolls that got him banned on DW. The screen I post is pretty much the only safe one - the rest of the level is a GZ scripted tirade that includes a lot of forum links and namedrops some rather visible members of the community, a can of worms I don't intend to open. 

E1M2-E1M6: The skit is that a number of people apparently Glassyman thought were his friends tackle a level each, getting rid of trolls. Again, won't mention names, if they feel like filling us in on the story they'll do so at their discretion - let's say I was... surprised when it came to some of the names involved.

One thing I have to say is that, the people who thought Glassyman's maps weren't really anythign to write home about... were probably right. Gameplay is your typical UDMF features-laden, fullbright levels with little to no thought put into geometry or flow - almost every enemy or weapon is modified, usually for the worse.

The structure of each level is exactly the same: grab some overpowered weapon, dispatch a few imps in a square, fullbright room, then get your briefing from either Glassyman or Pikachu - such briefings consisting of more slander and insults. The you enter some crappy E1-style techbase, where you kill a few stock enemies, a few marines, and then seize the 'troll' of the day. To be fair, most of the 'levels' consist of long-winded scripted skits, constantly interrupting the already scrawny gameplay.

E1M7-E1M8: your mission is complete, you have seized the trolls and now, one by one, you can exact revenge on them in Chris-chan worthy torture sequences that are, by far, the worst part of an already pointless pack of levels. 

E1M9: a secret level for Gamarra's brithday, I assume another forum ally of Glassyman. The best map by far, trippy and full of crude, but entertaining sector art. 

 

All in all a pointless set of levels, but probably a nice slice of the forum drama that was the hallmark of DW's early years. Now, please, can I stop get Glassyman feud levels? pretty please :(

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

[Walter confetti]

Ah yeah, this episode... It's fun because

Spoiler

I'm actually a leftist (even with all the shit happening to the party in the last years) irl

but as i wrote in a old review in the idgames page, it was a fun cathartic moment.

 

1 hour ago, Thelokk said:

Gamarra's brithday, I assume another forum ally of Glassyman

 

Not really, is a sort of inside joke iirc

[Walter confetti]

8 hours ago, Sena said:

I managed to find E1M2 of DTWID, in what I presume is the only level in the whole mapset that happens to be uploaded independently by its author.

Not really, since DTWID have a different map in the list! Most certainly you find a rejected map from the project that didn't even take the cut for the other projects like The Lost Episodes, not sure if it was used as a base for No End In Sight

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 01 Day 21

 

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

 

[1] Jam level #1 by jeff martin (1995)

 

Spoiler

 

 

A traditionnal multifaceted doom level without exit I already played during Day 15 of all my adventures. I played with DOSBOX instead of crispy doom and it didn't alter the experience at all.

 

I've nothing to add compared to my past review. I appreciate this kind of open and easy map. The lack of exit penalizes this map though.

 

The custom paintings are a nice touch and add a tad of personnality in a world built with stock textures.

 

Grade : C+

 

[2] Deathfest by Jason Kirby (1995)

 

Spoiler

 

 

Quote

My attempt at finding the "flow" (That mystical force that makes a deathmatch wad so fraggin' good!). Try it you'll like it!

 

A small tech base made of green tek textures and organic rooms used as a combat zone for DM. Despite the unconsistent usage of marble textures, the big room hosting the lonely blue armor is pretty classy. Also , it may be absurd , but the layout looks like a person wearing a cloak and having both hands in pockets.

 

[3] SNYPER.WAD by Snyper (2008)

 

Spoiler

 

Quote

See the original snyper.txt

 

A short and sweet Doom 2 map made in 1994 I already played during Month 11 Day 21. I played with prboom this time and not on DOSBOX , in order to kill the 71 monsters and find the 4 secrets. However, secrets are a disappointment because most of them prove to be barely hidden and two of them are symmetrically placed in the BFG room.

 

Still a good map, playing it another time was a relaxing experience and the visuals are clean for a 1994 map.

 

[4] CARL.WAD by Unknown --> Probably 'Carl'? ;) (2005)

 

Spoiler

 

Quote

A small place to kill each other in DM.

 

CARL was a boring guy I met during Month 4 Day 31. Thank you for the items and the set of three textures but it's sad you have nothing else to offer.

 

[5] Giulio Galassi Must Die by Wills (2006)

 

Spoiler

 

Quote

Actually a normal wad with only one or two silly elements. Does that qualify this as a jokewad or not?

 

As you enter in this zdoom compatible spaceship, a red alert sounds, several monsters are about to attack you and a hyperactive music starts. Despite have a low number of ennemies (60 monsters), GGMD offers a lot of action with scenarized monster ambushes involving especially chaingunners and a boss fight against a slightly enhanced cyberdemon  firing more rockets in a faster fire rate.

 

Considering how silly the dialogues are in this wad, I easily qualify this level as a jokewad but the map remained very engaging. It's the exact dose of dopamine I needed after a day of work.

 

Grade : A-

 

[6] Badlands.wad by Jim Wiscarson (AKA) Bartman (1995)

 

Spoiler

 

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Great Deathmatch wad 2-4 player. Better played with music volume down and SFX volume up in your options setup screen.

 

I've nothing worthy to say about this DM map, it's a boring underground metal base with confusing progression including tall lifts and teleporters. However, I love the silly SFX : our hero laughs each time he gets an item , and says "Yoohoo?" instead of the traditionnal and expressionless "Unf".

 

I didn't realise I got a RL in a secret from Hellfire  and I therefore accidentally blew up myself while killing a shotgun guy.

 

Spoiler

[esselfortium]

7 hours ago, Walter confetti said:

Not really, since DTWID have a different map in the list! Most certainly you find a rejected map from the project that didn't even take the cut for the other projects like The Lost Episodes, not sure if it was used as a base for No End In Sight

Indeed, and it's also worth noting that DTWID's maps weren't intended as remakes of their respective slots, but as new id-inspired levels that could potentially fit in an imaginary 10th slot.

[Andromeda]

On 12/12/2022 at 9:02 PM, Thelokk said:

How many extra points for enduring all of NewGothic2?

One for MAP16, the rest isn't that fatiguing to endure ;)

[LadyMistDragon]

Procyon Sector KGx57 mini Episode (1995) by Scott McNutt (Eternity)

 

I'm not sure what to say about this poorly-formatted wad title, other than I guess McNutt may have liked sci-fi but wasn't particularly filled with intellectual vigor. He also appeared to have been a massive Led Zeppelin fan because all of the midis are versions of various songs they did. You can also find some custom textures that serve as branding for McNutt, especially one that parodies the Pentium logo.

 

Map 01 - This actually may be the best map. The custom cloudy skybox is pretty cool and  blue and silver are predominant throughout a complex that might be the only map that seems to fully evoke the setting. Unfortunately, much of the silver is concrete, which was kind of strange. In fact, it might be stranger than the poison water. Unfortunately, it's also massively cheap starting out as hitscanners will pummel you from all directions, which Scott actually seems to quite like, which is fine if you don't overwhelm the player, but they are present enough that it's a healthy amount of luck to clear this initial wave. The process to gather the blue key is laughable and can easily end without opening the way top to the lift out of the courtyard in question if you're not careful. Also, Scott likes to shotgun barons or make other people do that work

 

Map 02 - This map is entirely inside, though having a similar color scheme. You can collect a Super Shotgun fairly quickly and ammo's much more plentiful overall than the last map. There's an Easter Egg involving some model I couldn't tell you the name of. Unfortunately, this map commits the major bugaboo of failing to texture several locations critical to progression with clear door/lift textures. The shoddy switch placement also just feels like pointless busywork that accomplishes nothing. Hats off to the large room with the blue key though. And you actually do get to rocket some weaker enemies here.

 

Map 03 - Yeah, I think "Dazed and Confused" is an entirely appropriate song here. Ditching the sci-fi of the first two maps, this one adopts a style that can only be thought of as a combination of various Doom II genericisms. It also delights in unfair weapon placement and grindy combat that makes this map barely above the nadir for 90s maps. Frankly, it's a little pointless to get too much into details but for instance, the first open room has a Pain Elemental, kind of off by itself except for a couple of pinkies. Single-shotgunning Pain Elementals is something I know Kaiser used to do in his maps. But you're soon greeted by another one on your right and a pit that's inescapable if you don't hit a certain switch beforehand. And this is the most managable room! The next accessible wing is even worst, if possible, placing an Invulnerbility Sphere you wish you had in an out of the way location. I didn't finish this map but I did noclip to the final area and it's actually quite cinematic with a Spider Mastermind, Cyberdemon, Arachnotrons and several other enemies. But who know how it's balanced? Who cares?

 

 

So while Map 01 has the aesthetic of a poor man's Michael Krause, and Map 02 shows some promise despite too much grayness, Map 03 manages to shit on all of it with some massively trollish items placements and grindy combat . 3.5/10, because there is some fun to be had in the first two maps, but you have to wade through a number of bad decisions, especially in map 02.

 

 

Spoiler

 

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Edited December 14, 2022 by LadyMistDragon

[Thelokk]

1 hour ago, Andromeda said:

One for MAP16, the rest isn't that fatiguing to endure ;)

 

You clearly weren't born with two left hands like me XD

Jokes aside, I do plan on tackling the whole thing for this adventure, as I'm rather fond of Archi's mapping, but that'll have to wait until the weekend. For now, it's back to the 90s! as if we ever left them.

 

Hongkong Handover Ceremony (v2) by Chris Lloyd (1998)

DSDA / UV /100% kills / 100% secrets

 

Why, why, why Quake sound replacements? :S can we please stop that? they sound silly and out of place in Doom. This said, visually the map starts with a bang, as it features some really nice, marbly custom textures. Cool dragon! too bad it's nothing but perched, armorless hitscan hell right from the beginning, and you are required to climb a pixel-wide ladder so finicky it'd probably be easier to glide off the map. We enter a castle which soon turns into one of those 'marble techbase' mishmashes that were all the rage in the 90s. Combat highlights include fighting a baron of hell and a hell knight while balancing on a perch, with a shotgun only. Wundabar.

The map is rather large, at over 300 monster and five secrets, and its poor planning soon comes to the forefront: an automap is provided and mandatory, but still the layout is so confusing I got lost for the better part of half hour. The fact that doors use non-door textures really didn't help either. At least I found some nice corners here and there, from where I could enjoy the rather bitchin' sky texture.

So yeah, nice custom textures aside... it's a 90s map. The best part about it is probably the TITLEPIC.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

[Endless]

Hell Palace v.2.0 Final | By Jeremy Wayne Allen | 1996

 

 

With a title like that, you already have an idea of what you're up against, but, still, even though marble is my favorite texture, I feel that this map feels a bit bland, and in its own way, it's clearly a visual work of the 90s, although it doesn't have as many bugs or problems as other WADs of the era, it's still somewhat long, tedious and lost, but surmountable and understandable even if the combat is forgettable.

 

Terrace View | By @valkiriforce | 2020

 

 

Valkiriforce is one of my current favorite mappers, and he's one of those few that has a very noticeable style that's almost a trademark at this point. For one, valkiriforce makes a lot of ''semirealistic'' and ''outdoorsy'' maps, something I absolutely adore and I feel is too underused. People tend to say that Doom doesn't do realistic maps well, but that's exactly why I think it does it great. It has an unique aesthetic that adds a weight to it. A charming piece of clunky architecture that barely manages to reassemble a house or a kitchen room, but yet it does. Distant, yet close. This particular map tries to recreate a Lake Tahoe house (that's a great place to live), and while it is missing the lake, and the mountains are a little too red, it still has a very charismatic style that's 90s in heart. I love these maps that don't care about following the rules, and instead try to imitate life, even if it is a challenge on its own. My only issue with valkiriforce's maps are that they tend to drag a lot, and the layouts are very open and confusing, yet, it seems with his latest release, he has changed on that. Also, this map was meant to be used for the Doom Core Trilogy, and since I haven't played those WADs, I imagine this is more or less the general vibe and theme of them.

[Sena]

Fuel Devourer: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/d-f/fueldevr

 

I should really stop playing levels that feature the word "nonlinear" anywhere in their description, because that always means they are too nonlinear for my peanut brain and I have to give up 50-75% of the way through, as was the case here. Not that it matters, since what I did manage to play was pretty damn good. In particular, this map has an especially fine eye for industrial aesthetics, although it is still able to separate itself into various different types of areas under that theme, and it's one of these levels that's just put together in such a way that it's a lot of fun to run through it and find your own way to move through the obstacles and formations they've created. At least, so long as there aren't any chaingunners, which is probably my central issue with it, especially within the beginning when the player has practically no weaponry at all, the number of chaingunners becomes a major point of contention that the terrain makes a real problem to deal with, and there's nothing fun about having to unload 10 pistol shots on someone and just hoping they connect and you don't lose half your health. As for the rest of it, there's plenty of creativity on offer, both in terms of the visuals and the combat encounters, and it has a particularly perceptive way of managing to make combat engaging, both in claustrophobic areas and in wider areas wherein space and positioning can be just as important. Bottom line, this is a level that is perhaps more complex than it lets on, which works in its favour, it doesn't necessarily contain any gimmicks, but its approach to architecture makes this one of the more well-crafted levels I've played in a while. 7/10.

[brick]

Chaingunner's wad pack by Chainguner (2015)

 

These seem to be a pretty random collection of bits and pieces probably made over several years of the mapper's career. The first half dozen are very short, quick playing, clearly a beginner's map or a speedmap, but they're not bad and are actually fun to play, though some have a surprising lack of health. MAP07 is just there to ask you to idclev to MAP12 (maybe to use another sky?).

 

The middle maps that follow are the best, there's a very clear improvement in design, combat is much more interesting and strikes a great balance between roaming monsters, setpieces and ambushes. My favourite maps are probably the back-to-back ones where you go around and in and under a castle and then take the secret exit to the energy station. There's some nice architecture, some very nice use of sector lighting, and some cool sights like the glass elevator or the small chapel with the rug. The only oddity is the complete lack of of the SSG (it doesn't show up until MAP19), and since there are quite a few heavies (including some barons), being restricted mostly to the shotgun and chaingun (a couple of maps have the RL but very few rockets) can a bit annoying. Otherwise I found ammo balance to be quite good, I had to pay attention but I didn't find myself down to punching. The music track is pretty varied, some fast paced tunes and some much slower ones, I didn't recognize them all but found they're a good listen and give quite a good atmosphere. I really enjoyed these maps.

 

The last few I liked a bit less. MAP18 starts as an obvious Courtyard homage (though, quite frankly, it's a lesser imitation) but then has some mishmash of some E2 elements (most prominently E2M2), the music track makes this very obvious by mixing in variations on the maps' music (it's quite a fun listen). MAP19 is the one I liked least, it's the longest and has the most enemies, but the problem is that ALL the ammo is concentrated in one small section of the map, and if you don't happen to go that way early on (I didn't of course) you'll spend most it using the chainsaw on revenants, cacos, and pretty much everything else.

 

It's a fun collection of coffee break maps overall.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

5 hours ago, LadyMistDragon said:

Procyon Sector KGx57 mini Episode (1995) by Scott McNutt (Eternity)

I played this one earlier this year when ICID rolled it. I liked it more than you did, but I agree the quality goes down with each map, and the last one is pretty annoying. I did like MAP01 quite a bit though.

[SuyaSSS]

Propulsion - Bryan Beretta, 10 April 1996 (The video uses the date mentioned on the idgames page rather than the text file.)

Played On: Woof

Difficulty: UV

Spoiler

This is the second time I accidently played a deathmatch map. I thought the idea of a 90s rocket launcher only map was cool so I didn't even notice the deathmatch part. But I also skimmed through the text file so there is some error on my part. It only had 3 monsters and all of them were imps. But, I don't see this being much fun to deathmatch on. It's a bunch of square rooms with rockets and rocket launchers inside them and a slightly bigger square room in the middle with a partial invisibility.

 

And just like the last time I got a deathmatch map, the exit was hidden behind an unmarked wall. Again, can you not put a sign saying exit? Actually it doesn't make sense to exit since it is a single map wad. Well, I won't rank this because as stated previously by me:-

"my review methods fail against a deathmatch wad"

 

BROKEN-SANE WEAPONS - Paul G. Stout

Spoiler

Sane Weapons didn't seem to work for me. Watch the extra part of the video for more info about me trying to run it.

 

A Walk In Hell - Skul, 9th September 2016 (The video uses the date mentioned on the idgames page rather than the text file.) [Main Event]

Played On: Woof

Difficulty: UV

Spoiler

This is the main event. The map was made for the "Vinesauce DOOM Mapping Contest". First thing you notice is that ROCKRED is the only texture you see. I mentioned in the video about how it reminded of Scythe's final episode but the wall texture doesn't change all that much. It occasionally changes for decoration purposes but it is the same ROCKRED for most of the map. There were some lighting changes here and there and I think it is enough for a map like this. More texture variations will be good. But, what I really care about here is the gameplay. And glad to say, I quite like some of the encounters. 

 

The map starts out with only a shotgun but do not fret, after entering the cave and defeating 2 imps and a few hell knights, you will obtain the great "Super Shotgun" - The Beauty - Then, you go up fighting a few enemies on your way. The same few flats and textures started to become more obvious as the map progressed. There is an Archvile that I accidently triggered early and had to look for a solution to him since I ran out of shotgun shells. I then found a rocket launcher and got ambushed by a bunch of chaingunners. I'm not even that mad that I got damaged as I think that was a cool ambush. I killed the Archvile and pressed a switch and fully expected another ambush. Well, that was a false alarm. The Spectres were damn annoying as the cave was somewhat dark making them hard to see in Woof's software look and I like that. I think they served their purpose right as a scary thing present in the cave (I got genuinely scared by them the first time I encountered them and was killed by the chaingunners). There were a few more encounters but nothing too special. There was a cool chaingunner ambush though. One thing that I got disappointed a bit at the start by was the use of Barons. I don't like fighting Barons but this was later redeemed by the last Archvile who resurrected the Barons which made for a cool scenario as you needed to kill the Barons for the door to open. Honestly, aside from the repeated textures and flat and some ok-ish fights (like any of the hallway fight), the level was pretty good. I'll give it a B.

 

VIDEO:

Spoiler

 

 

[LadyMistDragon]

14 hours ago, Endless said:

 

Terrace View | By @valkiriforce | 2020

 

 

Valkiriforce is one of my current favorite mappers,

 

I really want to play more of what he did, Mountain Gorge was very cool, rather obscure and a seemingly rare example of valkiriforce going practically full slaughter. I think we just share similar gameplay interests though

 

Speaking of well-known community members

 

 

Darknation's Wacky Adventures in Impse or Dnwaii (pronounced 'denwhy') (2004) by Mike "Cyb" Watson

 

Quote

Okay, in reality there's no story. I had a bunch of textures, and I had a bunch of imp sprites, so I smashed them all together and here's what came out. It's two maps, btw. You don't have to read any more if you don't want (though I doubt most people have even gotten this far).

The Real Story: You are Darknation, secret agent guy for the government of some country nobody gives a shit about (France or Norway or something). Some big government guys who probably wear fancy suits and dark sunglasses (and those thingies in their ears, radios or cell phone dealies or whatever) have just gotten word that a bunch of experiments have gone horribly, horribly wrong in some undisclosed location (never saw that coming, did you?). Your mission, should you chose to accept it (you don't have a choice anyway), is to infiltrate the base and kill the leader imp dudes (you'll know when you beat them because the map will end).

Sadly the only way you could get into the facility was via one of those crates the UAC is famous for. Once you bust out of it you should be good to go. It's time to kill some god damn dirty furries! Oh, I mean imps.

 

 

Yet another wad by the legend himself, the dude whose user name is just a shortened form of "Cyberemond!" You can probably tell from the title screen music that this was clearly intended as a joke. I don't think this guy's name is inspired in any way by the Doomer Boards mod darknation, although not everyone was necessarily so out and proud about their white supremacist leanings circa 2004. Atheism was much edgier for the longest time.

 

Never mind all that nonsense, though. Let's get to the wad.

 

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....". In some ways, it's almost ahead of its time, though some embarrassing comments about homosexuality (including a comment about Trent Reznor) can still be found in the dialogue.

 

What you have in the end is something that is no Void or Massmouth and frankly gets a little dragged down by its second part (and navigation seems just a touch cumbersome), however, this is still a strong example of ZDoom in action 7/10

 

 

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[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 01 Day 22

 

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

 

[1] Triple challenge by @Surreily (2006)

 

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Triple challenge has 3 levels for you to play. To play a level, select NEW GAME from the title menu, and then select a level. Good luck! Jumping is required.

 

"Triple challenges" consists of a serie of 3 unrelated levels presented as challenges. The first and third level takes place in hell whereas the second one unfolds in a hi-tech turquoise base highly positioned in a rock mountain.

 

"Challenge" doesn't mean hard and even challenging in this wad. Each level is easy to beat because of the flat encounters and basic traps involving several teleporting monsters here and here. Some ambushes tend to be more scenarized than the others but keep in mind you'll not suffer a lot in this wad, even during "The Final Test". Moreover, each map has a low number of enemies and doesn't last long. Count more or less 15-20 minutes to beat all the challenges.

 

Surreily's mapping style doesn't hide all the recurring mapping tropes about the wads made in the middle of the 2000's era. Each map features, symmetry, boxy layouts with flat rooms and corridors or even a lot of trims and borders about the details. If you played a lot of wads, you can easily guess it's a map made in the middle of the 00's without knowing its release date. Beyond this statement, each level remains pleasing to the eyes, especially concerning the second challenge. The new textures also help at improving the visuals.

 

At the end, I thought Triple challenge was a relaxing easy-going little mapset. I liked how the author structured this wad into "episodes". 

 

Grade : B+

 

[2] "Watch Yer Back" and "Bloodfalls" by Rob MacKenna (1995)

 

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This WAD is a combination of two levels I designed. Map01 is my very first WAD, but it doesn't suck TOO bad, and it is excellent for deathmatch. Map02 is good for solo play, and there are enough goodies scattered around to keep deathmatches going pretty well. (I hate it when you get killed and then you can't get any good stuff before the other guy hoses you again.)

 

Both maps are no more than ugly and dark startan bases. However, the second map presents a more breathtaking scenery with bloodfalls glowing in the dark and a fierce cyberdemon posing at the centre and the map and guarding the surroundings.

 

Both levels play well though. The first map presents a funny situation where you can get rid of a wall of stucked pinkes by shooting on one of the numerous barrels suspiciously placed just next toà them in order to get a single box of rockets.

 

Nevertheless, the maps have nothing worthy to note but the author did the effort to import funky music , and they instantly make the wad more appreciable.

 

Grade : B-

 

[3] Hanging Gardens by Paul DeBruyne (skillsaw) @skillsaw (2011)

 

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An unreleased GZDoom map I made about a year ago. It's set in a lush, walled garden in the middle of a desert. It was supposed to be part of an episode but I don't plan to work on it any more.

I would describe the gameplay as arena/slaughter.

This map is VERY system intensive. You will need a fairly modern PC to play this level smoothly.

 

I got the chance to play one of the earliest works from one of the most recognized doom mapper of all time. It's not a full megawad but a single slaughter-oriented gzdoom-compatible map where you have to get 3 keys in the order you want.

 

I love the atmosphere of this level : the bright blue sky, all the palm trees with the other vegetations as well and a module track coming from a old pinball game which reminds me more of old racing games. I felt nostalgic whereas I never played this level before. It's the kind of garden I want to visit either in a dream or during vacation.

 

The exotic theme also benefits from its open layout and explosive combats. Beating this map takes more or less 10 minutes and I guarantee you'll have a blast cleaning all the demonic mess. Skillsaw implemented a small mod which makes the game gorier, a bit like Brutal Doom but far from being as exagerated. You'll meet some anecdotic custom monsters , later used in Valiant such as the kamikazes.

 

Hanging Gardens is a nice find, a fun slaughtermap with a classy tropical theme.

 

Grade : A

I got a trapped with an arch-vile without any opportunity to take cover from its attacks in Coadjutor to the Stars.

 

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[Thelokk]

Apparently one thing Doomers failed at back in the 90s, along with texturing, was spelling.

 

 

Doors of Dispair! by Allen Freeman (1996)

DSDA / UV /100% kills / 100% secrets

 

Holy Mary mother of God, what a terrible map. A square box, stock sky and music, chock full of passable mitdexes, unpegged doors, stuck mobs, and virtually every possible newbie mapping mistake under the sun - including the complete absence of an exit, so I counted 100% simply when I ran out of stuff to kill (no secrets either). A square, poorly textured box with enemies thrown in at random, with no thought to synergy or mere progression. 

... don't really know what I could add, so little meat there is around these bones. Don't bother, I guess? 

 

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[brick]

Poisonous Prison, or Get Poised by Jon Landis (1994)

 

Jon Landis has a peculiar style even by 1994 standards. His maps are even more abstract than the iwads, full of devious traps, a fair (or maybe unfair) share of gotchas, and some pretty involved switch puzzles. Many modern players, especially the UV-max-blind-saveless crowd, will probably hate him with a burning passion. I'm personally a big fan, partly because I use saves (you know you should when his txt files frequently have SAVE OFTEN!!!! all over the text), but especially because I don't find his traps or puzzles unfair. He's actually very good at hinting, and tends to save the hardest parts of progression for optional secrets.

 

This one is a Doom E2M1 replacement, initially released on its own as a "demo" for his then-upcoming episode replacement Eye of the Beholder (which, along with its sequel, is Landis's claim to fame). It's a small map but it's not quick-playing. You'll need to carefully note what switches are doing, go back and check if previous obstacles are gone, and keep an eye for the numerous secrets, most with some very sweet goodies. As expected from something this early the visuals are nothing groundbreaking but there are some cool little bits, my favourite is the room with immiscible lava and toxin. There are a couple of nasty combat surprises, but the real antagonist is the progression. Landis is kind enough to leave the trickiest parts for the secrets (I could never get the RL in previous playthroughs, and I still can't, no matter how fast I moved), but you'll still have to pay attention to what switches are doing, and contend with the lying blue doors (there is no blue key, and you don't need it to open the doors). There are still enough hints, and the map is small enough, that I enjoyed cracking it and didn't feel any of it was unfair. You can actually get to the exit without seeing half the map. Speaking of exit, the map does use the infinitely tall actors for a small surprise at the end. I can see why it's a polarizing map but I really like it, and I think the extra care put into hinting at the tricky bits is what distinguishes it (and Landis in general) from bad progression maps. It helps that it has a pretty catch tune (Landis was also a composer and made music for most of his maps).

 

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[Thelokk]

"Loki : The Norse god of mischief, chaos and strife.
 Deathmatch : A game of violence, chaos and strife."

Too bad this is not a deathmatch mapset. What gives?
 

 

 

Loki levels 1-3 by Philip Ward (1995)

DSDA / UV / 100% kills / 100% secrets

 

A three maps set straight outta 1995. A very short intro map, where only a handful of kills are required in order to reach the exit; a very vertical and much better textured Underhall remake; and a third, larger, brick themed map. I have to say that, for the year it came out in, this mapset has rather above-average texturing and layout: there is a lot of verticality, and support textures are actually used frequently (hooray!). I was particularly impressed by the progressive opening up in map03, which made retracing fresh and it's something you don't often see done well in a 1995 map. 

There are, of course, typical 90s mapping sins: as this is a D2 wad, chaingunners were all the rage, and they are used to extremes throughout all three maps. Still, there were also a couple of surprisingly 'modern' challenges, such as a lost soul ambush while platforming.

A decent early mapset, much better than some other stuff I played from the same year. 

 

 

 

[LadyMistDragon]

1024-4 Director's Cut (2007) by @Alter (From Doom With Love)

 

Alter has been around for more than a decade and a half and not too long ago, contributed one of the best maps to 1000 Lines Community Project 3. Here, he was just a 15-year old playing with the concept of 1024 as 'pioneered' by Congestion 1024. Apparently, this was an expanded version of an another 1024 wad he'd done that doesn't seem to be on /idgames.

 

It doesn't play too bad, honestly! While the limits show in the visuals somewhat, combat remains quite consistent strong for at least the first 9 maps or so. Like a lot of the Congestion maps, there's a certain fascination with placing Barons of Hell and Arch-viles in tight places, but for the most part, things never feel overwhelming. The first 5 maps are named for Greek letters because not everyone was original at 15, or perhaps even ever. But these first maps work to easy you somewhat. There are lots of little computers, crates, and at least in one case, a window leading to the outside. Alter also places stars everywhere and ends Map 05 with a very cool hell gate of sorts, seen below with hanging dudes.

 

The music largely consists of drum-heavy remixes of Doom and Doom 2 songs, with a few TNT ones thrown in for fun.

 

Although I did have to wonder why Alter couldn't just fold the Gothic textures in when you can't really see much of them in the first 6 or so maps, but I'm also not so knowledgeable on mapping. But anyways, this little stretch is probably the strongest of the megawad. Cool hell textures and decent staging which happens to include an Arch-vile standing on a flesh-pillar elevator leading to the exit in one case, really help to lift this one up.

 

At least until you get to Map 10(cool name, by the way). Despite the increasing amount of height in the visual detail and the illusion of a void, it also feels a touch undistinctive, beyond placing gothic windows in entirely expected places. Also, combat becomes ever more dependent on gunning down pinkies and Imps in repetitive corridors, and that last activity often ends the map. The secret maps don't really do much to change thay impression either. Much as I love the idea of Nazis not eating cheese in an ice castle, it's also terrible to pistol-start because you get nothing but a chaingunner initially. Map 32 is a little bit better, featuring the custom sprite replacement of some robotic spider enemy, but also doesn't really distinguish itself in any way despite it.

 

6.5/10 in the end. It's not quite Claustophobia 1024 (there are few mappers that could make 16 maps on the concept, admittedly) and the quality declines enough in a numbers of areas in the last third that it becomes entirely disposable. Health seemed adequate though, so most painfulness was caused by size restriction, at least until you get to the obnoxiousness of the last maps. Side note: some doors are broken on DSDA.

 

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Edited December 16, 2022 by LadyMistDragon

[Walter confetti]

Yeah, finally i have time to give a spin again to this random adventures!

 

Poisonous Prison, or Get Poised! by Jon Landis - Vanilla Doom, SP, 1994 but uploaded in 2004, played with Eternity "forseti" 4.0.2

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A short map that replaces E2M1 made by Jon Landis, a author\composer mostly known for the music he made for his maps, this is a really good map thinking it was made with those ancient editors like DEU and making anything decent with that editor... Abstract, hellish structures reminiscent of original Deimos E2 maps with some more artistic trips like the ying-yang sector art where the yellow skull is located and more better simple detailing. Pretty good stuff, but too hard (despite the low enemy count) if you're not careful. Very fun stuff, I've enjoyed this one.

 

Achluophobia.wad by @Th0r - Skulltag, Doom 2, SP, 2006, played with Zandronum 3.1 and Skulltag-data.pk3

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A small episode made by "the second most hated person in Skulltag" for the said episode, but without the new monsters from that port, it's set mostly in mazes (OH JOY) with different difficulty and each map is marked by different color scheme, this is pretty unique, i liked it! Too bad my despise for mazes doesn't make me fully enjoy these first maps. Luckilly MAP05 changes all with a blue\black\silver techbase that is pretty good looking and uses some cool details and small doomcute pieces, very neat. Now, for the mazes map, MAP04 is the better of the bunch I've played and overall the mazes are competently made, like some amateurish versions of Hunted. It's ok.

[thelamp]

Hazzie's Tower of Torture V by Joel "Hazzie" Morton is a very short map typical of it's time period. As long as you conserve you ammo and check your corners, you'll be fine. This map has exactly one trick up it's sleeve involving some kind of bloody lounge, and for it's length that's all it really needed

 

 

[Thelokk]

Plans for Christmas? work :S and then one of those stupid TV marathons with my daughter. Those never fail to crack us up.

 

Dynacrium but @RockyGaming4725 (2022)

DSDA / UV /100% kills / 100% secrets

 

Playing something recent for once! Rocky's map follows the recent trend of 'Plutonia+ slaughter' that, for a little while, seemed poised to overtake the 'neon slaughter' aesthetics that is still all the rage. This goes beyond the use of Plutonia's own textures: it really arches back to the Casali brothers' innate dickishness, where every wall becomes a chaingunner / revenant trap, to the point of boring predictability. Dynacrium unfortunately sometimes dips into this repetitive formula, which you can tell when you begin to intuitively tell where and how the next dickish ambush will come - you can 'predict' the map in a way, which is never a good sign.

 

Still, there is a lot to be liked about this map. In spite of minimal detailing, it keeps with that second half of Plutonia's rock + wood + blood look, and the texturing job is simple but competent. The map, and its progressive descent into min-slaughter, is certainly action packed - I particularly liked the first BFG fight. There is a bit of technical clunk: some pop up monsters seem to be set on ambush, so by swiftly circumventing their sector you can keep them asleep until convenient; the very angular architecture, couple with narrow corridors chock full of monsters, makes it very easy to manipulate mobs and take them down one at a time.

 

Still, a pretty good map, that even a non Plutonia enjoyer like me can like. 

 

 

[LadyMistDragon]

1 hour ago, Thelokk said:

Plans for Christmas? work :S and then one of those stupid TV marathons with my daughter. Those never fail to crack us up.

 

Dynacrium but @RockyGaming4725 (2022)

DSDA / UV /100% kills / 100% secrets

 

Playing something recent for once! Rocky's map follows the recent trend of 'Plutonia+ slaughter' that, for a little while, seemed poised to overtake the 'neon slaughter' aesthetics that is still all the rage. This goes beyond the use of Plutonia's own textures: it really arches back to the Casali brothers' innate dickishness, where every wall becomes a chaingunner / revenant trap, to the point of boring predictability. Dynacrium unfortunately sometimes dips into this repetitive formula, which you can tell when you begin to intuitively tell where and how the next dickish ambush will come - you can 'predict' the map in a way, which is never a good sign.

 

Still, there is a lot to be liked about this map. In spite of minimal detailing, it keeps with that second half of Plutonia's rock + wood + blood look, and the texturing job is simple but competent. The map, and its progressive descent into min-slaughter, is certainly action packed - I particularly liked the first BFG fight. There is a bit of technical clunk: some pop up monsters seem to be set on ambush, so by swiftly circumventing their sector you can keep them asleep until convenient; the very angular architecture, couple with narrow corridors chock full of monsters, makes it very easy to manipulate mobs and take them down one at a time.

 

Still, a pretty good map, that even a non Plutonia enjoyer like me can like. 

 

 

I need to look through the Newstuff bit I wrote for this because I think it was something like the second or third favorite map he did. Trenidition was most certainly weaker than this though to the point of indistinguishability.

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 01 Day 23

 

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

 

[1] DeadSoul.wad (named after the music) by Dave Johnson (1998)

 

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Medium size level. Very playable wad built in the classic Doom style with attention to detail and design. Comments welcomed to Email address. Really designed for 1 & 2 players.

 

Dave Johnson isn't an unknown mapper to me. I remembered having played and reviewed some maps from him. Nothing noteworthy about his maps but he has a classic non-linear level design philosophy I appreciate , and he knew how to import new music and some cool sounds for your guns, which deserve a bonus point from me.

 

This extensive castle made of wide courtyards was relaxing to explore. Visually, it remains classic but the simple structures in the larger parts improve the aesthetics. The smooth navigability, the abundance of powerful items and the pseudo-slaughterish combats involving little groups of ennemies result to a relaxing journey.

 

Moreover, I love the midi rendition of "Dead Soul" from Nine inch Nails which usually fits with easy-going maps. You risk to be disappointed if you're looking for challenge though. The author overhelps you in the "hardest" situations. Two cyberdemons and an arch-vile guard the exit but you just have to grab one of the two invulnerability spheres and the BFG and your mission is done.

 

Deadsoul highlights the innocence of the shovelware stuff whereas several modern mappers release slaughtermaps with a 5-digit amount of monsters.

 

Grade : A-

 

[2] Castle of Atormentar by Marc J.S. (1996)

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This intricate medieval prison built with rustic wood and cobblestone offers a lot of exploration thanks to the many interconnected paths and the feeling of adventure after collecting each key. However, the homogeneity and the lack of details harm the visuals and the replayability of this map. Some small wooden edifices make some areas more recognizable but the whole tend to look a bit too samey.  I would have preferred the adventure to take place more at outdoors, just to add some tasty green.

 

You don't come in this fortress as a liberator. The jailed monsters will also try to kill you and you have to defend yourself. The balance of ammo encourages you to keep on your toes but most of the combats remain standard. I don't mean boring but the author did not attempt at creating a particular gimmick.

 

As the previous wad I reviewed, the custom music makes the old-schoolness charming. I enjoyed visiting the Castle of Atormentar. Not the prettiest I have ever seen but it's a pleasing adventure overall.

 

Grade : B+

 

A ghost baron chased and catched me in The Gateway to Hell

 

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[brick]

On 12/12/2022 at 4:02 PM, Thelokk said:

How many extra points for enduring all of NewGothic2?

Challenge accepted! I'm going to beat this one fair and square.

 

Newgothic Movement 2 by Armouredblood and Archi (2017)

 

Just kidding. I made it to MAP02 and the corridor of hundreds of imps before turning on iddqd. Although... does playing with cheats still count as "enduring all of" it? I think it should. Even with cheats it took me 6 hours to go through the maps...

 

Some joker on the wiki wrote that NGM1 is "known for being more accessible slaughter". Either NGM2 is a completely different beast, or the writer had a real sense of humour, or we have a very different definition for accessible slaughter. The maps do not kid around, some of them have back to back slaugher arenas with one single supercharge as the only source of health, the ones that do throw a lot of health at you also throw waves of so many enemies that a single misstep is instant death anyway, there are no difficulty settings implemented (the txt is at least honest about this), and coming from the likes of MSCP and Haste this is clearly a completely different level of difficulty (though maybe that's because those do have them implemented). Still, god mode meant I could appreciate the architecture and even the combat setups even if I had no chance of beating them fair. There are also some really clever bits, I thought the teleport puzzle in MAP02 was a rather ingenious (and rather more forgiving) variation on Evilution MAP30's.

 

Then MAP09 rolls around and oh boy. Up to now the enemy count stayed in the hundreds, but all of a sudden I saw 3700. Of course with 60 archviles placed in difficult to reach locations, the final count was a good 500 extra monsters from resurrections. I had to turn off music and sounds after a while, it was just too much. Up until this one I could imagine someone having the skill to beat the maps even if it would be in a completely other realm of reality compared to mine. But with MAP09 I can't imagine the patience required to grind through, never mind the skill. Even though some parts of it are redundant (you only need to deal with the NE or NW arenas, not both), it's still a very long map.

 

I do like the great variety in themes and aesthetics in the wad. The tech maps look particularly nice, I was really quite taken with MAP12 and the lighting and special effects there (all Boom conveyors I think). The way some map exits flow into the next theme is also quite cool, again I liked MAP12's last stretch turning into something that looks much more like MAP13. The soundtrack is also quite fitting, though I think I'd have liked the tracks more if the maps were shorter, as some of them do get repetitive after half an hour or more.

 

Other maps with very memorable points of interest: MAP13 has a large cavern with vanilla deep water, which is used to mask the floor and make it harder to see the path to the keys (you can see the path from "underwater" and then climb the elevated rocks and remember where to walk to avoid falling back down), and each key opens up a path to a different exit with completely different challenges on the way; I like this kind of choice, it's quite unique in Doom maps. MAP15 is a breathtaking, monstrous cathedral in the heart of a modern city; its finale is a huge wave of enemies with some very amusing opportunities for infighting mayhem, though I think you can only skip the entire wave completely if you know about the secret exit (I didn't figure it out until after). MAP31 has some very cool and colourful aesthetics and a fantastic cyberpunk vibe with the neon lines you walk on over the abyss and massive pillars of light flashing into the void, the screenshot doesn't do it justice.

 

And then there's MAP16. Andromeda wasn't kidding, this one makes all the others combined look like a cakewalk. The biggest problem is that there are 4 boss spawners, but it's a long map involving treks to other arenas away from the main one, and while you're there killing thousands of monsters there's another thousand being spawned back in the main area. It's also the only one where my FPS dropped in single-digits, GZDoom really doesn't like this one, but considering how inflated the monster count eventually gets I'm not surprised.

 

It's hard for me to judge this one, especially since I almost non-stop cheated through it. I can say though that architecture wise it never drops below good, and some maps look absolutely gorgeous. I think it's worth a -nomonster tourist run for that alone, even if (like me) you can't stand large-scale slaughter.

 

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