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I was beginning to think that this might be the best Doom II megawad I'd played, certainly in the top five. Straightforward, but always challenging and hugely enjoyable. Then I got to MAP28, which features an IoS type finale that is almost incomprehensible and largely unplayable. No idea why mappers have to resort to such gimmickry, but on a scale of 1-10 this section had an enjoyment factor of zero. Defeat snatched from the jaws of victory, yet again. (Sigh).

The amount of backtrack in this megawad is staggering! Even using idclip to somewhat mitigate the backtrack while going to the switchs it took me about 15 hours to finish the whole megawad. This is the only bad thing because the gameplay is very good with huge maps and high monster count. If you like huge maps and don't mind the switching hunt for progress give it a whirl, you won't regret.

Talking about A.L.T. and it convulted development leads us to nothing. And by now, there is not much recollection of what was the original story Azamael intended for the megawad. But that doesn't stopped Lainos, BeeWen and the (B0S) Clan to make what i can say for sure is the most deep and psychological Doom experience out there. The storytelling details around the maps, the oppresive atmosphere, the leitmotiv used all around, the mystery, alienation, and huge sense of dread and loneliness this megawad achieved is something never seen or experienced before. Storytelling megawad are somewhat the most difficult to make. Why? Well, the rudimentary engine of Doom only allows a few text screens, and so, mappers has to be smart and cunning to achieve the desirable effect... All has to be made without breaking gameplay and making it boring. This megawad is one of the projects that is at the peak of storytelling megawads, and there are not much that can equal this level of storytelling. This are the kind of megawads that i crave for. Full of details, full of atmosphere, full of deep thinking. Works that are artistic and imaginative, breaking the standars and passing by uncomprehended on their own time. Fortunately, history was kind with this work, and now it attained the reward it deserve. Thanks to all that worked on this project: Lainos, BeeWen, Wraith, Azamael, Chaingunner and all the members of the (B0S) Clan. This is truly a work of art in its purest form.

Legendary megawad. Certainly one of of best 5 I've ever played. All maps after 11 are huge, with a lot of monsters (about 600 average, but some have more than 1k), intricate but not overly confuse design and challenging gameplay. It's a MUST play if you, like me, love these kind of maps. But keep in mind 2 things about this megawad: some maps could take more than 1 hour to beat and MAP 34 is a bit unfair due to the amount of archviles.

As others have pointed out, MAP 10 is indeed the worst of the megawad. But all the other maps are enjoyable, gameplay is awesome and fair, and the best maps are = 12, 20, 24, 26, 28 and 29. Speaking of MAP 29, it's huge and I took almost 1 hour and half to MAX it. This is the best CC in my opinion (haven't played CC 4 yet).

One of best megawads I've ever played. This one has it all: huge maps, high monster count in every map, epic fights and the most important aspect for me, the gameplay is excellent: only 2 maps I found a bit confuse (namely map 22 and 26), all the others were fine. Recommended!

Very good megawad. Huge maps, high monster count in every map, epic fights and gameplay is excellent - not overly complicated but you must always use automap because there're a lot of switches scattered around all maps and w/o automap you'll have a very hard time progressing. MAP 28 is giant, will certainly take more than 45 min to finish to everyone who plays it in first time, without foreknowledge. Overall, very recommended if you don't mind maps lasting more than 30 min to finish.

Hellbound is a huge megawad comprised of several different scenarios such as tech bases, big cities, sewers, hellish maps and so on. I found it overall very challenging and took about 13 hours to beat it. The things I've liked on this megawad were: big maps with tons of enemies (some maps features over 500 monsters), a lot of ammo through the maps and NOT cramped gameplay which is a plus for me. The things I haven't liked: Map 25 sucks hard, shitty progression and very confuse; the majority of archvile enconters are unfair: they're used without cover for the player, teleporting instant and dealing unavoidable damage. My favorites maps were = 14, 16 and 31. Overall, I recommend this wad to anyone who likes a challenge and don't mind big maps, some lasting more than 30 minutes to complete.

Quite simply the best MegaWad I've ever played. DooM, like any other game, piece of art or real-life situation has a certain langauge. Upon loading a map you know certain things will happen. There could be keys. Monsters, certainly. Maybe platforming. At any rate, you know certain patterns mean certain things, like a key in the middle of the room or an 'unguarded' Megasphere. This WAD breaks this langauge. Some keyed doors open up...to a brick wall! Huge open areas that you'd expect to be filled with monsters never do. It brings a certain level of discomfort, but also a sense of wonder. This is not a WAD for those looking for a challenge or fluid fights (since many fights are awkward and very start-and-stop), but for those that like the bizzare and exploration aspect. So good!

The original "Eternal Doom," which makes up the first 12 maps of this Megawad, is an absolute must-play masterpiece. The levels are huge, yet finding one's way about them is an enjoyable task rather than a maddening chore. Hexen and Heretic both have beautiful textures, and the maps use them to great advantage to create sprawling medieval architecture and display some of the best environmental story-telling present in any wad I've ever played. However, that praise does not carry on to Eternal Doom's two expansions, dubbed, "Eternal Doom II" and "Eternal Doom III," created by TeamTNT, which make up maps 13-32 and are, at best, an incredibly mixed bag and worst--well--painful. Beautiful architecture and intuitive layouts are traded out for strange abstract maps with misaligned textures and an overall quality that feels better suited for something like "D!Zone." Most of the maps aren't awful by any means (Actually a few of them are--Map 14 comes to mind), but it almost feels unfair to put any set of maps after one of the greatest 12-level episodes of all time. It should be said that the weakest the Megawad gets is "Eternal Doom II," as part III as a whole finishes strong, aside from a bloated copy-cat of map 12 that stands in the map 30 slot. The soundtrack, composed by Rich Nagel, is the most consistent bar of quality throughout the wad, and almost--ALMOST--makes the more mediocre sections of the map-set bearable, providing an incredible score with returning themes and varying styles. On the whole, Eternal Doom I is easy to recommend, and to the most diehard fans of the wad's esthetics, may just buy enough good will for those who wish to journey forth for rest of the megawad's offerings.

chances are, you've probably seen Dal02 by the same author, it was a megawad of mostly small arena levels which was made for some specific playstyle that nobody really uses. and the author of this was also the author of NeoDoom, honestly one of my least favorite wads ever. this is somehow not in the megawads section of idgames, or actually because of what I had to do, ports/megawads. but then again, this is somehow, somehow worse than I had ever expected. i'm not sure where to start. the levels are of course big, but almost all of them are big for the sake of being big. it takes a lot of the fun factor out of the levels if you're not killing anything for minutes while you try to figure out what you're supposed to be doing. it's not just speedrun-unfriendly or max-unfriendly, it's just unfriendly maps that don't really have much purpose or direction. and that's one of the reasons they are so bad. these are maps that have huge expanses of land, with MAP03, MAP22, and MAP25 probably being the worst overall offenders, as you're expected to head around the level's perimeter in these maps, and staying on the high ground is more troublesome than you'd be led to believe. it takes FUCKING FOREVER PLEASE DON'T MAKE LONG MAPS FOR THE SAKE OF THEM BEING LONG GIVE SOME ACTUAL GAMEPLAY THAT IS FUN TO GO THROUGH. nearly every Eternal Doom level is easier to solve than some of these maps. if you want to really start this megawad, skip to MAP04. why I say this is because the first three maps have serious balancing issues in gameplay, you'll fight no hitscanners in the first map, and you'll only get a shotgun and chainsaw but they're actually quite late while you pistol imps, and you don't see shotgun guys (or get their weapons) until late in the next map. also these three maps all require jumping to complete. again I mentioned MAP03 earlier but it is the "jump around perimeter map" that really sucks. you don't start getting good weapons until MAP04, which while only average is somehow one of the better maps. the maps that follow it aren't actually too bad gameplay-wise. Daniel's detailing of cities really shines in the sandbox city maps that are MAP14 and MAP16 (a resort town), they are HUGE but actually quite wonderful. his monster and item placement overall however leaves quite a lot to be desired. prepare to fight every type of monster in every map, expecting some really nasty gameplay only at times since Daniel saturates the player with pickups, so you're liable to run into invulnerabilities right before cyberdemons (there was even a map that has a room full of soul spheres). the quality of the levels in the middle is fantastic but is brought down by all the rest, the maps that are long just to be long are awful and completely ruin it, and yes you need jumping for some of the maps which should have been specified in the textfile.

A monstrous megawad, one of my new top favorites. I love how venturing through this one feels like a new take on Doom 2's Hell on Earth descent, but this is just far far more detailed and engrossing. There are even a few sections in maps that give nods to classic Doom sections or even Doom 3 at times. It feels "modern" in a strangely amazing way with how detailed the architecture and aesthetics are. I also loved the connected exits and continuity, further giving it a huge sense of scale and adventure. The tech/base aesthetics are some of the best I've ever seen and I loved the Hell maps as well. A huge project from a one man army here and the consistency in design shows. There are not a lot of traps or spawns in this one which seems to be an issue some people take up with it maybe coming off a bit easy, but I personally don't mind a difference in flavor like that. The body count of enemies is still extremely high. That said I did play this with Complex which maybe made encounters more interesting from start to finish, a mod that can break and unbalance things, but it worked really well here. I ran continuous weapons too and on HMP. My only negatives are that I could not figure out the switch hunt or red key in Map19. I also did not care for Map29, which was repetitive. But the pros outweigh the cons! Overall I clocked in about 12 hours and as most say this is a huge megawad with giant maps, so you might need to be in the mood for that. Definitely a must play for the masterfully detailed maps.

The author release a 10th anniversary edition with some changes, named Doom Core Delta, but i didn't play that because i can't review it right now. So, instead, i give it a try to the original version. But i cheated a little as i grabbed the new status bar and the dehacked patched and load em to play the old version. Sorry, @valkiriforce, but i feel it incomplete without them. Pretty solid mapset, i might say. Most maps are really good. There are some really good and short maps, some neat medium, and some fantastic huge maps (map19: Mountain Fortress is marvelous!!!). I had a really good time playing this megawad. Its not 5 stars because it uses mandatory secrets to complete the maps... making it somewhat difficult to understand the map progress. Aside from that, the mapset is a total blast!!! Neat encounters, really good architecture and layouts. And with a good flow, too. The best thing that i found in this mapset is the different ending depending the difficult setting. Really really, smart move, and interesting detail for replayers like me. So yes, i ended the megawad two times in a row in HNTR and UV respectivelly to see the different ending. Last map on UV is somewhat unfair as monsters keep on getting on the way of the rockets, and if you don't have ny BFG ammo, its a big nope. Thanks, Valkiriforece for this really good vanilla mapset. Its certainly fantastic, so ignore the haters i had read below. This mapset is really a blast!!! And if the author already fixed some of the issues i pointed, hope he did, Doom Core Delta surely is one of the best vanilla mapsets out there for me. I will take it a bite when the review page is ready.

Pizza Steve is...interesting, to say the least. It's a megaWAD full of slaughtermaps, many of which will have a monster count exceeding a thousand. The levels are huge and you're going to need all that room to run around the projectile spam. A recurring thing in many levels is meatwalls consisting of one enemy type. It's comical to splatter meatwalls consisting imps and zombies but less so when it comes to every other monster (especially Revenants and Barons). I'm at least grateful that there weren't any Arch-Vile meatwalls though you'll be facing those in greater number than any one player would like to see. Needless to say, it seems and feels like balance was an afterthought for this megaWAD. As a result of this lack of balance, it's a megaWAD that feels like it's more at home in a co-op setting though you can play it solo, provided you've got mad skills or do like I did and use an OP weapon mod like Russian Overkill, Guncaster, Trailblazer, or Doom Incarnate. Every level starts off as a cathartic blastfest but as you go through each level you may have to take a break from how huge the levels are and from the batshit insane firefights. You're definitely going to want to take breaks when you play through this. Would I recommend this to others? Eh, not really. I'm in the minority in that I love megaWADs like this (and I'll definitely come back to play this in the future) but even I found myself getting fatigued when playing through this and had to take breaks. If you're gonna play it, play it in either co-op or with your favorite OP weapon mod of choice (if you even use weapon mods, which if you don't, that's fine; you do you). Otherwise, you're not really missing anything by skipping this.

uneven is pretty much the word that perfectly describes the 32-map megawad known as Hellcore. it's far from the Hellcore 2.0 that most people are familiar with. that one has all the good detailed maps of this one plus a few new levels and all of them are very realistically designed and properly play well too. but if you were to look at this one, it's got quite the weird history that explains the overall unevenness. between many well-designed levels are those that fit right in the 90s aspect of things. the gameplay of many maps is also quite uneven, as you can probably see right from the first level (which was one of the stayovers for 2.0, with new areas added there). there's a part with barons of hell that come out, and by then you have only small weapons unless you get the secrets, such as the rocket launcher one. other maps will likely throw teleport ambushes around (although the closets are often poorly constructed leaving loads of stragglers) or arch-viles in very inconvenient locations. plus some level designs and layouts are just awful to look and play with. the worst offender is probably MAP17, a huge cargo area plus lots of bridges, backtracking, and arch-viles and not a moment of it is fun. MAP18 follows it and it's a surprise by Vorpal but it blows up and throws a full slaughtermap at players, where no one could really expect that. MAP28 is probably the most broken map overall, and I'll document this phenomena on the wiki when I get the chance. basically this is a rather curious megawad. nowhere is it amazing apart from the maps that end up in Hellcore 2.0, and the rest seem just plain at the very best.

Looks very surreal, the texutre placements are kind of weird and not all that compelling. But hey, the megaWAD has it's moments, and doesn't deserve the HUGE amount of complete flak it gets.

Just awesome. The best 90s Doom wads had to offer, but certainly not for everyone. Gameplay is fun. Very fun and well-thought out. Some maps can be a bit too easy, but mostly, Eternal Doom certainly doesn't lack in challenge. There is no "shooting huge walls until the sun begins to shine", only well-made, dynamic encounters, with well-balanced ammo for your entire arsenal, so you can get to use the right guns for the right guys, when it's time. The action, however, is sometime given a break for the sake of puzzles, and while sometimes -- so few that it's excusable -- they rely more on sight than smarts, they're certainly acquired taste. You have to expect a few certain tricks, and this adds to the megawads' overall timeless uniqueness; it doesn't take more than it gives. The levels look absolutely gorgeous, and this fact is made even more impressive considering this is work made to be in line with the original engine limitations. Some areas can be pure eye-candy, you can tell these maps were given much attention to, in all aspects. Is this really a 90s wad? Featuring one of the best original soundtracks made for a Doom wad. When music is so good and fitting for the setting it's put in, and there's not much more needed to say other than "It's great", or, "Amazing". As I said in the first line of this review, this megawad is certainly not for everyone, and this is fault of its puzzles -- Still, I'd say it's a must-play, for anyone to at least try. Skilled Doom players won't have a problem with most of its puzzles; such tricks are something expected, that such have grown accustomed to, and it's experience acquired from having played hundreds of levels. You have to go in with a certain mindset, more alerted and attentive than usual. I'd say, it's not a bad thing for a video-game to try to get the best of your skills in more than just the combat aspect. 5/5.

Normally, I don't like DooM (1 or UD) WADs because I tired shooting baddies with shotgun as most of them tend put a lot of shotgun guys/ammo and I have shot those full of shotty shit...well, this one can't escaped from that but I found author's tricky as I didn't found many of them(or they placed when I needed to use shotty), also the monster placements(with middle-tier ones) in this megawad helped too, even E1 doesn't suffers low-tier ammo-droping-fest unlike IWAD and most PWADs. Level layouts and theme are interesting, some E3 levels just a little mazed but I feel okay, never get lost...many levels I feel plays like IWAD but better and larger, you'll found middle-tier monsters in E1 levels and it helps the gameplay, unlike the IWAD you'll have too much ammo in every level even pistol start, if you wasted too much and will out of ammo for sure(at least in UV). All I can say about this megawad is...fun, vanilla fun. Except E3M8, the yellow key area with platforming when all enemies + 4 cyberdemons are try to kill me and battles-of-deal-with-4-cyberdemons-or/and-other-powerful-monsters are nasty to me, on top of them, the final "BOSS"...I feel trolled...really? IoS-style?? IT'S ****ING DOOM, NOT DOOM 2 WHY USE IOS-STYLE AS FINAL BOSS?! :P (At least there is no respawning monster cubes just annoying cyberdemons and barons...but they're still give me a lot of headaches as the battle area isn't very huge and a little cramped I think...) But at least IDMUS11 helps me dealt with those problems all, for some reasons I feel the main theme of Power Ranger does fit DooM...don't know why but I keep switch to the theme with IDMUS11 cheat if I don't like the level's music, helps me blast through this megawad and the nasty E3M8. :P

Horrifyingly huge expanses of rectangular rooms connected in room-corridor-room layouts all sharing the same sector height. Obscenic usage of bullet-spongey enemies that are very easy to avoid. I skipped around few maps, but they're all the same. It's not an achievement to create a full megawad when every map looks like it took 60 minutes to create. I'd rather play one map that was created in the same time as this megawad (a year).

I played PRCP the month after Plutonia 2 and following DWMC playthrough of Cydonia. Among the various efforts wanting to build upon PLUTONIA.WAD and expand the style initiated by Dario and Milo Casali, this community project gets half things right and half things wrong, but it is consistently fun to play and with simpler progression if compared to its 2008 counterpart, hence the 4 stars. The right things are the visuals, improving upon the original Plutonia and achieving good sense of place on several occasions, and the sadistic tone of the ambushes, with blatant abuse of Chaingunners, Revenants and Arch-Viles all through the way. The authors indulged into the same pleasures of the Casalis when they designed their maps, and the gameplay was always interesting and peppered. What felt wrong to me was the haphazard variation in level length and challenge, with overly ambitious maps placed side by side with more reasonable entries, attempting faithful homages that did not detach themselves enough from the original maps. Plutonia is notably missing a difficulty progression, and the PRCP is similar in that regard. I remember quite a bit of shocks in the first 20 maps, while the last third did not feel like the challenge was ramping up. The size of the maps varied through the megaWAD, so the IWAD feel that the levels became larger towards the end was not replicated. I played the easy way, continuous with saves, and I found several setups that gave me a hard time, as a proof that there was generally better encounter design here than in Plutonia 2. Ammo scarcity was an issue in some maps; I could not figure out how a pistol starting UV-Maxer could destroy all those HPs, unless Tyson was the intended way. As opposed to Plutonia 2, my favourite maps of PRCP were in the last third of the megaWAD. Quotes abounded everywhere, so I bet that most entries were mapped for a specific slot. If I liked Joshy’s reimagining on MAP07: Caughtisle, MAP03: Escape from Ghost Town and MAP04: Emerald Pools had unfair setups that are likely to discourage a player that does not tolerate certain types of harassment. Darkwave0000’s MAP11: Will you be my NME? expanded the concept of a map heavy on Arch-Viles, but it turned out to be boring with its huge size and one-way paths, full of faraway Chaingunners. After a positive trio of enjoyable maps, Xaser’s magnum opus MAP15: Enigma Helix weighed heavy like lead. A truly magnificent map with lots of paths to explore, compelling areas, polished visuals, and astounding secrets, it was just unbearable at the heart of a megaWAD that had already been overstretched and grueling at times. It left me so exhausted that I reluctantly played MAP31: Cyberdemon Vertigo, then decided to skip MAP32: Have @ It with its 786 monsters crammed into claustrophobic caves. Things did not improve very much after that; while I liked evocalvin’s entries, except the unneeded Arch-Vile gauntlet at the end of MAP 18: Phantom Silence, I was totally crushed by MAP 19: Venom. So long, so cryptic, full of damaging floors, it almost made me give up everything. Luckily, the explicit homages in MAP 20: Sinister Daybreak and MAP 22: Suicide Mission made me feel at home again. WH-Wilou84 pleased me quite a bit with MAP 23: Necrogenesis and Xaser’s second contribution MAP 25: Wicked Garden was much more bearable than the first, while still holding the visual grandeur and strong atmosphere. MAP 26: Poison Ivy III had more monsters than ammo to vanquish them, but was quite fun on continuous play, while MAP28: Dance with the Devil was a sort of parody of Plutonian gameplay, with the ridiculous amount of consecutive monster closets. Mechadon’s MAP29: Atlatl was a worthy conclusion, a large exploratory adventure in a temple entangled in vines and soaked in blood. Thomas Van der Velden should be praised for designing another MAP30 with an Icon of Sin, even though I did not like the Beholder appearance and the Cyberdemons placed everywhere. Plutonia: Revisited Community Project is a successful attempt to carry on the legacy of The Plutonia Experiment, delving deep into its gameplay and considerably increasing the size of the game. The monster placement is still efficient and dangerous, but their numbers range between 100 and 300, unless the authors used licence to go overboard as in MAP15 and a few other occasions. Obviously, this will test the abilities, the patience, and the endurance of the player. If you are looking for a bigger and meaner version of your favourite IWAD, and you do not mind a few maps lasting over 1 hour, give PRCP a try; if you just want more Plutonia then play Cydonia instead, as it is a polished, faithful, and reasonable opportunity to relive the Casali masterpiece under a contemporary point of view.

Stephen Clark, a.k.a. @The Ultimate DooMer, is one of the key figures of the Doom community in the early 21st century, an author that is best known for his important ZDoom contributions and for amazing creations in the worlds of Heretic and Hexen. I had no chance to examine his extensive body of work, but his Boom-compatible entries in the Community Chest series allowed me to experience his technical competence and design habits. When the DWMC chose his first vanilla megaWAD for March 2023, I approached it with a mix of curiosity and concern. Fragport was Clark’s debut on idgames, and it was no humble beginning. Not only it was a full 32-map replacement, but it also included custom sounds, additional textures of practical purpose (most notably the revolutionary ALPHABET used to write signs and marks in maps) and sector tricks that must have been innovative for their time. Another exclusive feature was the seamless progression between levels: the starting zone of the next map was always seen before hitting the exit line or switch, and in the same fashion the player could turn around from the start and get a glimpse on previously traversed areas. Surely it was an expedient to break maps that were too large for the vanilla engine, but it also improved immersion and storytelling. The player impersonates the top marine Jody Russell, sent to the remote city of Fragport to investigate after communications with the local military bunker suddenly ceased. His ‘call sign is 'Kill Crazy' because (he) kill(s) like crazy and love(s) every minute of it’, so he was the best choice for a dangerous mission into the unknown. The protagonist is shot down by demonic alien invaders, is captured and moved to a desert prison, presumably for execution. He escapes instead and begins a long trek through the brown stone mines and wastelands surrounding Durncrag town. He leaves with a motorboat and manages to sink an ironclad ship carrying monster reinforcements. After a detour on a remote island, Jody crashes his second boat on barren shores and slowly approaches the military installation, disarming the demon-operated defence system and then navigating the sewers into Fragport. Fighting from district to district, he discovers that the invasion started on an artificial moon hosting a tech city, which he promptly reaches by boarding on a spaceship. He resists the assaults of the hellspawn and their vicious traps, until he finds the reactor core and blows it up. He barely escapes the moon and returns to Earth to be celebrated as a hero. I could not omit a plot summary when presenting Fragport, since the unfolding story and the adventures of Kill Crazy were a prominent feature. A lot of effort has been put in creating a plausible journey, building varied places to explore, and providing realistic connections between them. I admire The Ultimate Doomer for the method, the rigor, and the creativity he put in his Doom efforts: the progression in his maps tends to be a little obscure, but ultimately it becomes clear thanks to the visual hints, achieved by writings and colour codes. Nevertheless, Fragport could not cancel my bias against his lack of restraint. Sometimes he could not realise that too much was too much, and that a stale part of a level could act like a ball and chain. The megaWAD had a few exciting combat moments and an outstanding construction for 2001, but for the most part its gameplay was grindy and repetitive. Despite a brown palette dominating 20 consecutive maps, there was enough variety in the environments and nice Doomcute props to make the exploration interesting, but when I reached MAP13 I was sick and tired of searching for three keys in every level. The mechanic stayed firmly in place until the end, with coloured switches being added to string out the progression even more. Maps tended to last 18 minutes on average for less than 10 hours of total completion time, placing Fragport in the vanilla age that preceded the sprawling limit-removing creations of the following years. I played continuous on Ultra-Violence, with savegames mid-level (not during encounters to cheat the RNG or to facilitate anything), and I spared myself the ammo deprivation issues reported by pistol starting DWMC members. Still, I found myself nearly out of ammo at the end of MAP24, and levels like MAP30 did not accommodate for a wasteful behaviour. Besides a resource distribution favouring continuous play, the difficulty seemed rather flat throughout the megaWAD, with only a few harsh monster deployments taking place in the third episode. I felt more challenged by the exploration and the occasional puzzles, especially on MAP29-30 and during the unconventional trial that was MAP32. The author invested all his skill in the super-secret level, based upon a British gameshow and reproducing both its challenges and settings with the Doom engine. It must be noted that Stephen remade this map for GZDoom in 2016, inspired by “The Crystal Maze” new live attraction in London, and that it counts as his last submission to idgames. This meticulous undertaking perfectly represents The Ultimate Doomer as a mapper, showing his pros and cons, and it aptly stands as the current alpha and omega of his successful career. If the secret levels were worth seeing, and their uncovering process on MAP15 was one of the nicest moments in Fragport, the standard secret compartments seemed casually placed. The statement ‘for those of you who like secrets, there are at least 3 in each level’ confirms they have been added just for completeness, and it surprised me that some were nearly mandatory in the later maps. The original megaWAD used stock music, but I chose to play it with FragportMidiPack_v1.0, released for the 20th anniversary. The compilation included popular songs, mostly rock and heavy metal music that predates Fragport’s release, with only a few tracks being an exception. I do not mind the soundtrack very much, except when it feels created exactly for the maps, but I generally enjoyed @P41R47’s choices. They usually matched the pacing of the map or had a thematic connection with the environment that got a smile out of me. Fragport was a bold experiment in 2001, an attempt at bringing Doom on the same level of more advanced games like Quake 2 and Half-Life. Stephen Clark compensated for the engine shortcomings with his own creative solutions, bringing a huge one-man project to completion where most people would have given up. A 32-map megaWAD is an exhausting effort for a single author though, as confirmed by the lack of fresh ideas in some parts of the second and third episode. In retrospect, the boxy level design, the monotone texturing of large areas, the repetitive mechanics, and the copy-pasted encounters caused the experience to become less and less engaging as Jody Russell progressed towards his objective. This should not discourage vanilla enthusiasts from giving Fragport a try, since there are small wonders to be seen in addition to the highlights listed below. A super-solid first submission from a staple of the Doom community, after more than 20 years it shows its age and limits but also the power of method and resolve, two qualities that The Ultimate Doomer possesses aplenty. Best maps: MAP 11 – Military Bunker MAP 13 – Pipe Factory MAP 15 – Freight Depot MAP 23 – Monad Other standout maps: MAP 01 – Desert Prison MAP 19 – Dockside MAP 22 – Tech City MAP 28 – Sub-Level 05 Special mentions map: MAP 32 – The Crystal Maze Detailed commentary of each map can be found in the March 2023 DWMC thread.

Of all the classic megawads, hell revealed has got to be the *sorriest*. Hell Revealed is a case in study of bad map design, with most of the levels consisting of either claustrophobic rooms, endless corridors or huge rooms with massive fights ala serious sam. none of these are fun or interesting to play, and they are absolutely UGLY to boot! Worst of all is that this came out after wads like obituary and memento mori had outclassed it in playability, looks and difficulty. What a sorry attempt. 1/5

Played on UV. The Good Gorgeous map design & details. Challenging as hell & most importantly, fun. No Icon of Sin, which is a huge pain relief. My favorite part of this megawad is traveling through dimensions which made it even better. The Bad Accessing Map 32 requires you to grab all three keys on Map 31 in 15 seconds, I believe, while getting blasted by Evil Marines. As far as I'm concerned, I've not seen a single recorded demo or video on the net of someone actually doing it. Problem is RNG. You have to luck out on this one. It's an interesting design on paper but in practice, it's impossible. I've tried many times & failed. Solution Either NOCLIP or start Map 32 with pistol only. Or try legit & pull your hair out out of frustration. In summation Absolutely recommended but if you're going for a legit run for 100 % everything, including the secret levels & playing continuously then I'm afraid you'll struggle at Map 31.

a huge disappointment. feels like the same map 32 times with some large combat variety, nukage crossing with lots of radsuits, barrels, shooting and running secrets. I expected much better from nicholas monti but all I got here was a megawad I found monotonous.