Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #074

[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. Corrupted Techbase
2. Enemy Stalkers Part 1
3. Beta Labs 2
4. Aloha 4u 2
5. Aboocean

 

Spoiler

The Top 10 (out of 69):

 

1. @Roofi | 8055

2. @LadyMistDragon | 4535

3. @Sena | 2605

4. @Walter confetti | 2510

5. @ICID | 1615

6. @brick | 1600

7. @Endless | 1225

8. @Thelokk | 725

9. @Clippy | 610

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.

[Endless]

Before playing, I was wondering, to those of you few who keep track of the WADs you play, how do you do it? What kind of system you use? I have an Excel spreadsheet with all my WADs, categorized by author, number of levels, difficulty, publishing date, and rankings, but I've come to dread it lol I have over 700 entries and writing a new entry every time a play a random WAD sometimes feels like I spend more time just cataloguing everything than actually playing.

 

In other words, being obsessed with keeping track of everything can be quite tiring.

[ICID]

I don't track anything but I generally have a pretty good memory, if I start playing something that seems familiar I just search Doomworld for "ICID [wad name]" and see if an old review comes up.

Tracking everyone else's scores is enough work for me, thanks!

[LadyMistDragon]

Training Ground of the Mad Overlord -2- (1994) by Bruce A. Bacher (Crispy Doom)

 

Well, guess we've got another turkey and one that's probably been sitting out a month at least! The stupidest shotgun placement that will only become available to you after going up a life to deal with FOUR enemies a shotgun or a chaingun at the very least is best for, nonsensical thematic shifting, and puzzles that would probably be considerably better if they were even remotely intuitive. The teleporter puzzle is like something out of that one Tim J. Ash map but thankfully has only one pinkie that can easily teleport outside the field to menace us there. We'll end up in a hallway with the red key but the sheer guesswork belong in dungeon-drawing in its unapolgetic abtuseness. It only gets worst because after pressing a particular somewhat hidden switch, platforms raised to the point where this hilarious corpses hanging in air effect existed which also made it impossible to progress any further. Does this happen in DOS? Maybe not, but this was awful, with the only points going to that field that kind of looks like a more friendly version of something from E2 1/10

 

 

[Sena]

HAM.wad by Alexander Schützner aka "Killerratte" (2013)

 

This one's pretty good, especially for a first time mapping effort. Its strongest area would have to be its soundtrack, but it doesn't falter in anything it approaches. In that regard, if I wanted to show someone a singular level that captures the feeling of Doom - both in the techno-horror visual theming, and the later approaches to more abstract Hellish architecture, and the responses from the player from the differing gameplay circumstances, I think this would be an appropriate choice. It is a level that doesn't provoke me to say much, perhaps because it does stay true to those classic id ideas that I recognise as just being normal, but in every respect, this is a well-crafted level that includes plenty of concepts in its design and gameplay approach, all of which it accomplishes diligently. 8/10.

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 09 Day 18

 

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

 

[1] Temple by Konrad Bresin (2007)

 

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The Inca civilization flourished in present day Peru from accent times to the 1500's .In the 1500's Spanish conquered the Inca's. Some escaped and made small cities or blended with others. Some time before World War II one such cites discovered. After World War II the U.S. funding was taken out because of the arms race with the U.S.S.R. Once the U.S. funding was taken out the project stopped. During the Kennedy years people from the peace corps put renewed interest into the area, but the scientist keep the land. After the cold war's end the money was finally able to be used. So after fifty years the site was being excavated, but soon after the workers got there they began to disappear. Rumors of Icas still alive spread to the media . So the government wants to know why after so many years they can't find out what it is. So, you take a look and what do you find??? Not Inca's, not Russians, but Imps, demons, barons, and revenants. Your job is to take them out and try to keep the temple safe.

 

Temple is a Doom II level made in 1998 taking place in a serie of large and dark outdoors series, supposed to represent vestiges from the Inca civilisation. As you may expect, the limitations of the engine and of course the low mapping skills result to rather rudimentary visuals. However, I still appreciate the emphasis on large-scale architecture and the small experiments such as water pools with deepwater effect.

 

Such gigantic spaces usually don't marry well with the game's bestiary and the combats prove to be miserable here, not because it's frustrating but most of the enemies can easily be ignored and you've to believe in the might of your fists in case you missed the shotgun like me. This map would probably be a bit fun to beat in Tyson mode as most the monsters used are easily punchable (pinkies, revenants, imps). 

 

In any case, the monsters serve only to entertain us a little, as the exploration aspect is far from brilliant, despite the size of the map. I think this map would have potential if it were more fully developed, not necessarily with monsters, but rather with quests that could take the form of small puzzles, for example, or a scenario that goes beyond the text description or by an atmosphere that would further immerse us, as can be the case in "The Talosian Incident", for example.

 

Grade : D (6/20)

 

[2] Belldandy Doom (Test Edition) by Yukio Ide (Waizu) in Japan (1997)

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A (very) poor Ultimate Doom map using anime sounds I already explored in Year 2 Month 05 Day 31 (9th July 2023). Here's what I wrote about it :

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I know mapping standards were still low in 1997 but this japanese doomer put all efforts to create the most inconsistent and abstract level possible. The layout consists of square rooms and corridors and each of them contains a different texturing. I can't say theme because it's too empty. No thought has been given to the placement of monsters and items. However, the numerous medkits and ammunition make the level extremely easy and therefore tolerable for my sanity. Moreover, the "doors" are clearly marked and the automap helps finding the way. For those reasons, Belldandy Doom is far from being the worst level I've ever played.

 

And I can't review this wad without talking about the sound replacements attached to it. And.... this is something. I find it amusing, stupid and equally disturbing.  I don't have any anime culture and I went to do some research on "Belldandy"after playing the wad. It's a character from the manga " Ah! My Goddess" but the sound wad reminded me more of an obscure hentai because of the questionable female voices. The funny aspect about those things is mostly the lullaby which plays each time you collect an item and the fact the sounds don't play well because of their length and therefore result to an audio mess in game.

 

So, "Belldandy Doom" is a gross contribution , even for the old standards but it's still unoffensive from a gameplay perspective. I want to add a bonus point for the stupid sound mod, which help making the adventure less insipid.

 

I played on Prboom+ in order to find and kill the 160 monsters populating this map. This map has no secret but who cares honestly?

 

The grade I gave seems high compared to the map's "fantastic" visuals, but all in all, there's plenty of ammo and enemies to kill, so it's impossible for me to hate the map.New sounds like this also always bring a little smile to my face even if they sound a bit creepy in this wad.

 

Grade : D+  (7/20)

 

[3] Maze (An unimaginatively named Doom][ Wad!) by Paul Hetherington (1995)

 

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I began creating this level with the intention of making it into a 'maze' like dungeon, but as things progressed other ideas became a little more interesting!! I've done quite a few other levels, but none quite as enjoyable as this one!

I haven't thought of an apt theme for it (answers on the back of a postcard please), but I tried to make each section as interesting and as enjoyable as possible! (What a load of rubbish!) However, I think you'll find the level quite a challenge and make sure you find ALL the secret! You may need it! (Any comments welcome!)

 

Maze doesn't really ressemble to a maze but rather a sort of cramped puzzle-map wannabe containing a certain number of switches and unmarked W1/WR linedefs. It's more annoying than intriguing and I almost ended up thinking the map was broken because you need to press a random wall in order to lower the lift leading to the red key.

 

The visuals and overall texturing aren't great but remain crispy in terms of "good'ol Doom" theme. The watery courtyard concluding the map is reminscient of Doom II's map 03 and represent by far the highlight of the map to me.

 

The level is far from the disaster this uninspired title could have predicted, but I'm really not fond of these puzzles, which always give me the impression that the level is broken.

 

Grade : C-  (8/20)

 

[4] Stoned by Mr. Chris @Reisal (2009)

 

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Here is your standard E2M1ish looking level replacement with a tinge that it's not about the details of the level, but the gameplay. It might look like something from 1997-1998, but it plays well.

 

Stoned is one of the numerous vanilla-compatible stand-alone releases from Mr.Chris which retake some of the aspects of the original E2M1 such as the heavy presence of grey bricks, the hellish decoration which is now a star drawn on the floor and not a cross-shaped gate anymore, or the first appearance of the cacodemon.

 

This map provides a new midi which , coupled with the low lighting, bring a quieter and somewhat more relaxed ambiance. However, the map proves to be more densily packed with monsters and the trap surrounding the red key involving several pinkies and a cacodemon was unexpectedly really nasty. I almost died in, I had less than 10% life left as the pinkies managed to corner me!

 

As a tribute to E2M1, Stoned is a nice one but I still think the level design is less memorable: grey is much more omnipresent and the ambient darkness reinforces this monotony. Rooms are more intersected by doors, which makes it harder to see the map as a whole. The progression is also a little less abstract and eccentric. I think teleporters could have replaced a few doors, but Stoned should be seen as a new map, not a remake afterall.

 

Grade : B-  (12/20)

 

[5] Nebula 95: Nebula Shrine by @lupinx-Kassman//lupinx_Resurrected (2014)

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First entry in a series of small vanilla doom maps in a space adventure built off personal nostalgia. Each entry consists of a two short maps: an introductory monsterless map with a single secret to find before tackling the mission, and the main map itself. I release them in the order they are made, but the difficulty depends on the map. This marble-themed map is one of the harder ones in the series so far. It was based on my map 18 from Odamex Nitro, but the layout (particularly the perimiter around the central shrine), has changed quite a bit for the single player version. It's a sorta free-roaming level in which all weapons are available, if you know where to find them.

 

One of the lesser known works from kassman because Nebular 95 isn't aimed to be a technical marvel but a simple homage to the first decade of the Doom community. Nebula Shrine sends you to a castle made of marble lost in the nebula but the cozy jazzy midi gives the impression of a peaceful stroll through the city in the middle of the night, and the tall structures in this map also contribute to this feeling. 

 

Nebula Shrine acts like a homage to old DM wads like DWANGO series because the whole layout borrows the shape of an arena. The fact you can explore it as you want and climb building also contribute the feeling to walk in a town at night. There is a yellow key which is randomly placed in the map, like a regular item and I'm not even sure it's required to beat the level because I managed to reach the exit by performing some accurate jumps. The way this map is played reminds me of all those "versatile" maps I've downloaded and reviewed for the ER/iwa. The enemies replace the player and the medkits are rare enough to provide a bit of a challenge.

 

Although the map itself is nothing special, lupinx-kassman's artistic choices quickly fuel our sense of nostalgia, lending a certain magic to this wad. The custom statbar you can see in countless random old wads, especially multiplayer-oriented ones and the cheesy custom sounds are not here by accident. The sky is also wonderful  and corresponds to the magical and infinite world of shovelware.

 

Grade : B (14/20)

 

[6] Bobcat Doom2 by The Diskmaster (1998)

 

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Imagine a level which is so broken that only gzdoom can launch it due to subsector issue and is impossible to complete , unless if you manage to do a rocket jump according to one of the idgames comment? "Bobcat Doom2" did it. 

 

According to the text file, the level was made in 1997 so the excuse that you have to use zdoom to be able to jump or rocket jump doesn't hold water. So either this level shows an absolute lack of knowledge of Doom mechanics, or it's a troll. Maybe a bit of both...

 

The level is also so flat and monotextured that it would make any Wolf 3D level look like refined art. It has 16 poor monsters in it, it's so miserable.

 

Objectively, this level has no reason to exist. I give half a point for the strange recoloring of the healing kits in fuschia. It's weird, but it's kind of cute.

 

Grade : F (0,5/20)

 

Got bitten by a cacodemon in Uroboros

 

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[Walter confetti]

Pan.wad by Paolo de Carolis, Nicola Tracanella and Andrea Tracanella- Vanilla Doom 2, SP, 15 maps, 1995, played with DSDA-Doom 0.27.4 and TNT for a change.

Spoiler

 

Second and final part of this short maps episode from 1995, the later maps become more "complex" (especially MAP15) but the experience was still kind of lame, unluckily. All the levels are really short and canm be beaten between 30 seconds and 4 minutes, with MAP08 and MAP15 being the longest with their 6:30 minutes of playtime. Overall, it's very similar of a older episode i played ages ago for Er/IWA, Reekrank, both in visual themes and gimmicks.

A short reviews of map-by-map of the episode here:

 

MAP01: A abstract looking starting map with large rooms, not enough ammo for all the monsters forcing to not kill them and shotgunners only at the end of the map.

MAP02: Another small romp in a marble room with no fun and interesting parts, not even Metallica can save this.

MAP03: A moody wooden structure with some nice puzzle elements.

MAP04: A bizzare looking structure with metal panels, hellish areas and nice concepts like surprise monster closets attacks used here and there. For some reason the stairs leading to the exit doesn't raise up completely, leaving the only to way to exit from this place by noclipping.

MAP05: A ok map sets in a execution place and lots of wood and stairs.

MAP06: Another wooden abstract looking structure with some puzzle based on lifts, cages with green ooze liquids and a MAP12 like platforming section.

MAP07: A nice map with decent looking structures sets in a canyon, mining shaft and.. sewers filled with blue carpet floors and falls of COMPBLUE? That's odd af. Overall, just a ok map like the previous ones. "Master of Puppets" usage here it's nice, too bad it abruptly ends like in the previous maps. Why using long tracks for such small maps, over the fact that they sounds cool?

MAP08: A overall not bad map, with a lovely bridge in a metal "artificial" outdoor area, a nice stairs and a overall weird "backrooms" feel... Also, the "Wherever i may roam" midi fits very well with this map!

MAP09: A weird looking hell map with some lovely lighting work and maze-y shaft tunnels.

MAP10: A simple looking wooden structure set in a maze-like house that uses advantage of fake-3D environment like in MAP15. Not bad. Also, from this map, metallica are replaced by stock music. Luckilly, the TNT music helped me in this journey with their neat tracks. Thanks guys.

MAP11: Boy, i even forgotten what this map looked like when i was writing this, so this will make you think how good it was. Guess what beloved theme i found every bloody time in any adventures i participate? That's right, mazes! And not a particularly striking one. Also, i finished this thing in 30 seconds by complete accident.

MAP12: A much better visually and thematically looking map from the previous level sets in this toxic seashore where normal water damages you like it's Pandemonium or some shit. There's a lot of toxic liquids here, but the buildings and the canyon design are cool.

MAP13: A boring "backrooms" looking map with a sort of parking in it. Find the blue key and escape this place. Meh.

MAP14: Another weird techbase screwed up by hell influences map with some nice design choices (especially the exit room) and bizarre looking hellish room filled with demon heads walls and rusty crates. It was cool after all.

MAP15: A grand finale map sets in a BROWNHUG structure that makes me think of Ultimate Doom, all filled by water and chaingunners at the start. Some lovely designed rooms and sewer shafts, overall a fun map with a tricky teleportation hub. Good ending.

[LadyMistDragon]

Pitfalls (2011) by C30N9 (Crispy Doom)

 

A Plutonia map with "no homages" that got cut from Plutonia Revisited....because they already had enough quality maps or some nonsense, I suppose, because this is actually quite good! There's not tons of spare ammo but there's just enough for basically everyone so long as we don't waste too much.

 

The start is admittedly quite weird though and feels like someone's first map. Teleporting through a series of hallways with windows and monster blocking lines until we reach a switch which lowers the ledges and a wall back at the beginning from whence 2 Revenants on a far ledge and a Mancubus on our level can be seen.

 

Not long after this, we enter into a large central courtyard with lots of rock ledges and several Revenants on turrets. We fire at the ones we can actually reach and mostly avoid the rest.

 

From here, there's quite a few teleporter ambushes that probably have monster sizes slightly larger than Plutonia but still aren't up to the scale of Plutonia 2. Verticality and distance are used quite well to make us have to plan an approach out. Teleport ambushes are often unleashed quite close by, although escape is kind of easy and perhaps more activated at a distance would be better debatably. It's fine, although in one case, Revenants are high enough that consistently shooting them proves perhaps overly difficult. Don't blow rockets on the Cacodemon pair appearing when the blue key's lowered btw. A fairly sizable murder of Revenants will appear when we collect it, though we've got enough plasma for them.

 

Past this is a fake exit where we're basically raised to face a host of chaingunners. The correct strategy's probably to run into the door on the right, then duke it out with the Arch-vile and Revenants behind the curved fence here then run back out, but I'm honestly clueless. Still, one more fake exit later takes us to a courtyard that's not too terribly huge and not really so Plutonian beyond a chaingunner or two on the outer edge. There are Arachnotrons though, not to mention the Mastermind in the central building that we performed pathetically against because we don't necessarily have great reactions. I think it's sort of intended she infight with the enemies above but with all the barriers in the way, that's not really guaranteed. No matter, we can collect the yellow key and exit when she's dead, though not without handling one last cheeky Pain Elemental.

 

The start was quite underdeveloped, and to be honestly, it is kind of a stringy and linear experience that's perhaps not a perfect Plutonian crafted map. However, it plays quite well and doesn't really feel unfair at all almost. Barring the way ambushes can be evaded which is probably more of a good thing than not, this gets a strong recommendation 7.5/10

 

 

 

[Sena]

STEVE JOBS by Alexander Stein (1996)

 

Another level based around the gimmick of creating automap art, which includes the (old, rainbow) Apple logo, a crate maze that works as a computer keyboard - perhaps the only instance of a crate maze I've not been annoyed by - and an iPod, although I wouldn't have recognised the latter item if not for other comments on the archive, all I really saw was a rectangle, and I don't think the use of rectangles exactly makes up part of Apple's brand identity. In any case, the level itself is actually okay, notably difficult as its use of health packs is quite sparse, which means running through it all like an idiot may actually have some consequences. Or at least, it would be described as notably difficult for a level that can be beaten in 3-5 minutes, which is the sort of level that is best enjoyed by running through it at least somewhat carelessly, and when played this way, it's serviceable enough. I had a better time with Ubuntu Doom, though. 6/10.

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 09 Day 19

 

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

 

[1] Diarrhoea by @Ruba (2007)

 

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You have to be careful in this level, you walk on tightropes above a pool of Diarrhoea that smells as bad as Bangkoks main river. If you fall off the tightropes you can EAT SHIT SUCKER!. And oh, some KaKoKa balls await amongst the poo.

 

One of the jokemaps made my Ruba which challenges the player to cross a serie of catwalks without falling. Some flying meatballs will try preventing you from keeping balance. Be careful ! Your appreciation of this map will depend on how you felt about Doom 2 map 24 "The Chasm". The difficulty is more or less the same because contrary to Terry wads for instance, Ruba's submissions are usually fair and actually pretty fun to play.

 

Diarrhoea is a decent joke wad.

 

Grade : C  (10/20)

 

I stop here for today.

 

[LadyMistDragon]

Dimensional Lake (2019) by @Rince-wind (GZ Doom)

 

I feel like this was one of Rince-wind's first maps, and the file says it was made to test scripting. Which isn't to say the guy that named himself after a Terry Pratchett character whose last book made a sly reference to the E1 ending of Doom was necessarily untalented. Far from it, and the techbase here feels more like an Oops! All Techbase outtake than something just riffing off the first part of Doom II. It's not perfect though and for some reason, the door leading to the yellow key basically softlocked, maybe because there was a squashed Hell Knight corpse or maybe shooting one of the central monitors opened the door. Either way, it was kind of stupid.

 

 

 

 

[Sena]

Brown and Red by @Benjogami (2016)

 

Although I'm willing to bet it's one of those maps that's a completely different experience on UV, I had a good time with this one. Some bite-sized slaughter that in a world of Timothy Browns and Ribbikses (Ribbiki?) is inarguably on the easier side, but still involved enough in its enemy placement to keep you engaged. It only contains a total of three fights, all of which seem to demand something different: navigating with minimal space, navigating in a large space as enemies (i.e. a proactive threat, rather than simple architectural design) threaten to occupy it and prevent the player from creating a safety barrier, and the third one just having a lot of enemies all come in at once, which demands target prioritisation, ostensibly, but that feature is secondary to the catharsis from just killing things. It doesn't inspire much in the way of commentary, but it has all the essentials, a thoroughly unpretentious map that adheres to the concept of KISS, and never grows boring or tiresome. 8/10

[LadyMistDragon]

TEMPLE OF HATE (1997) by Todd Williams (Crispy Doom)

 

Well, this is sure a 90s map! That title screen looks ripped from some contemporary metal album, I overrode the fantasy orchestral replacement midi because literally every map 01 needs to have the default D_RUNNIN and the constant demonic whispering of "Join us" just made we wonder if we'd walked into Quake and were being told to "join the zombies." Well, that sounds really lame, but thankfully, this map isn't! There are a few places where lifts could have been properly textured, but otherwise, this is a fairly average run-and-gun map, taking place across a wide variety of locations ranging from temples and ceremony rooms to massive volcanic craters. Don't skip secrets though, because they're essential if you wanna get anywhere close to 100 percent kills. Not like it'll matter too much when we reach the aforementioned crater and have to do some "sigh" blind platforming but that's the worst part of the map. Ok, having a Super Shotgun withheld was rather annoying but it's certainly not like we're gunning down tons of mid-tiers beforehand! The ending comes out of nowhere, though perhaps a touch expected. At least it's overlooking another part of the map. 6.5/10

 

 

 

[Walter confetti]

Beta Labs 2 by Serious_MOod, Chaingunner (aka chaine) and Brain - Boom compatible, Doom, SP, 6 maps, 2017, played with DSDA-Doom 0.27.4

Spoiler

 

A mini episode for Doom inspired by Alpha Doom assets and levels and i saw some tributing in some rooms (or even layout flow for E1M2) of episode 1 or 2 maps, lots of detailing and overall a really good and fun experience of the 3 maps i played so far, unluckily i don't know who made what maps but nonetheless i give a short review of each of them as usual:

 

E1M1 (Entryway): Wait, Entryway was already a thing in Alpha Doom? Luckily (depends of the person) there's not "Running from Evil" blasting in your ears but one of the unused midi made by Bobby Prince for the game and then re-uploaded by Romero in 2007 that replaces the soundtrack for all the maps, the level is a circular flow base that personally i found kinda reminiscent of E2M7 in some areas, plus new areas and a rasing up progression thanks to lifts, stairs and open oval kind rooms with nukage in the middle, not too difficult but the right challenge for E1M1, a good opener overall.

 

E1M2 (Waste Storage): I don't know why, but i say this map was made by chaine, can you confirm? I'm too lazy to check the wiki now lol

Anyway, a smaller and compact map from the type of map that was the previous one, sets in this sewer hideout strongly reminiscent of E1M3 meets that room level in Alpha 0.2 (this one), this map gave me more feel of E1M1 for difficulty and size, but i can see why it wasn't chosen for a opener. Not pretty like E1M1 but still have some charming in it. Another fun map.

 

E1M3 (Server Domain): Now things starts to rise up greatly in this large, sprawling techbase more inspired by maps like "Halls of the Damned" and "Computer Station" in more than a way, some rooms have a design inspired by Toxin Refinery and other maps. The level is highly populated with 217 monsters in HMP, cool tricks (especially the red key room sinking into nukage, that's a really neat touch) with the map building and overall, a very fun and good map! Idk what door opens the yellow keycard but it's ok.

 

Just begun E1M4 and doesn't look bad... see you next time for the second part!

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 09 Day 20

 

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

 

[1] 2SCHOOL.ZIP by Peter Suijker (1996)

 

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School out!!! For Doom2

 

This map seems to take place in the "Haagse Hogeschool" from Netherlands and as you can expect, the author did a brillant job at creating a faithful reproduction of it under the Doom engine !  Or not...

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This is a classic school map with straight corridors serving as a hub for numerous square rooms. The authors also used stairs leading to teleporters in order create a overlapping floor effect. School wads are the forerunners of some boom wads, which use this effect with silent teleportation lines. The quite heavy usage of grey and computer textures more or less subtly indicates that it is a science school. However, guns matter more than science here and students had been replaced by monsters without intelligence.

 

Peter also added some cheesy custom sounds. Some are speech from movies. You are now congralutated by "Good job commander." each time you get a weapon or your hear a female voice saying "I know it's hard for you." each time you activate a lift.

 

Incredibly ugly and unchallenging map, but knowing that I'm quite fond of this kind of map, I enjoyed exploring it.

 

Grade : C (9/20)

 

I ended up being bitten to death by a Demon after getting perpetually lost and stuck by trees in GROVE

 

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[LadyMistDragon]

I originally got this map but decided that it was in seriously bad taste (a random porn wad that takes two minutes to finish would actually be better)  so i hit the button, expecting a deathmatch map or something similar and got this.

 

 

Factor X Trilogy (1998) by Phil K (Crispy Doom)

 

 

I think this is a collection of...three maps and perhaps a bit more overtly 90s than a wad that seems to have been released towards the end of '98 and definitely feels geared towards continuous play with the way weapons are placed (you could try to pistol-start it but it would get really tedious really quickly in multiple ways)! The silly sound effects replacements (Cacodemons will now shout 'yabba-dabba-doo' in the voice of Fred Flintstone and former humans shout out 'what's up guys' in Bill Paxton's voice) contrast with some more serious ones, like the overly punchy plasma rifle and the hissing sounds that some of the other enemies emit.

 

What isn't so welcome is the subpar level design. The first map does have this odd bit near the beginning where a section of the wall meets the sky and the stupid brown lit wall is plastered literally everywhere, but combat is pretty nice and progression is fine, despite some blatant randomness in the design, specifically the way hallways twist toward the end, and the tiny forest right at the exit, but even with the stupid SS (that have had their death shouts replaced), it's actually kind of charming.

 

. Things grow steadily worst in the following two maps though, and it's really easy to skip over an otherwise in-the-open BFG, not like we really need it admittedly but still.

 

The last map proves to be an absolute nadir as we crisscross through multiple open areas while on the way to pick up keys. For no reason at all, the last key (red) is set back from the ledge it's located on. Naturally, I didn't finish.

 

Despite the presence of occasional good ideas (the dungeon at the beginning of Map 02, the slaughter fight toward the end of Map 03), the other maps lack the charm of the first and feel like ever-so-much shit throwing. Why put a random maze in the map, especially when going forward is literally how to progress? This is just bad, and popular music covers would have even saved this. 3/10

 

 

 

 

 

[Sena]

Death's Garden by @volleyvalley (2023)

 

It might seem a bit unambitious by modern standards, but this level is nonetheless refined in all that it sets out to accomplish. It plays a lot like a Doom 1 level, including with its reliance on pinkies who do not produce much of a threat when they can be one-shot with the SSG. Not much to say about it since it is fairly short, there is a segment where shotgunners raised on some platforms have those platforms lowered, which my hoarding tendencies did appreciate, but taken on the whole this makes for a well-crafted single level - not short enough that it feels like it doesn't get the chance to do anything or it would only feel significant as part of a wider package, but still succinct enough that you can breeze through it without too much care. 7/10.

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 09 Day 21

 

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

 

[1] Knee Deep in Phobos by @Sniper109 (2009)

 

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This is a remake of doom1 exclusively for doom2 because doom2 has more content then doom1 that is available. it also brings new,bigger,harder levels that when you play through you will feel the same emotions as the first time you played doom.in a addtion there will be a new boss!I already have 2 new weapons RIFLE and Machinegun! This wad is very similar to Knee Deep in Zdoom

 

Doom just celebrated its 30th birthday and I think it's time to play one of the countless "Doom 1 revisited" kind of projects. That one is boom-compatible and heavily inspired by "Knee Deep in Zdoom". It has 9 levels as the first episode of UD. "Knee Deep in Phobos" also contains some dehacked changes. The plasma gun had been replaced by a rifle which is mightier than the shotgun. Each shot costs 10 cells. The 7th slot is now occupied by an automatic assault rifle which corresponds more or less to a nerfed chaingun. This weapon quickly becomes useless as you can still obtain the chaingun in this wad.

 

As a tribute to the most known episode from Doom series, "Knee Deep in Phobos" uses its soundtrack and its mountainous sky. However, this wad also belongs to the "Doom 1 meets Doom 2" category because Sniper incorporated the bestiary and some of the textures from DOOM2.WAD. It's supposed to make the game harder but I don't think so. I'll elaborate a little later.

 

Strangely enough, it's easy to spot Plutonia influences here and there. This is particularly evident in the outdoor settings, which are more "terrestrial", with brown caverns and rocky landscapes, as well as vegetation-filled passages. Sniper 109 also used Plutonia textures from time to time.

 

Knee Deep in Phobos revisits Doom through new layouts, but the most familiar sections remain recognizable (e.g. the zigzag bridge from E1M1). On the other hand, Sniper brought his own style and I can say the new versions of the maps play less fluidly because the layouts are more blocky and cramped and more interconnected by doors. Moreover, it contains a high dose of trims and borders as Sniper also draws his inspiration from Kdizd. The addition of new details is welcome, but I feel that the work is rather uneven, as some of the outer areas are really empty.

 

Except Map 04 which was built by Zero-X, a mapper I never heard about, Sniper's maps  are really uneventful and the last maps tend to get easier because Sniper has succeeded in creating fewer traps than in the original iwad. Despite the addition of some mid-tiers, the remake of E1M6 is strikingly easier compared to the original. As a result, this wad may seem boring to some, but I don't think so. Nevertheless, don't expect thrilling battles - we're very close to the original Doom. The fourth, which was not created by Sniper, is a bit tougher, as the ammunition balance is much stricter.

 

For some reasons , Sniper didn't mark secrets in his maps. Despite the automap renders 0/0, every map has its secrets, and some are truly gratifying, if not totally over-the-top. As an exemple, you'll be stuck with the pistol for a long time in map 01 if you don't find a secret shotgun behind a secret door. A secret allows you to obtain blue armor, a soulsphere and lots of ammunition in E1M6, which is far too much for a map with only 100 enemies, mainly populated by low-tiers.

 

In conclusion, I don't think that "Knee Deep in Phobos" manages to surpass "Knee Deep in Zdoom" for visuals and "Knee Deep in the Dead" for gameplay and layout construction. However, it remains an enjoyable and easy-to-play tribute. I think the maps could have been more interesting if they'd been a bit more "muscular", but I'll never complain about an easy wad.

 

Grade : B (13/20)

 

[2] STRENGTH.WAD by Joel Lucsy (2005)

 

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Welcome to Training Level 1. You have just arrived at the new training base and have been assigned a light test to see how you fare in battle. If you pass you will continue being tested until you are ready for full combat. This test will NOT be easy, but with a little strength, you should survive.

 

I mostly agree with the only idgames comment written about this map made in 1994. It's pretty decent. Indeed, despite being short and unthemed, STRENGTH contains the bare minimum of a what a classic Doom level should have : a bit of exploration, some little traps to keep on your toes and visuals that are at least a little meticulous, as seen here in the gradations of light. About the combats, shotgunning gang of shotgunners nevet get old so I spent a good time.

 

Nonetheless, this map remains extremely out of date compared with what's available today.

 

Grade : C  (9/20)

 

[3] rapping lyrics for doom part 3 by zach karpinski, better known as mr. corruption (1996)

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rapping sounds for doom and doom 2 songs taken from eazy-e and nwa, and the pharcyde

 

If you're too addicted to rap and want implement it in Doom, it's for you. It replaces few sounds from the games though. You'll probably need part 1 and 2 so but youtube or spotify exist nowadays.

 

I tried to survive in the cavern of Friendly Pain Elemental, with almost no ammo and medkits.

 

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[LadyMistDragon]

Ralph4.wad (1994) by Ralph Evans (Crispy Doom and Zandronum)

 

Set of 8 maps replacing E1 of Doom. The first map also has a music replacement but Ralph didn't bother with the others. Reportedly, it was his sixth collection. The maps themselves are fairly average in the deathmatch sense, fair amounts of open areas, lots of areas given different textures for no discernable reason and layouts which aren't really symmetrical. It's a mixed bag where layout's concerned and these aren't the sort of maps where one will know that sort of thing right away. Technically, there's monsters in single-player mode, to say nothing of the largely unmarked exits, but there's nothing here that would make that worth anyone's time. Still, some maps play kind of decently in deathmatch 3.5/10

 

 

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[Endless]

On 12/12/2023 at 7:20 AM, Roofi said:

Such gigantic spaces usually don't marry well with the game's bestiary and the combats prove to be miserable here, not because it's frustrating but most of the enemies can easily be ignored and you've to believe in the might of your fists in case you missed the shotgun like me. This map would probably be a bit fun to beat in Tyson mode as most the monsters used are easily punchable (pinkies, revenants, imps). 

I played this one some time ago. I liked the open spaces haha not because of the gameplay but it made it feel a little more surreal with the pyramidal architecture and ''plaza'' style. Still, shit WAD, but at least tried something different.

 

GS's Arena | Alain Arrault | 1995

 

 

An simple DM arena for Doom 2 designed in the good ol' days when deathmatch mode was actually more popular than singleplayer mode, at least when it came to number of maps released. This one is a welcoming surprise that tries a lot of creative new venues to DM design, but still has some clear flaws when it comes to balancing. While not a good map in the sense of gameplay, it does look pretty good and packs some nice areas that are quite fun to look at.

 

Bloody Rust 3 | Various | 2020

 

 

Finally! The good stuff. Bloody Rust 3 is a fantastical mini-episode of 6 maps with a bunch of gloriously fun maps designed around the theme of ''rust and gore'' with some really good level design that makes special focus on tight combat and exterior landscape, something I really enjoy. The maps are generally short and fast-paced, self-contained and mostly easy to navigate with straight paths. Some of the key placement can be a little hard to spot at times (especially if you like 'em chunky pixel resolution) but the general design of the maps allow for a very quick playthrough with constant action. Gameplay wise it is a beast. I played on HMP and got my ass kicked multiple times by cleverly placed traps and some gruesome fight in close-quarters, something which I really enjoy, particularly the way some scenarios were designed around creating arena-like areas for you to combat. The atmosphere and mood of the mapset is also top notch, and I love the fact that it has so many exterior landscapes that add up to the outwordly vibe, that skybox in particular is glorious. This is the kind of WAD that deserves a full review which I will do later, but overall, my opinions on it are straight A. My only gripe would be the final fight. The moment I saw that the map was made by @NoReason, I knew this was going to be a full on massacre, on goddamn it was. More than 5,000 monsters holy shit. I am not a slaughter fan, so I lost my patience quickly and despised the gameplay. Not my cup of tea. However, the map, as usual, was tremendously well designed and looked like a monstrous industrial nightmare, bleeding with rusty detail and fantastical architecture. What a fun WAD!

[LadyMistDragon]

BLASTEM (1995) by Bill Spratt (Crispy Doom)

 

Here is the sort of map that's probably best played with as many players as possible but even then, it's a little bit too open for the average DM player's preferences. It looks nice and it's also clear that plenty of effort was put into the strategic efforts but it's simply unworkable for the limited amount of people that play deathmatch these days 3/10

 

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

 

After getting a map I played before and a Cacoward winner (but not one after the other) we then got an SP map (finally) we decided to play with a weapons mod that also came up (before we realized the display didn't work correctly in Doom 1 at least)

 

 

Stone Metal 'N Flesh (2007) by @Walter confetti (Crispy Doom)

 

Made before Walter started almost exclusively participating in community projects, this one's steeped seriously in a fascination and love for the default textures of Doom 1. Combat isn't extraordinary, health is plentiful and ammo perhaps less so, and Walter even takes the opportunity to make a stab or two at Doomcute, using flesh textures mostly. The worst part was probably the blind jump off the ramparts after we get the blue key. There was also a bit too much backtracking. But whatever else I wanted to say, I completely spaced out but you can tell someone steeped in playing old-school Doom was responsible for this. It's better than many maps Walter's made in the modern day, to be quite honest. The bonus open tech map with the anime girls and Cyberdemons was kind of bad though Averages out to 6.5/10

 

 

 

 

 

[Walter confetti]

Thanks for the review!

[ICID]

 

Corrupted Techbase (2014) by Omegalore

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Difficulty: Ultra-Violence}

^{Source Port: GZDoom}

 

My three-word review here is "ambitious, but unpolished". You kinda know what you're in for when you see that your UI now has two rows for keys - an extremely long, backtrack-y GZDoom adventure map (that's actually even longer than you might think, because there's skull keys as well.)

 

These kinds of super long maps can be enjoyable - in fact, when done right they're my personal favorite genre of Doom. But to do them right, you need to make each area of the larger map feel special, either by having an escalating series of memorable linear encounters (as in Foursite or UAC Supply Depot) or by making the map non-linear and letting the player choose from several large setpieces (Anagnorisis.) Combat in Corrupted Techbase doesn't do this - it's all over the place in terms of difficulty and scale, like when you have to battle a room full of cyberdemons and revenants to open up a chamber that has three imps. Most of the combat is more like the latter - fighting small numbers of low-tier monsters in absolutely enormous rooms. It's a huge waste of potential and it keeps any of the beautifully-designed areas from actually being memorable or fun to play, turning them instead into empty scenery you run back and forth across as you try to get to the fun part.

 

Don't get me wrong, though - these areas are beautiful. Where CorTech really excels is in atmosphere - the creepy ambient music and borrowed Doom 3 SFX are well-deployed to make your skin crawl as you watch the base get more and more hellish and broken, piece by piece. It's not exactly a new idea in Doom but it's effectively done - I especially like the use of wall textures on the floor to simulate broken doors, computer panels, etc. Even the architecture's not perfect, though - there's a couple misaligned textures and I got stuck in a wall once.

 

So like I said: ambitious, but unpolished. It's worth a download but I wouldn't necessarily take the whole hour+ required to complete it - just play until you get bored, and then stop.

 

Grade: 6/10

 

 

Enemy Stalkers Part 1 (1999) by Michael Bogert

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Difficulty: Ultra-Violence}

^{Source Port: dsda-doom, complevel 2}

 

Your classic beginner map where square legions of demons line up at the ends of flat mazes waiting for you to BFG them. Notable for being a map designed primarily for co-op, which is why there's duplicates of every weapon. But otherwise utterly forgettable.

 

Grade: 2/10

 

 

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 09 Day 22

 

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

 

 

[1] Scanning Electron Microscope by Paul Corfiatis @pcorf (2007)

 

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A small and easy level for Doom2 containing a Scanning Electron Microscope and some decent fights too. The Microscope is located in a lab down in an underground bunker.

 

If only "SEM" could have been at least a little longer because I started getting addicted to it thanks to the careful work brought on the lighting, the pretty hectic battles against the small hordes of zombies and imps with the SSG and the doomcute computer with its cosy blue chair. This microadventure may be just the thing for a coffee break, but if not, you'll be left wanting more. 

 

SEM also contains a music from 2002ADO, which fit with the ambiance.

 

Grade : C+  (11/20)

 

[2] 8-Bit Sound. I wanted to call it NES Sound or something more accurate like that ... by Gilbonga Gobinga. No, I don't believe it either. (2002)

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Monsters make highly inappropriate video game noises. That's inappropriate as in "unsuitable," by the way. Back when these games were made, Nintendo was editing out anything bearing a remote resemblance to the other kind.

I stole sounds out of various NES games with my loyal band of emulators. This used to have a bunch of Guardian Legend sounds, but I removed them, because there are plenty of more recognizable inappropriately apt sounds for the same things. Indeed, the sounds tend to be more amusing when they're instantly recognizable, and while it's certainly no Lost Word of JenNy, TGL was just a little too obscure for my tastes. Like you care. Well, you must if you actually read all that, I suppose. What's wrong with you?!

 

If you wonder how it sounds like in game, I recorded a one-hour video the last year, just for fun. Anyway, nothing too exotic, if you have some video game culture, you know how 8-bit sounds like.

 

I just didn't have the time to breath in as the enemies Doom Must Fall (Single Player Version) instantly beat me up to death.

 

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[Walter confetti]

Beta Labs 2 by Serious_MOod, Chaingunner (aka @Chainie) and Brain - Boom compatible, Doom, SP, 6 maps, 2017, played with DSDA-Doom 0.27.4

Spoiler

 

Final part of the Beta Labs adventure, and the two last playable maps sure are! Grandious, maze-y and have a sort of epic quest conceptually, but on play perspective how they are?

 

E1M4 (Corrupted Base): a large sprawling techbase drowned in nukage and maze-y design reminds me of a strange mix of... Phobos Lab, Halls of the Damned, Spawning Vats and Mission Impossible from Plutonia? I've got these vibes from this place, the level is large, adventurous and despite some moments in the map are kind of a chore, the almost every new locations present in the map (techbase, hell, brutalist-like structures, pretty well crafted outdoors and even a monorail train!) gives new blood to the experience, wanting me to see more here. Really good map! I liked the usage of Deep into the Code as well for BGM.

But why the two exits?

 

E1M5 (Mouse Holes): sorry, but what a chore this map is. The level is really maze-y in design, and even if this is not a proper maze place, i didn't like it due to my unlikeness to mazes in levels. Over this, the theme is nice (reminded me of early alpha maps with all the gray and silver usage) but i found unacceptable wandering around for 20 minutes searching a way to reach the red keycard (and then getting it by... i don't even know how the platform hosting it lowered, really) and not a great choice to using that unused Bobby track that rips off "Angry Chair" by Alice in Chains aren't a really great choice for this map imo. But after you take the red key, the map can be finished in very short time! Also it's pretty pleasing visually, as all the maps in this mapset are. Just too long and maze-y for my tastes.

 

E1M6 (The End): A small room working as a episode breaker, a computer screen with the authors names is in this place, finally understanding who made what intis episode. Pretty nice concept.

 

Overall, a very good mapset, congrats everybody involved for making it! Despite some places I've been wandering for too much time (especially E1M5), is a really great tribute to what Doom could have been in the original concepts of Tom Hall and the ID team...

[Chainie]

37 minutes ago, Walter confetti said:

But why the two exits?

Iirc one of them is fake exit like one from e2m6

[Walter confetti]

Oh, i see... i thought it was something like that, but didn't checked it.

Btw, another small episode run from the recommended, took a mapset i wanted to play from quite some time, actually!

 

aboocean by Bob Reganess - Vanilla Doom 2, SP, 5 maps, 1996 but uploaded in 2003, played with DSDA-Doom 0.27.4

Spoiler

 

A small episode from 1996 made by one of the favorites of @lupinx-Kassman fame, if you guys have feasted your eyes to the beauty of Culture Shock, this silly little episode (or most specifically the author of this thing) is the one to thanks for that map! Anyway, it's a little experimental map sets in a tropical island in the middle of the titular ocean, beat the cyberdemon that guard the underground sections of this island and discover the secrets behind this mysterious place! Got some strong B.P.R.D. vibes out of this map due to the strong experemintal take on the level and "new" assets taken by editing the stock assets plus new textures taken from... somewhere.

Small map-by-map review, as usual:

 

MAP01: A small island with seagulls, flowers as medikits and zombiemen in shorts. Do the strategy i wrote in the preface and you're ready to go...

MAP02: A 8-bit like square cavern, got some strong Wonder Boy vibes from this for some weird reason, not a groundbreaking map to be honest, is not that good, kinda of disorienting and contains unuseful arrows pointing somewhere and unmarked locked doors. The white "egg" (or whatever is supposed to be that thing) is the barrel graphic replacer, be careful shotting it! Weird and not that good map.

MAP03: A small wooden fortress with a fancy design but not a really intuitive design like the previous map, but it's saved by the cute design and the somewhat fun play.

MAP04: The best map so far, sets in a small village of sorts, i see where the Culture Shock lift mechanics comed out from! The music used there it was used in many other 90s maps as well, including Heroes 2 iirc. Fun and lovely map. The crusher with the red key is the most asshole-ish i've ever witnessed.

MAP05: Final map sets inside... a temple? Another fort? Whatever, a brown rocky structure with a maze (uurrgh...) at the start and then a large outdoor area with waterfalls, a well made brick gazebo, a outpost that you need to reach taking advantage of lifts and map verticality. Good map, this last part reminded me of Roger Ritenour "Earth".

[LadyMistDragon]

And here's some other wads I got yesterday while trying to find a DOOM II SP map to play the mod I got with.

 

The Planet of Hell (2016) by MaleonFemaleSex (not really)

 

Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to play in newer versions of GZDoom because I get the error 'wad tries to define property 'wtf' twice.' So I missed out on a Terrywad. What a tragedy.

 

Brick Death Match: Skin and Heat v 1.1 (2000) by Reviver (Crispy Doom)

 

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This level uses mostly brown textures ( don't worry, it's not ugly.:)) There is a lava pit in the center of the structure. You can use this to damage your enemies if you can shoot him or her in there.

Another feature is a series of teleports. there are eight teleports that allow for quick transportation. They can also be used to cut your opponents off if you can predict thier general movement strategies.

*Important Exit Notice* The exit requires teamwork. Have a player get near the big eye switch(the one in the section with one one of the chainguns.) Have another player get near the headswitch that must operated to get the super shotgun. Player one will flick the large eyeswitch. Player two should open the barrier that blocks off the super shotgun. He or she should an eye switch in a dark corner. This the exit switch.

 

 

Hey, it's a cross-shaped map using Sign of Evil! It's also quite small, which is why it's personally kind of amusing that there are teleports on the sides of each player start. As Reviver (old) says, it actually isn't an ugly map. The carpet yellow lava complements the brick textures used quite well and the supports located every few feet in the hallways also help to give this some extra character. Brown stone lines the aesthetics of this one out. Halls could probably stand to be a little wider though 5.5/10

 

'

Spoiler

 

 

 

Then finally, a DOOM II SP map to play the below mod with

 

Close-Up (2004) by @Xaser (GZ Doom)

 

Xaser is possibly the Doom community's consummate polymath, making a number of well-regarded maps and mods as well as music (the track for E1M1 of Adventures of Square is actually a huge banger, not sure if that's commonly known or anything). This mod was made at an early phase of his career, I think he'd be around 15 or maybe 16 years old if memory serves me right. That would undoubtedly explain the obnoxious exclamations that may or may not have all originated from the same show or movie (they just have that kind of character) that become incredibly grating after a while.

 

The weapons themselves do show quite a bit of creativity. The chainsaw now has a flaming effect that could probably be better but is still cute to see in any case, the shotgun and plasma rifle have effectively changed places regarding ammo availability which does things to the balance that ensure that only a moron would try to play a megawad pistol-start with this, partially due to another reason we'll shortly get to. What's important is that all of these models show quite a bit of creativity.

 

The massive downside of this mod might just be its effectiveness at hitting anything that's higher than you. Monsters have to sort of walk out a ways in order to give you chances to hit them. As one might expect, this will probably cause people to fail and fail horribly in any maps where half of the danger is in the open-ness. While it's certainly possible to take out Barons and Arch-viles with one shot from the flame cannon, the hitbox for all of  these weapons is so narrow in practice that one will just end up dying over and over again.

 

It also appears that there are ranged weapons but ammo for them is kept quite limited. This changes things somewhat but let's just say it's probably best to skip the average Romero Doom II map if you were to plan to use this mod. As it is, it's kind of tough to recommend in part because those voices are really obnoxious and to be honest, the sound effects also grate quite a bit. 4.5/10

 

PS: I saw the last sentence in the text file. I guess the weaknesses were seen :P)

 

Then finally, what we (I've) been waiting for....

 

Marbles (2014) by Sophie Kirschner @meapineapple 

 

A map that I suppose has fairly tight ammo, especially at the beginning, however it's probably otherwise easier than the last Sophie map I played, other than perhaps the limited amount of weapons available. It's quite amusing to me that one can wander down one hallway and end up getting their ass handed to them by an Arch-vile, two Revenants and a couple of shotgunners. Otherwise, it's Sophie's typical display of clean and efficient design, if perhaps lacking the purposeness of some of her stuff. It's still kind of a cramped map, but the Arch-vile running down the hallway if not killed earlier (and why?) once we acquire the red key might be the best part. 6/10

 

 

 

Edited December 19, 2023 by LadyMistDragon

[Sena]

No Chance by Death-Destiny (2008)

 

This one hardly needs any introduction, although it may need a disclaimer - this WAD is actually quite painless so long as you don't play on the one difficulty setting that the author specifically tells you is extremely difficult and likely unfun, and you don't do the aforementioned but on only one life. For that matter, I found it surprisingly easy to get through for modern slaughter, unlike Sunder, SlaughterMAX and surely plenty of other examples I just can't recall at the current moment, there was never really anything resembling a 'combat puzzle', a section I got stuck on for 10 minutes as I had to try several strategies and routes before finding one that worked. Really, its most difficult moments are just surprises, beginner's traps that can mess you up once (particularly with surprise archviles, which after a while I found to be more obnoxious than interesting), but they aren't too difficult to get through once you know they're there, nothing resembling some of the more deranged slaughtermaps that manage to find a way to always put me in range of hitscanners, while also managing to put enough things in my path to ensure that I cannot take them out, nor even hold my ground comfortably. There isn't much exploration on this map, to an extent it feels like one big room, although it doesn't feel necessarily chaotic as some equally open maps do. It's simple in its construction, but it is at least effective within its intended purpose, and although the aforementioned Sunder is more frustrating at times, it also seemed to have a lot more going on. I'd probably classify myself as someone who lies exactly halfway between the two points of casual players and slaughter junkies, and with that in mind, I found it decent enough. 7/10.

[ICID]

 

Beta Labs 2 (2017) by Serious_MOod, Chaingunner, Brain

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Difficulty: Ultra-Violence}

^{Source Port: dsda-doom, complevel 9}

 

I discovered Chaingunner through a previous ER/iWA selection two years ago and quickly devoured a bunch of his other work, including my now-beloved A.L.T. He's one of my favorite mappers and I was so excited to pull a work that he (and many other names of note, like the great RDC) contributed to.

 

Sadly, I really did not care for this. Maybe it's because I've never played any of the Doom alphas, which this was apparently inspired by. In practice, what we've got here are variations on Knee Deep in the Dead maps (nothing outright copied, but rooms clearly designed as homage) - but flatter and more Wolfenstein-y. You can collect treasure items which don't actually seem to do anything (score isn't even tabulated at the end of a level) and monsters have different sprites but essentially identical gameplay. So for example, you get the famous alpha Lost Soul sprites, but they still just charge you like regular Lost Souls instead of having the silent hitscan attack the iD guys apparently thought was a good idea back in the day.

 

But the thing I REALLY hate is the pistol. Technically it's an "assault rifle" here, but mechanically it's just a slightly faster pistol akin to Eviternity, and the three levels I played (out of six) REALLY make you lean on it, slowly taking half a dozen shots to take out even your basic imp. Combined with the health starvation on UV, it makes the levels pretty brutal, but not in an interesting way - just in a slow, plodding, "please give me the fucking chaingun" way. By the time I made it through MAP03 I decided I was done; I simply didn't have fun with any part of this. But I could see how someone could.

 

 

 

Willy_Wad (2001) by Johnny Magnum

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Difficulty: N/A}

^{Source Port: GZDoom}

 

True story: I was going to play the next WAD from the description, but then I accidentally bumped the Random File button out of habit, saw that the sole review for this thing called it "an INSULT", "AN ABOMINATION", and "UACMN.WAD GRADE SHIT", and went "oh man, I gotta try whatever this is." Turns out it's just a pack of sound replacements the uploader recorded himself, so that the monsters say "ouchiieee" when they die and stuff. It's stupid and definitely kinda pointless, but far from the worst thing on /idgames - hell, it's not even in the top 5 worst sound packs I personally have played.

 

Grade: 3/10

 

 

aloha4u2 (2011) by Alamain

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Difficulty: Ultra-Violence}

^{Source Port: dsda-doom, complevel 2}

 

This is actually the fourth version of this map, following "aloha2u", "aloha4u", and "aloha2u2". The name seems to have really struck a chord with Alamain, because prior to this he made the different maps aloha911, aloha 999, aloha 2x, aloha778, aloha808, and aloha_oe. Mele Kalikimaka, I guess.

 

Anyway, this map may have needed one more revision, because it's not very fun. It looks pretty cool, wringing a lot of foreboding scale out of some default brown textures. But you have to do a lot of running between those textures and a lot of waiting for elevators to take you up the scale. The gameplay uses interesting weapon progression - giving you an immediate berserk before anything else, then jumping you straight to the rocket launcher in a room full of arachnotrons - but doesn't build combat around said progression in a particularly interesting way, forcing you to punch room after room of pinkies. Also, despite all the iteration, it still has glitches - specifically a significant number of monsters who spawn unable to move.

 

I like the ambition here but execution matters too.

 

Grade: 3/10