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This is a clever one, for a 1024x1024 contest from nearly 16 years ago. It's obviously based on Entryway -- the opening for instance has a path behind you containing a chainsaw, and stairs in front of you along with some zombiemen -- but twisted into a 1024x1024 pretzel and quite aggressively reskinned. Since it's heavily reskinned, and infuses completely new concepts into the design, like a computer room with Doomcute computers and keyboards and mice taking the spot of the "armor room," playing is a fun little game of recognition of both old spaces and what thoughts might have led to the new look. Some playfully creepy music plays over the top. The action is mostly what you'd expect from the slot, and hardly anything to write home about, but there is a revenant and baron and I had fun distracting the baron and then going to town with my chainsaw on its butt. The map does commit the 1024 layout sin of trying to cram six whole rooms into the playable cube, but the "mini version of some other map" pattern is an excusable place for that. Baron ass out of 5.

A very bizarre episode 2 deathmatch replacement from 94', and a standout for its time. There are a few more copies of this wad on the archive for older versions of doom as well as one for doom2. Honestly the levels don't seem like they'd be too fun to actually deathmatch in, but they're certainly worth a look for the sheer creativity that went into them. Its basically a mini total conversion (..or perhaps partial conversion if anyone remembers that term :P ) based around the concept of a theme park/circus. It even has a nice intermission screen depicting the player's progression through the various locales which is pretty rare to see for some reason.

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)

The layouts are very good for how long these maps are. There are some places that can get you lost pretty easily, but you usually know what your ultimate/preliminary objective is because of colored doors/visible keys/currently inaccessible areas, etc. The details are nicely done most of the time. Map 28's outdoor/natural areas are a little underwhelming, especially compared to the tech base parts. Map 29 feels a little bit like a newcomer trying to get every concept into one huge map, except it's done pretty well. So you have a library, some marble areas, outdoor areas, abstract hellish areas, etc. But it tends not to look like one concept poorly juxtaposed to another. Map 30's look feels a little bit lazy because it's mostly marble texture, but it's got nice geometry and enough details not to look like crap. The combat is good throughout. Map 28 is fairly easy most of the time. Some of its fights are actually a little bit tedious - too many mini-hordes without much of a threat (e.g. lots of imps on a turret that you can easily shoot down without any risk of taking damage), but overall it's fair, challenging enough, and fun most of the time. Map 29 is much more brutal. In my first run, I had ammo trouble so I switched to I'm Too Young to Die. Then I had too much ammo. Go figure. So it's definitely harder, but it's really not slaughter, and it's fair most of the time. There are a number of distant former commando situations that get rather annoying. Map 30 is an Icon of Sin situation that starts populated with lots of monsters and some cyberdemons, so it's more of a mad dash to try to complete it, which I thought was a nice concept. These are solid, long maps. The negative issues are definitely outweighed by the positives. If you have the time, grab this set, but I would not recommend you try to play through Map 28 or 29 in more than one sitting - it will make it much easier to get lost.

Done with these settings: - Crispy Doom 5.2. - Ultra-Violence. - Continuous combined with pistol start mindset. - Saves every 10 minutes or so. Pretty interesting for a very old partial conversion. It appears to be an incomplete release of what could have been a hybrid megawad/two-episodes wad, which is a shame because there're tons of cool new features. There's a story behind this mapset in the text file for enthusiasts of science fiction, something in the line of an utopia and the reality, the ideal world for the "inhabitants of Sverre" is what the player sees as chaos, and they have to decide on which side are they on. It's downright about dooming the planet's creatures, nothing outside the ordinance, but I guess a little bit of projection adds to the atmosphere: since they live from killing, you'll have to adapt to their ideals, even if that means to abandon yours. Anyway, aside from my vague interpretations, there's some understanding of the story in the visuals as you travel through buildings, caves, mountains and a spaceship. Texturing is generally decent, I really liked the deep blue water and grass textures as well as trees and little details here and there, like the damaging sector in the cavern map, hard to see though. The first view of the spaceship's interior is neat, the cavern's connections too. There's plenty of weird/nice new sound effects, and apparently more custom music than maps though, one more reason to wonder what the author used to have in mind for the rest, they all sound particularly fitting. As said above, visuals are solid as long as they give you a clue of where you are. The layouts however, not so much. I did appreciated the distinctive floors simulator in the last map, for example. It's the way the maps interact with progression. I wouldn't call them "puzzles" exactly, but it's important to explore the most of the maps if you want to complete them. Even more from pistol starts, which are doable but possibly not what the author thought of. Things like the slow tall lift in map 06 which you'll have to take more than once to grab resources, or the boring mini-rooms in map 04 that don't have a purpose whatsoever, could maybe bring down players who chose to start each map separately. It's kind of unbalanced, if you consider in the first map you can drown in ammo, but some of the later levels require some weird decisions in order to kill everything. On a positive side, maps take little time to solve and your only obstacle will be to identify mandatory fake walls and secrets. The combat doesn't precisely pose any real pressure, that is if you take a good look of the new sprites. Of all of them, the pinky/spectre replacement is the most outstanding, a sort of carnivorous creature that chases you underwater. It's a bit of a dickish design, specially the "spectered" version, since they aren't visible until they emerge to bite you, but still a cool concept. Another interesting sprite is the floating parasite, in the place of the lost soul. There is a (dead maybe?) version too. It didn't take long to realize they explode from a hit, much like barrels. Weapons have a new form too, their behavior is the same, and they're decent in general. I assume because the mapset is incomplete, not all of the beasts make a presence, and some barely register. A pity, but what can we do... Secret-wise, well it's an obviousness to say a few of them are intentional to exit the maps, that used to be a common design choice in the earliest era of mapping. My advice is to check the automap frequently, and treat walls as if they aren't all solid. It's nothing too intricate, though. Also expect the unexpected, because a few require to walk on a certain linedef or push a random wall, I could access some and others not. The content inside of them was, surprising. Overall, it wasn't that bad, as a partial conversion it offers some decent content, to say the least. I don't know if to recommend this thing, it hasn't aged well at all, and it obviously failed to become a "classic". However, fans of old-school story-based wads could have a good time, I suppose. Anyways, my rate is 5/10.

This is dated May 1995 and it's terrible. It has an aggravating start which drops you immediately in some slime. Although the concept seems to have promise (a hub-based layout with four mini-areas), the execution is awful. The nadir is a pair of 3x9 instant kill teleport grids you have to navigate with the automap - but even then you have to magically know which is the correct path. Includes the worst cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" I have ever heard.

This is dated October 1996. You fight 82 monsters in a fun, James Bond-style military base. It's entertaining, and despite the small size it feels substantial, like a mini adventure. Suffers a bit from a damp ending (the "boss battle" is some way before it, although you have to dodge past at first), and the design work is only so-so, and it's not really all that long, but overall this is pretty good.