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Xenaero

The /newstuff Chronicles #227

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Right, ok i'll just tell you all this right off the bat. Don't expect these reviews to be coming from someone as highly gifted (note bit of sarcasm there) as Ralphis. Now with that out of the way, on with the summary about this week. We got 4 wads. Yes. 4. 3 of which are nice SP levels, the remaining one is a DM level in question. Quite a short week huh? That doesn't mean there aren't wads that will keep you entertained until the next NS Chronicles!

  • Crimson Canyon - J S Graham
    Limit removing source port - SP - 1,550k -(img)(img)(img)(img)
    Now in this week we start off with a real treasure, a gem not seen very often. Crimson Canyon is a 12 level set, with the ever-so-classic gauntlet type "kill all the monsters in a straight line to get to the exit" scenario. This doesn't mean it's a bad thing though. The only things I can find to complain about this level set is that it's quite cramped, leaving little to no room to maneuver whenever you mean say, a Hell Knight or other boss-like monsters, or even a Chaingunner! Despite the ultra-linear path through the cramped levels, I can't complain much about this. The health and ammo may seem much but you'll certainly need it on the higher difficulty levels. The actual architecture used is pretty amazing, and quite detailed. This may contribute to the small amount of space to move around in most levels but it sure makes for a lot of eye candy. Another thing I found a bit boring about this level set is that every time you pick up a key or hit a switch monsters teleport behind you or in front of you or somewhere nearby that you'll notice and/or run into about 5 seconds later. Still, very nice work by Graham and a very nice play.

  • Danarchy Does Doom Drunk - Dan "Danarchy" Woodward
    Skulltag - SP - 26k -(img)
    On a roll here, does this one Skulltag wad by the (in)famous Danarchy keep the ball rolling this week? The answer is yes, and no. Looking at it detail wise it doesn't cut it and looks like something out of 1995, really. However the difficulty is quite challenging and although Dan said that it's probably not possible to beat it without God Mode, I just did. So there. The amusing thing I found in this wad is in the green windowed room with the Cacolanterns outside, you can jump out the windows and there's no way back, unless you use IDCLIP. Fun stuff. Give it a download and see how you fare.

  • Dathzor bit 1 - Jodwin
    Doom2 - DM - 93k -(img)
    You know, I honestly did not expect a DM wad to make it into this week's very small number of wads. Such are miracles? But is this a blessing or a curse in disguise? The answer is............Yes. (Yes to what is what you're wondering right? Ahaha i'm so devious) It's a bit of both actually. I didn't have time to test it out with other people online, however it doesn't look like the kind of interesting DM standard that exists nowadays. The weapon placement is great, although the pedestal that holds the plasma gun does damage you if you stay on it, which calls a major "what" from me, I mean how can a platform just damage you? And what would be the point of doing that anyway? Who would really sit atop a pedestal in the very middle of the arena just waiting to be sniped? Give it a whirl with some friends, it might be great.

  • Kama Sutra - Adolf "Gusta" Vojta , Jakub "_Method_" Razak
    Doom2 - SP - 4,916k -(img)(img)(img)(img)(img)
    Here we are ladies and gentlemen, the wad of the week we've all been waiting for. Despite this edition being a tad late, here is the sparkling diamond in the rough, the treasure of the king, the- Oh all right i'll get to it already. Does this wad live up to the hype that's been circled around? The answer is......Yes! Yes it does! Now where to start. This wad is incredible on so many different levels.

    I'll start with the difficulty, as the text file acclaims this to HR-style difficulty, and indeed it does. At every turn are you subjected to groups of monsters in at least a score or more. This is true on the later levels, but on the beginning levels it'll start out slow with groups of 5 or more. Then it quickly ramps up with at least 5 archviles in one room in the later levels. Truly insane, this would be the next big achievement to beat on Nightmare!

    Next, comes the health and ammo positioning and quantities. I have to say, for a HR-like mapset, this comes very close to the original. Just enough ammo and health to scrape by to the next level if you don't try to kill everything in sight. Usually in a room chock full of monsters all you're given is a box of shells and usually that's all you'll need if you've been doing some ammo conservation. Very good in this respect.

    I'll wrap it up with the architecture. This ranks very high up there in perfecting the detail and gameplay mix. There's just enough detail so it doesn't get in the way of the highly action packed gameplay that awaits in every room. there's also enough scenery eye candy, like caves running about. However some of this you can actually get into, as sometimes, in some places you can jump over barriers and you can either, get stuck, slowly die in an unescapable nukage pit, or are in a void of some kind. Despite that, and a few other problems i've witnessed, this is a absolute must play. Get it. Download it. Now.

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sp! omg dan's map is pretty good for what it took him to make.

also kama sutra is the best megawad i've played, but that's kind of timeline at this point. and the image links for it don't work either.

crimson canyon looks interesting too.

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The weapon placement is great, although the pedestal that holds the plasma gun does damage you if you stay on it, which calls a major "what" from me, I mean how can a platform just damage you? And what would be the point of doing that anyway? Who would really sit atop a pedestal in the very middle of the arena just waiting to be sniped? Give it a whirl with some friends, it might be great.

From this, and the screenshot, should I assume that you tried only one of the three maps in the wad? I'm dissapointed.

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wares 227 o thar it is

eh, i'm not one for HR-style. i'm too lousy.

pretty small week. maybe we'll see something more substantial next... whenever.

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DD_133 said:

The amusing thing I found in this wad is in the green windowed room with the Cacolanterns outside, you can jump out the windows and there's no way back, unless you use IDCLIP.

D'oh! I knew I forgot to do something. I guess it should have been a hint when the cacolanterns started coming through the window. Maybe I'll make an updated version of the wad if enough people like it.

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I thought Crimson Canyon was almost a very good wad indeed. The last two übercramped maps didn't feel like they belonged there at all, while generally the excessive amounts of health and ammo and a few silly traps detracted from the gameplay. Still worth playing overall.

Regarding Kama Sutra, one point DD didn't mention is that there are a great many possible trick-based shortcuts that the authors deliberately allowed, meaning many of the maps can be exited very quickly, if you so choose (and find the trick, and get it to work, obviously).

dethtoll said:

eh, i'm not one for HR-style. i'm too lousy.

Then, like with the original HR, try skill 1. That's designed to be fun, and not at all difficult. Having said that, even on skill 4 the earlier maps don't play as unforgivingly as HR typically does.

dethtoll said:

pretty small week. maybe we'll see something more substantial next... whenever.

Uh, CC+KS = 44 good SP maps - not exactly a small week on their own.

Screenshots are here, BTW, if you don't want to wait until the links are fixed.

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Grazza said:

Uh, CC+KS = 44 good SP maps - not exactly a small week on their own.


eh. nothing i was really looking forward to.

actually, i've been feeling kind of doomed out lately. i need something new to play...

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kristus said:

The screenshots of Kama sutra are named after the panda in Tekken 3


He he, so they are. :)

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the kama sutra screens are there, as kUma sutra.

Way to typo buddy.

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ravage said:

the kama sutra screens are there, as kUma sutra.

Way to typo buddy.


:'(

Grazza: I dileberately (sp?) left that part out for people to discover on their own. :p

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DD_133 said:

:'(

Grazza: I dileberately (sp?) left that part out for people to discover on their own. :p

DD_133 said:

The weapon placement is great, although the pedestal that holds the plasma gun does damage you if you stay on it, which calls a major "what" from me, I mean how can a platform just damage you? And what would be the point of doing that anyway? Who would really sit atop a pedestal in the very middle of the arena just waiting to be sniped? Give it a whirl with some friends, it might be great.

From this, and the screenshot, should I assume that you tried only one of the three maps in the wad? I'm dissapointed.

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insertwackynamehere said:

Once again not reviewed :( It's in /newstuff and everything. What am I missing? Also, it's an upgaded version from last weeks so the idgames Archive hasn't updated the page yet in doomworld.com/idgames for some reason, but the newest one is in the provided link.

Such unreliable reviewers, I say. Vote deathz0r for /newstuff reviewer, for he cares about everyone! (but not your crappy wads)

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insertwackynamehere said:

ftp://archives.3dgamers.com/pub/idgames/deathmatch/skulltag/whqbot1e.zip

Once again not reviewed :( It's in /newstuff and everything. What am I missing? Also, it's an upgaded version from last weeks so the idgames Archive hasn't updated the page yet in doomworld.com/idgames for some reason, but the newest one is in the provided link.


I thought Ralphis covered that last week, guess not. Sorry for the mixup.

Jodwin said:

From this, and the screenshot, should I assume that you tried only one of the three maps in the wad? I'm dissapointed.


Incorrect. I had tried them all actually, yet wasn't able to review the other maps due to major time constraints. I'm terribly sorry. :/

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deathz0r said:

Such unreliable reviewers, I say. Vote deathz0r for /newstuff reviewer, for he cares about everyone! (but not your crappy wads)

You have my vote!

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Incorrect. I had tried them all actually, yet wasn't able to review the other maps due to major time constraints. I'm terribly sorry. :/


Ok, that is understandable, I guess...
But you still could give them a review after, by editing the post, now couldn't you?

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Jodwin said:

But you still could give them a review after, by editing the post, now couldn't you?

No, because this is a news post. Attemtping to edit it as if it were a normal post can have weird effects, and has no impact on the actual news story on the main site.

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DD_133 said:

I had tried them all actually, yet wasn't able to review the other maps due to major time constraints. I'm terribly sorry. :/


Pfft, unlike you I took the initiative to stay up until 2-3 in the morning to complete the reviews of all maps! You aren't a real reviewer you phoney

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I know it's pretty trivial but the first two reviews don't mention that they're for Doom2, although that should be a foregone conclusion, since it seems like everything .wad related is for Doom2.

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deathz0r said:

Such unreliable reviewers, I say. Vote deathz0r for /newstuff reviewer, for he cares about everyone! (but not your crappy wads)


I'll vote for you as soon as you give me the ability to guest review on DMN.

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It didn't replace it because your zip files have two different names.

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