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Big, bland, repetitive, unintuitive, confusing, endless backtracking, endless slow lifts, pointless mazes, unmarked secrets necessary to progress etc. Little good to say about this. Gave up at map03 - either an exit lift was broken or there was some obscure switch I missed. Had a peek at map04 and wasn't going to even bother, it just looked even worse. Wad of last resort if you've run out of other maps to play. Tedious in the extreme.

Some great maps, some are too sadistic for modern standards (both in a good and bad way) and few other are real garbage, like MAP04 and MAP12. Overall, a nice wad and a kinda unknown entry of Dwango series. Theme also reminds way more of Brit series, with the heavy usage of brown bricks and grass, natural textures.

Pretty meh mapset, this wad crashes on vanilla doom 2 since a ceiling texture is acting funny in MAP01, in boom 2.02 it shows perfectly. Best of the bunch is MAP04, but overall, meh mapset with some weirdness.

This WAD hasn't really aged well. The gameplay isn't particularly interesting and the levels rely too much on over-using ZDoom features. The new sound effects are annoying, and the announcer's endless chatter on map04 gets downright infuriating. The ending levels are disappointing, especially the final battle which can be over in seconds. That said, the detailing looks nice in some levels.

Hell Ground is a really damn solid WAD. It's got atmosphere dripping out of every pore, the music and sound effect changes are welcome ones for me, and the level and combat design are a lot better than I was expecting them to be. Some of the levels can get a bit long and needlessly confusing (lookin' at you, "Mystery of Hell"), but it's not that big of an issue. Alright, let's stop beating around the bush - "Warp of Time" kind of wipes the entire rest of this WAD. The rest of Hell Ground is really damn good, don't get me wrong, but to pretend like "Warp of Time" isn't easily the most notable thing about this levelset and the only reason I'm bothering to write this review would be disingenuous and silly. "Warp of Time" alone dramatically raises my overall rating of the WAD. It is, put simply, one of the greatest Doom maps ever created. It's a masterclass in pacing, setpiece design, signposting, visuals, worldbuilding, and good ol' fashioned ATMOSPHERE. It shows that Doom can be so much more than simply shooty-shooty bang-bang if you invest in your presentation enough. Seriously, if you haven't played "Warp of Time" yet, it makes Hell Ground worth the price of admission all on its own. OVERALL RATING: 8/10 FAVORITE MAP: MAP04 - "Warp of Time" (obviously) LEAST FAVORITE MAP: MAP07 - "Mystery of Hell" (exasperating) HARDEST MAP (for me at least): MAP07 - "Mystery of Hell" (seriously why is this level so confusing to navigate) MAP YOU SHOULD PLAY FIRST IF YOU WANT A SAMPLER: MAP02 - "Blood Runner"

Another arena map with many monster spawners, just like the original Hell's End. However, I would say this is worse as this takes longer to finish, both because of the Cyberdemons behind the switch pushing you around and because there's no monster who will kill the boss for you like in the original. Nonetheless, you just hit the switch multiple times, see monsters get stuck on each other, and finish off the boss. This map also takes the MAP04 slot in the Boom WAD of Doomworld Community Project 2013. Like before, you can skip this standalone WAD and the one in the aforementioned project.

Rush does everything it can to put you into the mindset you need to be in for the wad in the first map: The sick elevator ride, the midi, the blood and enemy corpses everywhere... It's about raw energy and pure slaughter (lol), if you will. It carries that energy through most of its run, and that's why it gets my approval. It's not the most demanding slaughter set, but it's definitely one of the best paced: it knows when to throw you into a fucked up arena, and it knows when to chill out and give you room to breathe, or a little bit of a BFG spam break from dancing through revenant fireballs and dark mancubi spray patterns. It's very aesthetically sound too, and some of the architecture towards the end started to remind me of old Sunder. Highlights for me, off the top of my head: - All of the midis. :) - Map01 as a whole, dude... that midi is unbelievably fitting. - Map02's revenant + mancubi arena. You know the one. - Map04 as a whole. - Map09. My favorite map. Whole thing is a perfect slaughter experience, hasn't left my mind since I played it - Map10's final fight. - Map11's architecture and final fight. - Map12's architecture.

Back To Hell Episode 1 is a great example of bad first impressions. The first few four levels consist of odd progression choices that only make sense if you are familiar with playing Doom levels. For example map01 has you enter a room to press a switch that raises bars in the previous room granting access to a switch that raises bars in the first room. I will admit that I almost dropped the wad but I figured I could get through the levels fast, plus the early ones aren't bad just alright. After map04 the level quality increases immensely and I eventually found myself enjoying what I almost discarded. With that said the levels themselves are neither good or bad and if a the mapmakers ever decide to come back to this I recommend touching up the early levels.

first off, i just wanna say that this is seriously an underrated gem of a mapset. i realize that it got a cacoward, but outside of that you very rarely hear about it. which is a shame, because it's absolutely fantastic. anyways, hoooly shit this wad was way harder than i expected it to be. i went in expecting it to be fairly tame considering that it's just a short little vanilla mapset from 2004, but nope. this kicked my ass. health and ammo are pretty tight considering the large number of enemies you'll be facing, so it can be quite punishing and not accepting of many mistakes. and, mind you, that's on continuous; it'd be much worse if someone were to pistol start it. the combat is fun and fast-paced, and it never gets old due to the odd weapon progression (for example, map01 is balanced primarily around the plasma rifle) and the wide variety of interesting setpieces. again, you'll be facing quite a number of enemies, but it never goes into slaughter territory as the forces you'll be facing are primarily lots of low-tier enemies supporting a moderate amount of those in the higher tiers. instead, it relies much more on devious monster placement and nasty traps for its difficulty. in my eyes, it's pretty much perfect. the visuals are wonderful, although i'm a bit biased considering my love of older wads. it's not underdetailed, but it's also not highly detailed; it sits in the middle ground where it looks quite pleasing but simple at the same time. it maintains that doomy feel throughout, and if you're like me and absolutely love that visual style then you'll find yourself quite pleased. the only real criticism i have is that one of the maps, specifically map04, ends up being tedious and honestly not very fun due to it being a complete and total hitscanner hell, and throughout the wad radiation suits are far too limited in sections where they're desperately needed. both of those are made worse by the overall lack of health, but outside of that there's not much to dislike here. i really can't recommend this wad enough. while it's certainly not for everyone as its main focus is on the combat, those who're like me and play doom primarily for that will love this wad. it's the perfect length, where it's not too short but it also doesn't overstay its welcome. seriously, play this - it deserves so much more attention than it gets.

LOCAL DINGUS PLAYS EVERY SINGLE DOOMER BOARDS PROJECT PART 2: CIRCLE OF CAINA SP (if you don't know what the Doomer Boards Projects are, here's the Doom Wiki article on them) The next installment of the Doomer Boards Projects, April 2018's Circle of Caina SP, helmed once again by 40oz, is a notable step up from its predecessor. Inspired by FraGMarE's "icy deathmatch map" of the same name (y'know, minus the "SP"), it's a set of eight levels based around a wintry theme and it single-handedly got me excited for the rest of this series. First and foremost, this WAD looks incredible. Every arena feels very distinct from the last - none of these fights blend in with one another and they're all the better for it. 40oz chose an amazing resource pack for that month, with the textures being perfectly suited for the cold, jagged landscapes. Normally, I either wouldn't notice the blockiness of the terrain because I'm so used to it in Doom or I'd dock points for it, but here, it works so well with the vibes of each map that I honestly love it. I'm already partial to ice/snow levels in video games for a ton of reasons, so this WAD going all in with the lighting and icy aesthetics makes me so happy. The music choices are also perfect (other than Hell Revealed MAP16's MIDI for "Cold Shoulder" for some reason but it's not that out-of-place), with a lineup of classic MIDIs that also happen to evoke that chilly feeling. That's not to say it's all style and no substance, though - even if the fights do feel like they have a less intense bite overall than MoM, there are a lot more tricky "gotcha!" moments here that really keep you on your toes for longer. Each new arena feels dynamic and well thought-out (even the random pop-up monsters in MAP08 that feel a bit forced in but still work somehow even though you got a free BFG (the only BFG in the set, if I'm not mistaken) in the first room and plenty of cells along the way so it doesn't even really matter but whatever). The whole WAD flows super well, too, and lends itself very well to marathon sessions. Each map has a degree of momentum that keeps everything moving at an enjoyable pace. I found the ammo balance to be a lot more generous than Monuments of Mars for this one too. I don't know if I'd necessarily say that means this WAD is "easier," but it feels a lot more beginner-friendly (as in, me. that's me. I'm beginner) and makes fights feel a lot fairer. Outside of MAP07, "Below Zero," being WAY harder than every other map in the set (and almost every map in DBP1, for that matter), the difficulty stays pretty consistent throughout. MAP01 starts out really simple and minimalistic, MAP08 is a bit of mini-slaughter, you know, the usual. For me, the show-stealer is MAP05, "Frosty Cream Glade." It is maybe one of the greatest Doom maps I've ever played. It doesn't look like much when you first see it, but the way everything is so interconnected and how clever yet simple the encounters are and how pretty the visuals are and how the nonlinearity of the map lets you tackle the encounters in almost any order you want so it feels a lot more personalized and how the map's layout means that part of the puzzle is figuring out how to get where you want to go and the indirect signposting is so well-done that you're probably guaranteed to find it but it still feels satisfying AAAAAAAAA I love this map it's so good. If there's one's map you need to play from this set, it's "Frosty Cream Glade." The AUDACITY of supercupcaketactics to use the MIDI from Scythe 2 MAP21 and somehow completely justify its placement is something I aspire to. This WAD's far from perfect - 40oz's maps can be underwhelming, some of the levels' freeform nature greatly hurt their pacing ("Cold Shoulder"), they take FOREVER to give you a rocket launcher (you don't get one until MAP04, that's annoying), MAP04 and MAP08 use the exact same MIDI which is really jarring when you play MAP08 for the first time, and for whatever reason MAP05's exit is tagged as a secret even though it's not hidden at all and is required - but I'm getting nitpicky. Circle of Caina SP is a fantastic set of levels from some highly talented people working with a theme that I'm already a huge fan of. Definitely a WAD to check out if you've got a few hours to spare. OVERALL RATING: 8/10 FAVORITE MAP: MAP05 - "Frosty Cream Glade" (by supercupcaketactics) LEAST FAVORITE MAP: MAP03 - "Some Other Circle" (by 40oz) (it's not terrible by any means but it feels kinda meh compared to the other maps) HARDEST MAP (for me at least): MAP07 - "Below Zero" (by 40oz) MAP YOU SHOULD PLAY FIRST IF YOU WANT A SAMPLER: MAP01 - "The Chill Before The Thrill" (by noisyvelvet)

I enjoyed Map02 and Map03. Map04 has two very good fights in it but I felt like it dragged on quite a bit. I would still recommend this wad to anyone who enjoys slaughter gameplay.

Perhaps the best megawad I have played so far. Ancient Aliens is a very distinctive WAD, with its unique tone, custom textures, choice of colors, scenery and meticulous encounter crafting. The overall look of many of its maps is pretty relaxing, (especially as far as Doom is concerned) and that feeling is helped big time by the masterful Stewboy compositions, whose MIDIs often give the journey a mysterious laid-back style or embrace a fun bouncy techno-jazz jive. But don't be lured by the calm looks and sounds, because Skillsaw and his guest mappers know how to turn the heat up and throw you into peculiar and inventive combat scenarios. Map 1 sets the tone for the action perfectly: after the trippy teleporting sequence, you immediately zoom at full speed past a caged cyberdemon, who will constantly hinder your progress and have you frantically look for the way forward. The following brawl with hell knights, revenants and other foes in tight corners does set a tone for the combat to ensue in the first few maps: resources tend to be initially scarce and berserk punching a few skeletons will help you keep your supplies for fights where ammo truly matters. If that doesn't feel like your cup of tea, do not worry: a fair amount of maps do provide ample supplies for when the heat truly gets turned up. Finally, many big enemies in beginning maps are meant to be telefragged (or, in the case of MAP04, the game will eventually spawn a truckload of explosive barrels to kill archviles with little fuss) so the obvious approach is not always the best one. The layout of levels often features traps, but at the very least you can't fault the WAD for lack of variety because it's rare that the same trick gets repeated. Encounters are memorable and my favorite of the bunch include a collapsing staircase where you must fight foes quickly under the eye of an archvile, but you must do it fast because the ledges eventually rise up, bringing you closer and closer to him being able to resurrect the fallen monsters. But each time a ledge rises, new monsters can now get to you so you're never safe no matter what! Additionally, the WAD features two new monsters: the plasma marine and the rotating skull cube. Marines make static noises, are cloaked when not attacking and their plasma shots can be hurtful, but they thankfully need to pause before shooting and are very fragile. The skull cubes pack a wallop, firing a barrage of 3 revenant missiles at any time, which can be homing or not. They would be the worst if they didn't have only about 80 health and exploded upon death, hurting everything in their vicinity. This means that when this enemy appears in tight packs, a single rocket can blow away the whole group. Skillsaw doesn't hog the whole WAD for himself, he offered a few guest spots for other worthy mappers to shine. Joshy from Speed of Doom fame gets two maps, MAP 9 (The Nectar Flow) and MAP28 (Floating Arena). Both are completely different to each other gameplay-wise, but both are fun. The former is a journey through caves of nectar that features the highest monster count in the WAD at the time, but most of them are zombiemen and imps, so happy chaingunning! The latter effort is a slaughterfest that sets the table for the end of your journey. The numbers are high, but the space, ammo and powerups are abundant as well, not making the carnage too mean spirited. Stewboy gets the MAP 31 slot, but this one doesn't work as well; the pacing is too slow and there's a little too emphasis on secret hunting (13 secrets in total!) and the layout even is a little too gray and drab. AD_79's MAP 20 is a strong showing with its tubes full of enemies and the clever archvile hologram trap. Esselfortium's MAP 22 is a scenic ancient castle that is one of the prettiest maps of the set, only upset by MAP24. lupinx-cassman offers a spectacle for the eyes with a sky temple that appears to worship several cultures at once, hence the name. While some of its combat is a little stilted and uncomfortable at times, the looks all make up for it. Tarnsman's MAP 26 is a pretty old stone temple, but the heavy chaingunner usage makes it feel like some weird Plutonia homage. MAP 23 by Pinchy is probably the only guest map I can bring myself to dislike: it's too big, sprawling, confusing, loves to spawn chaingunners that snipe you at great distances and finally, that final fight can go to hell. As for skillsaw's work, the best part about his works is that he's very consistent quality-wise, I can't bring myself to dislike any of his work in this WAD (MAP 32 might be his only map I didn't really like, it felt a bit by the numbers for a secret secret map). Some of the levels have gimmicks attached to them, like MAP 6's sinkhole, which occurs as you're grabbing a shotgun (?). But you better not think of it too hard, or hordes of shotgunners will come to take you away. MAP 18 shows how dangerous the Illuminati are, with the surprise inclusion of an Icon of Sin (in the form of a giant Illuminati pyramid!) that makes incursions in the main courtyard a tricky affair. MAP 19 is a berserk and pistol level that will get you up to speed with punching enemies, your champion contender here will be an archvile you need to punch down so good luck! My favorite Skillsaw maps of the WAD would be Maps 1, 2, 4, 7, 14, 16, 25 and 29, aka the last regular map of the set. It's 3 big fights, the final of which is punctuated by the shattering reveal of who's behind everything. Then, they get to watch you do the final fight against seemingly unsurmontable hordes in a big, colorful arena. All in all, Ancient Aliens is a masterpiece. It is surprisingly approachable for being a modern WAD and the difficulty is hard, but often fair. Keep in mind this is still an harder WAD than Plutonia, though. I had a pleasant time on UV with saves and continuous play and if your skills aren't up to the task, lower difficulties will make sure you are not left behind. If you're like me and somehow took this long to finally play this, remedy the problem and play it now. It's one of the all-time greats.

This mapper did create good stuff, pazuzu, diabolos and odyssey. This is way, way below these WADs. I am the first reviewer to mention massive (but massive) HOMs on MAP10! 2 stars for: - awesome grey blocks area in motion in the middle of MAP08 - some occasional decent moments, I guess MAP03 is fine, MAP04 is okayish. - visually it is not bad for 1996. But come on. One motif is: "press switch A to lower a lift, press switch B that opens a door somewhere far, but press it a bit later, just to get in time to the lift, not too early as the door will shut". After that door you often have a wall of monsters, so sometimes you retreat and repeat. This motif is used over and over and over again. You also experience cramped mazy hallways quite a lot and lots of damaging floors. Some of these damaging floors are used for extra spice during combat, but most of them are there to make you think faster about the puzzle solution :) It is not easy for me to pick the worst map, MAP05, 07 and 09 set the bar quite high. And it is me who is writing this, I enjoy cleim20, odessas, some cryptic stuff, but I just can't stand >80% of this creation.

Deus Vult infidel! Ouch, it seems the end draws near. Therefore, Deus Vult has been completed, played through GlBoom+ 2.5.1.5 on HMP. Now where to start? Probably the beginning, as usual. Deus Vult is a short wad that emphasizes smart and skillful gameplay, requiring the player to plan their tactics before engaging combat. It comes with new music and textures, ENDOOM screen, end level screens, but no new enemies, weapons, or sounds. It is also distributed in 2 ways. The first one comes with 4 action packed levels, which are basically a split version of the one gigantic map. They run from MAP01 up to MAP04, with MAP05 being the giant map. It is designed and balanced for both co-op play and singleplayer. The action takes place on techbases and it slowly progressed into more hellish areas, eventually culminating in Hell itself where the player faces... Sauron at the very end, acting as a replacement for the traditional Icon of Sin. The gameplay is pretty much slaughter exclusive as the enemy count is pretty high (a few hundreds at lowest), peaking at little over 800 on MAP04, and so is the difficulty, the hardest being, surprisingly, MAP03 and not MAP04. The balance is great most of the being, giving the player enough resources to face a pretty tough opposition, but, as I said, most of the time. This is probably the one big problem of Deus Vult. Although it is challenging from the beginning, there are a number of instances where it does seem outright unfair, with MAP03 being the worst offender. It's simply asinine, and its difficulty lies on an absolute abuse of AVs. Far too often it is incredibly easy to get burned by one, almost all traps have at least one, and they are in the majority of alcoves or pillars, making sniping extremely easy for them and frustrating to the player. Once the starting area is cleared of its vilest traps it proves to be enjoyable, but the beginning is really, really rough, that and another area with damaging floors and little room to kill the much expected AVs. Escaping alive is one insane challenge, I don't remember dying so much in anything I've played until now. MAP03, with all its teleporters and spots also underlines the fact that it's best to know it inside out to get the most out of it, otherwise you will find yourself dying every few minutes, if not even earlier. MAP04 tones down the abuse of AVs significantly and the level proves to be much more challenging by pushing the player to their limit as opposed to throwing as many enemies as possible in an encounter and adding an absurd amount of AVs or little room to walk and dodge projectiles on top of it. It proves to be a fun and fitting finale after the giant frustration that can be experienced on the previous level, and Sauron being the IoS of DV is a neat little surprise. Overall, it's a good wad, but it could've been better from my POV. Cutting the obscene amount of AVs on MAP03 alone can vastly improve the experience and contribute to the fun part of it, which is why I wouldn't recommend playing that map alone, unless you're a veteran or know it inside out. Otherwise, have fun slaying demons. "Can't stop the killing... ".

Amateur design that's very consistent with its inconsistency. The first impression that you get when loading the first map of this WAD will persist for MAP01 - MAP04. The final 2 level are slightly better - they show that the mapper is making progress. It also has a boss fight that goes immediately to the end screen as soon as you place the killing shot at the boss.

on the eleventh, wait what, there is no dwspd011!? uh oh, maybe it was rejected from the archives or something. so let's go ahead and see what the twelfth installment of dwspd has to offer. the theme? build a factory. it almost seems trite considering that MAP12 of Doom 2 does indeed have you in "The Factory" but let's see what we have come up with for this wad. oh, only four maps, and by playing this, the only one that's worth any time at all is the final map. the first map is a linear gauntlet run through small corridors, where you have an imp right in front of you and a shotgun in between two cacodemons, which is insanely difficult to fight there. MAP02 is fundamentally broken as far as I can tell. MAP03 is insanely lackluster. not a single one of these maps comes close to the factory theme. what saves it is MAP04. this is a map that of course is made by Fredrik, but adheres wholly to the theme while offering crates, a conveyor, a bit of outside area, and some rather tough combat which isn't abnormal considering who the author is. they should have just made this a Fredrik map only considering how shit the other three were.

WADs like this one are symbolic to the longetivity of this modding scene. No matter what, no matter how long, we'll still be getting those. It's a charming piece, playable but with some odd bumps that stand out. There's one imp stuck on the ledge and one health bottle stuck in a too narrow hole so you can't pick it up. The geometry, at least in maps 01-03, is fully linear and produces only gameplay area without any visual clutter. MAP04 stands in complete contrast to the others and you will see it immediately as you spawn. There's abundance of SSG ammo, armor and to some extent also health, but there's severe lacking of rockets - a common thing among many WADs, probably because rocket boxes give you a small amount of them in comparison to the other ammo boxes. Any player will probably blaze through this map set with no difficulty.

There are many approaches you can take when designing a mapset. Doom is a very fun game on it's own so you can simply create maps that follow and expand on it's formula, and come up with something great. But then there are certain special wads. They are still recognizable as Doom, but use the available tools to create an unique experience, unlike anything you've seen in the original games, or other pwads. They easily take on a life of their own, as a products of legitimate artistic expression. TeamTNT pioneered this approach with Icarus: Alien Vanguard, in which they used everything that could be done within the game to push the story forward, while also giving the wad a consistent tone and structure, which evolved over the course of its 32 levels to create a genuine narrative. Later with Eternal Doom, they completely shifted the game's focus from pure combat to non-linear exploration and puzzle solving on an unprecedented scale. B.P.R.D.'s Equinox is also one of those special WADs and perhaps the greatest. As soon as you enter the first map, its beautiful, grand architecture, combined with the ethereal choir of its midi, immediately create a sense of wonder and adventure, as you begin to explore the massive complex. However, it quickly becomes apparent that the base is no longer under human control. As you progress through the levels, you encounter more and more bloody remains of its former occupants, and the base itself gets progressively more damaged. Over the course of the set, sense of dread and isolation takes over, as you face ever increasing amount of monsters. After a trip on a beautiful and otherworldly but terrifying alien ship, and one last visit to now completely destroyed hub level, you are transported to a hostile alien world, which culminates in the greatest finale to a Doom wad. But you should really experience that for yourself ;) People say that by buying Doom, you are opening doors to lifetime's worth of fanmade content, which often surpasses the original in unimaginable ways, and this is one of the best examples. Aside of the completely different atmosphere and storytelling, Equinox also features complete set of new midis, some of them by B.P.R.D. himself, lot of gorgeous custom textures and replacement graphics and a whole bunch of new sound effects. The weapon sounds are great, while some of the others are... questionable. I absolutely adore the new HUD graphics. They look gorgeous, fit the mapset like a glove, and the status bar face replacement is by far the most creative I've ever seen. The music is, in the spirit of the whole wad, completely different to what you'd hear in a normal mapset. All of it is great and perfectly captures atmosphere of levels themselves. Despite all the praise, Equinox has a few small issues that I need to highlight. Nothing to significantly take away from it though. First of all, the volume levels of both the music and sound effects are really inconsistent. You'll probably need to adjust your volume levels, sometimes even between levels. Maps 04 and 07 end with you blowing bunch of stuff up. This is unfortunately accompanied by incredibly loud, ear piercing sound effect. The ending of map 12 is pure bullshit. Just straferun to the rising platform and into the exit. There are some misaligned textures. Probably. Who cares. Very Important Note Before Playing: One last issue that is often brought up is the gameplay. Especially in regards to the difficulty due to ammo starvation. I understand that pistol starting is fun once you've become good at doom, and maps are often designed with it as the intended way to play. That being sad, Equinox is from 2001, and I assume pistol starting wasn't as common back then. It is also obvious that continuous playthrough was considered, as there are secrets which would be completely useless with pistol starts. It is never stated that pistol starts are the intended way to play. But if being an ep1c dewm god is more important to you than actually enjoying the game... On a continuous playthrough, the gameplay is a good challenge, but you don't have to rely on chainsaw and infighting so much. There are situations where you still need them, like the giant infight fest at the start of map04, but those are very obvious. Equinox also uses monsters to block paths or as turrets and a monster spawner, so getting 100% kills on some maps like 12 and 13 is impossible. In short: Equinox is masterpiece and one of the best, most unique experiences you can have in Doom. Despite coming out in 2001, it hasn't aged at all. It's visuals especially hold up really well. This could come out today and it would be considered beautiful. Simpler than a modern ultra-detailed map, but still. If you do a continuous playthrough, the gameplay is challenging but not unfair as is often said. The new graphics and music are excellent, as well as most of the sound effects. All the levels are good and there isn't any filler. Everything in this wad serves to flesh out it's world and tell it's story, which is done very well, simply with its visuals.

So... this is skillsaw's first official work. Apparently, it's the only pre-2000 WAD of his that is still around. I must say that, for a 1998 WAD, this is pretty good. It's a short and sweet WAD, and is an ideal choice if you just want to play Doom for a good thirty minutes (it takes about that time to beat the WAD to 100%). With the exception of Map08 (and, to an extent, Map03), the maps aren't that long, and all have a sort of uniqueness to them. The first two maps are fast-paced bullet-mayhem style maps. I find these two levels to be well lit and have nice enemy placement (though the secret placement in Map02 is shoddy). Map03 is a longer affair, with a lot of backtracking that reminds me a lot of these earlier WADs. You can skip a lot of monsters in this map, too, which makes it a bit too easy. Map04 is the most confusing (if you're speedrunning, anyway), since it requires you to go from one end of the map to the other, and since you teleport back to the middle constantly, it can be a bit annoying. Map05 is the worst level; it's a series of gauntlets, really, most of which are just a bit agitating and / or boring. Map07 isn't your typical seventh level (Mancubi and Arachnotrons do appear, just not in an arena-like setting). It's a good level, with decent action, good music and good enemy placement. Then comes Mansion (Map08), the longest level. It involves "resource-starvation," which is something I'm not a fan of in Doom WADs generally. With that said, the music fits perfectly and the design (for the time, anyway) is really good. I like the little pool at the start and the observatory parts to the west end of the map (there's a sort of aquarium area, which is really neat). Map09 is like Map05, only better (better traps and feels harder for good reasons... well, except for that first Arch-Vile). After that, Map10 and Map11 are essentially slaughtermaps - both has a shit-ton of energy cells (especially the last level) and are super easy to complete (even easier if you're playing casually). So, all-in-all, Sector 666 is a short, yet fun affair - it's never truly annoying, the chosen music tracks (by Mark Klem and David Shaw) fit quite well and looks very good for the time of its release. Points are taken away, however, for the overall easiness of the WAD, and also Map06 - the laziest excuse for mapmaking I think I've seen in a non-joke WAD. Good thing skillsaw isn't like that now. Final Rating: 3 / 4 (rounded up to 4 / 5).

Prepare for contact *bang bang*. And now, the first Combat Shock has been completed, played through GlBoom+ 2.5.1.5 on HMP. Pfew, although pretty short just like the sequel, it's just as intense, if not even more so. So let's start this thing. Combat Shock is a wad comprised of 4 levels with slaughter gameplay. It comes with new, action oriented music that's perfect for the scale of the fights, new textures, ENDOOM screen, but no new sounds, weapons, or enemies. The levels present an influence in texturing and atmosphere from Plutonia in a number of areas, but it's not as prevalent as it is in the first few levels of CS2. The action takes place in bases as well as hellish dimensions. As previously mentioned, the gameplay is slaughter, with large enemy counts who usually come in smaller of larger waves, mockingly attack you from platforms, and try to ambush you in all kinds of ways while encouraging the player to come up with a tactic in order to deal with them. Previous knowledge also helps, particularly later in the maps as the traps and encounters get more and more difficult as you progress, thus having to rely on trial and error every now and then. Puzzles and platforming sections also push the player's skills while still remaining fun, therefore having their place and not being thrown into the maps just for the sake of having an extra challenge which ruins the experience by making them unnecessarily difficult or tedious. In fact, there are entire areas designed with platforming in mind which most definitely have their place in the level, one such example being the blue skull room on MAP04. Others take a "high risk, high reward" approach, such as an alcove with 2 Soulspheres on pillars also on MAP04. Looks easy enough to grab them, but it's very easy to fall down too, and although you can climb back up, the damaging floor will most likely take a big chunk of the extra health you have gained before the platform lowers completely, hence the health bonuses going to waste. The balancing of the levels is good most of the time, but compared to the sequel, it could've been a bit better. This is most notable on the last 2 maps. Although the final traps are fair and perfectly doable if you have the knowledge and/or skill, I did find myself running out of ammo on a few occasions right before reaching the said encounters. MAP04's Hell Knight army placed on the side with the door that leads to the room with the red skull was pretty frustrating as even with all the ammo the map offered, it almost wasn't enough. That side makes no sense from this point of view considering that the other one has rockets in almost/all of the alcoves specifically to deal with the HKs, but on this side, they're all empty for some reason. This didn't pose much of a problem on the way to the room with the red skull, it proved disastrous on my way back. While I didn't run out of ammo, the HKs who managed to reach the elevator gave me basically no room to fight unless I manage to save some plasma cells from the previous encounter. The RL is almost impossible to use, and the SSG is a bit impractical since chances are, they'll kill you before you're able to put all of them down. Thankfully, the red skull also gives you access to a much needed ammo and health stash, allowing you to finish them off easily. Nonetheless, I found this design choice questionable, can't find a good reason why those alcoves would not have a single rocket inside. Previous knowledge can likely prevent this major problem, but if you're doing a blind playthrough like I did, you might have a bad time there. Other than that, the final encounter can be a bit frustrating, in a similar way to the final room of MAP03. Luckily, you have a choice: stay and fight as there are plenty of resources and infighting helps tremendously on MAP04 if done right, or run, since after killing a number of enemies you'll be able to reach a switch that allows you to reach the exit teleporter. MAP03 doesn't offer many resources and the trap itself is more punishing thanks to AVs who will resurrect their fallen comrades, but since you have the red skull by that point, you can simply run to the exit. Other times the levels will try to lure you into an obvious trap with useful power ups, as is the case of a room on MAP04. When you reach a large, square room with a mega armor in the middle, know that it is a nasty trap. Before you even pick it up a wave of Revenants and a few Cyberdemons will spawn, but it is a major mistake to go for the armor as it will trigger another trap with a few Cacodemons and enormous waves of Imps. The whole area will be flooded with enemies and you will die immediately, there is no escape in this scenario. Therefore, the Revenants and Cyberdemons must be killed first after joining the party, and only then you should go for the mega armor, triggering the wave of Imps and Cacodemons in the process. All in all, the duology is well designed and fun. Yes, they both have their more punishing moments and I feel CS2 had fewer instances, although I could be wrong, it's been a while. But, they're ultimately well designed. Perfect for veterans, but less skilled players can enjoy them too, if they rise to the challenge. I would, however, recommend watching a few videos on MAP04, just in case you run into the same issues like I did, otherwise, have fun slaying enemies (or getting slain). Definitely recommended.

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.

This WAD looks at a first glance like a good WAD. Only when you play through it you recognize that it's a tedious grind that forces you to deal with hordes of monsters and doesn't provide a BFG. Enemies are mostly harmless - they just block your way forward. Some are less bothersome to ignore than to fight. Architecture is blocky and color scheme is "metal white". MAP05 can be skipped right at the start as the exit switch from MAP04 has been copied without removing the exit linedef trigger.