-
Star Wars: Chibi Rebellion v5.0 - LilWhiteMouse
ZDoom Compatible - Solo Play - 17223382 bytes -
Reviewed by: The Ultimate DooMer
(Note: If you play v5.0, you need to extract and run cr_57.wad from v5.1 alongside the main wad or your game might get stopped at some point. Also, if you build the scoped dawnsorrow and you get captured by imperials, you'll need to type "give dawnsorrow" at the console when you recover your gear. Both these issues can be avoided by playing v5.1 instead.)
Every so often a mod comes along that brings something new, original and creative. Enter LWM's current project, a Star Wars TC that mainly draws inspiration from Lego Star Wars and Yoda Stories. You play the role of Jaiyl, a red-haired mechanic whose repair shop was trashed by the Empire, so she joined the Alliance to enact revenge. It takes place across a series of randomly-chosen missions on her icy homeworld; when each mission is complete, you return to the rebel base where you recover health/ammo/shields and accept another mission. The real beauty in this setup is that each of the missions has a fixed final map, but the maps in between are chosen randomly from various pools and are put together in a hub. This also applies to the starting maps (the one before you go to the rebel base for a mission), but there's only 5 of these so they'll start repeating after a while.
The graphics might take some getting used to - all the lifeforms are cartoony and dwarf-like, but after a while they seem kinda cute. The droids, smaller ships and other mechanicals are sprites too, but still look nice and authentic to boot. The sounds are authentic and really add to the immersion of the whole place. The maps themselves are bite-size and contain enough detail to feel appropriate to the setting, and there's some particularly impressive structures and attention to Star Wars detail too.
The gameplay is designed to be pick-up-and-play (each mission can be played from scratch) but also contains RPG elements such as weapon building (via finding plans) and ammo buying (via credits). Difficulty at the start depends on what maps you get, but after a few missions it gets rather easy due to your increasing weapon, ammo and shield stocks. It's fun to play though, and you get to battle all kinds of things from people and wildlife to imperial walkers and AT-STs...even the droids get in on the act. There are also some neat puzzles to solve, the most notable of which is fixing broken machinery. (More info on gameplay here.)
My only major gripe (apart from the difficulty) is the lack of an ending...you can play all 12 missions in one game if you want, but after 7 you'll run out of intermediate hub maps and they'll start repeating (so the effective ending is after 7 missions at present); try to play beyond the 12 and they'll start repeating too.
Overall it's not for everyone, but it's a must for Star Wars fans, and those who like something a bit different will also want to play. An awesome amount of work has gone into this, and the result is a highly immersive and impressive mod that can become addictive once you've gotten used to the way things work. It's also a long-term project that's still in development, so who knows what improvements will come in the future.
-
Temple Grounds - Henri Lehto
Doom 64: The Absolution - Solo Play - 473050 bytes -
Reviewed by: The Ultimate DooMer
Firstly, if you don't have the Doom 64 TC, here's a working link (the doom2.net link is dead). Secondly, you'll need to make a bat file with -warp 24 and -skill x (whichever you normally play on) in the command line, or open a lump editor and rename the map24 entry to map01. (The TC prevents the warp cheat from being used unless you beat map 38...why the author seemed to forget about this and didn't make it map01 is something else.)
A single map, set in a small network of caves with some temple areas too. Plenty of detail and Doomsday eye-candy on offer, this makes the temple bits more atmospheric and impressive, the caves somewhat less so. It's straight into the action with most weapons given to you at the start, and the first big monster isn't too far off. There's a few traps along the way but nothing that difficult, and if it wasn't for the port used it would seem quite ordinary away from the impressive temple detail. You can also get stuck in the blue key enclosure if you time it wrong. If you like Doom 64 or Doomsday visuals then you'll enjoy, otherwise I don't know.
-
uuuhhhtod - TimeOfDeath (Chris Balch)
ZDoom Compatible - Solo Play - 65883 bytes -
Reviewed by: The Ultimate DooMer
A joke wad comprising of one (albeit highly-detailed) room in a sea of blood. Punch the switch, kill the monster that spawns, collect the stuff that spawns after, jump to a megasphere if you need one (you will need them), rinse and repeat.
-
SLUT - a true story - TimeOfDeath (Chris Balch)
ZDoom Compatible - Solo Play - 782186 bytes -
Reviewed by: The Ultimate DooMer
An X-rated remake of a PS2 Half-Life map (even though the adult content comprises of 1 titlepic and 1 winged female sprite that's in some ZD skin packs). Basically she gives you the run-around, followed by the map itself as the room in the screenshot will have you wondering what to do - the puzzle is there, but it appears to be broken...so I ended up looking in WadAuthor and puking script 8 to continue. After that, it seems OK as you work your way round the large impressively detailed halls and rooms towards the ever-predictable HL-style ending. Difficulty depends on your choice of weapon, which determines what mobs you face, but it'll be challenging whichever one you choose (protip: don't try the BFG unless you like big hordes of cybers with not enough ammo). The main thing this map has going for it is the detail, and the unbroken puzzle in a room full of lethal sludge. Definitely worth it if you like your architecture (and a fair bit of effort has gone into it), but probably not if you don't.
-
Hangar 22 Invasion - Philnemba
Skulltag - Invasion - 41607 bytes -
Reviewed by: The Ultimate DooMer
A small invasion map set in a bright and brown base. If you're not familiar with the game mode, you'll get several waves of non-infighting mobs spawning in while you run around collecting health/ammo as they respawn; each wave appears after the previous one is defeated. The 6 waves here are fairly simple, but the last 2 of those (which contain a lot of Skulltag's new mobs) could cause you problems especially if there's hardly any companions and you get cut off from either of the health rooms (you can respawn of course, but you might have trouble getting out). The detail here is simple enough to not get in the way, while not looking altogether bare either. A bit short perhaps (certainly compared to the invasion wads to be found on ST servers nowadays), but fun while it lasts.
-
SLOTH 2009 - TimeOfDeath (Chris Balch)
ZDoom Compatible - Solo Play - 748847 bytes -
Reviewed by: The Ultimate DooMer
A set of 4 maps, 1 of which is a gigantic pyramid shaped test map, and another is an arena shaped press-the-button-to-start-custom-fights map (both need infinite ammo). Which leaves map 03 and 04, both of which are extreme slaughter maps like those you'd expect to find on Drown in Blood coop servers.
The first of these is a symmetrical island map where you kill a horde of zombies, let some tougher mobs out (opening the island up) and watch most of them die while running round then engage in some rocket jumping and negotiate some semi-tricky archie encounters (depending on what you did at the start). Detail isn't on the agenda here, just no-nonsense BFG action.
The second is the kind of large-scale epic you'd find at the back end of Drown in Blood. It's based in the large grassy areas around some skyscrapers and in an arena or two. Everything about this map is huge; the player and the monsters seem like they're in a giant's playground at times. Architecture is grand, and so are the hordes of enemies and supplies of ammo. The rocket jumping and timed shooting range sections can be annoying, but the rest of it is extreme rocket/BFG/infighting slaughter. Definitely worth playing if you like it that way.
-
RJSLOTH - TimeOfDeath (Chris Balch) and Morrison
ZDaemon - SP/Co-op - 1183153 bytes -
Reviewed by: The Ultimate DooMer
Three rocket jumping maps, unusually spread across map 02, 06, 10. They're all very challenging, but here are checkpoints every so often so you don't go back to the start all the time. The second map is a deep pit; the other two are fields of blocks that look impressive from a distance and could easily have been an awesome cityscape with some retexturing. This one is for the hardcore jumpers.
-
Quadruple Threat - The Green Herring, 40oz, Jodwin, Super Jamie
Boom Compatible - Solo Play - 79933 bytes -
Reviewed by: walter confalonieri
This map is based upon a speedmapping session done by the authors in 100 minutes, and joined in this fast action level. Theme is a medieval - hellish place like map21 of Alien Vendetta (in my opinion, this map reminds me that level) and also some desert canyons here and there... however, this map is hard (when I played this the first few times, I always got blasted from the FIRST chaingunners you meet in the starting courtyard, and that made me so pissed off!!!) and you get lots of fancy battle action here.
In fewer words, a good choice for some real challenge!
-
Drip Feed - IORI
Boom Compatible - Solo Play - 675805 bytes -
Reviewed by: The Ultimate DooMer
One large brick/marble hell map. Plenty of nice architecture, but you'll be too busy killing stuff from the start to notice it for a while. The layout has you ping-ponging around a bit, and you might get confused if you move too fast, but you'll be kept on your toes by the population (which sadly includes a bit too many chaingunners). Ammo is tight to start with but opens up, and you'll have more than enough; health is manageable if you don't rush in too often. It has some flaws, but overall it's a good map.
-
Cloven Hoof - Chris Wright
doom2.exe - Solo Play - 57532 bytes
Reviewed by: Super Jamie
Yet another piece of garbage from the infamous Chris Wright. Some people on the /idgames review page actually seemed to enjoy this, so I got my hopes up and gave it a spin. Boy was I disappointed.
This map has more of the usual massive, flat, open spaces and randomly mixed, aimless encounters which Mr. Wright is famous for. He even manages to teleport in an easily-missed Arch Vile which resurrected most of the map on me, running me out of ammo. Great balance there, CJ.
I'm not even going to bother with screenshots, you all know what these pieces of crap look like.
As with all his other maps, skip it.
-
Groovy Doom Guns - Alando1 (Alan)
ZDoom Compatible - n/a - 1952922 bytes -
Reviewed by: Jekyll Grim Payne
What's the first thing you want to see in a weapon mod in order to call it a good weapon mod? I don't know about you, but for me it's the hands. Same hands for all the weapons. As well as same style for all the weapons, though this point is kinda controversial. So, the first thing I'd like to say to you, Alan, and I'm sorry to say this: people will always complain about sprite rips. No matter how good the gameplay of a mod is, people want to see nice and new sprites. Nice and new sprites constitute a big part Zero Tolerance's success.
It's wrong to start with criticism, though, and there are a lot of nice things to say about this mod. I like the blood, the bullet puffs, the colored fullscreen pickup flashes, and also slight screen jitters that create an unusual recoil effect. The explosions are very nice, though the rocket smoke trail behaves kinda strange, not staying right behind the flying rocket.
What else? Well, the set of guns is rather solid. Yet for some reason you start with the Doom pistol instead of its replacement Dispersion Pistol, which you have to pick up yourself from Zombiemen. Which also makes me wonder, why Zombiemen carry Dispersion Pistols around, yet shoot normal hitscan attacks. And, Alan, seriously, you have to find out how to make empty casings fly sideways, not 45 degrees right or left.
The Doom 3: RoE double-barreled shotgun seems and feels out of place: 3d-sprite rip doesn't look right among other guns, as well as the gun itself is not very useful considering the increased power and automatic fire of the shotgun replacement. This, of course, is me nagging. The mod is fun, it's just not especially hot. Play it, if you're not afraid of sprite rips. And the absence of a TITLEPIC.
-
DOOM NG (New Generation DOOM) - Richard Smith Long
ZDoom Compatible - n/a - 5131513 bytes -
Reviewed by: WildWeasel
New Generation Doom (or Engee, as the filename refers to it, and as I shall continue to refer to it) is Richard Smith Long's latest weapon mod. The author seems to be going for the "basic Doom arsenal but enhanced" type of weapon mod, right down to leaving some of the default Doom graphics in. This rather frustrates me, as the extra stuff that's been added really kind of clashes.
The first thing that bugs me: the status bar is only available in normal status bar mode, drawing nothing in fullscreen mode. The status bar code dictates that it be drawn at the center bottom of the screen using Fullscreen Offsets mode, which in this case means that you cannot scale it up to fit the screen, no matter what. Since I run GZDoom at 1280x1024, this is a liability as I can't read the ammo numbers in the right side of the bar. Note to Mr. Long: just because you don't use a setting doesn't mean you shouldn't test with it to make sure nothing's broken!
Annoyance number two: despite the fact that dual pistols are on offer, they do not offer any benefit over a single pistol outside of the double magazine size. They don't even fire faster! What's the bloody point of carrying two pistols if your goal is not to throw a huge wall of lead down range? The double reloading also effectively doubles the reload time, making the dualies even more of a potential safety hazard.
And the third major annoyance: the Armored Imps, which randomly spawn in place of regular imps and do WAY TOO MUCH DAMAGE. Picture this: I'm circle-strafing one of said imps in a tight room of Scythe Map02. I'm a little too close to a wall, but figure I'm safe because I dodged the missile. Well, I'm not safe, because said missile drains my remaining 68% health with its splash damage. What the hell are these guys shooting? Cyberdemon rockets?
On to the rest of the mod. After opting to merely play Doom episode 1 to make things easier on myself, I begin to notice a quirk with the ammo pickups: when you pick up a weapon you already have, not only do you get more reserve ammo, but your magazine is filled as well. This threw off my mental ammo count - I'd gotten used to my dual pistols reloading after twenty shots, but the fact that they didn't threw me for a loop. I tried reloading but found I couldn't - then I noticed I still had ammo left in reserve _and_ my magazine was filled to the brim already. Granted, I'm probably the only one that cares about that sort of thing, but I suppose if you're obsessive-compulsive enough about your weapon reloads, this will drive you Nucking Futs(tm).
Things that might bug other people but don't necessarily bug me: lots of borrowed special effects. Nashgore blood effects are in full force here, as are the barrels from Zero Tolerance (everything but the radioactive health bonuses that spew out of them, really). There are recoil effects, presumably the same ones Vaecrius wrote for Hideous Destructor (and the ones I borrowed for Diaz...hmm), and they're also very, very powerful. Even I had trouble hitting anything with the minigun, given its really strong upward kick.
Further things. The nitrogen gun's idle sound is too loud, and for whatever God-forsaken reason, RSL added +CHEATNOTWEAPON to everything in the damn mod, meaning those of us who only wanted to check out the guns now have to Dumpclasses Weapon at the ZDoom console and manually give every single item. You should not bother keeping cheaters at bay. They will find a way.
Basically, I'm sure this mod's pretty well put together (outside of the various flaws listed above), but I got too annoyed by the majority of it to really bother playing any further. Engee needs to be taken back to the drawing board for some serious fixing.
-
Van Maerlantlyceum - Mark7
doom2.exe - Solo Play - 128319 bytes -
Reviewed by: Super Jamie
The text file within claims this map was made in 1995. I believe it.
It's someone's school, featuring terribly balanced gameplay and "realistic" architecture like classrooms, blackboards and the ever-present 1995 toilets.
I submit a screenshot which I believe adequately parallels the quality of the level. Skip this.
-
The World May Now ! - Michael "Optimus" Kargas
Boom Compatible - Solo Play - 53593 bytes -
Reviewed by: Jekyll Grim Payne
A single level made in one morning, "The World May Now!" is short and simple. You start in a middle of a HUGE stadium which at first looks empty. Then you see a lot of red stars appearing somewhere very far. Yeah, these are Imps' fireballs. There are several hundred Imps and over 800 monsters overall, including some Shotgun Guys and Chainguys positioned on top of several big pillars in the stadium, and some more demons inside a big square building with a big square staircase.
In general, the level is simple, square and boring, but strangely not crappy: there are no misaligned textures, no map errors, and the map is even rather playable and not too hard; it even has some nice looks and a bit of simple lighting work. It's just that it's not really anything interesting or catchy. But hey, the guy made it in one morning.
-
Edgy - Mr. Chris
Boom Compatible - Solo Play - 205680 bytes -
Reviewed by: The Ultimate DooMer
An action packed map 20 replacement. It's broken into 2 clear areas and mostly comprises of green stone, with some brick and wood thrown in too. It all looks fairly good (particularly with dynamic lights) yet without making it look like a limit-removing map (the Boom requirement comes from line types). The gameplay is the talking point here - it's based around a bunch of mass teleports with innocuous triggers (which will catch you out). This works, although it can lead to bottlenecks, and there are too many hitscanners with only limited health to go round. But it's a challenging map nonetheless, and worth it if you like challenges that aren't just slaughter maps.
-
Phobos Massacre - Stormwalker
ZDoom Compatible - Solo Play - 837569 bytes -
Reviewed by: Super Jamie
Phobos Massacre is an Episode 1 replacement in which the author attempts to emulate Romero's infamous Knee Deep In The Dead style. In this, I felt he missed the mark quite badly. However, in an effort to make a fun, cohesive E1 which looks nice, uses the limited shareware resources to create varied new encounters, and plays harder than the original, he has succeeded pretty well.
There is quite a bit of modern finer sector detailing and atmospheric, gradient lighting in amongst older-style plastered-on STARTAN and SLADWALL. Attention to each area varies from room to room, in some places I felt the "classic styling" was just used as an excuse for poor detailing and conversely some places made me appreciate the author's creativity. It's definitely not ugly but more than once you're reminded this isn't exactly Suspended In Dusk.
The gameplay is difficult in parts. Stormwalker says in the text file that this is easy; I'd love to play one of his hard levels! Expect some borderline-mean monster closets and little health. Some of the teleports in the latter half of the episode are almost slaughterous. A bit more variety in the encounters wouldn't have gone astray; repeated close-range Shotgunner traps get boring by E1M5. Good attention has been given to pistol starts, and the secrets are rewardingly well-balanced.
Some of the layouts used are golden; several times I felt any mapper would be envious of the clever loops and re-use of space. There are some nice classic-style inclusions like building stairs and crushers. I felt the author lost inspiration in later half of the levels; they get large and meandering in places. More than once I got lost and wandered aimlessly until I spotted a switch, passage or door I'd previously missed.
True to E1, there are no Cacodemons throughout the maps, and I thought E1M8 was a very nice take on the old penultimate encounter from 1994. The small passages around the "Bruiser Brothers" and the later Rocket Launcher dance actually make the venerable Baron Of Hell enjoyably challenging.
The author has only tested in ZDoom but I ran it just fine in PrBoom+. Some of the monster numbers (if not the sector detailing) will definitely exceed Vanilla limits so I assume this will run in any limit-removing port.
Overall, Phobos Massacre was pretty enjoyable. Whilst it misses the mark as a Romero emulation, it's a good classic episode that can stand on its own two feet. I've picked the above flaws as a reviewer looking for constructive criticism, but as a player I found this well worth the couple of hours it took to get through. Recommended.
-
Nostril Caverns - TimeOfDeath (Chris Balch)
Boom Compatible - Solo Play - 1028356 bytes -
Reviewed by: Super Jamie
An interesting and unique gameplay experiment by our fellow member TimeOfDeath.
This ultra-hard and very long map features color-coordinated rooms of increasing size radiating around a central hub. Each color features one enemy type in increasing numbers as rooms get larger, culminating in a switch and possibly a new weapon type, depending on passage. Once the passages have been defeated, you have a swarm of Archviles and Masterminds to deal with whilst budgeting Invulnerability Spheres. Some passages like Zombiemen are quite easy, some like Revenants and Cyberdemons (!) will test even the best Doomer.
Some BEX work ensures the weapons don't use any ammo so this is all down to player skill. Literally over 9000 enemies await with a completion time of over 4 hours based on the included demos. Luckily, you have a nice, modern death metal style MIDI by ToD himself to keep you company. Pls to be making more musics like this.
This is a curious playable essay into a very different gameplay style but winds up extremely repetitive. I suspect most of the people who are going to play this seriously have already played it in the forum thread; however, if you're a silent achiever with the skill of the ultra-hard players mentioned in the textfile and a day to kill, then give it a spin.
-
Ants of Hell - John Fitzgibbons
Limit Removing - Solo Play - 1636699 bytes
Reviewed by: Philnemba
This map doesn't exist. If you check all 32 maps within Doom 2, this map doesn't replace any at all. I've even try opening it with both Doom Builder 2 and XWE both with an error message in it saying that wad file was not valid. Whatever the reason, best to avoid this wad since you can't play it.
-
Castle Massacre - GlassMan
Limit Removing - Solo Play - 2291758 bytes
Reviewed by: Philnemba
This map has the same silly problem as Ants of Hell. The map can't be found anywhere in the wad and it won't open with Doombuilder 2 or XWE. Don't download this since it doesn't work and it's not a valid wad file.
-
Entrance - Brandon Gray
ZDoom Compatible - Solo Play - 27796 bytes -
Reviewed by: MegaDoomer
This is a very small introduction level to an upcoming episode. Unfortunately, it's so brief that I can't really make an accurate predication as to the episode's quality, if it is finished. I completed it in about two minutes. I will say that it isn't horrible, the looks aren't much for detail but not ugly either. The gameplay was fine mostly, but the end was low on ammo. Given its shortness, and the lack of anything to stand out, I'm not sure I'd recommend downloading this, but the final episode might be pretty good.
-
By Bloodshedder
Sign in to follow thisFollowers 0
User Feedback
-
Hot Topics
-
-
New Files
-
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