Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #050!

[Endless]

• Endless | 3 WADs | 3 Maps

 

CASTEVIL.WAD | By Stanley Stasiak | 1994

 

 

Castle maps, hate them or love them, they have a lovely charm that evokes feelings of raw fantastical power. Some months ago I embarked on a quest to play every single castle map out there, and well, here I continue with Castle of Evil. A truly massive map with over 300+ demons and a large quantity of sectors. I dreaded the idea the moment I played, because if there's two things that don't mix well is 90s + big. This map looks great, it has a lot of cool areas and little details that give it a little bit of life, like a sense that someone used to live here. It follows a classical marble brick style with various sets that include pools, cellars, dungeons, towers, etc. However, it all comes down fast due to shitty gameplay and terrible progression. This map feels like it has no end. Trying to find even one key is a massive task, let alone all of them, and still be lost because the paths make no sense whatsoever and everything is a mess. This is better to just explore. Find all the main areas and then leave. Crashing your head against the automap kills the joy. Still, for the cool 90s fantasy-esque vistas alone, it is worth checking it out.

 

The Perfect Deathmatch WAD | By Tom Kozera | 1995

 

 

Perfect is a strong word here. This just another random DM WAD that doesn't really have anything special. It is, however, acceptable. Unlike various culprits from the era, it is not full of mazes, cramped spaces, stupid item placement, and the visuals are decent. It follows the most basic structure possible: the death square. So, gonna cut it some slack and say it is, indeed, perfect.

 

Schizophrenia | By Inferno_45 | 2002

 

 

Well this was an interesting little level. It says it requires a ZDoom-compatible port, but worked well enough with Doom Retro. It has a few neat tricks here and there and it has a clear inspiration from Quake. The brownish areas as well as the cramped combat with flowing progression. Not bad!

[Sena]

• Sena | 1 WAD | 1 map

The Secret Energy (2018)

 

This is a classic example of a modern techbase, with all that entails. It has some great scenery and set-dressing, plus inventive setpieces that manage to surprise the player and keep them from playing the game in an entirely static manner. It is a somewhat open map, usually offering at least two possible pathways to advance, but it is remarkably straightforward and intuitive in its design. Overall, this is a level that ticks all the boxes, offering a fair but nonetheless involved gameplay experience, making for a techbase map that actually feels both unique and memorable.

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 02 Day 04

 

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

 

[1] Bad Jokewad by Paul Corfiatis @pcorf (2007)      [Theorically 2 maps]

 

Spoiler

 

 

Quote

Watch John W. Anderson (Dr Sleep) argue then execute Troop JB in his den in what proves to be an absolute classic argument. Original Voice Acting. This is my first wad ever with succesful scripting unlike The New Adventure which had its messages written on walls. The design of the maps is based on Dr. Sleep's style, since this is Dr. Sleep's Den anyway!. You simply stand there and watch em 'talk, etc. I'm expecing mixed reviews, but I don't care. A Bad Jokewad is a map of good level design and architecture, good Jokewads have horrible design, this one dosent unlike many.

 

You're forced to witness a dramatic but hilarous argument between "JB" and Dr Sleep. I don't think Paul Corfiatis did a lot of effort about writing the scenario but the voice acting is legendary. The last scene may offenses you and should be hidden to children !

 

Maybe this jokewad is objectively bad but still way above most of the existing jokewads.

 

Grade : B

 

I stop here for today.

[LadyMistDragon]

Eternal Mansion (2016) by @valkiriforce (Eternity)

 

This was during the period when the DW Megawad Club was forced to suffer through Eternal Doom. Valkiriforce had realized that his Map 31 for the Cacoward-winning Megawad Reverie was structured like an Eternal Doom map so he thusly converted said map entirely into an Eternal Doom setting. I haven't played Reverie but it makes complete sense that this wouldn't appear in the regular lineup. Much awareness of random linedefs  will be required to make your way through the front door. And unfortunately, you'll have to. Unfortunately, it's all cryptic enough to feel like an Eternal Doom map at times. You're stocked with plentiful supplies though, so the harder opposition than ED as a whole shouldn't be too much of an issue. The arch-vile placement was genuinely annoying though and I spent forever looking for the red key. Safe to say there is a certain order you have to do at least some things in that make this drag sooooo much! You don't want me to describe how finally figured out the location of the red key. After that, things start coming together a little bit more, and some nice epic battles occur near the north end. This is a structurally-sound location if nothing else though. But said conversion only helped the atmosphere. btw, please don't attempt an early exit. like that ED lettering though. there may be a modernist sense of combat pacing, but progression is otherwise classic Eternal Doom, which is both good and bad 8/10

 

Spoiler

 

Edited January 15, 2023 by LadyMistDragon

[thelamp]

• thelamp | 5 wads total | 6 maps total

 

Infinite Revenants by Marphy Black uhhhh title is pretty self explanatory

 

petkillr.wad by Peter Masny is a decent level from '94!

 

 

 

 

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 02 Day 05

 

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

 

[1] Khorne's Demise by Bill Turner III (2010)       [1 map]

 

Spoiler

 

 

Quote

This wad can be found on the Maximum wad CD. Refer to the original README for info. Please note the KHORNE dehacked patch is missing and cannot be found.

Credits:

 

This map comes from a CD, therefore I easily guess it got uploaded way after its conception. However, I think the uploader shouldn't have to.

 

Bill Turner locks you in a kind of mansion and your goal seems to escape since the sky visible is visible only near the exit switch. The first thing you'll notice in this map is the critical lack of ammo, forcing you to create as much infight as possible. To be more accurate, this map doesn't pose a lot of problem if you know where the weapons are stored and which enemies you have to get rid first. For exemple, I wasted my ammo on pinkies and thefore I struggled punching the revenants duo guarding the BFG and the blue key,  before realising you can simply kill them with a surprise crusher....

 

If you're a masochistic, you may see this map as a "puzzle" such as the Chord Series but creating the infights here is more time consuming than hard in reality. It's boring and it has no specific reason to be that tough ! It's just a house man !

 

In addition, the author provided some crappy annoying sound effects. The imps keep saying "I'm coming for you !" Fuck the shut up ! (Sorry for language). For reasons I ignore, this level figures among the ones using a midi rendition of a Nine Inch Nail's song but it ended up irritating me because the gameplay.

 

Grade : D

 

[2] Doom Batch file creator/Doom launcher v1.3 by Mark David Bowman (1999)      [0 map]

Quote

Doom.bat is the easy way to create batch files to run doom wads with. Once it's setup, all you have to do is type Makebat and answer the prompts. After your batch file is created, just type in the name you gave the batch file to run the wad you want. This program now allows you to launch Doom directly.

 

Whereas I love playing Doom via the original exe, I admit I rarely use bat files. However, those can be useful in order to save time.

 

 

 

A cyberdemon teleported in front of me in the most unexpected away, and almost gave me heart attack in HORDES 2

 

Spoiler

[thelamp]

• thelamp | 5 wads total | 8 maps total

 

Reign of the Spider Gods completed! The final map was very confusing but pretty damn good for a boss level imo

 

 

[Walter confetti]

Walter|2 Wads|4 maps

 

Paranoid by The Persecution Complex - GZDoom, Doom 2, SP, 2010, played on GZDoom 4.10

Spoiler

 

This is a really impressive mod based upon the Half Life universe, it's a large non-linear hub style episode of 8 maps where you become the... idk cousin of Gordon Freeman and work at Black Mesa, but when you get your bio-suit and start your daily work, your cousin just put a freaking forklift in a quantum accelerator thing and started the disaster, you have your dose of trouble as well by escaping a alien invasion and a military occupation. As i wrote before, this is a really impressive work done by this mapping team on recreating Half Life the best as possible in Doom engine, giving this effect of finding some low budget version of Half Life done in Build, letting the atmosphere and mechanics of gameplay almost unaltered, with strong usage of 3D floors, lighting effects, voxel items and all the other GZDoom magics. The only bad point for me is that the mod in itself is... pretty dragging and kind of boring, despite the great stuff, at least for my perspective. Giving up on MAP04 after don't get what to do and where to go.

 

True Action Personal Edition v2.02 by Guest and Post - Zdoom compatible ports, Doom 2, Gameplay modification, 2007, played on Zandronum 3.1

Spoiler

 

A old style, classy but clunky weapons and monsters modification that show full force it's 2000 charme: monster modications from the ZDoom Monster Resource Wad and guns taken from various games and ported on Doom with bizarre effects like:

• Dual guns gangsta style (taken from... Action Doom, i think?)
• That badass shell chaingun from Shadow Warrior, here more clunky
• A ugly sprited machinegun with a bayonetta just in case
• A rocket launcher with a very neat secondary attack of what i think it was a guided rocket like in Eradicator that didn't worked for me
• Timed dynamite bomb from Blood
• A literal sci-fi style plasma gun with a bouncy bullet secondary attack
• A minigun that reminded me of the Doom 3 chaingun
• Whatever Power Fantasy abomination is the gun that replaces the BFG and it's kamehameha style attack that is shared with the flying spider mastermind that replaces in this mod the original one

As many other reviewers wrote in the voting section at the page, is apretty much mixed bag but it was a nice thing for 5 minutes, just too clunky for modern standards i guess.

Edited January 15, 2023 by Walter confetti

[brick]

Brick | 1 wad | 20 maps

Adventure total | 12 wads | 48 maps

 

MAYhem 2018 - Purple Edition (2018) by A "bunch of purple monkey dishwashers" (GZDoom HNTR)

 

I've never played a MAYhem before, so I was excited to see what it's like. This one is supposed to reference Pokemon, and was released as two separate (but related?) wads, Orange and Purple, and it's the latter that the random roll got me. The naming refers to the predominant colour used in the palette of each wad, and I can definitely confirm this one has lots of purples. I like the way everything looks, and I was particularly impressed with the colormap; I tend to often use GZDoom's Truecolor Software mode, but this one is so well done and the hues flow so naturally into each other that I stuck with the traditional renderer.

 

Sad to say, I was not sold on the gameplay. MAP01 started rough, ammo and health were both extremely tight. The map gives the illusion that you can tackle places in one order or the other, but there's a strict optimal order, and not following it means having to punch (and I don't mean berserk) revenants, knights and everything else. The next few maps eased things a bit. MAP04 tried some tricks to give the illusion of walking on slabs suspended in the air; it works very well when you're on them, but falling down creates all sorts of HOMs, which makes getting out of the damaging floor even more annoying. By MAP05 I started relying on iddqd more and more. I also got stuck on this one for a while running around trying to find how to proceed, progression is generally ok in most maps but a few of them were very confusing to navigate. There's also quite a bit of platforming here and there, MAP06 had a lot of it combined with a timed lift that is incredibly easy to miss, it triggers just before you take a teleporter, and if you don't immediately turn around and see it you won't even know you missed something (I was also stuck here for a while). MAP07 had a pretty cool use of Boom, there are recurring instances where you approach a candle overlooking nothingness, and this makes large structures appear out of nowhere as if summoned from the red-black void, the effect looks striking. In the following maps the wad was starting to inch more and more towards arena mini-slaughter, with several instances of locking you in with the BFG and unleashing a hundred things at you. Then MAP14 stops pretending with 700 enemies (at this point I also stopped pretending and just cheated all the way through). The next few maps keep ramping up, slowly creeping towards 1000; then MAP18 just throws 2500 of them.

 

There are a bunch of new enemies; I'm not sure if they were created specifically for this MAYhem but I remember seeing some of them reappear (probably converted to EDF) in Heartland. The suicide bomber is probably the easiest, they don't move too fast and they're rarely used in a truly threatening way. The spider is an arachnotron with a chaingun. The plasma trooper is supremely annoying, not as fast as the one from Scythe but the plasma is deadly. The flying orb has about as much health as cacos but the balls seem to deal a LOT more damage, I often lost half my health from just one (this was with armour too). The most annoying by far is the Immolator, basically a flying cyberdemon that shoots mancubus spreads in quick succession, except the rockets behave like revenant's and have a chance of homing, and they hurt.. Considering how difficult they are to deal with, the numbers that later maps unleash on HNTR is ridiculous, the easy difficulty is clearly not meant to be accessible. I was also disappointed that the Pokemon references is nonexistent outside of the story texts, which bear no relation to anything else. Ultimately this wasn't my thing, and if the MAYhems in general veer similarly into the slaughter/challenge sphere I'm unlikely to try the others.

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 02 Day 06

 

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

 

[1] Nessy.WAD, issue 1 by Richard Wiles (1999)   [2 maps]

 

Spoiler

 

Quote

I neither have the time nor the inclination to make doom maps any more. Originally, I had planned on a mini episode but I've had to curtail the project after only two maps.

So, for what its worth, here are a couple of doom2 maps for your amusement. Note, you need the 'PLUTONIA' -iwad to play these maps.

Goodbye Doom - its been fun!

 

Two stunningly crafted Plutonia maps replacing map 09 and 10 which I had to play on crispy doom due to blatant VPO issue. It features more slaughterish combats but the difficulty remains moderate thanks to the generosity about health and ammo.

 

The cross-shaped arena in map 09 really holds its name "Abbatoir" now. You have to get three keys and press a serie of switches which release wave of monsters which get more and more beefier , until a small group of arch-viles spawn and use of all their forces awaking the deceased enemies. However, Wiles offer you delicious ammo package and several megasphere. Funny and Yummy !

 

Wiles followed a more traditional recipe about map 10 with a reasonable mix of action and exploration. I think I prefer  map 09 for its messy combats but map 10 shows that Nessy.wad and Richard Wiles's maps in general were above the standards in terms of architecture and homage to the original IWADS.

 

An excellent pair of maps.

 

Grade : A

 

I stop here for today.

[SuyaSSS]

SuyaSS | 1 wad | 1 map

Total | 3 wads | 8 maps

 

Castle Struggle - Lorenz0 (2017)

GZDoom, Ultra-Violence

 

An non-linear map which I found quite fun. I'm not that big of a fan of non-linear levels as they tend to become very confusing but this is a good example of good non-linearity. It was amazingly interconnected and just fun to blast through. Grade: A-

 

Video:

Spoiler

Funny story, today was Sunday and I completely forgot about that. There was no coaching today and I just went out for nothing LMAO. So, ignore everything I say about my coaching in this.

 

[Walter confetti]

Walter|2 wads|2 maps

 

Walkabout (Version 2.0) by Jens Nielsen - Vanilla Doom 2, SP, 1995, played with Eternity "forseti" 4.0.2

Spoiler

 

Downloaded yesterday but played today, is a slightly large map that uses a lot of exclusive Doom 2 textures, pretty complex to navigate and with many areas to discover/find and finding them is a freaking pain. I found myself locked for quite some time searching for some progression after taking the red skull key, the only way i found to skip this situation is by entering a hidden random room after noclipping and navigating around the map. Pretty bad sign of clever progression for my tastes.

But this map also have a pretty charming theme design, sets in this... tech fortress in a nukage canyon? The item placement is competent. Not a bad map, but have a very cryptic progression.

 

Revisiting Phobos by Leonardo "BuzzBomber" Venturelli - Vanilla Doom, SP, 2006, played with Eternity "forseti" 4.0.2

Spoiler

 

A really good looking map in the style of classic Knee Deep in the Dead maps (especially E1M7) with a pretty big number of monsters in it (195 in HMP, 129 in HNTR) by a talented Italian mapper that just made few maps in 2005/6 and not anymore, i wonder what end this guy did... anyway, the level is really well done and competently crafted both for layout, detailing and item placement. A really great find!

[ICID]

• ICID | 8 TOTAL WADS | 29 TOTAL MAPS

 

Variations on a theme (2004) by Woolie Wool

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Source Port: GZDoom}

^{Difficulty: UV}

 

This is one of the first /idgames contributions from 2000s mapper Woolie Wool (who recently returned with this intriguing-looking 2020 release) and it's 11 monster-free rooms that they magnanimously invite you to put in your own maps, no credit required! Well, I say 11 rooms, but it's actually just the same room with different textures. I'll quote the text file here: "The background is that the UAC, in an effort to cut costs, constructed a standard design for the bedrooms that its employees and guests use, giving new meaning to 'economies of scale.'"

 

The /idgames reviews on this one are pretty negative and it's not hard to see why - this is barely worthy of an upload and it's hard to imagine anyone being all that excited to use this simple bedroom in their WAD. But I think the venom is misplaced. What I see here is a young mapper stretching their muscles - seeing how just a few small changes to a simple room can completely change its tone and place in a WAD, thinking through how small details might hint at a larger narrative - and making the results freely available to the community. I find that endearing, not infuriating.

 

Grade: N/A

 

 

Alien 3 - The Last Challenge (2002) by Alberto "Ismaele" Sposito

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Source Port: GZDoom}

^{Difficulty: UV}

 

This is the third entry in a 2002 trilogy released by prolific Italian Doomer Ismaele, with music by Blackvoid and weapons by the legendary Scuba Steve. With that pedigree and the promise of blasting a flamethrower all over a floating space station, I was expecting good things. Unfortunately, I found myself quite underwhelmed by low ammo counts, high numbers of hitscanners, and a series of boxy grey rooms without height or texture variation. The staple monster here is a green SS Trooper that's still not much of a threat but tanks damage to an absurd degree, which does not pair well with the aforementioned lack of ammo - even simple encounters will likely have you resorting to your fists if you're not diligently finding every single secret.

 

Still, the first two maps are okay enough...then you get to the two secret levels, which are quite bad. The gimmick of both is that you'll be fighting in almost total darkness, which is as infuriating as ever. Maybe if the flamethrower's projectiles actually glowed you could make some interesting gameplay out of this...instead, I'm sorry to say that my overall feeling with this WAD is frustration, not entertainment. It's worth noting that 2002 was Ismaele's first year releasing files to /idgames - needless to say, it's all uphill from here.

 

Grade: 4/10

 

 

Lunar Apocalypse (2004) by Kimmo "Jimi" Kumpulainen

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Source Port: GZDoom}

^{Difficulty: UV}

 

Delicious, finally some good fucking food. This is one of an astonishing 15 solo projects Jimi released in 2004, but it clearly had a lot of heart put into it, from the nifty blue key teleporter trap to the relief of finally opening the armory and getting enough ammo to kill those barons that have been chasing you around, to glancing out the window intermittently to see the whole of where you've been and where you're going on the space station, this is a complete adventure and one well worth taking. Only questionable thing is that all the door textures are misaligned in the exact same way - I assume this is a stylistic choice, but it's one that looks bad.

 

Grade: 7/10

[thelamp]

• thelamp | 2 wads | 2 maps
• 7wads total | 10 maps total

GTA.wad (Get Them All) by Bruno Vergilio

and

Flashback by Espi

 

 

[LadyMistDragon]

WadSmoosh (2015) by JP LeBreton

 

I don't pretend to know how popular this tool is but I've certainly heard of it before. This will put all your IWADs into 1.pk3 file as soon as you run the utility that's packaged here. Honestly, it doesn't really make lots of sense when all IWADs show up when you run GZDoom anyway, so I have no idea what other purpose this serves other than to consolidate separate IWAD files under 1 sort of umbrella that technically existed anyway. Not to mention, I thought the name was just really dumb when I first saw it.

 

future (1998) by Raymond Schmitz

 

Supposedly created for multiplayer which is probably why combat is so anemic. That is sort of missing the point though. This can largely be thought of as an Icarus-style techbase with appropriate amounts of custom textures and versimilitude. Too bad no base would actually have a layout this bad in reality. I mean, let's be completely serious here. The vanilla textures are kind of ugly and there are misalignments everywhere. And the blue key placement is laughably bad. I wandered through literally every other accessible hallway secret or not before stumbling into a darkened cave with the key, along with a Mancubus. That said, the caves, as well as the outdoor pools, were actually some fair detailing. But god, the music choice is so sleepy. Might as well just keep D_RUNNIN. 6/10

Spoiler

 

 

Lel Machine (2016) by c**cintoyourP****

 

Yeah, that user name is just as bad as you're imagining, and no, I won't dignify it by uncensoring it. Like you've got a single large rectangular room with a wall of skulls, a voodoo doll next to the start for no reason at all and a ridiculous flame maze while the same "Merry Chris...." sample plays over and over again. Incidentally, the map appears to lack an exit. This is utterly bottom-of-the-barrel even for Terrywads. The only thing worst would be if you had to dodge Carnevil pics or similar horrficness. 0/10, wad can get fucked because maybe we'll never have to see this  shit again (that nearly drove me to use a slur which may tell you something.

 

Spoiler

 

Edited January 20, 2023 by LadyMistDragon

[brick]

Brick | 3 wads | 3 maps

Adventure total | 15 wads | 51 maps

 

HexHub for HEXEN (1996) by Adam Piontek (GZDoom)

According to Adam this is his first wad (and it seems, the only one, at least on the Archives). It's a rare thing, a deathmatch-only map for Hexen. Frankly I thought the concept was simple but clever and could be really fun in DM. There's a shaft with a central tower, stairs that go around the outer walls of the shaft, and many uses of the Hexen "sparkles" to create 3D-like passages. The pieces of the 4th weapon are scattered around and some are hidden. There's plenty of opportunity to duck for cover, whether inside the tower proper or in one of the side openings in the outer wall (or, of course, jump in and hope the ground is not too far). I could be wrong but I felt there was some thought put into it despite the apparent simplicity of the design, and I appreciate that.

Spoiler

 

 

 

Yaggie (2008) by Ruba (GZDoom HMP)

It's hard for me to call it outright bad. It's not very good either, but I feel that's more because it doesn't do much with its concept, not because it does anything particularly heinous. The description makes it clear you're supposed to use the plasma rifle (you could use the shotguns you get from dead enemies, but there's enough plasma ammo that you don't need to), and it's right there at the start. The 4 doors open in strict sequence, each one leads to a switch to open the next, but there are lot of windows everywhere for hitscanners to take potshots at you. The visual themes vary wildly between some of the rooms, but not in a way that I found ugly. The map is extremely short, I cleared it in a couple of minutes.

If you search Ruba on the Archives you find over 60 wads, most released 2006-2008, and most with poor reviews. I'm not sure how this one compares to crop, but the one I did recognize was Killing Adventure, which got a Mockaward. I'm not a fan of this award, mainly because I don't find the "intentionally bad" jokewads funny. I'm really not sure Yaggie is intended to be bad; if it is it fails at being bad enough to be memorable.

Spoiler

 

 

 

Vertigo (1995) by Joshua Gunder (GZDoom)

Joshua seems to have uploaded nothing but multiplayer maps between 1995 and 1996 and then quietly disappeared from the Doom scene. This one's deathmatch-only, though it has a few cacos and a PE (no exit). There's the high walkways you start on, lower dark areas in the center between them, and another lower area circling all the way around. The wild changes in elevation and having to wait for lifts would I suppose create a good DM dynamic, and make the title very fitting. There's not a lot of health but there's a lot of armour, especially outside, and no real heavy weaponry (I think I only saw the chainsaw, shotgun and chaingun) so some of the fights might be a bit more prolonged, especially considering the vast spaces.

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

On 1/15/2023 at 7:20 PM, LadyMistDragon said:

WadSmoosh (2015) by JP LeBreton

I don't pretend to know how popular this tool is but I've certainly heard of it before. This will put all your IWADs into 1.pk3 file as soon as you run the utility that's packaged here. Honestly, it doesn't really make lots of sense when all IWADs show up when you run GZDoom anyway, so I have no idea what other purpose this serves other than to consolidate separate IWAD files under 1 sort of umbrella that technically existed anyway.

I think the most useful feature is the ability to mix resources from different IWADs without having to repackage them with your PWAD (which seems to be a big no-no on the Archives), like having the SSG show up (with its unmodified sprites) in an Ultimate Doom PWAD, or being able to use a mix of Doom I and Doom II textures in the same map. I think the Summer 1994 Doom II "beta" that John Romero released some years ago needed this due to using some Doom I textures. JP's own Master Levels Deluxe also uses a Smooshed IWAD to integrate the Master Level rejects with the official ones into coherent episodes, without him having to provide the official ones. I admit I don't use it myself outside of those few PWADs that need it, but I like JP's Deluxe version enough that I think this alone justifies its existence. I think you're right though that most people are unlikely to use or need it.

Edited February 1, 2023 by brick

[FEDEX]

Hi @brick i post here the link to the wad "yaggie", the other link redirect to "killing adventure", another stuff from the same author.

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/v-z/yaggie

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 02 Day 07

 

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

 

[1] Over_lrd 03 Deathmatch by over_lrd (Chris Elly) (1995)     [1 map]

 

Spoiler

 

Quote

Deathmatch

 

If blandness could be incarnated by a single map , it would be that lost deathmatch one. It's as brown as a chocolate cake, has a symetrical layout, and above all uses the most insipid soundtrack from Doom 2 since it replaces map 03.

 

I fell in a deadly pit filled with a lot of barrels which blew up in UAC

 

Spoiler

 

 

[Clippy]

here is a premiere hapopening now - I will follow it up with links etc

 

 

[Clippy]

Just now, Clippy said:

here is a premiere hapopening now - I will follow it up with links etc

 

 

 

ok so yeah I got a full crew and for the first time @Doomkid

 

felt inspired to give this a whirl ... too bad the maps werent better lol - well it was really that frist one:

 

bludbrf2.wad or BLUDBARF 2 - "Down to the Bile" by Normski https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/a-c/bludbrf2

 

this map was just mean for the sake of mean lol - unending hitscanners and no health and it never ends  its like pulling teeth - the other commentators begged me to stop but @Snaxalotl expressed interest in picking up the mantle some time - I had to give up and try again:

 

so then I did

 

THE ILLNESS by THE ILLNESS https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/g-i/illness

 

I got thru this one and really it wasnt bad - I think I judged it hardly due to the experience from the other map - but nice competent thing - somehow a ghost baron happened how did that happen lol -

 

 

over nothingf really stand out here but still fun hanging out with the gang

 

lets try again another time!

[LadyMistDragon]

Redundancy (2019) by @Forli (Eternity)

 

This megawad is in a bit of quandary. It's not ancient, obscure, and quite bad like Armagedn or Beyond the Hell, neither is it an entry in a fairly-known series like units of /vr/ So I'll just compromise here, and do a few maps each day while I play other wads most likely. 

 

But here's some background to tide ya over. Redundancy was a megawad created for NaNoWadMo by someone I nearly confused with Fernito for a second, and perhaps I shouldn't have. See, there's a lot of copypasting, whole hall......ok, that's just being mean. This is actually shockingly good for a 1-person megawad. Detailing is quite nice in most maps, encounters are overwhelming without being too difficult and overall, this might be fun for a bit. But it does have the Claustrophobia 1024 syndrome in the sheer amount of square rooms presented, and it really starts to become ridiculous after a while. Lovely soundtrack selections though. The essential basic conceit is stated as having 2 of at least one type of key and 2 exits, i forgot earlier or didn't have time.

 

Just a few words on the maps, then we can get out of here.

 

Map 01 - A wood and brown map that's actually a fair bit better than it sounds but that doesn't mean an entire megawad could be sustained on such maps.

 

Map 02 - Which means it's a really good thing when you're immediately plunged into a vined temple, complete with an appropriate track from Golden Sun! The hitscanners at the start are quite a pain in the ass, but can still be handled with some quick action most likely

 

Map 03 - The music choice and general sewer dungeon ambience could've made the best map so far.....however, the constant backtracking from dead ends got quite annoying after a while

 

Map 04 - Not sure what to make of this one. It's a cool tomb with some bloody skulls on altars but that maze in the southeast can just go die.

 

Map 05 - Here we have a map just as vined as maps 2 and 3 but set in an outdoor temple with Hell Knights firing at you from everywhere. This map would probably have been improved by having a few more enemy kinds. Really hope this doesn't become a trend.....

 

 

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

Edited January 17, 2023 by LadyMistDragon

[thelamp]

• thelamp: 3 wads | 3 maps
• total: 10 wads | 13 maps

 

Kether by Nabernizer

Castle of Fear by ProcessingControl 

Noob Project Part 1- military installation by Lupinx-ressurected

 

 

[Walter confetti]

Walter|2 wads|5 maps

 

Mines Remastered by The Solution - Zdoom compatible, Doom 2, DM, 2007, played on zandronum 3.1 with bots

Spoiler

A really neat modern DM map sets in a dark and creepy ice cavern and it's techbase in the middle of it, lots of neat zdoom effects and feels more modern than the year it was released, incredible thinking this map was made almost 16 years ago! But with the good on the visual side of it comes a less stellar gameplay, it's a good map but not that fun. Also i found myself roaming alone in the corridors and having a little opposition by the poor bots in-game, but it makes it job. It could be way more funnier with more and real players.

 

The DOOM Tribute Project by @alando1 (Alan) - Gzdoom, Doom 2, SP, 2016, played with GZDoom 4.10

Spoiler

 

A really well done remake of original doom maps, now I've just played the first half of knee-deep in the dead (get into Command Control before stopping), only thing i didn't fully enjoyed is the boring unskippable cutscene, but for the other stuff is very good and fun to play! It's not Knee-depp in Zdoom, but shows lots of care in the making it.

[LadyMistDragon]

As it turns out, I really didn't have time for anything else. So here is Redundancy, continued!

 

Map 06: A land of wood and square, pretty much. I do like the clutch of Cacodemons when you round corners near the key. The way the last key room was replicated was an irritating ripoff, even if the trap was pretty good.

 

Map 07: I think, on pistol-start, you're supposed to get the Cyberdemon here to infight with the Mancubi and Arachnotrons, but despite the beautiful vine-walled streets, this was also horribly tedious!

 

Map 08: Wood, again, with a stronger library aesthetic. This works out far better though, because each path is actually different and gameplay is plasma-rifle driven to an almost ridiculous extent. If there's a rocket launcher, it's probably fairly well-hidden like many of the secrets in this megawad. One of the more intense bits comes when picking up one of the first accessible keys and having to face down a Cacodemon/Pain Elemental combo at one of the exits. Arch-viles are also generously and intelligently placed that recalls the best parts of Claustrophobia 1024. Maybe my favorite map so far.

 

Map 09: Think an open map with gray marble that recalls Circle of Death without the stark walls and largely Revenants and you have this map down in a nutshell. Honestly, I would say it plays better than the Hell Knight map for some rather self-explanatory reasons. There are also some Imps and Arch-viles just to keep you on your toes. Also the only map where default music doesn't appear to have been changed, but is that really such a bad thing?

Edited January 18, 2023 by LadyMistDragon

[brick]

Brick | 1 wad | 1 map

Adventure total | 16 wads | 52 maps

 

Infraworld - The Hatehammer (2020) by StormCatcher.77 (GZDoom HMP)

 

This is a difficult one for me to judge. Throughout the 3 hours (!) it took me to complete (not counting reloads, of which there were dozens) I alternated between sharp peaks of enjoyment and aggravation. It's certainly one of the most grand adventure maps I've played in a long time, sprawling and beautiful and deadly. The questing aspect with the six keys is presented very neatly and the nonlinearity is great at first.

 

There's no balancing for HNTR, and HMP certainly hurt me plenty. I spent an uncomfortably large amount of time under 50% health, there are many Supercharges but they melt depressingly quickly. Very early on combat does not pull punches, going the wrong way means punching through (not advisable), I found some of the fights a bit mean, but after playing for a while I realized some are just spiteful. Chaingunners and revenants shoot from miles away where you often can't even see them, and hitscanners are on higher ledges where they can shoot you but you can't shoot back (and again, sometimes you can't even see them). Almost everything you do triggers an ambush, usually in two steps, with things teleporting behind and right on top of you when you least expect it. There are many arenas, and you'd think the map is being generous by not locking you in; joke's on you, it teleports a big wave of baddies to rush in from the entrance, so that you don't even have a wall to put your back against. The secret BFG is absolutely essential, not just because of the high enemy count (almost 1000), but because one of the keys is in a pit with a Cyberdemon and nowhere to maneuver, and I can't even imagine how you'd deal with this without it. But I think the biggest problem with the map is that it just goes on for too long, and its greatest strength turns to exhaustion. At one point I got stuck for almost half an hour, not knowing where to go next, not knowing if I was still missing one of the keys; it turned out I missed a teleporter, but the map is so huge missing anything means a lot of backtracking. The automap stops being helpful after a while, because the openness makes it impossible to distinguish explored from just seen through a grating, or to properly retrace steps.

 

But what an adventure this is, between the moments of frustration! Seeing a megastructure across a lake of lava, finding a ledge high above and exploring to find a path to it, hopping from rock to rock (the platforming is usually quite forgiving), hunting for the 20 or so secrets (needless to say, I missed a bunch). The visuals are gorgeous, I'm amazed that this doesn't even use a custom palette, the colours look so much better than vanilla. I was also surprised at the amount of custom flats and patches, the new stuff fits so well that I didn't even realize how much of it there was. Boom specials are used cleverly, the opening almost-cutscene is striking, but other Boom trickery is more subtle later on, which makes it even more effective when you don't notice it (the red key part was a good surprise). Almost the entire bestiary is used (only the Spider is missing) and there's a great variety in combat, outside of the meaner setpieces I found it enjoyable in parts. I think with HNTR balancing, and with just easier navigation in specific parts (there are a couple of spots only accessible through a one-way teleporter and that I had to revisit a dozen times, which got tiresome quickly), it would've been a uniformly enjoyable experience. As it is, I still liked it despite the exhaustion, and certainly found it very memorable, but I'm not in a hurry to go back.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LadyMistDragon]

WO257 #U8!!! (2004) by @Xaser Acheron GZdoom

 

Oh fuck it, I have no time today. So.,...l

 

 

(from yesterday evening)

 

I sit, trying to comprehend what I just played. While obviously an intentionally bad jokewad, much of the concept defies easy explanation. You've got purposely horrible music and the ugliest design you could possibly comprehend a mix of weapons that aren't too bad (assault rifles) with some truly hidious and overblown ones (an arquebus that releases an opaque cloud when fired) along with  ridiculous enemy replacements including key skulls that are basically chaingunners but make the IoS sound when alerted, moving torches, Commander Keens which fire Revenant rockets that appear to be Cacodemon ghosts, zombies that literally resurrect themselves after being shot down, and the most ridiculous misspelled scripts you could possibly imagine. The titualar "worst hub ever" only comprises a small portion of this wad and consists of an incredibly tiny and sharp room. Other locations include an abandoned subway train in the middle of an apocalyptic and hyperactive scrolling red screen, a deep blue map with some Cyberdemons, Masterminds, and the requirement of the 'fly' command for zdoom to proceed admidst the worst wind possible,  some map called "2" which you have to solve an inane puzzle involving the bouncing off of static teleport pads toward the end, a large room with Cyberdemons and spider masterminds where you move really fast, a map which seems to lampon Super Mario Bros and also has a ridiculously broken floating platform.

 

But the last map really takes the cake in its utter badness. A glitchy and insane mishmash of textures, there are HOMS placed everywhere in such a manner that you know every single one was intentional and thought out. Like seriously, this should be as notorious as a Mock 2 level, but since Xaser was a newcomer at this point, it was sort of passed on. The music, featuring some decent rhythm choices amidst inappropriate and badly-tuned instruments is proof of some real talent.

 

But of course, the problem with jokewads is their inability to sustain themselves ultimately and that's a problem "The Worst Hub ever!!" has in spades. The enemy replacements and repetititive, uninteresting, and mental illness inducing drone are just bad, bad. And the hub isn'tbarelyevena fukin thing!!!!!

 

Spoiler

 

[Xaser]

In fairness, the wad title did warn you. :P

[ICID]

17 hours ago, brick said:

Brick | 1 wad | 1 map

Adventure total | 16 wads | 52 maps

 

Infraworld - The Hatehammer (2020) by StormCatcher.77 (GZDoom HMP)

 

 

This is fun for me because the sorta-sequel, "Infraworld - Coma Moonlight", was one of my first ER/iWA reviews (pls ignore all the busted images). I like it a lot more than Hellworld, personally.

[LadyMistDragon]

3 hours ago, Xaser said:

In fairness, the wad title did warn you. :P

You don't remember much from 20 years ago, do you?

[brick]

Brick | 4 wads | 4 maps

Adventure total | 20 wads | 56 maps

 

OnsLaunch (1998) by Simon Howard

This is a DOS-based launcher for Doom II, the most notable thing about it being the author. The GUI is nice, using the same look as the in-game menu, but I don't think it adds much, most of the functionality is already in the id-provided exes, and by 1998 there were already other tools and launchers for the game. Maybe some of the modem-specific functionality would've been nice back then, but I couldn't test any of it and it's obviously moot now.

Spoiler

 

         

 

 

Corridoors of Atrocity (2012?) by Obsidian (GZDoom HNTR)

I'm not sure if the title is a typo or a pun.

A Doom II MAP28 homage by our very own @Obsidian. The time stamp on the archives says 2012 but the text makes it seem like this is an older map. It has the feel of someone's first/early map trying things out, almost more of a pastiche than an homage. The most memorable bit is an almost copy/paste of Spirit World's famous throne room but there are other obvious references: the scrolling wall with enemies hidden through it, the wall sigils you open by shooting, the general texturing, and of course the Arachnotron/Mastermind room. It lacks the scale of the original but still manages to stitch together the various bits reasonably well, I liked the way the raising floor ambushes look, you know something's coming but not necessarily what. The teleport ambushes are also set up in such a way that you hear and know exactly which enemy is coming for you a second before you hear them teleport, not always knowing where they're going to appear. Obsidian would go on to make much better stuff, but as the txt says, it's still an alright map.

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trigger Happy (1995) by ž

A deathmatch-only arena, scored to a MIDI rendition of Eye of the Tiger that I swear goes off key a couple of times. The arena itself is pretty straightforward - it's a square with no cover, you have a clear advantage if you're further up (especially with which weapons are where), so I think it's mostly down to the luck of the spawn. I'd imagine running around fragging friends to the music would be fun for a bit.

Spoiler

 

 

SEDNA 1 (2004) by Paul Corfiatis (GZDoom HNTR)

This is a single Boom map, apparently for a megawad that never got finished, that @pcorf made in 1999 and eventually uploaded in 2004. It is very recognizably Paul's style in some ways, including the use of repeating motifs (that pie-like thing, whose name escapes me and that you can see in the ceiling of two screenshots, is ubiquitous throughout the map), and the layout that slowly opens up in complexity yet remains easy to navigate. Visually there's a weird mishmash of themes (check out those computer screens in the green marble...) but somehow things look odd without clashing too much. The lighting didn't wow me as much as in his later maps but you can see Paul experimenting with various tricks and ways of doing things, especially in some of the secrets (the plasma rifle one, and the fake exit, looked particularly cool in motion). Boom specials didn't seem overly used, but they often add a nice touch, as in the beginning when the shotgun teleports in as you start, or with the deep slime colormap, and of course the hunt for all 6 keys. One of the best features of the map is that each trick or special effect is used only once, this gives the map a very Doom I and especially E1 feel that I really liked. Despite the exit requiring all keys their acquisition proceeds in strict order. There's a slime and lava and very few radsuits, but health is abundant (several Megaspheres on HNTR too), and the treks across damaging floors are usually short so that didn't bother me, they add a bit of bite without threatening to put you in a softlock because you have no more health. Paul claims the map is a challenge, but if it is then he was nice enough to make it very accessible on HNTR, none of the fights are hugely threatening (I think I lost more health to the crushers than anything!). There are many secrets and this was probably my favourite part of the map, they all look quite cool and unique, and finding them was a lot of fun, some are clever or require coming back later but none are unfair. It's not Paul's best map by any means, but it's well done and still bears his style, and I enjoyed the 20 minutes it took to beat it.

Spoiler