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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.

the soundtrack and the whole first episode are amazing. Unholy Realms past the first episode outright demands you practice it though. you'll be seeing overuse of action starts, teleport traps (some of which don't even work), and gameplay that requires foreknowledge. some slaughterfests are easier than this. a good player will certainly have their work cut out for them upon playing this. my advice for many of the levels: put priority to kill the hitscanners and the imps, plus any notoriously troublesome enemies first. this set definitely makes the smaller monsters more dangerous than you'd be led to believe. the secrets are among the tougher to reach, so hopefully you can find the best ones.

Done with these settings: - Crispy Doom 5.2 - Ultra-Violence - Continuous combined with pistol start mindset. - Saves every 10 minutes or so. Short and sweet megawad, this provides a set of maps alike classic Doom II iwad-ish in byte-sized layouts for a quick experience. The mapper worked with a limitation I'm not very familiar with, it looks to be a sort of challenge he put to himself to work with a base of 300 limits, and I thought the results were more or less appealing, depending on the map. All around stock textures in simple design choices, such as monotextured corridors and lots of squared geometry, or even triangles, not much about details or tricks with light variation, although there's some decent usage of it, but that's not something really important to look for in a wad of this kind. And it's not needless to say how similar are certain places to original Doom II and other iwads, more like micro remakes, for example an easier version of The Chasm included in the same map with a convoluted Gotcha! scene, or a tiny crates maze that looks chunked from TNT's crates map. It was cool to revisit these visual concepts once again, even if for a short period of time. Also, PCorf included a vast selection of tracks for a change of pace, good to not hear the stock soundtrack in a wad where it would have casually fit too. Perhaps the limitation could have been executed with a bit more variation in combat and progression. The maps are easy to figure, linearity above all, you're usually entitled to dispatch enemies with your hitscan weapons, mainly shotguns, not a lot of opportunities to pull out your heavier weaponry if you go on pistol starts, or else it becomes exploration time where secrets hide them. Combat is straightforward incidental butches presented in front of you, with a few turrets here and there, and a couple surprise (or predictable) traps to keep you on your toes, generally including low-tiers in ambushes. Thing is, the same kind of tropes are repeated in most maps, such as corridor-shooting usually involving some zombies, hell nobles or pinkies, symmetrical placement (if there's a sergeant in this corner, there for sure is another one in the other corners), or the typical wall-of-meat guarding the exit, which lack any sort of threat on that context, although the latter is sometimes spiced up. When that's not the case, it can be fun run-and-gun, grinding through weaklings in fast mode, teleporting ambushes putting a bit of pressure, and some helpful berserk/chainsaw usage. The ideas work well together in my opinion, given the size of the maps it's a plus that the less entertaining parts don't drag on too long. Secret-wise, there's a high chance that you'll need to search for hidden weapons/ammo in order to kill everything in a few maps. That or to off high-HP enemies that otherwise will suck all your bullets. Some maps guard tons of secrets in very visible ways to find them, so that could be good for those who despise exploration (no idea why they would though...). I liked the ideas in the secret maps, the first one might have needed to be more violent, serving for the difficulty I was playing on, and the second one does its job as a casual map screwing limitations. For favourite maps I'd pick 10, 24 and 27, while the rest were more or less enjoyable. Overall, simple as it is, I liked this stuff, it's fairly accessible to people who want to take their first steps into pwads, that is, akin to the original game in terms of difficulty and aesthetics. My personal rate is 6,5/10.

Excellent level with a well-done white\/blue theme, great architecture, satisfying soundtrack and punishing gameplay with lots of dangerously placed hitscanners. What I didn't like were unnecessary "block monster" lines and the fact that you can get stuck due to a one-use trigger (but it's still possible to finish the level after that if you know how to glide). Stylish and challenging.

And there goes another wad in quite a while, played through GlBoom+ on UV. So let's see what do we have here. Unholy Realms is a 32-level megawad consisting of levels designed primarily for gameplay, and not so much on other aspects such as look and atmosphere. It features an amazing, uplifting new soundtrack fit for epic battles, a new background, font, and HUD, but no ENDOOM screen, enemies, sounds, textures, or weapons. It is a medium difficulty wad with a few difficult levels near the end, but that's to be expected, so it should be accessible to most players. The first half or so of the wad features compact or cramped levels with a low enemy count. The best strategy in these levels is to constantly move, there's no time to rest, however these maps are nowhere near unfair or blowing the mandatory damage through the roof, it is simply their design, expecting you to be a fast mover. As you progress, the levels become more open and the enemy count, along the difficulty, increases in steps. The enemy count doesn't go higher than close to 500 in a single levels, so there's no need to worry about potential large waves of enemies, but don't let your guard down, simply not having to deal with great numbers of enemies doesn't mean they're no threat, the later levels will definitely test your reflexes and skills with their enemy placement and some platforming. For the most part, the levels are well designed and are fun to play, but there are some problems here and there. A few levels feature poor lightning which will make seeing the enemies difficult at times. Moreover, some include rooms which go completely dark as you progress and enemies will ambush you, making you guess your way out of them. Luckily, these rooms do not feature unfair enemy encounters or traps, so getting out shouldn't pose much problem, just keep in mind that at times, the wad wants you dead real quick. After all is said and done, the journey culminates with a questionable Icon of Sin MAP30, which also features a little over 200 enemies. I find it questionable because some design choices don't make much sense to me, or rather, the fact that you also have to pick up 3 skulls doesn't, not to mention that there are 2 blue and red skulls. What do the extra 2 located inside a room opened with the orange skull do, I have no clue, I could not find a way to pick them up in my playthrough. On top of this, the layout can also be confusing, after picking up the keys you might spend quite some time figuring out how to reach the platform that teleports you on a descending pillar to blow the brains of the IoS out, so be prepared for potentially running in circles. It's not terrible, but it's not great either, it simply lacks, it had potential to be something much grander but this potential wasn't reached. Given the size of the map it could've easily been a slaughter level instead of... whatever it ended up being, sort of an amalgam of multiple ideas which might've sounded cool on paper, but not in practice. And while being on the subject of issues, a very small number of maps suffer from a really bad HOM effect in certain areas. Whether it's a port related issue, I do not know. There isn't much else to add this time around. The levels are good, but nothing really stands out of the crowd for me, so I have no favorite maps, but don't hate any of them either. It's worth the time, and it's also a good example of how cramped combat should be done, even if there isn't anything particularly brilliant (Hell Revealed 2 I'm looking at you).

^Indeed the sequel is more impressive in just about every aspect. That being said there are some nice maps here, some that play good in coop as well, plus yet another awesome soundtrack. Considering it's almost 20 years old, an I like it a bit more than Icarus, I am going to bump it to a 4; however, a very very low one - as I still feel it's decidedly more average than pretty darn good, but the age, historical significance, and of course soundtrack are just enough for me add a star.

And thus, Stardate 20x6 is finished. Stardate 20x6 is a 8-level wad consisting of challenging levels with enemy placements and encounters in the vein of slaughter, with an actual slaughter level featuring 1000 enemies at the end. The wad is centered around the color purple. This means that a number of textures and effects have been replaced and purple plays a major role in creating the mood and atmosphere of the levels, but isn't overused so that it becomes an annoyance. Besides a new set of textures it also features a new soundtrack similar to the one heard in Sunlust, but with a slightly more emphasis on the atmosphere rather than epicness while still very much keeping you and the action going (Sunlust did include a few "battle" songs which were used in a few levels, and in another megawad as well, I think), a new menu background, and intermission screen. It does not feature new enemies, weapons, or sounds. Considering these levels have been created by Ribbiks, there are many similarities in terms of gameplay and design with Sunlust. One of the easiest similarities that is immediately noticed is the enemies who are in plain sight in a couple of levels are in a sleeping/unalerted state with their backs to the player. As I assumed in the case of Sunlust, it was likely done in order to allow the player to observe his environment and create a strategy of sorts before jumping into the action. The difficulty is also designed the same way, with UV being reserved for veterans and highly skilled players, while everything else is for less than stellar players. I have completed Stardate on HMP. The maps are solid, combining challenging gameplay with good architecture and atmosphere, and also include a few ingenious traps which are less cruel than what could be seen in MAP29 of Sunlust (or should I say the Arch-Vile room instead?). The action takes place mostly on various space bases and every now and then a breathtaking sight might catch your attention when you find yourself outside. My favorite level is going to be MAP03, and the trap with a Cyberdemon on one end and Revenants on the opposite was damn fun. It might look threatening at first, but really, all that needs to be done is avoiding potential damage caused by their infighting and taking care of the incoming waves of Imps and Hell Knights until they're done slaughtering each other. As about design flaws, there are some dark rooms in certain levels where it's pretty difficult to navigate. The enemies are always visible so the problem is not that you don't know where you're taking damage from, but rather the room itself because it's so dark it's difficult to see what's in front of you sometimes. I did manage to hurt myself with the RL as well as get killed by a Cyberdemon because I accidentally ran into a wall. I would not advise using that weapon in these rooms. Use the Chaingun, SSG, or Plasma Gun instead, and always be aware of your environment. It's always good to rely on the environment as much as possible to make things more interesting and challenging, after all, many of the later levels also include some really tricky platforming sections, but the use of lighting could be more efficient. For this reason I would definitely not advise using the Software of your port of choice either. The final level, as previously mentioned, is once again a slaughter map with a couple of nasty but highly creative enemy placements. Ever seen pyramid-like structures with Chaingunners on them? Me neither, until now. No Icon of Sin boss, and once everyone's dead you have to destroy a reactor (or, I think it's a reactor anyway) which ends the journey. A great level, but the existence of the said reactor is a bit questionable considering the location. I think it was just fine without it. And I think that covers everything. It's short and sweet, go check it out, it's worth your time.

Done with these settings: - Crispy Doom 4.2 - Hurt Me Plenty. - Continuous combined with a pistol start mindset. - Saves every 10 minutes or so. This is a short, simplistic, ok mapset. What seems to be a megawad, it never felt like one, as the maps are bite-sized and with low monster count, making it doable in one session of 1 or 2 hours blind. There's not much to talk about aesthetics, it only uses stock textures in a Hell Revealed way, that is brown/green/grey, sometimes mixed and sometimes only one colour for the whole map. The soundtrack is composed by iwad tracks and several new tunes (some from other pwads, don't know about the rest), of which maps 12, 13 and 18 have the best ones, some sort of fantasy-action cool midis. What is relevant to point out is the notorious "influence" from certain wads in terms of layout and combat. Pretty much every map has something that could be considered a homage from TNT, Hell Revealed, Thy Flesh Consumed, or even Hangar too, in a very compact/tight way. This isn't any sort of accusatory comment, I don't know what were the author's intentions, but as I was progressing I couldn't just ignore many of the rooms that looked "very familiar", or to be more specific, the exact same ideas from other wads, more or less polished. It's up to each one to judge I guess... So progression isn't demanding in any way, the maps are quite short and small, impossible to be lost, you can even see all the linedefs in the automap in most maps, right from the start. You'll surely beat them in a blink of an eye, well except map 20, so I'd recommend any maxer to save before they face a switch, it could be a non-signaled exit. Wondering how combat is? Just like the wads I mentioned before, with a major influence from HR. For those who never played that, it can be tight rooms with mid-tiers to kill with any kind of shotgun available, a bunch of hell nobles to ignore until you find a useful weapon, or several hordes in a Downtown-ish environment. There're also satirical placements like an early cyberdemon to telefrag, or a square of stuck revenants that can't chase you. It's a bit hitscan heavy at first, but it gradually lessens in later maps. Don't know what else to say, I wasn't very sold on the combat in general, rather uninteresting at moments, some maps will overpower you, and others will punish you if you don't go for secrets. Talking about secrets, NuMetalManiak made a perfect comment about them, some require SR50 which is a form of straferunning that is usually avoided for many reasons. In other cases, it is possible to enter normal areas and tag a secret, even if they are not hidden or have anything inside. Wall-humping is often necessary too. The ones I disliked at all were those that hid mandatory weapons, no matter if they were easy to find, without them is impossible to pistol everything in the way (map 11 ahem...). For favourite maps, I'll pick 19 and 20, the first because of the concept and the second one because go Downtwon maps. Overall, not sure if I'll recommend this to anyone, probably for the speedrun part, or if you are a diehard fan of HR, but I assure it's way easier. Anyway, still an ok set. My rate is 5/10.

That was actually pretty damn good for a terrywad. The environments looked good for the most part, the gameplay, while a bit over-reliant on RNG abuse in some spots, is also pretty good for a terrywad (albeit insanely difficult in some spots, especially later on). Even if you don't like terrywads, this is worth the download just for the music. Holy shit, this wad has an awesome soundtrack.

Done with these settings: - Crispy Doom 4.2 - Hurt Me Plenty. - Continuous combined with a pistol start mindset. - Saves every 10 minutes or so. Important note: this is indeed a vanilla megawad and you can use any compatible port, however, expect some bugs to happen with the wad itself. This is a solid set of speedmaps, quite intense and fun. It consists of super short maps that can be completed in a few minutes, or seconds if you don't want to max them. There isn't a lot to talk about visuals, it uses the stock textures in a simple way, basically to ambient the maps for standard playability focused on action, no unique theme or episode progression. The text file mentions new graphics, but honestly I didn't pay attention to that. I could see it as a plus, given the little time I spent in the maps. If there's a comparison it would be the iwad's maps, visually speaking, if that sounds attractive to you. The soundtrack consists in iwad tracks mixed with some others not specified from where, or if they are custom, but they are alike the stock tracks. Its main attraction is the fast-paced gameplay, as these maps will challenge your reactions and movement skills in constricted areas, some times forcing you squeeze through your enemies to find weapons (and a single place to breathe), or putting you in a situation you can't overthink what to do. I wasn't very hyped by this at first, not a huge fan of short and/or speedy maps, but as I was playing my mind totally changed. I'll say this, the maps aren't so hard on a casual play, monster placement isn't too demanding by itself, it's the slight existence of health/ammo available what makes them punishing. You basically have very little room for error, and any hit from anything can mean a restart. In addition, ammo is super tight, almost the strict minimum for a max. I should have to play them back on pistol start to confirm if they can all be maxed, but from my experience on continuous with my restrictions in some maps I felt forced to skip monsters (e.g. barons), thinking that I could kill them later, and then seeing the way back closed, particularly in map 20 that lacks a plasma rifle on HMP. There was a considerable number of instances where I was unable to complete the map without cheats: in map 18 there was a secret soulsphere easy to see on a tall ledge, due to the lack of an archvile on skill 3 it was impossible to reach it, besides a bunch of monsters that could never teleport out of their closets; in map 22, there's a double teleport pad in the room with 4 mancubi and others, it was impossible to use it, I also tested that part in other ports and complevels, no solutions; in map 27, there's a similar case of a teleport I wasn't able to use it, the one behind the blue skull bar. I'm not sure how others handled with these situations, I simply cheated and guided myself thanks to some videos. If there's a patch somewhere I don't know. There's nothing important to talk about secrets, since most maps don't have any, I mean, there's no time or room to explore or you'll be murdered in a second, so the lack is logical. No favourite maps, as I liked them all in a similar way. Overall, it's not for everyone, if any speedrunner haven't seen this yet, they should try it. Exploration fans might have to overlook this. Also, continuous doesn't make this much easier, trust me (start the next map with 21% health and tons of turrets everywhere was pretty intense). My rate is 8/10.

Four stars (Read: 7/10) and here's why: Aesthetically, this is as good as you would expect after Shadows of the Nightmare Realm: Dense atmosphere, fitting soundtrack, detailed environments and striking use of colours create a place that is both believeable yet surreal. There really isn't anything else to say other than it looks spectacular. Unfortunately some of these details come with a cost of their own: There are several occasions in which details or placed objects are either mildly annoying or even dangerously intrusive at the worst possible time. I think that some "smoothening" here and there would have helped. The gameplay marches to the beat of its own drum, whether for better or for worse is definitely subject to the eye of the beholder. There are some things that just don't work with my "palate", because quite frankly some encounters overstayed their welcome a good deal. So much for the TL;DR, here's some things that sprung at me: The lack of higher grade ammunition over certain stretches in this map, especially on the higher difficulties, is something I find hard to digest. Whenever you get your hands on some rockets or cells, think twice about using them right away. The "player output" to monster health ratio leans a lot towards meaty and (borderline) grindy situations in spite of the relatively low monster count. SSG fights against (slightly buffed) Barons of Hell at varying distances, chaingun-tap-sniping at distant enemies, and the occasional cornercamp are something you're gonna have to deal with. For the purpose of seeing all the content in a timely fashion, I ended up trying to skip basically everything that wasn't a hitscanner, and also most other things that aren't tied to a "kill trigger" whenever I could. It saved me some higher grade ammo for when I actually could make good use of it. If you're a die-hard completionist, you will need to love the SSG even more than a decadent breakfast in bed. Personally I think the higher difficulties here are asking for some more rockets in order to make shorter work of the trivial albeit meaty fights. There are some conceptually interesting fights in this map, in particular the first Cyberdemon and the actual boss come to mind, and there are some setpiece-based fights which have a nuance of their own. As for the first Cyberdemon: That one I have really mixed feelings about. It's sort of like a "miniboss" fight that has two phases to it which loop. The first phase you get to fight the Cybie (watch out for the faster rockets), and during the second phase the Cybie becomes invulnerable and you have to deal with "fodder" instead. Kill all the fodder, and then get back at the Cybie. The idea is cool, because -conceptually speaking- you get a fight that basically shifts between one larger threat, and several smaller ones. The problem I have with the fight is that the time at which the Cybie warps away is based on a timer, rather than on damage dealt by the player. If you play this one too defensively, you're in for a lot of meat, and to make matters worse there is a chance the Cybie warps out and turns invulnerable shortly before you deal the death blow, which happened to me the first time I played this map. Depending on how ballsy you are or how merciful the Cyberdemon is, this fight can either be over really quickly, or you're gonna be dealing with the fodder more often than you may enjoy. The actual boss fight lends itself to either playing it safe at the cost of grinding (unfortunately repetitive) phases, or perhaps taking some minor risks here and there in favour of point-blank BFG action. In a way it's somewhat similar to the first Cyberdemon. Not gonna say more about that, you'll see it when you get there. If you wanna see the latest hotness in terms of GZDoom based detailing, this is where you can get your fix, just don't be surprised if you can hear the rhythm of the SSG for the next several days no matter where you are and what you do.

This mapset consist of three levels. The first two are enormous maps and the third one is a small Doom 2 like final map. I played this in Hurt me plenty. The first level is a techbase map. It was released first as a separate map to replace E2M8. It's style is reminiscent of episode 1 and episode 2 base levels with small abstract hellish areas and caves here and there. You begin your quest in a subway car which has brought you to this huge base with empty halls and spacey, dimly lit corridors. The author says in the description that the levels aim to give the player a feeling of exploration and that's what I got right from the start. This sentiment is emphasized by the soothing and a bit eerie ambient soundtrack which is a very good fit for the level. I don't usually pay that much attention to music but now I did because it was such a suitable choice. The visual style is a bit more detailed than Doom's original techbase theme. However the detailing varies a lot. Sometimes you come across plainly textured, full lit and big blocky rooms that take you back to the nineties but mostly you encounter areas with more details. The areas near the start were less good-looking than the later parts. The layout is very interconnected. Especially in the beginning you can find multiple semi-secret panels that take you to a corridor which connects to the other side of the level. The level opens passages like this the more you progress. The pace of the level is pretty relaxed. At start you are greeted with empty areas with no monsters and everything is suspiciously silent. Some single Demons show up after wandering for a while but the feeling of being alone in this huge base stays with you. You'll encounter your first herd of enemies in the outside area on top of a cliff. And when you enter the cave area you''ll start to get enemies in your face. The enemy fights in the beginning areas are more close combat. I usually evaded the first bigger encounters by running around them which turned out to be a good strategy as that way I found better positions to shoot at them. After you get the blue keycard and go south to the blue door area the enemies appear more from a distance such as on top of crates or behind grills on the walls. This area contained a lot of cannon fodder, Zombies, Sergeants and Imps. It was very soothing to kill them en masse. You still get enemies in your face too. The visual style also got better. There was more consistent detailing and the rooms got more vertical. The area behind the yellow door continued the same rhythm, you entered peaceful and spacious areas, sometimes enemies run after you, sometimes you get to slay them from a distance. The open area with the zigzag path and pillars over the slime presented an enjoyable fight. The walls were filled with Imps shooting at you from the distance while Cacodemons were flying in the middle and you had to run around the path throwing rockets at them while avoiding falling down to the slime. After the second half I started running out of ammo. This happened more than once. Well, I had a lot of plasma ammo but I had no plasma rifle. If I'm not mistaken you only get the plasma rifle after the Cyberdemon fight which I think was not fair. That fight would have been much more fun with a plasma gun. There was a BFG in the level but I cannot remember now if I got it or not. However I'm sure I didn't have BFG in the Cyberdemon room. Maybe the BFG was a secret. There were 18 secrets in total. I found half. There were many secrets where you could see the item from a window and then had to figure out how to get there. Those were nice and logical puzzles. The fight before the exit is probably the roughest. You get a lot of Demons, Barons and a Spider Mastermind. But in the end it's not that big of an issue because you can compartmentalize them to a room and shoot them through the windows or make them fight each other. It took me almost an hour to finish the level even though I did not get lost. It was a pleasure to stroll through the map and admire the areas despite the small throwbacks to the nineties here and there :) I think the author succeeded very well in giving the player the feeling of exploration in the first level. The second map has Doom 2 styled abstract hell visuals. Actually it has almost all kinds of areas. Caves, rocky cliffs, lava, slime, organic, gothic, marble and what have you. Whereas the first map has a slower, almost wandering pace with a hauntingly soothing ambient track the second map is more hectic, aggressive and has a metal song as soundtrack. The fights didn't always feel fun. There were too many Chaingunners at distance. The open area with the Quake's Q logo on the ground was the first time I thought I'm gonna IDDQD if this hitscanning continues. And it sadly did but thankfully not all the time. In general this map is much more slaughtery than the first one. Also this map is much larger than the first one and there are over a thousand monsters. I must say I did not find that many things to like in this map. I did not get any feeling of exploration here. The layout was confusing. It didn't feel interconnected at all. Yes, there were teleporters but it's always hard to figure out where they take you. Also killing started to feel almost like work at times and after an hour I was considering giving up on the map. The western part of the map was dedicated to getting the blue key. The eastern part was for acquiring the yellow key. And in the middle you entered the area with the red key and exit. That sounds simple but it wasn't. I got frustrated and went astray more than once. I was at loss what the various buttons were supposed to open. It didn't help that the abstract hellish landscape of Doom 2 is not my favorite theme. I also think the styles changed too much. But there were some areas that I liked. For example, the section with organic texturing was one of the best parts in the level. Other good areas were the library and the red gothic cathedral. The third and last map was almost a traditional Romero's head endgame map but instead you had to push two buttons to finish it. The music choice for this map was weird. I guess in some sense it fits the level. I was pretty exhausted from the second map and I rushed the final map as fast as I could. TL;DR The first map is without a doubt the strongest. Vast, interconnected and explorative techbase map with some nice detailing, relaxing pace, interesting fights and great ambient music. The second map is a gigantic level with a mishmash of styles. At times it feels like your are working at Switch Hunting Incorporated instead of enjoying a game and then you get perforated by a Chaingunner. The last map is OK but I'm not sure if it was that necessary. In fact the levels feel so different from each other that I wonder if it was a good idea to combine them into one WAD.

There goes Epic 2, a fun and sometimes mysterious megawad, still played through GlBoom+ . So let's start this. Epic 2 is a megawad focused primarily on the gameplay while also putting care into the aesthetics. The gameplay is similar to that of Plutonia, while near the end it shows some slaughter tendencies, when enemies will often assault the player in waves, but most of the time they're largely relying on their placement to be fully effective. The megawad features a new menu background, HUD, sounds, soundtrack, enemy sprites, textures, weapon sprites, and a new enemy, a trooper equipped with a shotgun that lacks the pump action and is invisible before being alerted. They bear a striking resemblance to the ones seen in Ancient Aliens, with their key differences. Indeed, it seems that various sounds used here would also end up in AA and Valiant, the most notable being the weapon sounds. Having played both before Epic 2, it would seem it was a major source of inspiration for the projects. The gameplay is solid most of the time, however some enemies are used excessively near the end, the worst offenders being the Chaingunners and Arch-Viles. Almost every wave of enemies ends up using them, and at various points there's large waves made exclusively of Chaingunners. This happens only in the last few maps however that are noticeably more difficult. The levels are beautiful and very immersive, making you really feel like you're exploring various iconic Egyptian locations, and are easy to navigate for the most part. Problems arise only near the very end of the wad, on MAP28 specifically. The level itself is quite large, but it's major issue is that in order to reach the red skull you must first locate a number of switches that have likely been located already. This makes backtracking excessive and navigation difficult due to the complexity and size of the map, it's very easy to get lost or become confused while looking for the switches again. MAP28, along MAP29 are the most difficult levels in the wad, but MAP28 would've been a much better candidate for a MAP30 instead. With a few changes it would've been a very fitting conclusion to the journey. Talking about MAP29, this one has its own (minor) flaws as well. It's easily the most difficult level in the entire megawad and with the biggest enemy count (over 500), but it could've used a few tweaks in places in terms of balancing. Specifically, the room with the blue skull is the most difficult area in the whole level, because waves of Revenants, a few hitscanners, Arch-Viles, and 3 Cyberdemons will surround you after it's triggered and there will barely be any space left for walking. Best to clear an area and blow everyone else out from there. All the other rooms come with Invulnerability spheres, but surprisingly this one doesn't, making it look a bit unfair in comparison. MAP30 here is an Icon of Sin level, one that's quite underwhelming, that is. It features only 100 enemies (almost all of them are killed after activating a few switches however), it's large yet short (some great areas are explored, although they're few), but blowing out the brains of the Pharaoh can be both a tedious and a very stupid task. The platform you must use moves slow when you deliver your first blow, and very fast afterwards. Was that really necessary? I doubt it, it could've been much better, but the experience this level delivers is mediocre in terms of gameplay. As I have previously mentioned, MAP28 and MAP29 could've easily been the perfect candidates for boss levels, with some changes, but not this. Beside MAP30 there's no level I dislike or hate. Sure, MAP28 was a bit frustrating, but it's still a great map. And my sense of direction is awful in the first place anyway. As for my favorite maps, that's going to be MAP29 as well as MAP21. "Shore Dream"? Quite so. Unbelievable, breathtaking sights. To sum up, despite the lackluster ending, Epic 2 is most definitely worthy of your time and the title of classic. It has its flaws, but then what doesn't (and most flaws are relatively minor), the result is what matters at the end of the day, and it's fantastic. Ever wanted to play AA but had serious trouble with it due to the great difficulty? Then this might be perfect for you. Nonetheless, Epic 2 is a wad everyone should play at least once.

Done with these settings: - GLBoom+ 2.5.1.4. complevel 9. - Hurt Me Plenty. - Continuous combined with a pistol start mindset. - Saves every 10 minutes or so. Ever wondered what is that "slaughter" thing that everyone talks about?... Here it is! Well, a part of it, and if you are totally new to this genre, you came to the right place. This is a very fun wad in many aspects, not just the slaughter component but also visually, almost every map is placed in a different theme: starting from ruined techs entering to snowland, then arriving to a gothic fortress and, well more gothic/hellish environments, culminating into a massive dark underground (gothic of course) citadel, which has top notch detailing (and no, details do not interfere with gameplay, I assure you). I quite appreciated this variation, and I have to admit that hordes + gothic textures are a great combination. Plus, the soundtrack is amazing, some strong and some smooth tracks depending on the case, I particularly loved maps 08 and 12 midis as they are more quiet yet fitting. The combat component is pretty consistent, usually offering hordes to slaughter in multiple ways, with a moderate demand of crowd control, trap-based or not. One of the most common ways to handle the situations Rush provide is via circlestrafing + infighting, periodically removing what gets in the way. I preferred the occasions in which you must shape the scenario to be able to control the herd, which required some quick reactions and movement skills. In terms of progression, save for maps 06 and 12 that are more complex, the maps are fairly linear and easy to understand. As far as monster placement goes, revenants can be nasty in this wad, in companion to hell knights for your typical infighting shows. Yeah, mid and high-tiers in the majority, and rare presence of former humans, leaving the hitscan action into your hands, and a few spiders scattered in the set. Plus, there's a new mancubus a bit tougher and creepier than the ordinary, not an outstanding addition but something to be alert of. Archi made good use of the areas to put pressure not only from the monsters on the ground but from a considerate number of turrets. He also didn't abuse of lock-ins, so don't be surprised if you can leave and camp behind a hole, but expect to find more stuff ready to punish you for cheesing. When it comes to my personal highlights, I share some of Alfonzo's ones, particularly his last point, that was hilarious as one second I was exploring all cool all relaxed and the next one I was running in panic on lava like oh shit!. I'll also add that part in map 10 where I was pushed against my will into a room with monsters on grandstands, it was so funny. Secret-wise, they are the usual different/misaligned-texture with a power-up or weapon inside, but there are also secret telefrag chains to save ammo, and secret fights!. The most complex map (12) has the hardest-to-find ones, so pay attention. For favourite maps I'll pick 01, 06, 10 and 12. Unfortunately the last one has a bug that prevented me from exiting, otherwise a gorgeous map. No disliked maps. Overall, I found it pretty accessible to anyone with enough experience in the game, so give it a try, at least on HMP, it's fun and worth of replay. Of course, avoid it if you hate hordes, after all, it's not the author's fault if you don't take a second to read the description ("boom-compatible slaughterish maps", yeah it's pretty clear to me), or play something else... My rate is 8/10.

Done with these settings: - Crispy Doom 4.2 - Ultra-Violence. - Continuous combined with a pistol start mindset. - Saves every 10 seconds or so. Fun mapset, a mixed bag of varied styles. The set is all speedmaps by different authors, some I recognized in their maps, like JC or FranckFRAG, and others completely new to me, so it was nice to meet all sorts of offerings. Visuals aren't the strongest feature, of course, still many authors managed to create some nice looking areas using mostly stock and custom textures. A few maps play with lights variation, such as having to find resources in darkness while waking up tons of enemies. The music selection is a mix in between iwad tracks, several others from well-known pwads, and also unused Doom tracks, I had no idea those even existed, really cool soundtrack. As a community based project, there's a lot to see in terms of progression and combat. Each author shows their own style, and the contrast between them is quite notable once you make further progress. I'm not sure whether some of the authors were completely new to mapping or not, since part of the contrast I mentioned before is due to the quality of the content by all meanings (visuals, geometry, combat, etc). This is not to say the ones that didn't stand out for me were bad, because others might find them more suitable to their tastes. However, I was more keen to the maps that provided a higher difficulty while having more than one way to deal with them, and not exactly to particular authors. Speaking of the mappers, you'll probably several contributions from the same guys, such as JC, FranckFRAG, and Datacore. The former one provided some old school slaughter(y) levels, I really liked his earlier maps where you are subject of crossfire in fairly open spaces, indoors or outdoors, he usually put the monsters in the way to find your weapons. I wasn't a fan of the symmetry of certain maps though, nor the repetitive combat that came with that, but still generally fun gameplay. On the other side, FranckFRAG opted for bite-sized maps with small but effective monster placement and traps. His maps are sometimes hard to taste given how short they are, I preferred those where after 2 minutes I still had more enemies to kill lol. Datacore didn't stick to one single style, incidental combat in the majority, the weapon progression is what can put off some players, as using just chaingun for 300 imps in a big box didn't seem so exciting, to name an example, although I did like his second to last map. Other notable contributions include [WH]-Wilou84 maps, his last level was hard to digest, I'm not so fond of that sort of clausterfuck gameplay, personally speaking. There's also the Darkwave0000's biggest map, which was everything I expected from them, and it kicked my ass a lot of times, neat and brutal level. Oxyde's map is another one I really liked, it's heavily congested and has many surprises that can catch one off guard. The rest are some hit-and-miss, such as ZyklonB's two maps that were a little boring, or the HR-ish level by subject_119 which was weird and fun. Necrotikflesh maps can result in a funny or horrible experience, depending on how much you like darkness, or shotgunning a cyberdemon, all I'll say is I made an exception for my "100% everything" rule in the second case. Secret-wise, I don't remember any lol, well being super short maps there isn't much to talk about secrets, FranckFRAG maps surprisingly have more than 1 secret, that they are meaningful or not depends on each one. For favourite maps I'll pick 08, 15, 16, 19, 26, and probably 29 even though I had my anger moments. Overall, a success in my opinion, it might not be the most consistent megawad, but it does provide a little bit of everything for everyone. People seeking a fun time with short maps will surely find something up their alley here. So yeah, my rate is 7/10.

And thus, oh you know what I'm going to say already, Doom 64 for Doom II has been finished, played through GlBoom+ 2.5.1.5 on UV. So for an introduction, as the name implies D64D2 is a recreation of the classic Doom 64 originally released as a console exclusive for the N64. It aims to recreate the levels along with their gameplay using mostly vanilla Doom II resources. It features a new menu background, ENDOOM screen, new music, a few new enemies, namely the Nightmare Imp and Cacodemon as well as the final boss the Mother Demon, a few new textures, new intermission messages, a new end level screen, but no custom sounds or weapons, meaning that the unique and iconic Unmaker was not recreated in any way. For a recreation, I must say that the levels and their gameplay come quite close to the original Doom 64, nonetheless various liberties have been taken in different forms, ranging from new takes on various puzzles to completely new levels, as well as the usage of the enemies who were absent from the original due to memory limitations. The usage of enemies who were absent from the original game comes with mixed results as it doesn't always work, probably one of the most obvious flaws in the game. This is most noticeable primarily in the levels that came closest to their D64 counterpart as the environment was clearly not designed with them in mind. For instance, you'll encounter Revenants on narrow corridors quite often, and sometimes even Arch-Viles. This isn't a problem in larger areas where it's usually quite fun to fight them, but not in those particular areas. Chaingunners do seem to work quite well however since they can easily blend with the rest of the hitscanners. Compared to the original D64, a major difference is the tone and atmosphere of the game. D64 was slower paced and more atmospheric, whereas D64D2 is faster paced and puts less emphasis of that element, supported by the amazing but more action/fun oriented soundtrack. Perhaps the darker, much more hellish levels such as Unholy Temple are the most atmospheric levels in the entire game, and also the best looking. Unholy Temple is definitely my favorite level in D64D2. While on the subject of changes, some of them are very interesting. In the Void is probably the most surprising for me. The original map featured a light blue sky and a rather foggy atmosphere while the level itself was pretty bright, how does this map look like in D64D2? Well, it seems to literally take place in a void now. Indeed, the sky is now pitch black but luckily poor visibility in the level itself was avoided, at least for the most part, so there's no difficulty in seeing the enemies and where they are. It's a change that works quite well, unlike others. The most drastic changes were probably done to The Absolution where you can now locate 3 skulls, but in order to reach them you need to complete their own puzzles first, and they're not the exciting or fun type. The room with the yellow skull was probably the only one that was fun, the others? Well, for the red skull you have to go through an awkward platforming section where everything, including the enemies are... cloaked in darkness, while the room with the blue skull features a puzzle similar to the one seen in the room with the red key (Demon Key on the original D64) on Outpost Omega, except that it's longer, more complex, and more tedious. Not exactly changes done for the better. I don't know how exactly they impact the level though, but in my playthrough I didn't even fight the Mother Demon after aquiring all skulls, I just heard her screaming once while I was fighting the teleporting enemies thinking that she finally showed up to the battle, only for the end level screen to appear immediately afterwards, so I assume she died somehow. D64D2 also comes with some exclusive levels that were not part of the original D64, and I personally think they're little more than filler maps. They're not awful but nowhere near great either, and I'm unable to find any valid reason for their existence. This is primarily due to their nature. Their gameplay style and tone is very different from all the other levels and in consequence, they feel out of place, not mixing well with the rest of the maps. Still, at least they're very short and straightforward so you don't waste much time with them. And while on the subject, some of the secret levels from the original have been turned into regular maps, meaning that you don't have to search for secret exits to access them anymore. One such example is the previously mentioned Outpost Omega. All things considered, D64D2 manages to capture the spirit of D64 while also making plenty of changes, yet generally remaining faithful to the original. Some changes might have been done for the worse, but there's plenty done for the better as well. It's pretty short and easy, just like the original, so it can be finished in a day, you can't go wrong with it. A collective effort for an ambitious project that should be well worth your time if you like Doom 64 and want to see a different take on it.

Done with these settings: - Crispy Doom 4.2 - Ultra-Violence. - Continuous combined with a pistol start mindset. - Saves every 10 minutes or so. An ok wad, for a lack of a proper word. Consistent execution, appealing visuals, but partially uninteresting gameplay, to sum up my general impressions. On the theme side, the marine was sent to an asteroid in order to do the dirty work. You start in a sort of military base, casually infested by ex-soldiers, arrive to a power station, traverse some sewers, the named crimson canyon, several cramped tech rooms in a space ship, until you arrive to the gate where you must shut down the demon infestation, or something, for story lovers the author wrote a full single text file. So in terms of visuals, there're a lot of new textures, such as stock walls painted to dark grey, which doesn't look so bad, extra computer panels, different red bricks and lava textures for the canyon maps, and much more. Nothing extraordinary, I did like the new additions though, particularly the flames in the way they were used (until their usage became repetitive, you'll see...). The interesting side of the visuals is that, assuming you've read the plot, you'll understand the cohesiveness between the maps, they thematically end in map 10, and the last two maps are extras. Finally, the soundtrack was quite nice to hear, at least the ones that weren't a bit repetitive. I loved map 02's track, it reminded me to BTSX1 first track, and if a midi brings me back to a mapset I loved, it's a huge plus personally speaking. The action is what some people would call "grindfest". Basically, monsters come in packs, usually appear in front of the player, or teleport in somewhere one by one. Ambushes and hordes of the same kind of monster are the most frequent, particularly packs of zombies that will be gift you with plenty of ammo, not that there scarcity is a thing in any of the maps, even if you're pistol starting you'll stumble upon ammo in narrow passages that can't be avoided. Figure in continuous how embarrassingly common was that... At times, you'll find hitscanners easy to grind from the other side of a corridor, at others, only projectile-based in complete open spaces, which only makes them look tiny and disoriented. At least once in every map there's the old-fashioned pinkies + chainsaw combo, which I always took gracefully, even though it's often labelled as "boring". As you can read, the combat is on the grind side, not real threatening in earlier maps, but maybe that can sound appetizing to you. I still found a few fairly challenging parts in later maps, in comparison to what the majority of set provides, where number of monsters is in compliance with the cramped area, less "nonthreatening grind" in other words, like being caught in between a bunch of hell knights coming from every narrow corridor. The 10 maps that compose the story basically play similar, with progression being naturally linear, but with a lot of backtrack in between (I recall only one map providing a teleport back to a recently opened area), so it's easy to keep track of what you're doing. Exceptions are the canyon maps, although if you're in the mood, there are many apparently "glide-able" gates, good for when you loose interesting in killing stuff. The two extras also appear in the Claustrophobia 1024 series, I think, they are absolutely straightforward and too awkward to play to be honest, no idea why they are in this wad... Despite the sort of combat here, the story maps can serve for a casual not-so-hard experience to new players, or when you feel like mowing down zombies and grabbing their ammo, that is funny to me from time to time. One little thing, in some maps it is possible to be unable to max them, due to broken teleport lines in several monster closets. It happened to me in map 03. Secret-wise, not hard to find them all except for the ones behind random unmarked walls. One of the most common is a secret in every map that contains a special thing, usually opened after doing some progression, don't forget it if you're playing on continuous. There is one secret in map 07 that only rewards you with pointless backtrack, if you happen to find it, well, I am sorry for you. Overall, it was ok, I was in the mood for something like this so I enjoyed it, more or less. I would recommend it only if you love anything from what I said above, or just for the music, honestly. Regardless, not bad. My rate is 6/10.

And there goes Sunlust, and what a ride it was. So first things first, Sunlust is a 32-level megawad consisting of challenging levels. It does not feature new enemies, but comes with a new background screen, an atmospheric, sometimes epic soundtrack, and new textures for most if not all levels making them look absolutely beautiful which adds to the overall experience. it also comes with new (non serious) intermission screens but they're just there without adding anything. The gameplay is similar to that of other megawads such as AV or HR in general, with a number of maps having only little over a hundred or a few hundred enemies and the maps rely on smart placement to offer a challenge, which applies even to some of the slaughter inspired levels, although they mostly rely on the sheer numbers of enemies in various kinds of encounters. Many levels also feature suicide exits but unlike megawads such as Ancient Aliens, Valiant, Scythe and so on which have them every 8 maps or so which usually signalize an upcoming increase in difficulty and sometimes split the megawad in episodes a la Doom 1, they're placed randomly here as a surprise element. You might run into a suicide exit and the upcoming level might feature hundreds of enemies, while others might feature little over a hundred, you never know. And yet the difficulty doesn't change, it's almost like the authors put them there just so that you have to pistol start a map every now and then but not to scare you with a spike in difficulty. It's an interesting experience nonetheless. Many of the later levels have the enemies in plain sight but in a sleeping state, with their backs facing you. This was probably done to offer the players who haven't played the megawad before (those who do a blind playthrough like I did) time to observe the surroundings and come up with a plan of sorts before jumping into the action or getting assaulted by enemies, which is something welcome for me. I've always had the impression that megawads such as Valiant and AA don't really want you to jump into the action without any knowledge of the levels, and in consequence involve quite a bit of trial and error before figuring out an optimal route. This might be a plus for some players, but not for those who just want to enjoy a new megawad from the very first playthrough, and in the case of Sunlust, I'd say it doesn't fall under the trial and error category, so if it's your first time playing it and are at least a decent player you're fine, no serious reason to worry about dying due to not knowing what lies ahead, and traps are easily recognizable most of the time as well. On the subject of difficulty, what I have accidentally discovered while watching a video of MAP30 is that the levels themselves seem to be different on other settings than UV. Considering that UV is targeted at the most skilled players from the description I had chosen to play Sunlust on HMP this time around (I might be insane but not to that degree), and one thing I've noticed is that MAP30 was different on UV. The yellow key is somewhere else, there's more teleporters in a place, and some secret areas seem to work differently, particularly the Cyberdemon room. It would seem that the deadly platform in the middle didn't instantly kill them once activated for some reason. Or maybe I ran into a bug? I don't know, but what's certain is that it did not work for me. Something else that I have noticed is that a number of maps also feature optional areas. I realized this after I finished these maps with only 50-60% kills, so if your target is maxing out everything keep in mind that you'll have to take a detour. The levels are also fair, with the exception of an Arch-Vile room in MAP29. "Go Fuck Yourself" they said. Indeed, good luck avoiding waves of Imps and a few Hell Knights while hiding behind a moving wall with a bunch of Arch-Viles behind it in a small, circular room. Ingenious, I must admit this. As about my favorite maps, well, that's a difficult question considering that the vast majority of levels are gorgeous and provide solid gameplay, but the ones I liked the most are MAP09, MAP10, MAP16, MAP18, MAP19, MAP27, and MAP28. The levels in general explore a variety of themes and locations: Some are "natural", while others are mysterious with a magic atmosphere, cavernous, hellish, surreal, futuristic, and so on. The first few levels also remind me of Requiem. As for the ones I disliked, that's going to be MAP30. The starting area looked pretty interesting, but everything else was just "alright", with a few ugly rooms before the location of the yellow key. This level doesn't feature a typical Icon of Sin boss, it's a slaughter level with almost 2000 enemies. Most certainly not bad, but not fantastic either, yet a fitting conclusion to the journey. And with this I think I've covered pretty much everything. Another solid megawad, well worth the time.

Done with these settings: - GLBoom+ 2.5.1.4. complevel 9. - Hurt Me Plenty. - Continuous combined with a pistol start mindset. - Saves every 10 minutes or so. Important thing: if you want to fully attempt each map of the megawad, load jenefix.wad which can be found here. I say this because I found myself with a few bugs I'll mention below. Onto the review... This wad is pretty impressive, a truly fun set that manages to be a tough and nice experience. The author did a solid job on polishing the maps to look really good, using the Plutonia resources as well as many textures from some well-known megawads like Memento Mori and Requiem. It's a set that the more you advance, the greater it is visually. I was very sold on the theme-progression, the tech/brown structures predominates in the first two episodes, but it is also mixed with sewers (lots of slime), crates rooms, caves, open highways, tombs, golden lakes omg, and much more, and it culminates inside hell, and I'm not just talking about red bricks. About details, well I couldn't be more impressed with the lightning usage in certain maps, it's mostly all bright enough for you to see where you are, but for example in map 29 there's little to no light variation, which boosts its already creepy and fleshy theme. Oh, can we talk about the skies? Every map has a different sky, my favourites are the blue one in map 12 and the red one with two moons(?) in map 22. I also loved the soundtrack, many recognizable midis from other wads as well as new ones, the one in map 26 was my favourite, and the one in map 29 that sounds like anything from Going Down. If you have played any of the wads Jimmy payed tribute, you can have a general overview of what Jenesis is about. Yes, this isn't a walk in the park, neither a disagreeable torture. Maps are medium-sized, typically with key hunts along with switches, linear and non-linear progression, varied in scenarios: lock-in traps or incidental ambushes right after a door or a switch pressed, or nothing at all, just a lonely key on a pedestal. I liked this as it added variety and mystery, not 100% sure if something will happen or not. For monster placement, overall it's meant to be challenging, if a bit too hitscany in some maps. There're a bunch of particular enemies that stood out in a good or bad way: chaingunners out of your aim, there are many instances of these; revenants are particularly nasty in this wad, having a lot of advantage over my movement skill, in some ways the area denies you to fully dodge homing missiles, in others it denies your accuracy, because they can be behind fake walls; archviles seemed inconsistent to me, they are either neutered by block lines or suddenly thrown with 0 cover, the "good" thing is that (on HMP) health resources are instantly given to recover, which still doesn't convince me. Regardless, there are some good archvile placement, as well as the rest of the monsters. There's a new enemy, a possessed marine, a bit stronger than a shotgunner, it's best usage is in map 29 imo. There's also a new boss, nothing you haven't seen before, well, it freaked me out a little bit. Secret-wise, the majority of the maps contain 4-5 in total, some easy to find and some not, a couple of secret fights too, the key is to know what the author used mostly to hide a secret (not just a misaligned texture), and then you'll easily find the rest. Nothing outstanding as they are usually a little cubicle containing a powerful item. For favourite maps I'll pick 06, 12, 17, 22, 24, 29. The third episode was my favourite imo as action was getting quite sharp The other maps were ok too, save 09 and the secret maps which I didn't like too much. A few bugs prevented me to max certain maps (didn't know jenefix.wad existed), in map 20 at the helipad part it is possible to block monsters to teleport in IF you press the lift's switch. In map 24 a cyberdemon may or may not teleport in at the exit section. Overall, it's recommendable, only for people who can bare tons of hitscanners. I think it would be better to play on continuous for a first time, as some maps have ammo for weapons that are nonexistent. My rate is 7,5/10

^Because Evilution has maps that IMO are quite strong in most if not all aspects while this wad has comparatively fewer maps that could be considered that way. Sure some of the most rotten stuff in TNT is worse than Icarus, but TNT is a wad I can definitely recommending at least cherry picking several good maps from and just ignoring the rest if you please. Icarus, on the other hand, my 'cherry pick' list isn't as big. Meh, but +1 star for its age and a good soundtrack.

Done with these settings: - GLBoom+ 2.5.1.4. complevel 9. - Hurt Me Plenty. - Continuous combined with a pistol start mindset. - Saves every 10 minutes or so. Pretty average megawad over here, a real mixed bag: it has some good maps, some ok, a couple of poor tries, and a few I don't think I'll ever replay. Each author has their own style, most of them created more than one map and once you play the first one it's easy to recognize from whom is the next one. There are some maps with neat visuals and impressive layouts, though not always mixed with entertaining gameplay. The ones that look bland (that is, same texture all over the place, misaligned textures, zero light variety), play either boring or bad, or both. One thing, as a personal recommendation, I'd suggest changing the option to walk under hanging corpses on, just so they don't interfere with your movement. There is no custom soundtrack, apart from a few midis, that's something this wad lacked. However, I played with a custom wad (thanks to Lingyan203) that really enhanced the gameplay, at least a little bit, so I'd also suggest playing with custom tracks. Combat is mostly very low-key, with very little moments of actual threat. I won't complain about this, it's pretty clear that these are amateur maps, perhaps what was considered "fun and challenging" in 2003, but in these days, the mapset doesn't hold its own very well. What you can see is, either incidental straightforward combat all over the map(s), or sheer lack of resources to survive, specially on pistol starts. And don't let the TITLEPIC fascinates you, you'll hardly ever find engaging high-tiers on HMP. Now, onto specific authors, I'd say Thomas van der Velden did the best ones (02, 30), he worked on good visuals and while combat isn't the best, there're some fun moments (e.g. in map 30 you can let all loose and watch enemies telefrag each other, plus a clear easy-to-kill IoS!), while Parsons (03, 11), Leaver (16, 17) and Metabolist (14) did some neat short maps. Bad Bob (08, 09) worked with ammo starvation and tysoning, that was fun for me. Kaiser's map 10 was actually fun, compared to his other maps (15, 26) which included too much backtracking and/or obtuse secrets. The Ultimate Doomer's maps (01, 20) provide some very symmetrical rooms with voodoo dolls as an extra challenge, I thought that was kind of interesting, although the dolls don't really affect gameplay that much. Other maps didn't appeal to me, whether it's for the lack of variation or threat, or a sense of progression, Magikal (RIP) maps were the worst cases (06 for random walls you have to hit, and 29 for being too long for its own sake, although it has a decent finale). Similar to Use3d maps (12, 13) regarding to progression, except he polished his maps to look good at least. There's map 25 which is the hardest in every non-fun way (lack of ammo, nonthreatening lost souls and spectres to waste the little ammo you get, pretty sure without a secret BFG you can't get 100% kills, and a dumb switch obscurely hidden to progress). As for the other authors' creations, nothing extraordinary, although agreed with Demonologist that some of those maps like 24 felt old-school, so that's a plus imo. Secret wise, well, it's hard to find a secret when the map looks all the same, or when you are supposed to guess where did a random wall opened after you cross a random linedef. Further maps provide secrets that become mandatory, for example a berserk in map 22 (without it, you'll be punching shotgunners...) or the aforementioned BFG in map 25. To me the worst offender was the secret exit in map 15, there's no visual or audible clue for it, you just have to guess what did what and hope it magically becomes available!!. Some maps have more than 10 secrets, imagine to find 11 secrets in a 3-hour straightforward map, nope... For favourite maps, I'll pick 02, 10, and 14, and a special shout-out to map 30 for a being a short, simple IoS map. As for the rest, I think I said it all before. Overall, the set is uneven, that's what happens in community projects with free of choices, it wasn't that bad to be honest. However, do I recommend this to anyone?... No! At least, not entirely, give it a try if only for the maps I said good stuff. But if you like to play all the set, prepare some coffee before playing map 29, and check some videos for those you don't understand what to do. Also, play with a Boom-compatible port (PrBoom+ complevel 9) for a continuous experience, which is the one I recommend for a first time. Overall, my rate is 4,5/10.

And after a couple of agonizing hours, lots of deaths, and anger the sequel to Stardate 20x6 is finished at last, also done on HMP just like its predecessor. Starting with an introduction to the wad just like I did with all the others, Stardate 20x7 is a challenging wad with the color purple at the center which sets the overall tone, mood and atmosphere. It features a new menu background, a few new sounds for some weapons, some new enemies, new textures, and a new soundtrack. The majority of the levels in the wad are very challenging, which is also its main problem. The kinds of challenges you face when playing the wad are neither fun nor enjoyable most of the time. The first levels, or rather half of them, have cruel enemy placements and traps that force you to take damage at best, or die all the other times. Worse yet, there's a lot of resource starvation in these levels which offer you only the minimum for survival. You rarely, if at all find yourself with a higher percentage of health/armor and ammo when proceeding to the next levels, and infighting doesn't help much most of the time either. You will also resort to the Berserk and nothing more on quite a few occasions thanks to this, often against tough enemies. Thus, the gameplay in the sequel is radically different from that of 20x6 which provided both fun and challenging gameplay, whereas the sequel lacks the fun element most of the time and wants to keep you on the edge of your patience. In fact, it can be said the only thing the two have in common is the theme, and nothing else. The new enemy introduced is a purple, flying Baron who attacks the player with fire and lots of homing rockets. He is only seen once during normal play near the exit of a level, his attacks being very difficult to dodge, and seems to have around the same health the standard Baron has. He could've been used in more (and varied) instances than just one, but I imagine an efficient and interesting usage of the enemy would be no easy task considering how deadly he is, and tough. He could easily be a mini boss if used wisely. The difficulty curve is basically nonexistent, or if there actually is one, works backwards. The wad starts very difficult and only after finishing the first 4 levels it becomes more tolerable when the style changes a bit and the resource starvation ends, along with the merciless encounters. Finally, some fun can be experienced. Similar to its predecessor the final levels are more slaughter oriented with the final map being slaughter with almost 1800 enemies. Another problem is that the first few levels are also difficult to navigate. They feature some interesting puzzles and some platforming sections but it's extremely easy to get lost in the levels and spend quite some time figuring out what you're supposed to do or get back on track without circling the areas you've already been through plenty of times. While most of the levels are architecturally beautiful, there isn't anything that really stands out or catches your attention like the predecessor did with some amazing sights from outer space when you found yourself outside, although some traps will surprise you with their creativity, such as a room in MAP02 (if I'm not confusing the level) where you need to run quickly or carefully in order to reach a switch that gives access to the rest of the room without alerting every Hell Knight around you and die immediately as a result. After that you'll find yourself in a world of hurt considering that there's not much space to walk until you clean up the mess a little, and lots of Arch-Viles are placed at the exit and staying out of their line of sight is difficult. There's also a Cyberdemon with you at the party to make your life more difficult. There isn't much else to add this time, so to sum things up if you're familiar with HR2 the first levels are kinda similar in terms of difficulty and gameplay style, from my POV anyway, minus the mediocre, boxy design while adding resource starvation. I would honestly not recommend 20x7 to anyone. It's without a doubt targeted at veterans or very skilled players in general, but frankly, I genuinely doubt even they would have much fun playing this, or not the first few levels anyway. Even HMP which is the recommended difficulty due to the balancing is ludicrous. I've seen some videos of the first few levels on UV and I... don't even know what to say, I'm almost speechless. I can't understand how would anyone have any fun playing them, especially on UV. I would totally recommend the levels from MAP05 onward and pretend the previous maps don't exist instead. If you expect the sequel to use the same formula seen in 20x6 but improved, while also bringing something new to the table you're going to be very disappointed, it's not what you're signing up for, so unless you want to experience the duology and not just stop after completing 20x6 I can't find any good reason for why you should play this. My thoughts on 20x7 are negative, it barely gets 3/5 stars from me purely for being interesting, good looking, and features some good or ingenious traps, encounters, puzzles, and solid second half.

Done with these settings: - GLBoom+ 2.5.1.4. complevel 9. - Ultra-Violence - Continuous combined with a pistol start mindset. Actual pistol start on map 33. - Saves every 10 minutes or so. Not bad, generally a well received megawad. No story, but I dig the overall theme being hell(ish), meaning red textures dominating the set. There are also some grey/green/brown rooms with tech stuff here and there, not making a huge contrast or for episodic purposes, and at least for me personally maps with only brown textures didn't look quite appealing, although the usage of green in map 29 was an attractive difference. I played with GlBoom+, but on ZDoom there are a few additional details, such as the lava moving different than usual, or smoke that comes out of things touching lava, anyway I think they are worth to check if you like reality effects in Doom. The soundtrack is a mix of stock tracks plus other cool midis that really bust the gameplay imo, the one that I loved hearing again was in map 23, the Jazz Jackrabbit bonus level track!. People who played Hell Revealed and its sequels will find themselves in constant deja vu here. The gameplay resembles the earliest conceptions of slaughter, as in monsters appearing en masse in front of the player where spam mostly hitscan ammo or maybe die is the key. Well that's what HR offered in general, don't know about the sequels, and here the author replicated not just the style but the maps' layouts too, with some minor differences, so it felt like playing the same thing again, which still wasn't much of an issue since JC added the "hellish" visual touch... Of course not everyone is familiar with the old-school too-many-monsters style, so what you can see here in terms of combat is, indeed hordes of monsters as the main concept, but number isn't always correlated with quality. While JC provided tons of cases for each weapon class, either preparing you for sweaty combat or a boring slog, more often you won't need to think twice about what you'll have to do, as these hordes can come in single types or mixed types, and you know what happens in the second case, but in the first case, it can happen that you have more than enough space to implement your ammo spamming without risk, or monsters can't go further due to block lines, which severely trivializes the combat. In other cases, it's possible to be overwhelmed if you don't react fast, or have no idea what's going on (e.g. being infinite-height-scratched when platforming). What can be attractive to some players is that many of these maps allow you to "choose" how many monsters you want in the same area, given size and space, which can elevate difficulty and infighting shows. There are also a few bite-sized maps that empathize in tight combat, those are probably the trickiest ones yet not that interesting on the weapon progression side. Oh and, about progression, generally linear, triple-key hunt, getting lost is never a thing here. The new set of monsters have their ups and downs, mostly downs, and that's due to their usage: Belphegors are abundant, they are red buffed barons that attack twice, I liked them in general, but their usage as walls with health in some occasions really put me off. Afrits rarely appear, they are deadly flying barons that don't wait a second to spam their multiple projectiles, and in this case they can't be pushed too far away, I only wish their appearance was more casual. Last baron's cousin is the Cybruiser, though unlike Valiant's, this one shoots twice and their attack's frame is so short that it's nearly impossible to notice when it shoots, and that was super annoying, keeping a distance is recommended. Then there's the Poison Soul, a buffed skull that shoots green fireballs, they look cool, but hardly ever appear, if not just two times in the whole mapset. The new final boss isn't a joke at close range, I'd say his usage didn't favor him a lot, plus he isn't so aggressive, still a cool looking enemy though. Finally, last enemy is, basically a bomb, can only be found in the bonus map, hopefully fans of that particular game will know better what that thing is. Some stock monsters have been reskinned or modified too: Cacodemons are now grey, less cute unfortunately. Spiderdemons are slower and lack their "boss" class, meaning rockets are more effective on them, and you can't hear them from afar, there's only one case where its usage is hilarious, just pay attention. Revenants and pain elementals won't show blood when being hit with hitscan, which was confusing at first but not a big deal. Secret-wise, what mostly caught my attention is the tiny visual "thing" that can be found in all (or most) of the secrets, a neat something I've never seen in other wads. Aside of that, nothing in particular to point out, maybe the fact that one requires SR50 and can be frustrating for some maxers. For favourite maps I'll pick 22, 23, 24, 29 as they look gorgeous compared to the rest. Overall, while not providing always original contents, I think it's worth to check if merely for the music and all the red going on. Difficulty is there, but I doubt it'll impact on anyone there who has moved on from the 90's slaughter style. Still, if you are keen of the HR trilogy, this could be up your alley. My rate is 6/10.

Done with these settings: - Crispy Doom 4.2 - Ultra-Violence. - Continuous combined with a pistol start mindset. - Saves every 10 minutes or so. Now this is a damn good sequel. An incredible amount of quality in every way you look at it. First of all, the visuals. This includes a ton of different textures, lots of red, green and brown for naturalistic environments. Thematically it's after the destruction of the demon-spitter in Evilution, thus it goes through different ambients that are more hellish/fleshy than the infested techbases we were used to. I'm a fan of spookiness in Doom, so this wad gave me a lot to experience in its abandoned computer stations, corrupted by the demons as if the recurrent text "Kill us" wasn't enough for me to feel tense. However, it is not as simple as it sounds to generalize the themes in Revilution, since every map is an individual case of different colours and geometry, and that nourishes variety in my opinion. What is also worth mentioning is the amazing music selection, like valkiriforce commented in his review, there're a few astounding covers from the Evilution soundtrack, as you'll notice right in the starting map, plus a whole bunch of atmospheric midis, just excellent works to accompany the playthrough. Reiterating, this was much more than I expected. Being a spiritual sequel to one of my favourite iwads, this didn't disappoint in any way. I'd think of Revilution is to Evilution what Plutonia 2 was to Plutonia Experiment. Why? Both share the atmosphere of their prequels, adapted to the current gameplay interpretations of their eras. This means that some of the most memorable concepts in Evilution are present here, in a trip to nostalgia and, most importantly, higher quality entertainment, but not exactly in an iwad fashion. So, with a lot of contributors, there's an extensive variety of scenarios to appreciate. Of the numerous remarkable experiences I had, one part is Dobu's approach to bring back the mysterious atmosphere, the silence and the surprise, and the eccentric geometry from the more natural maps like Quarry or Deepest Reaches, which Eternal took charge of making a charming remake for map 18. Back to Dobu, his map 16 is an excellent example of scavenging resources in dark caves, while you deal with exposure, claustrophobia, and clever puzzles. If you're playing with carryovers and freedom of choices, ignore them in this map, the gimmick is real fun. The tribute to Wormhole in map 12 is another standout, both the cinematic transition to an alternate dimension and what awaits you there, but also the secret hunt in the map, an exploration task I'll take any day. Phobus and Gaspe went on a similar style, the latter did a super dark corrupted underground base, with a few tight quarters that will make you sweat, while the first guy invested in a sort of abandoned facility that might not develop so much action, but you'll want to speed things up before it's too late. Another honorable mention goes to Steve D, his creations are probably going to stick in everyone's minds as purely mean-spirited maps. Maybe I wasn't expecting such demanding traps, with an emphasis on locking the player's way out with fat hitboxes, but satisfaction comes with success, guaranteed it'll take some serious effort. One prominent author is Jaws in Space, his style here is hard to describe in simple words, there's a bit of fast-paced run-and-gun, also some quick incidental combat a la old-school TNT including stronger beasts, generally short-medium sized linear maps with or without a task/gimmick, save his entry a la Dead Zone where progression might not be easy to figure for a while. Talking about tricky progression, that was the case of valkiriforce's map 31. I really liked his throwback to Pharaoh, although with many predictable circumstances if you remember the original map. What rubbed me wrong way was a hidden switch to grant access to one of the keys, which I needed a video to point me that switch. I guess that's another throwback, thankfully no missing keys. His other map somehow didn't fit with the rest of the maps, although still an enjoyable tutti frutti of themes. All of the other authors did an incredible job in their individual and/or dual contributions, that includes a love-letter to spiders courtesy of Purist, fun with elevators and height variety by Tourniquet, a quick punchy entryway by SFoZ911 that hides more than you'd expect, even a trip to Eradrop's vision of hell in a slaughter-esque fashion while you're being observed by statues of cows, and many more that you'll love to experience by yourself, because you should must. Secret-wise, all my love to exploration and multiple worthy secrets in a same map, namely in Dobu's maps. The first map of the wad already anticipates what Revilution has in hands for you about secrets: hidden encounters, shortcuts to find tasty weaponry, telefrag chains that will answer all your doubts, etc. There's basically everything you don't want to miss if you're a fan of exploration. A small thing: in map 21, it is possible to nullify the secret tag that has four boxes of rockets in a red room behind bars, read this. Anyway, there aren't favourite maps this time, because I enjoyed them all a lot, some more than others though. Perhaps 12, 16, 17, I don't know, this is too hard lol. If one map needs a shoutout is 30, it's an unique piece of art, one of the best finales ever. Overall, I suggest you add it to your list, there're no reasons of why you shouldn't pick this megawad to spend a weekend or play periodically. Even if not all maps may suit your wishes, or the word "TNT" holds you back, it's not a remake, this has way more to offer than empty big rooms or ripoffs. I guess what's missing is TNT Revisited? :P. My rate is going to be 9/10.

Done with these settings: - Crispy Doom 4.2, ZDoom for bonus maps. - Ultra Violence. - Continuous combined with a pistol start mindset as much as possible. - Saves every 10 minutes or so. Important note: The text file explicitly claims this wad is designed to be played on Boom compatible source ports. Nevertheless, I have not experienced any single symptom with Crispy Doom, so this wad should be perfectly playable in complevel 3 if that's what people want to. Hmm, well, sometimes reality beats expectations, this has been a mix of emotions and feelings, positive and negative, ups and downs. My first experience with a project leaded by Paul Corfiatis, whom I understand is a well-known active mapper. A fairly likable mapset, with an approach comparable to the old classic iwad, in many ways. First is the ambient theme, each episode follows the same structure of visuals that we know from Doom I, that is tech-bases for the first episode, then something more fleshy afterwards, an introduction to hell, and finally all the pieces together in the fourth episode. I must say though, initially I had a bad taste about the aesthetics, the couple first maps looked rough and very simplistic, part is because of all the symmetry around, a lot of copy/pasted sections, but then visuals got much better later and in the second episode, where symmetry was at least accompanied with more polished detailing. Things turn even more appealing in the third and fourth: more colours, height and light variation became notable features, less square-y geometry in general, still a few minuses here and there such as invasive torches where doomguy can't avoid to glue himself on them. There're also a few new textures which can be seen particularly in secret maps, not that they add a whole new theme to the wad. The Hexen windows looked a bit out of place in my opinion. The new soundtrack has its moments, I'd have preferred myself to hear some recycled iwad tracks in between instead, which is unfortunate because most of the midis used are fantastic, yet they don't match with their corresponding maps in my opinion. Anyways, as far as I'm concerned, the idea here is to get an experience more challenging than in classic Doom, while keeping the overall progression similar to it. Well, it's definitely different, there is a higher level of difficulty, but I can't say the same from quality. The ideas from the main author and guests seemed to be correlated to follow a story behind the episodes but the execution of each map left me the impression of lack of consistency between them. This was notable in every episode except for the first one, which despite being the least appealing, it's also the one where you get most of the same two authors. This first episode brings a lot of samey incidental fights in compact hallways, symmetric rooms and mostly SG/CG combat, traps that lack any energy or rely on dickish moves, like instacrushers. You'll immediately drown in shells in the first maps, so pistol starts are ideal, not that it adds a pinch of difficulty. In the second episode, things get a bit more tricky with the introduction of instapops, the kind that you'll never want to experience blind: shotgunners that teleport behind the player or next to them at any time. There's some more variety with the type of ammo you can use, albeit the cases of strict resource economy in maps from Hansen and Babich. The third episode is where the inconsistency can lead to frustration if you opt to pistol start or complete the maps. It has the best looking maps by Corfiatis, and interesting ideas from the other authors, there is no denial about the progress of quality content in regards to visuals, and to some extent, combat. For instance, SG vs. barons/cacos becomes way more common (says the guy who could have used the RL more often but opted to stay on pistol start-ish mode), but sometimes you get a tasty berserk, points for that. Strict ammo or way too much depending on the author, and I seriously can't for the life of me understand what's the point of the "finale" in the third map... Last but not least, episode four contains a great mixed bag of gems and, other less pretty stones. Once again, an advance in visuals and detailing, like now darkness is a fun factor. The strict economy of resources is still an everlasting topic and now it is paired with cramped, congested rooms with meaty monsters that can shred doomguy in a blink of an eye. Not that tight quarters wasn't a thing before, it's just that this episode took it seriously, particularly in the secret map. To my surprise, any upper-tier weapon here comes with little usage, which is an odd design choice for an episode that's supposed to be the hardest. I would personally suggest continuous in both 3rd and 4th episode to "rise to the occasions", or in other words, kill high-HP enemies in less time. Finally, I'd like to mention how anticlimactic the end-of-episode maps are, maybe the exception is E1M8, but for the rest not a single engaging "boss" encounter, for example, the fact you don't even have to shoot a bullet to kill the spiderdemon in E3M8 says it all. Similar with the bonus maps, nothing there you don't want to miss. Secret-wise, it starts a bit wall-humpy, then it's a hit or miss, some particularly annoying secret chains to get to the secret maps with no intuitive way to solve, or some juicy weapons and armor that otherwise are nonexistent in standard progression. One thing that seemed confusing to me was all the nukage pits with radiation suits, they all looked like there were some hidden secrets, but there was nothing. For favourite maps I'll pick E3M2, E4M1 and E4M6, while also E4M4 and E4M5 are among the best ones too. I can't say I loved anything from the first two episodes though. Overall, maybe memorable, but not legendary, and this is really not an important thing, just try the middle episodes on continuous or surrender to Tommy the Trooper and his army of barons :P. Whatever, my rate is 5/10.