NuMetalManiak

How about 4 episode replacement reviews

Deadly Standards 2

what's the standards you go by? Deadly Standards the second comes right after the first Deadly Standards, giving us the same limitations, which basically means make whatever as long as you have the stock textures. for the most part it's good enough, the maps are medium-sized and only get bigger and bigger, with veteran mappers like Confalonieri, SteveD, and Roofi giving it their all. hate to be blunt though, I hate the direction towards longer and more confusing levels these mappers are making, preferring maps that are generally more action-packed than "action and then you run around trying to figure out what you need to do next"

this is blatant in Roofi's maps and especially the final level. you nail the atmosphere at the sacrifice of gameplay, with the only notable gameplay parts being the cyberdemon fight at the end (very dependable on the skill setting it seems) and the fight around the blue switch. but a lot of the things you gotta do here have progression that makes heads spin. and come on, LET ME GO ON THE TILTED SHIP IT WOULD BE COOL. other maps, well E2M3 is kinda sloppy but still doable, and E2M7 was made to be as aggravating as possible instead of enjoyable. rest that aren't mentioned have decent gameplay for their sizes.

3/5

1HBPV1_3.zip

well the textfile says exactly what it is, a complete episode replacing E1, rough looks, typical of the 1994 era. yep, that's what you'll get if you play this episode replacement. the monster counts aren't THAT high, but the supply counts definitely are. all those soul spheres in specific rooms. and then you have the other issues: required keys in secrets, no hints to doors, bad usage of lifts, pressing random walls just to get things to work, node issues with crushers and monsters not being active. the names Funduke and Perseus are credited, these are usually associated with uploading the Maximum Doom PWADs and generally bad 1994-quality stuff, respectively. you can easily pass this E1 replacement up.

1/5

Hell on Phil Episode 1: Phantom Phobos

Philnemba's general mapping style is entirely generic, often utilizing techbases with simple design and simple architecture. not much else to really say is there? Hell on Phil Episode 1: Phantom Phobos is a vanilla episode made entirely like this, although it's not all techbase as E1M6 shows. the episode replacement is just plain and average overall, not too good but not really too bad. E1M4 is actually the same map from Doom 2 Unleashed (MAP38), except now it actually is finishable (originally the level was unbeatable due to a weird design flop). E1M8 is a neat finale map, heavily BFG9000-centric and being a weird slaughtermap with invulnerabilities. charming indeed, but not extremely exciting overall.

3/5

Guardian Angel

here we have a 10-level wad for Doom 2 and specifically for GZDoom with UDMF triggers and CC4-tex included. no real changes to actual gameplay, just 10 nice-looking levels that are medium sized and have reasonable monster counts with generally good flow. the layouts are done quite well, a few homage the maze area from E1M2 and the encounters aren't too tough to deal with. perhaps it is a bit too easy. I get a bit of Suspended in Dusk feel at times. atmosphere is done well and there's no sacrifice to the gameplay thankfully. overall it isn't bad but it's far from memorable, plenty of other wads do this kind of thing better.

4/5