We scream at the new year with a healthy dosage of extremely, excessively miscellaneous Doom WADs. A quick scan over the edition tallies up 12 new releases, 2 updates, and a total of 58 new maps. This is more than enough to suck on for a few days; that is, if you're not jumping back into school, work, or whatever else it is that you do with your life. Don't be afraid to wrap your lips around one of these WADs and suck every bit of phlegm and goodness out of them. I just realized that whatever I'm typing right now is going on Doomworld's front page, so hear this: Mr. Clean is my favorite action hero.
- Blksky
by Cecelia
67kb - ZDoom - Doom 2 -
This WAD will turn your skies into blackness with occasional lightning (and accompanying thunder).
- Decadence
by Hobomaster22
862kb - Doom 2 - SP, Co-op - 1 map -
From what we've seen so far, it looks like this won't be a poor week. This is an extra-high-detail single-player map for Doom 2. It is fairly large, mostly linear, and it plays the "tech base" theme heavily. It has small to medium-sized enemies, tightly-controlled ammo balance, and a small amount of health bonuses. The map isn't terribly difficult if you watch out for the minor monster traps and if you keep dodging fireballs. The true effort in this level went into the detail, which is comparable to the Vrack series by Fredrik whatshisname. But as I've already said, the gameplay is fairly linear, straight-forward, and simplistic. Overall, this is another chewy morsel.
- Decapitation:
Skulltag Teamgame by Mephisto
1,896kb - Skulltag - Doom 2 - Team DM, CTF - 5 maps - -
We all like something new; some exotic new flavor that opens our mind to a wider range of possibilities. This WAD introduces new multiplayer concepts by taking advantage of Skulltag technology. This is a set of four teamplay maps plus one bonus map, running on maps 1 through 4 as well as 32. They are medium to medium-large in size, with a variety of themes. The visual themes covered in this WAD include an open-air tech base, a set of space pads hovering over darkness, an icy cavern, an indescribable street-like setting, and a screwy-light long rectangular room. These maps combine visual detail, gameplay innovation, and free-spirited creativity in one package, which is arguably the goal of any map-maker. It makes use of fun Skulltag gimmicks such as "trampoline" boosters and speed boosters. To ice the already sugary cake, it has some weapon replacements and a set of always-groovy MOD music replacements.
- Dice's
Dimension by Stephen Plumb
19kb - Doom 2 - SP, Co-op - 1 map -
This is a small WAD, consisting of a medium-sized single-player map. It is not terribly difficult, but it can definitely be fun. It's a half indoor, half outdoor setting, with a lot of color. It is a tall map, with a lot of height variation. It's fairly linear in that there is one real path to finish the map, but that path is intertwined; there is a lot of area re-use in the level. The enemies are small to large in size, and there a couple of monster traps, but they're quite minor and not bothersome at all. While on the simple side, this map is very free-spirited, creative, and imaginative, and it shows a lot of potential on the part of the author.
- Lord
Vile by Eddie Wood
343kb - ZDoom - Doom 2 - SP - 1 map -
The best way to describe this is a bizarre, experimental map for ZDoom. It seems that the author is fiddling around with a couple of transformed enemies, health spheres as deadly projectiles, and huge gusts of flame. This package actually contains two WADs; one with the graphics replacements, and one with a very cheap demonstration map. All in all, it's an interesting, but experimental monster replacement WAD that is complete with sounds.
- Hissy the Soul Collector
by DD_133
27kb - Skulltag - Doom 2 - DM - 1 map -
Skulltag seems to be growing in popularity to some degree lately, even if it's only amongst the map-makers. Anyway, this is small deathmatch map. It it generously evil-red themed, with effects such as colored lighting and hovering weapons. A mix of indoor and outdoor, this somewhat-cramped map has several nooks where a player can hide to ambush another player. It provides weapons as powerful as the plasma rifle. It is another drop in our community bucket.
- Assault
Rifle from Halo: Combat Evolved by Luiz Eduardo
81kb - ZDoom - Doom, Doom 2 -
The title is as descriptive as any review could be. This is an automatic weapon that replaces weapon 4, the chaingun. Besides the obvious audio and visual difference, it fires slightly faster than the chaingun, making it a little bit more effective.
- Assault
Rifle from Halo: Combat Evolved by Luiz Eduardo
59kb - ZDoom - Strife -
This is supposedly the same weapon replacement as above, except that this is for Strife.
- Unidoom
DM 3 by Various Authors
1,550kb - Doom 2 - DM - 16 maps - - - - -
I feel like I've done this before. That's because I have; reviewed a Unidoom WAD, that is. And here we are with the 3rd installment of the moderately-popular deathmatch series. This time, we are given sixteen mainstream deathmatch maps. They range in size from small to medium, with one extra large map at the end. The weapon balance, throughout every map, is fairly normal, with BFGs (and sometimes the plasma rifle) placed in a hard-to-get-to location. Most of the maps play with height variations as well, with many stairs, platforms, and a few lifts. There is one dominating visual theme of the WAD: the color "sea blue." While used more liberally in some maps than others, it appears in every map, either in the sky or in texture replacements. For Doom maps, it is definitely an oddball color, and it seems to be what sets this WAD apart from the rest. All in all, this is a collection of quality, run-of-the-mill deathmatch maps.
- The Last Strike File Pack
by Various Authors
1,874kb - ZDoom - Doom 2 -
This is a collection of graphics replacements and sounds for the TLSDM series of deathmatch WADs. There is no real theme to this, as elements are borrowed from various video games, movies, and Doom addons. It is a slurry of miscellany, and cannot be reviewed to any moderate degree of detail. The documentation says that a TLSDM file is required, but this doesn't seem to be the case.
- Fallen Outpost
by Ed O'Bert
81kb - Doom 2 - SP, Co-op, DM - 1 map -
There isn't anything extraordinary to say about this map. It's a medium-large level for Doom 2. It is fairly normal in its difficulty. Its ammo supply is generous, but health can be a bit scarce. It doesn't take on any real theme; it's just a mix of various Doom 2 textures in a relatively flat indoor/outdoor setting. It has an adequate level of visual detail. Its gameplay isn't terribly linear. It can be a little bit puzzling to figure out what to do next at certain times, but this is probably welcome to most people.
- Demons BattleField
by Cacocacodemon
504kb - Doom 2 - DM - 32 maps - - - - - - - - - -
Sometimes a megawad just pops out of nowhere when you least expect it. This is a collection of original deathmatch maps for Doom 2. They are all medium to large in size, relatively low in detail, and otherwise quite normal. Throughout this WAD, we see a variety of color schemes and settings, but no real theme to any map. In this sense, it focuses much more on playability than it does on convincing settings or pretty detail. But the real distinction of this WAD is in the control that is given to the deathmatcher: Depending on the skill level that is chosen, you can filter out the plasma rifle, the plasma and BFG, or leave them both in. These settings are descriptively shown on the in-game skill selection menu. And, just in case you're into that sort of thing, there are a couple of enemies sprinkled throughout every level so that you have something to avoid during deathmatch. This is a genuine effort, to be certain.
Re-releases
Every now and then, we have updated versions of previously-reviewed WADs.
- Chris' Best of Best by Mr. Chris
- The Last Strike Extreme CTF Fixed Version 1.1 by Various Authors
Recommended Comments
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now