Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #061

[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. BRAIN2
2. Lavacity
3. Alkylation
4. Chaingunner's Wad Pack
5. No Remorse

 

Spoiler

1. @Roofi | 6820

2. @LadyMistDragon | 3450

3. @Sena | 2510

4. @Walter confetti | 2290

5. @ICID | 1305

6. @brick | 1120

7. @Endless | 1105

8. @Thelokk | 725

9. @Clippy | 535

10. @smeghammer | 425

 

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

 

And check the Doom wiki for the full list of past adventures.

[wertercatt]

First host selection is by a 10 year old 5th grader. The release date is very unclear though. There's dates from 1997, 1998, and 1999. Looks interesting, apparently their father wrote the text file. There's a very 90s attitude to it including their address and home phone number! I also appreciate the 'in case you don't know how to play a pwad, here's the command' bit in the textfile. I always find it a cute touch. It's also made using DoomCAD, an obscure 16-bit Windows level editor that doomwiki says was the first to implement 3d previews. I'll always respect anyone who managed to make something competent with those premature tools. Searching for other textfiles with the same email reveals that the 5th grader also made BRAIN3 when they were 11, and presumably their father created STRONGHOLD AT TIKAL. All three files were uploaded the same day. I guess they were a father and son mapping duo, which is pretty wholesome. I'll record a playthrough once I get home and can write a proper review.

Edited June 12, 2023 by wertercatt

[Walter confetti]

Yeah, i think to have played BRAIN2 already too...

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 05 Day 18

 

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

 

[1] OCTAGON for DOOM2 by Hagus, Alias Luke Burton (hagus@tpgi.com.au) (1996)

 

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This has undergone many changes until it reached its present form, I think it is now at its peak ...

 

An octagonal-shaped combat zone which is as brown as poop a cookie. The "trees" are brown, the house is brown, the floor is brown and even the sky is brown.  The details are pretty neat , especially the tent-shaped ouvertures.

 

[2] Zwieback by Florian Helmberger (1995)

 

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No story - just have fun!

If you wonder what the silly name stand for: it is german and means 'rusk'. I named my level this way because I was eating this &#%@ the whole weekend.

*PLEASE* send me your comments, even if it's just to tell me how lame I am. All Email will be answered.

 

Zwieback, a lost map made by one of the contributors of Memento Mori I represents one of the exemple where the idea of just adding a custom music enhances the perception I have on the level. You're sent in sort of large sewers and the more than famous Metallica's song "Master of Puppets" plays in the background in order to accompany the bloodshed.

 

The visuals are simplistic here but effective. The dominant brown and dirty green is an overused combo of course but the texturing is consistent for a level released in early 1995. The outdoor area housing the blue key on its pedestal represents my favourite part of the map and that one becomes a battlezone because of the many enemies teleporting in. Some dull narrow corridors darkens the picture but didn't annoy me at least.

 

Zwieback features an easy gameplay and some frantic combats due to the teleporting monsters I mentioned earlier.  The upbeat music of metallica turns these bloody battles into a wild party where fun comes first. I didn't dare getting the megasphere though but I didn't even need it . I really feared of a surprise nasty crusher due to the blood sprites lying around it.

 

At the end, Zwieback is a good portrait of a charming 1990 map. This is easy, fun, visually simple but not ugly and it has a rocking midi ! This is not an accident that Florian made one of my favourite maps in Memento Mori (Map 15).

 

Grade : B+  (15/20)

 

[2] Decap by Zeek Bower (SUDS) (1997)

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A metal base featuring a lot of quirky designs. First of all, that psychedelic statbar gives me hallucinations and distract my eyes from the games. Then, the custom sky is an odd red vortex and finally, what the fuck is that intermission screen. I'm clearly at a party the midi rendition of 2 UNLIMITED - No Limit prove it !

 

Decap is not a hard map but will surprise you with some unconventional traps. The cyberdemon coming from a random lowering sector is my favourite. In another part, you can meet an arch-vile reviving nazis. It doesn't help taking this map seriously.

 

By the way, it's a pretty cool map overall. It's filled with random ideas and this slightly crazy atmosphere adds a touch of personality to the map.

 

Grade : B (13/20)

 

I stop here for today.

[LadyMistDragon]

Doom face -> Man version 2.1 (2005) by Simon "Creamy" Howard @fraggle 

 

This beloved member of the communi-tay from wayback when (the other nickname is an out-of-context reference to some nonsense he once said on the FreeDoom server, y'all can blame Korp for me knowing that in the first place!) made this little replacement, replacing Doomguy's oh-so-handsome mug with something that looks more like a figure. It also replaces the menu icon as well!

 

 

Noob Project Part 2- Courtyard Dash (2006) by Chris Kassap @lupinx-Kassman (GZDoom)

 

Well, everyone has to start somewhere. The "Culture Shock" and TNT 2 Map 30 designer released a total of three maps in 2006 as part of some "noob project," and boy.....some of the traditional striking detail can still be found, even in the bland ass brick opening room (passable little shelves, oooo!). But the mandatory secret of the Megasphere chamber which teleports you into a crimson canyon in a square room surrounded by yellow lava whilst Lost Souls, Cacodemons and Imps fire down at us with absolutely no way to easily gain advantage or escape and the lifts are completely invisible. I love hell but this room is ugly as sin and makes zero sense for anyone not willing to wall-hump. The rest has little to speak of, although the ending's quite flat after everything else. A couple of points when inspiration shows up, but everything is laughably underdeveloped and that lava room needs a bucket of ice water badly 1.5/10

 

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

Video here!

 

 

[wertercatt]

Gregory.W.Percy's BRAIN2 (levels/doom2/a-c/brain2.zip, 1997)
A decently hard level made by a 10 year old, featuring an Icon of Sin that I only disliked. He included most of the weapon roster, and made good use of the enemies including the WolfSS. I've certainly played better levels, but I've played worse ones too. And like I noted previously, the level editor he was using was reportedly very laggy and premature. I'll have to make a note to check out his BRAIN3 sometime. I played it with my standard GZDoom setup again on Ultra-Violence. I'll give it a 6/10, I certainly wasn't making anything this playable when I was 10.
 

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

I've decided that as a bonus from now on, I'll use a script for choosing a random file to pick myself something from Maximum Doom as well. Feel free to count this or not, @ICID

Will Pendleton & Ryan Fysse's HELLYEAH! (maximum_doom/doom2/hellyeah.wad, 1995)

According to Funduke's The Maximum Doom Reference v. 1.0 (docs/misc/maxdoom.zip, 2008) this file can also be found as levels/doom2/deathmatch/g-i/hellyeah.zip on the idgames archive with the modified MAP01 stripped out. I forgot to take screenshots of this one, but it's a 7 level deathmatch wad that only had two levels without any monsters in single player IIRC. No idea as to how they'd play in Deathmatch, as I was nearing the 50 minute mark of playtime so I couldn't boot up Deathmatch Simulator or Zandronum with bots. They're pretty decent in singleplayer though! MAP07 has a fun room where you get to blast a swarm of WolfSS away with the Rocket Launcher which I enjoyed, and they made decent use of the rest of the roster too. I ended up having to turn off Corruption Cards though, it made the levels a bit too hard. I'll give it a 7/10, the modified MAP01 is kinda interesting but you're probably not missing too much playing the legalized version where it's been removed. If you're disappointed about the lack of screenshots though, I recorded the whole play session without commentary, and you can watch it on my YT channel C:

EDIT:
It's actually three maps with 0 monsters in HELLYEAH! I got confused because Corruption Cards spawned some in MAP03. I decided to use Yonatan Donner's Doom Things Analyzer version 1.03 (utils/wad_tools/dmtha103.zip, 1996) to get more information on the two WADs in a readable form. Here's the output of that.

Edited June 13, 2023 by wertercatt

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 05 Day 19

 

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

 

[1] Castle of Doom by Tim Tasto (1997)

 

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Dark and foreboding. Castle of Doom is reasonably large. It took me 30 minutes to get through it on the "Hurt Me Plenty" setting. Beware, there are traps! Be careful of switches and save game often. Doing things in the right order is critical to completing this level. Don't be afraid to leap across voids either. In one part of the level, you must run in order to get across the void and into the next room.

 

Behind this generic title hides a small gem involving lot of new textures. Contrary to the author, I took 16 minutes to beat on UV but I think it suffices to say that this map has content to offer. This is large mazy and menacing gray castle and the unique textures can't be unnoticed between the elegant middle-textures, the metallic wolfenstein-styled walls or the hellish magma shimmering in the darkness. All those custom resources contribute to make me feel more like in a evil dungeon. It has some Deus Vult vibes but I think this statement is way too exagerated. Anyway, Castle of Doom is a real tour de force in terms of visuals and scenery for a map released in early 1997.

 

However, the gameplay disappointed me, especially in the first half part where the author sends you among maze constituted of tight 64 pixels-wide corridors. The second half is way more varied in terms of progression but the lack of challenge makes the adventure a tad boring. The only cyberdemon you"ll meet can't move from its place and you just have to peek-a-boo him until he dies for instance.

 

Overall, Castle of Doom is a feat just for its new set of textures and advances visuals but it's another map from the 90's for the combats and the progression logic.

 

Grade : B+  (15/20)

 

I stop here for today.

[LadyMistDragon]

Demolish! 2.0 (1996) by Adam Shapiro (Zandronum and Eternity)

 

Deathmatch. The first two maps are little to speak of, beyond that they successfully avoiding the sin of having too much open-space. The 3rd map takes things in a somewhat more interesting direction. Crates are in the central courtyard but all the little curves and places in the corner add in some much needed asymmetry, even counting the lined overhangs in one location. Last map is in a mansion of sorts, in areas too narrow to bother really taking screenshots of but there are twisty corridors and in one case, a series of pits over some lower hallways on one occasion. It's of higher-quality than some of the stuff played here and there's no getting around that. The little musical (not to mention SFX) replacements are probably a little more memorable than the visuals. Props to Adam for using the FFIV battle theme in Map 03!

 

5.5/10

 

Spoiler

 

[wertercatt]

Marten Mellberg's Lavacity (levels/doom2/Ports/j-l/lavacity.zip, 2000)

This is a level designed for ZDoomdos 1.17c, with all the jumping and mouselook implied by that statement. The author provides their control setup in the text file as a suggestion, but I decided to continue using the same setup I already had in GZDoom.

Spoiler

I use the following with inverted mouse.

mouse movements   : aim/turn (really accurate)
left mousebutton  : fire
right mousebutton : walk forward
a                 : run
s                 : strafe left
d                 : backpedal
f                 : strafe right
w                 : jump
space             : use, open

These keys gives you full control with the left hand so you can keep the
right hand on the mouse all the time.

Walking with right mouse?? Jumping with W?????
Sounds like a great way to get into a fight with my muscle memory.

As the single review on the old frontend points out, the end switch is one of the hanging GI Joe sprites on a wall, and you can press use on his lips to end the level. Makes for some early queer themes, which may or may not be intended. The level appears to be Martin's first and only contribution to /idgames/, as nothing else comes up when searching for their name or email. It's a decent level, although it did give me quite a bit of trouble due to how much I suck at the game. There's a weird usage of the teleporter flat to signify a set of 4 linedef switches, and I also saw a door that used the outer door texture as the door tracks. Regardless, it is beatable and can be pretty fun. I've been getting pretty lucky so far in the ER/iWA, although I'm sure the worst will come soon now that I've said that. I'll give Lavacity a 5/10 as it feels very middle of the road to me. I took a bit too many screenshots, so you can find them in an imgur album.

 

Life-Saver's LIFE2.ZIP (maximum_doom/doom2/life2.wad, 1995)

For the second time in a row, my random file script has dredged up one of the complete wad+txt combos in Maximum Doom, and it has once again picked the txt of the two. Weird. (edit: The script was filtering for txt files! Fixed.)
Life-Saver, a French Québécois hunter, brings us a recreation of their house. Thankfully, they chose to represent their hunting rifle as the SSG, as you'll have to kill all the enemies including two Mancubi with it. The text file opens with a fancy header giving a true title, but they put 'LIFE2.ZIP' in the title field of the template, so that's what I'll call it in the review.

		      oOoOoOoOoOo LIFE-SAVER oOoOoOoOoOo
			  --Chapter one:  The House--

I ended up having to open the map in SLADE and IDCLIP to finish it, as I was unable to figure out how to open the exit shed and then unable to figure out how to reach the switch for the door. It also has key doors that aren't indicated, a classic sin. All the health in the map is stacked up in the bathroom, while all the ammo is found in the same place you get the SSG. Which means running back inside when your health gets low from trying to fight the Mancubi in the front yard. LIFE2.ZIP is a serviceable map, although it's clearly no MyHouse.pk3 :P The close quarters fight with the closet archvile was a nightmare, fortunately the bathroom with the health is nearby. The text file also has a unique gimmick of having an intentional mojibake encoding error to bleep out a hint which threw me for a loop when Windows 11's notepad tried to interpret it as Chinese. I'll give it a 6/10 since, having read previous ER/iWA threads, it doesn't sound like I've truly hit a level worse than average yet. Here's the screenshots for this one.
I've got another nearly 50m playsession recording for you all, this time with some rudimentary text commentary circa 2009 YouTube tutorials.

 

Edited June 14, 2023 by wertercatt

[LadyMistDragon]

 

DOOM frisbee-rocket graphics (1994) by Chris Pimlott

 

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Changes DOOM rockets into frisbees.

"Hey, that CyberDemon, he's not such a bad guy. He's just misunderstood. He just wants to play frisbee! Why not spread a little joy around Hell? So toss around the disc with a former human. Aim it at an imp and say 'Catch'. Butterfingers."

 

Sorry, that paragraph is the funniest thing and particularly right at the end :P)

 

Anyways, this is one of those typical kinds of graphical patches being made at the time where basically everyone with a computer was playing Doom and there were thusly also lots of people making custom content that normally would be off being cool or that sort of silliness, smh. The 'serious" hobbyists make this sort of thing now? Not really.

 

 

Fallen District (2022) by @Reinchard (GZ Doom)

 

And....just like the map made by the folks behind Liminal Doom from a few adventures back, here's a map that's probably going to end up in the Newstuff guide at some point. It's not really a map suitable for a short play session when other things call. It's enough to say that the map matches up to the description and things can be quite tricky on UV since standing still even early on will probably lead to one's death. There are some interesting and cool visual choices and I remember the ending really getting nasty. The scale is probably the most impressive thing overall if I were to say the best part 8/10

 

Spoiler

 

Edited June 14, 2023 by LadyMistDragon

[Endless]

On 6/12/2023 at 9:44 AM, wertercatt said:

and presumably their father created STRONGHOLD AT TIKAL. All three files were uploaded the same day. I guess they were a father and son mapping duo, which is pretty wholesome. I'll record a playthrough once I get home and can write a proper review.

I remember playing STRONGHOLD AT TIKAL months ago in one of the previous ERIWA. It was a decent and fun effort that while lacking in polish, showed a lot of 90s charisma. It does seem like these WADs were a father-and-son effort, which just makes it even more charming and wholesome.

 

[Sena]

• 1 WAD | 1 map

Extorta Montra v1 (2012)

 

This one certainly fits the definition of slaughtermap, and while it doesn't come close to approaching the scale of something like Sunder, it is at least challenging and consistently interesting in its approach. Although I think we've collectively reached the stage where any condescension or dismissiveness associated with the term 'slaughtermap' is long gone, it still conjures up a certain image, and the one I usually envision is BFG9000s, archviles, chaingunners, revenants, and an apparent ignorance of the existence of any other weapons or enemies in the game. With that in mind, one point I particularly appreciated this one for was its ability to create demanding setpieces with a wide variety of enemies, and secondarily presenting an effort to use them in different ways, which helped to prevent it from feeling repetitive. The author calls it a "brutal" map, but it gets much easier after the first 50 monsters or so, as it is at this point that the player has very little ammunition or space to move, with the mapper also employing the classic trick of having the player fight hitscanners in far-off corners that I was unable to spot despite spending a good minute patrolling the area trying to spot them. Although it is a level that requires vigilance throughout, I would have to disagree with the author's notion that it "verges on trolling", I've played levels that have given me that impression, and this isn't one of them. For that matter, it is quite restrained compared to many other slaughtermaps, being strategic and using its terrain as its greatest weapon, rather than some Nuts-tier enemy spam. 7/10.

[Endless]

BRAIN2 | Gregory W. Percy | 1997

 

 

Decided to give the preselected WADs a try after reading the first comment, and so far the first entry ain't that bad. A simple 1997 level (although uploaded to /idgames in 1999) with some interesting areas that while lacking a little bit in some well needed polish, especially from the gameplay side of things, still works quite well. The map starts like your typical trashy WAD from the 90s, but the more you progress and pick up a ton of items, you start to realize why the map is called BRAIN, more or less. The final area is a massive lava arena with an Icon of Sin fight that is, quite fun, actually. A little hardcore at some points due to the usage of archviles and lava, and key hunting, but doable and quite fun. Not bad at all. Good job Percy.

 

Lavacity | Marten Mellberg | 2000

 

 

There's like three fucking textures and two flats in this entire shit. A massive yet soulless box that lacks anything worthwhile. What makes it worse is the fact that I have no idea how to properly finish it. It's filled with near impossible jumps that probably only speedrunners can make, and every goddamn time you fall down a cliff you fall into a massive ocean of stupid ass lava that kills you in a few seconds. There's no lifts that I could find or teleports at all. I had to noclip my way out of this shitty boring mess of a blasphemy. It is a sin to make such a suck-ass map in the 2000s. Anyway, 7 out 10.

[wertercatt]

Glad my comment inspired you to check it out and you enjoyed BRAIN2 like I did, @Endless
 

As for Lavacity, it's designed for GZDoom jumping. Like pretty much all maps that require it, they don't just outright say it. I had to use the context clues of the author including a jump button in their recommended controls to deduce that. The jumps are pretty easy to make when you hit the button, I did runups in my playthrough mainly due to unfamiliarity with the mechanics but it worked out for me. Some of the seemingly impossible jumps require pressing switches to raise the slowest rising bridges I've ever seen though, and I only realized there was a bridge triggered by the switch after falling down and seeing the notexture from one raising up.

Edited June 15, 2023 by wertercatt

[Endless]

Alkylation | UltimateLorenzo | 2014

 

 

Alkylation is a 13-map WAD for Doom 2 designed with ZDoom compatibility. It makes use of several modern tricks and replaces the enemies and weapons with new counterparts and skins. The new weapons aren't anything particularly great, they are a plasma-shotgun and a Quake nailgun, so I decided to use Brutal Doom with Dox778 addon. The mapset itself is pretty damn fine and sports some quality level design with fantastical visuals that are, generally, very well realized and follow a consistent thematic. It includes three total episodes; first one is typical tech-base bonanza with new visuals. I quite enjoyed the first levels but I found them to become a little too large the more you progress, and the inclusion of vanilla stock textures with the new modern textures feels like a breakup in a painting. It doesn't go that well and it was a little noticeable in some areas. The second episode goes into a more explorative phase and adds a little bit of spooky horror ala Doom 3. The maps were shorter and slightly more cryptic, inciting navigation. I quite enjoyed that one and the visuals were very lovely to look at. The last episode is more of a hellish-corrupted kind of deal which ends in a big level that's a little too much for me. It was, generally, quite good and fun to play even if at times it showed some things that could have been worked better.

 

The WAD also includes a new variety of monsters alongside the regular demons. Some are pretty cool and fit well with the theme, while others are just ugh to play against, particularly the minotaur with a shield. Piece of shit.

 

It probably is me, but despite having a very consistent quality and uniqueness to it, I just wasn't enjoying it that much. It might be because I don't really like playing GZDoom that much nowadays (and I dislike how vanilla Doom feels in GZDoom, which is why I prefer to use mods) and modern visuals don't really capture me that much as they used to. It could also be the fact that the mapset has a lot of backtracking in some of the levels, which I loathe since they uselessly inflate the playing time to just navigating the same paths you've been before with some slight alterations or none at all.

 

Alkylation is quite good and consistent at most places, and while some of the levels felt lacking and boring to me, I'm pretty sure most doomers out there that enjoy modern-ish sets will surely love this one. I particularly wished it would have expanded more on the style and visuals of the 2nd episode, since I think we already got enough tech-base shit, but, other than that, it was quite a fun 1-hour long experience.

[LadyMistDragon]

Terra Hell (2014) by assm0 (GZDoom)

 

A map that has a function or two broken in modern GZDoom so maybe ZDoom might be best for this? Although it's surprising to see what isn't broken. It's also long enough that I didn't really have enough patience to kill everything. Design is nothing to speak of in the visual sense, lots of dull green and basic underground-type stuff. Eventually, I was in a sort of grand-scale, really tall temple complex but the structure still didn't entirely meld together. Eventually, I got to a point where jumping down seemed the only course of action, so we noclipped to avoid instant death....and seemingly broke a script or two. This isn't even getting into all the frustration of the silly puzzles (grabbing a berserk from the top of a staglatite? Really?) and the incredibly monotonous nature of the combat that starts to reveal itself as one plays more. Add in some stupid joke sounds and a track taken from Hexen and you've got a map that wouldn't be anywhere near as bad if combat made a little more sense 4/10, the opening punching is one thing but repeatedly having to hold off strong monsters with weak weapons gets annoying and the ammo surplus doesn't seem to really include rockets for some reason. And the computer map shooting puzzle is the stupidest thing ever.

 

Spoiler

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Video here!

 

 

[wertercatt]

Working on an Alkylation playthrough. I'm on MAP03 and I can recognize that these are well designed and nicely detailed levels... but they are too hard for me to play enjoyably even on ITYTD and therefore I do not like them. New music is good, the Realm667 monsters are nice picks (except for the Hell Warriors, how dare they attack me while shielded so I can't attack back? Bullshit.)
I'll write a full review once the playthrough is finished.

[Endless]

Chaingunner's wad pack | Chainguner | 2015

 

 

Now here's a lovely beautiful surprise that's right up my alley. Chaingunner's wad pack is 19-map megawad created for limit-removing sourceports launched by a soc alled 17-yo Russian guy. For all intents and purposes, this is the kind of work that I really enjoy and find myself smiling while playing. I don't know if the maps here were previously released, or are part of other projects, since it seems to be a collection without any set thematic, being just a bunch of different levels stitched together. What joins them mostly is that, while using some new textures here and there, they all feel very vanilla-ish and have quite the lovely design that prioritizes speed and compatibility over grandiose sets. Most of the maps are less than three minutes long, and ten for the biggest one probably. In a continuous playthrough, it took me around 1.5 hours finishing the entire set, and I was having quite the fun as I played. Most of the levels are really well made and have simple, Doom 1 reminiscent combat that feels smooth and great to play in a proper retro source port. Wink wink.

 

There's not much to say other than this megawad feels and plays really good, and I can see vanilla lovers finding themselves enjoying these little set pieces that feel like fries in a meal. They are short but exquisite, and while pretty simple in scope, they succeed at complementing their own expectations. A really solid set that's worth checking out. Fun, doomy, vanilla-ish, and lovely. My kind of shit. In a way, it kinda reminds me of Memphis maps. Hmm.

 

Go check it out.

[Chainie]

36 minutes ago, Endless said:

I don't know if the maps here were previously released, or are part of other projects, since it seems to be a collection without any set thematic, being just a bunch of different levels stitched together.

I think all of those levels were previously released on russian doom forums, and i remember making topics for some of levels from the pack on doomworld forums. But none of them have seen release on idgames before i've released them as compilation.
Thanks for the review btw!

[wertercatt]

Still struggling through Alkylation so instead you get a double feature of 'wertercatt Random Maximum Doom WAD Adventures.'

joey cato's J.C. Herhous: DeathMatch Wad (MAXIMUM/DOOM1/HERHOUS.WAD, 1995)

This is a Heretic level. Maximum Doom and /idgames/ both categorize it as a Doom level, but it's for Heretic. It has its text file, but that doesn't help with figuring out what IWAD you're actually meant to load it with.

It's actually not that bad, although you get like four weapons max. I mostly just ran around with the Gauntlets of the Necromancer shredding the Zandronum bots I played it with. The interior is too cramped, you'll just be running in there to restock on Tomes of Power and Ethereal Crossbows/Arrows. The actual fighting takes place in the front and back yards, as this is a classic house recreation. I attempted to take some screenshots with Zandronum, but it doesn't appear to have worked. There's a HOM effect on the love seat and couch, which are mysteriously made of lava? Probably a conversion error with DM2CONV, as this was originally released for Doom 2 as J.C. House: DeathMatch Wad (levels/doom2/deathmatch/j-l/jchouse.zip, 1995) Don't think I'll play on it again, but it was serviceable for my first Heretic WAD review. I'll give it 4/10.

 

Sal Buttiglione & DM2CONV's COOL2.WAD (MAXIMUM/DOOM2/COOL2.WAD, 1994)

 

This is a Doom level lazily converted to Doom 2 by an anonymous user and dumped onto the CD. There's no text file to go with this one, but Funduke's indispensable reference guide helped me source it here. You can find the original version on /idgames/ as levels/doom/a-c/coolwad.zip, but I wouldn't recommend it. This level sucks. There's an optional super slow elevator part with 20 damage nukage that has a single zombieman in it to fuck with UV Maxers which is actually broken and basically a deathtrap unless you GZDoom jump it. There's also a teleporter that takes you to a red key door, I was unable to find the red key and had to GZDoom jump out the window to escape the softlock. It ends with a dual cyberdemon fight that you do not have the space/resources to deal with without IDKFA and IDDQD. Seriously, what did they expect you to kill them with, the SSG? And this is a conversion, you were expected to just regular shotgun them both originally?? I got a chaingun from DM2CONV turning some shotgunners into chaingunners, but that didn't help. 0/10, I would have gotten softlocked twice if I was playing on DSDA-Doom and the last room is basically impossible to deal with legitimately. I don't even blame the conversion, at least it gave me an SSG.

Edited June 16, 2023 by wertercatt : Remove video, it was broken... I'll try and rerecord it.

[brick]

I played Chaingunner's Wad Pack many Adventures ago when it was also part of ICID's 5 rolls, and enjoyed it back then.

 

Brick | 1 wad | 17 maps

 

Cold as Hell: Special Edition (2008) by Jon "JonnyFive" Washburn. 17 SP maps Doom II and GZDoom.

This is probably the best of the story, script-heavy kind of ZDoom wads that I've played. The initial release from 2004 was apparently plagued with bugs, but this re-release ran very cleanly for me. The re-release requires GZDoom and takes advantage of the engine to create some nice aesthetics with reflections, mirrors, flags fluttering in the wind, it must've been quite impressive when it came out and I thought it has aged just fine. It's not the most colourful wad I've played but the limited palette works well with the atmosphere of a cold and abandoned base far in the north. The story is not the most original but it's well told, with a good balance between notes, audio recordings and some environmental storytelling. The first map and the last couple are linear, but the middle section that comprises most of the wad functions like a hub with a series of objectives, and it's fun to piece things together as you try to figure out what's going on and what you need to do to proceed. There are several play modes, I did "Action" so didn't see the bleeding system but there's a reload mechanism and a plethora of new weapons, some very satisfying to use. The gameplay is otherwise very straightforward, kill things, get keys, no secrets and no armour. Combat was for the most part fun and well done, there are some new enemies and several old ones behave slightly different. Unfortunately I thought both combat and story fell short at the end. The last few levels have a succession of boss fights, most can one-shot you and soak a lot of health, and having so many in such quick succession was tiresome. The finale is the worst, it is a mini-boss fight... that you then repeat a dozen times, it might be challenging but it's also incredibly boring. The story also takes a bizarre turn at the end, a couple of key plot points are left dangling, but then a series of ending "slides" follow and they go in a completely unrelated direction, it's a big WTF moment and very little of it makes sense. Despite this weird direction at the end the wad is well worth playing.

Spoiler

 

[DrRock]

THEKURSE by Sean Swanson (Vanilla, 1994) - Doom

played in Zdoom 2.8.1 on Ultra-Violence

Spoiler

A 1994 map, uploaded to the archive in 2005. Like many others from that same year, you can expect some pretty wild texturing/theming and unmarked door usage here in THEKURSE. But unlike many other 94 maps, the variously themed areas don't look all that bad. And unlike many other unmarked doors from that era, the ones here are fairly straightforward to figure out. My only stumbling block in that regard came about in the green marble area, which had me humping just about any inch of wall or decorative object around the room(hint: in the middle of the green torches). But how does it play, you may ask? Surprisingly decent! Enemy formations can keep you on your toes and there are precious few rockets placed in the map(the RL location itself being easy to overlook, also). The author even had the decency to teleport the player back somewhere relevant after clearing an area, cutting out any backtracking. Finally there's a little E1M8 homage at the end with a, for the time, big brawl against many foes. Sean Swanson managed to create a map that is in many aspects a good bit ahead of most of his competition at the time. A pleasant surprise.

 

 

Sorry for the time you're about to lose playing this wad! by Elroy Blom (Vanilla, 1995) - Doom II

played in Zdoom 2.8.1 on Ultra-Violence

Spoiler

This small and rather unremarkable map has some potential for minor disaster coming from some tricky barrel placements and a little puzzle at the end that the author deemed notable enough to warn players about beforehand in the txt file. Said puzzle feels rather novel for the time and is much simpler in solution than one is likely to assume at first. It had me stumped for a good amount of minutes more than I would like to admit. Nothing offensive here.

 

 

Doom-X by Jonathan Stewart (ZDoom*, 2003) - Doom

played in Zdoom 2.8.1 on Ultra-Violence

Spoiler

A quartet of maps for regular ol' Doom, occupying the map slots E1M1-3 and E1M9, with the second map being based off the first level of Nuke Mine. I vaguely remember playing that WAD years ago but not enough to weigh if this in any way better or worse than the original. Right from the very start Jonathan Stewart shows that he has a decent handle on producing some neat visuals and keeps sprinkling in some good looking scenes and rooms throughout this little adventure. Inbetween those setpieces is some standard OG Doom fare to be found, and not always the most interesting of such. Map two in paticular features lots of unnecessary symmetry and superfluous rooms. Things get a lot more interesting in the third and especially the fourth map, which both feel a good deal more imaginative as well as having some more taxing fight scenarios than the first two maps. While by no means attention-grabbing, there are some things to appreciate here for players who enjoy a more vintage style of Doom content.

Interesting aside: The author suggests either ZDoom or ZDoomGL depending on the time of day, for how the current at the time versions of those ports handled lighting. Such problems are practically non-existant with modern flat PC screens but with those bulky monstrosities from around that time period one had to indeed take into account the light conditions of the rooms they were in. I found this to be a good reminder of that, as I feel I already forgot almost alltogether about those struggles from days long past.

 

*According to the author. Any limit removing port should play this just fine since there don't appear to be any Zdoom specific functions used here.

 

FORTRESS 1024 by Paul Corfiatis (Limit Removing Ports, 2006) - Doom II

played in Zdoom 2.8.1 on Ultra-Violence

Spoiler

Paul throws his hat in the 1024x1024 ring to great result. The 50 monsters(on UV) that reside in this charming, gloomy mini-castle will have to be dealth with using almost exclusively low firepower weaponry. Going into any detail on this seems unnecessary for how bite-sized the whole thing is. Very much recommended.

[Endless]

No Remorse | Scorpius | 2019

 

Kinda have a strong case of déjà vu with this one. Feels like I've played it before but I can't quite put my finger on it. Anyway, this is a little single-level WAD for Plutonia designed around a circular base with an increasing and evolving difficulty level. Starting with a simple hit-and-run kind of deal with cyberdemons, and then throwing a variety of demon waves at you. It is pretty simple-looking and doesn't offer much on the visual department, but the gameplay is fun enough to guarantee a few entertaining encounters that can still offer a certain degree of challenge. Not bad but it is too short and simple to my own eyes. Feels like it would do better as a sort of ''intermission'' kinda of map in a mapset.

[LadyMistDragon]

Abandoned Chapel (2003) by Christopher "Udderdude" Emirzian (GZDoom)

 

One might hope that a map released in 2003 that uses ZDoom scripting might try to do some interesting things, but despite changing the music to something that's not just the first map, it ranges somewhere between annoying, repetitive slog and incredibly engaging with a stronger teleporting mechanic to keep things interesting. The visuals are just vanilla Hexen and while there's a couple of interesting locations such as the central room with the pillars and the silver key, the chapel said key unlocks and the final grand hall with the exit portal, it doesn't make for anything too compelling overall. Especially being as progression consists of some rather idiotic and repetitive backtracking where both steel doors for instance don't lead to the same place, but instead, two different towers with groups of enemies on descending stairwell, at the end of which are gargoyles and a switch that will lower the emerald key....back in the room that had the steel key. I said progression was really stupid and now, you can see why. And the enemies that spawn on our return trips didn't help matters at all.

 

Compounding these issues is some rather clumsy enemy placement. There are a few location where lifts or doors will lead us to locations where enemies will attack us from both sides, giving us little room to counter which given the fairly spare amounts of health on higher difficulties, really got annoying. By the time we reached the last room with the Heresiarch after collecting my selected class's (fighter) ultimate weapon, there wasn't really lots of opportunity to use it since teh wizard almost always blocked my shots when I attempted to use it. It's not the worst ending however.

 

It's probably not too clear from what's been written above but this was a sterling example of a map that despite some initial frustration caused by the placement of the #2 slot weapon, actually seemed like a quite-fun excursion with an emphasis on action. Unfortunately, the towers really ground out much of that enjoyment and the moderate obnoxiousness of the areas behind the emerald key doors (don't worry, they both lead to the same place) led to an ending that might've probably been worth it, especially since I was (wisely) playing with a mod. Perhaps that was the reason the Heresiarch's weaknesses seemed to change like some Final Fantasy boss. But who cares 5/10

 

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

 

 

Video 

 

 

Edited June 19, 2023 by LadyMistDragon : add video forgot

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 05 Day 20

 

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

 

[1] D9-2.WAD for DOOM II! by Mal Blackwell (1994)

 

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D9-2! This is a 7 level mini deathmatch episode for Doom2!! This mini jobbie contains the first three levels from the original D9 plus four more for your killing enjoyment! D9-2 will put the fun back in funeral!

 

Well, my day starts with a minisode of DM. I don't consider myself very lucky but D9-2.wad presents refined texture usage for an early Doom 2 wad released in 1994, despite the omnipresent browness. All layouts are symmetrical in their design but also spacious and interconnected. It's really solid stuff in terms of visuals and all the maps remind me a bit of the fourth episode from Ultimate Doom without the green marble.

 

[2] CYRC.WAD by KURANES (1997)

 

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DEATHMACH-Thing Some Circles Fun because there is no corner to hide and save your back.

(Try out: THOS_02.wad, STAIRS.wad, LIFT.wad, RALLE.wad, ASYM.wad, CROSS.wad and all the other Pwads I've created...)

 

Another lost DM map and for the Ultimate Doom this time. It replaces E2M1 and the layout mostly consists to a circular-shaped arena with wall blocks which turn the map into a bunch of curved corridors. The architecture looks advanced, I like it.

 

[3] DiStOrTiOn... by Narfmiestr (2005)

 

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This is a perfect deathmatch level. Designed after Doom ][ level 1, plus a few ideas of my own. this level incorperates convienient size, a modest supply of weapons, and a vast variety of textures to add to the exitment.

This level has 5 main rooms with several secret rooms. I had a group of friends complile their ideas of what would make a great deathmatch level onto a peice of paper, and mixed that with Doom ][ level 1. This level is for doom 1.....

 

Hey guess what ! Another DM map for Ultimate Doom replacing E2M1 !  Well, that one was made in 1994 and just consists to a bunch of flat and ugly rooms. The central fleshy one hosts some ugly tutti-fruttis in... The gameplay seems to be centered on the shotgun since lot of shell boxes lie on the ground.

 

[4] Army of Darkness DOOM Total Conversion LMPs by lot of people (1996)

 

This is just a zip file containing Ultra-violence demos. The purpose of them is just to show how to beat those maps without dying. Here are the comments of the demo recorders about those levels :

 

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Evil Dead        : This is one real easy level. Afterall, it's only a prologue...
Arthur's Castle        : This level is a lot easier than it looks. It all depends on a good
              start and maybe finding some secrets... I didn't get 100&% kills here
              because one monster wouldn't teleport in... 
The Pit            : The hardest level of them all. Maybe because I didn't create it... ;)
              Finding your way through the mazes shoudn't pose much of a problem if
              you keep your eyes open... By all means, preserve ammo if you can.
              I ran out of ammo when facing the last one. I could and would have
              saved some if only I hadn't forgotten about the last skeleton
              captains. I was expecting flying torso's... 
Good Ash vs Bad Ash    : What can I say? If you can't dodge those flaming arrows, you ...
              have to think of something else :)
Necronomicon Ex Mortis    : This was a challenging level... to get all the sound bits into 
              position. I only fired a single shot, just to show Ash is into more
              than just a few punch lines. Hehe ;)
In The Deal        : Here too, knowing the secrets helps a lot. Here too not all monsters
              teleported in. Again, some lost souls got, ergh, lost.
Let's Go        : Given the fact that you'll play this level twice if you find the
              secret level/alternate ending (and didn't save when urged to do so!)
              this level isn't that hard. Just watch your ammo.
Shop S-mart        : One simple map this is. But it's not because you work at S-mart
              that you should go storming through every room. The slow approach
              might work better.
Slept Too Long        : Sleepy eyes or not, that's no excuse for not surviving this easy
              level. Unless, of course, you're DM-ing...

 

[5] Decay-Train by Bloodskull (2005)

 

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The old Train level in my project "Decay"

 

I don't understand why people gave such low grades about this map (1,5 stars out of 5). It's a tiny level which put a great emphasis but detailing and pseudo-realism. You start in a wrecked train among natural landscapes and your goal is to escape. The theme of Bloodskull's entry has some "The Train is approaching" vibes from Kama Sutra. Unfortunately, this level is way too short and lacks in exploration. Indeed, most of the 71 foes teleport at the same place , as if you were in a sort of arena and switch releases a small horde of monsters. The gameplay is punchy at least and I can say I spent 5 minutes of good amusement.

 

In terms of size, it more of less corresponds to a level from Scythe 1.

 

Grade : B (13/20)

 

[6] The Tunnel Complex by Matthew Ferreira (1998)

 

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Not much more than a typical PWAD. If you can find maze, there are deadly traps within. Beware of the switchs you push. One sec- ret is really hard to find. Another clo- ses after you walk through a door (which closes too- to mask the other). The others are in plain view. The hard to find one has a really cool effect in it. Also, can you find the hidden arena?

 

For a 1998 entry, The Tunnel Complex resembles to a lost Ultimate Doom from 1994 and the upbeat jazzy custom midi brings the inonnence of an era in which talented and ambitious mappers haven't existed yet. About the level itself, it's not a horrible one but the barons make it more difficult than it should because they become a permanent threat due to the lack of ammo to defeat them. Or, there is probably everything available but I exited the map with 50% kills and 30% secrets. I don't have the dream to max it but I will if I stumble on this map a second time.

 

So, if I gave an average score to this map, it's mostly because it has a cute cheesy old-school feeling generated by the tune. Except that, it's a mediocre level with oversized empty areas.

 

Grade : C     (10/20)

 

[7] Aegis Computer Station by @Gunsmith (2015)

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"...Something strange occurs on that base. You need to find out, what. Be careful, marine, it can be dangerous." Tiny tech base full of monsters to kill. It's my first map.

 

A tiny gzdoom-compatible first-baby map beatable in less than 5 minutes and hosting less than 30 monsters . Whereas Gunsmith bring decent detailing and some scripting, you're likely to forget this map at the moment you finish it because it has too few content to be worth downloading and the layout is way too boxy and flat to welcome interesting combat scenarios.

 

"Aegis Computer Station" is a respectable newbie's submission but it recalls too much of those outdated levels made at the middle of the 00's. The advantage of the old 90's maps is that the shapes tend to get weirder and more varied, which match more to Doom's mechanics.

 

Grade : C   (9/20)

 

[8] spooky02.WAD, issue 1 by Richard Wiles (1998)

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You need Ultimate Doom to play this. 257 kb when unzipped. A bigger though less detailed map than spooky01. Still very dark, lots of long shadows & images of death etc.

SEND ME YOUR DEMO'S !!!

 

In terms of Ultimate Doom mapping from the 90's,  you have three levels of mapping skills :

 

- 1994 newbies's garbage stuff

- some decent levels which match more or less the Iwad's standards

- and you have Richard Wiles's levels which are majestically detailed and optimized.

 

I played the third opus of spooky series weeks ago and the second one sends you in another gloomy dark E4-themed castle under its iconic orange sky. While the level is mostly dark, you can't ignore all the delicate details about shadows, and that tall cross at the beginning of the map, is just sublime. Contrary to spooky03, I appreciate the roomy layout which contributes to a way more fluid navigation and also less stressful fights which didn't even feel less engaging. However, Richard Wiles manage to keep the pressure with a more than calibrated items balance and monster placements, and without using too much barons in tight spaces.

 

I don't have a lot to say about this level because the level design remain pretty close of the original Ultimate Doom but the visuals and atmosphere belong to what the 90's have the best to offer. No surprise why Richard Wiles figures among the iconic mappers from the doom's prehistory.

 

Grade : A     (17/20)

 

I stop here for today.

[Endless]

Hell on Icannar: Old Nuclear Plant | 129th Visplane | 2013

 

A 2013 single-level WAD with a very 90s-reminscent style and texturing. Very old-school in essence, but plays well enough and has some modern variations added to it. Quite short and simplistic, and could probably be shorter but has some unnecessary time-extending backtracking that, while I don't mind, it is still noticeable and I tend to just go ''ugh''. Keep note backtracking mappers. I know you. I know where you all live. I know your families. I know your faces. ^{I know you.}

FRAG SOUP ][ | Franco Ielapi | 1996

 

I imagine that's a picture of the author. Quite the way to leave your mark in history. This little deatmatch arena is, well, quite unremarkable. Pretty generic and a little too confusing to offer some actual good gameplay. I think the most noticeable thing about this is probably the picture itself. It even quite the eerie quality to it. It also includes some goofy new hurt sounds.

 

DaScott 2 | DaScott | 1995

 

Another short DM arena. This one is marble-themed and has a slightly better layout than the previous one. It allows for a better flow of movement and thus better DM gameplay. It does have way too many items and a rather obtuse positioning. It also includes a few demons in SP mode so there's that. Nothing more to say here. It is just another of a bunch of old and obscure DM levels that lie quietly awaiting for someone to play them. Here, I vini, vidi, vici.

CLASH.WAD | Steen R. Steiniche | 1994

 

Looks like today is the day of 90s DM levels for everyone. This one is another little DM arena with... uh, well, nothing, really. It is pretty basic and generic and doesn't offer much. At least the layout has something going on and the way the rooms are designed means the connect in a good circuit, which is a must for any good DM gameplay you wanna have. Other than that, that is it. Probably another noteworthy thing is the fact that the level is for Doom 1, which is rarer than Doom 2 DM level.

 

VEX1.WAD | Unknown | 1994

 

Well, finally something SP after so many DM arenas, and this one seems to be a little lost forgotten level from 1994 by an unknown author. The WAD file was uploaded to the /idgames archive in 2006 by super_shotgun35@yahoo.com, so perhaps he/she is the original author, but other than that there is not much info, and as a matter of fact it only has one single review. From the title you would assume there's a sequel, but a quick search yields no results, so there's that to add up to the mystery. As for the actual map, it is a medium-sized level for Doom 1, replacing E1M1, and while it may look old, it doesn't look bad at all considering the massive dumpster that was the early 1994 stage of mapping. A lot of it is pretty entertaining and the visuals are quite detailed at some points, even including little abstract pieces of art, and it even as a ''parallel'' theme, with copy-pasted areas of the map with the same layout but different texture themes. The gameplay is a little tight on ammo, quite, actually, but other than that, I had fun with it and the mystery of its creation just adds up to the charm. How many more old, obscure, ancient little gems lie in the oceans of /idgames, I wonder?

[LadyMistDragon]

denial.wad (1995) by Jonatahn Tourtellot (Crispy Doom)

 

ohhhhh buddy....a peak mid 90s map. Lots of rooms and hallways strung together with no clear path forward and incredibly unintuitive to navigate. Starts in something that looks like gray brick but probably reveals itself to being a ruined techbase but has such a nonsensical structure, I just stopped caring. It was clear within 5 minutes that this was about as irremediably garbage as those monotextured boxes but at least those could be finished within 5-10 minutes, though they were admittedly less interesting. Going 30 minutes without finding a single key is normally never a good sign. The stupid crusher with the Supercharge that kills us instantly was the absolute worst. And the Cyberdemon in the little Doom object museum was just the worst. Could I have found the plasma rifle's opening? Do I even care? 3/10

 

 

 

[Walter confetti]

19 hours ago, Endless said:

I imagine that's a picture of the author. Quite the way to leave your mark in history.

Yeah, it's Franco himself, checking his site it's... Interesting: https://web.archive.org/web/19981202170028/http://mars.execulink.com/~ielapi/

The famous quote at the start (i don't remember who said It originally) of the page and the chad Franco gif are pretty bizzarre.

Also, looks like he made Duke Nukem maps as well?

[wertercatt]

2 minutes ago, Walter confetti said:

Yeah, it's Franco himself, checking his site it's... Interesting: https://web.archive.org/web/19981202170028/http://mars.execulink.com/~ielapi/

The famous quote at the start (i don't remember who said It originally) of the page and the chad Franco gif are pretty bizzarre.

Also, looks like he made Duke Nukem maps as well?

Martin Niemöller

[LadyMistDragon]

Blood 'n' Guts Part 2 (1995) by David M. Davila (Crispy Doom)

 

From the dark days of '95 once again comes this rather formless and uncohesive collection of areas with a vaguely similar theme. Thankfully, it's not just lots of passages twisting around each other in such a fashion that navigation becomes impossible (with one exception near the beginning). There's a central hub that links all the different areas, as it happens, but there's nothing interesting, other than some random damaging rooms,  massive mobs of spectres that greet us in pretty much all the darkened mobs, disorganized mobs of other enemies, and gameplay that I'd half-swear Eric Harris took inspiration from with UAC Labs with all the darkened passageways and the ridiculous ammo drought in most locations. That series of caves is the worst thing ever Worst off is getting softlocked in that stupid room with the BFG. 2/10