Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #071

[ICID]

^{(logo by @4MaTC)}

 

ICID, what the hell is this now?

Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures is a small project of exploration, interaction, entertainment and reviews where we meet once every two weeks to select random WADs in search of hidden treasures, lost promises, or our worst nightmares! We use the /idgames archive’s special feature that lets us search for random files. Of course, sometimes the results are resources or unplayable stuff, so we focus on looking for WADs.

 

So, what do we do here?

1. Play at least one random WAD in a two-week period of time. WADs are selected using the Random File feature on /idgames or from the list below.
2. Post a review of whatever you play.
3. Always provide the name of the WAD, the name of the author, and a link to the file.
4. Play however you want, on any skill level, and with any source port, as long as you play the WAD as intended/in working shape.
5. Be respectful. It's okay to criticize a map, but remember that many mappers read these review threads and behave accordingly. Also, please don't tag mappers into a negative review of their work.

 

What kind of WADs are we looking for?

Any file on /idgames is fair game, but most of us choose to stick to singleplayer Doom or Heretic WADs that work in our sourceport(s) of choice. If you're worried about finding Terrywads or broken files, I also pull at least five random WADs for the event. Feel free to play them with me if you wish, or look for your own! The point of the event is to encourage you to explore this vast, random world. 

 

Recommendations for reviewing:

Spoiler

1. Please take screenshots or video of your adventures.

2. Commenting the source port and difficulty level is not required, but provides helpful context to your review.

3. Try to stick to no more than 1 WAD per day to avoid burnout, but this part’s all up to you, champ!

4. Reviews of all formats are valid. Both longform and shortform are good as long as you write with integrity.

 

Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures of this event:

 

1. Lava
2. Of Demons And Men

3. DOOM IN GRACELAND - Hunka, Hunka Burnin' Love

4. Dwarf Town

5. Go off with a BOOM

 

Spoiler

The Top 10 (out of 68):

 

1. @Roofi | 7830

2. @LadyMistDragon | 4255

3. @Sena | 2590

4. @Walter confetti | 2455

5. @ICID | 1545

6. @brick | 1470

7. @Endless | 1220

8. @Thelokk | 725

9. @Clippy | 590

10. @smeghammer | 425

 

Join the Doom Master Wadazine community for more events like this! » https://discord.gg/Q2RKn4J

 

And check the Doom wiki for the full list of past adventures.

[Walter confetti]

9 hours ago, ICID said:

Go off with a BOOM

I played already this map long ago, here's my review.

 

[Walter confetti]

Doom in Graceland by Robert "Aaron" Bukoski - Vanilla Doom, 1 map, SP, 1994 but uploaded in 2006, played with woof! 12.0.0

Spoiler

Do you have ever seen that sprite replacements large picture from Doom Heaven (iirc) in archive.org with former humans turning into bitmap elvis impersonators? Well, this is the map where that absurdity from the 90s comes uploaded by the uploader aficionado Funduke in the archives in the mid 2000s!
The level itself is set inside the abstract looking Memphis convention for a sort of apocalyptic battle of Elvis done by some mad scientist according to the text file, where you are going to fight a numerous number of zombie elvis impersonators in their MS Paint glory, all trought green marble or grey corridors spelling "Elvis lives" (the corridors shape, not the walls. The walls have or notes on marble walls and "The Pelvis" portraits on anonymous gray walls), get the keys and activate a dark room trap in E1M3 fashion, reach the final stage where the live is and fight a brawl of zombies in a circular arena and exit in the most abrupt way by hitting a unmarked exit switch. All blasting out cartoony TVs replacing the barrels and other things. While the map is pretty basic in layout and gameplay, it's "saved" by the new silly graphics and sounds (i loved the green torch), while at least i've expected a Elvis MIDI blasting out instead of At Doom's Gate and since the shotgun weapon sprite with a paint made cute guitar having that totally replaced with a cartoony classic guitar. The sky texture doesn't align properly and there's some mysterious HOMs effect in the red door room before the final battle, but overall it's a silly funny map! Worth your time.

 

Of Demons and Men by ravage - Vanilla Doom, 1 map, SP, 2004, played with woof!

Spoiler

 

Another Doom map, this time it's a remake of the first map by ravage of HocusDoom fame (maybe), i already saw this name before for some great wad in the past... It's a pretty well detailed but less aligned hellish map sets in E1M1 slot that uses stock assets only and while this is a good point visually (mostly), musically the "At Doom's Gate" track here have less sense of the previous wad, in fact i IDMUS'ed this to "Sinister", fitting perfectly the creepy intended vibe. The map, as i wrote before, is very detailed, like, Gothic99 level of detailed and this is good! The rusty metal only parts of the level feels a little too boring to watch and thinking that there's a big boxy rooms maze in the middle of this place that you need to traverse mandatory... you don't have the idea of my engagement in that section. The gameplay is good, with some spicy encounters but nothing too hard. A good map ruined by few things i didn't enjoyed, but harmless. Next!

 

Dwarf Town by Pawel Zarczynski - Boom compatible, Doom 2, 1 map, SP, 2006, played with woof!

Spoiler

 

A small and cozy living block by the author of NMN texture pack and other things, crafted under the 1024 map units restriction. Despite the simplicity of the detailing, the place looks really good, it gave me some Master Levels vibe, but in a good way. Difficulty is not that hard, but due to the cramped nature of the map restriction used, every encounter can be very dangerous! Search for all 3 keycards and exit. Good and cozy small map! Music is beautiful.

 

Took a fast look at Lava and... no thanks. Maybe next time.

Edited October 31, 2023 by Walter confetti : added URL links

[LadyMistDragon]

Triple challenge (2006) by Surreily (GZ Doom)

 

Surreily is someone I'm vaguely aware is respected to some degree but these maps are of rather mixed quality. Like visually speaking, there's nothing to bitch about and there's all sorts of little GZ Doom tricks that make the second map in particular pop. However, the combat ranges somewhere between uninteresting corridor and mass Imp SSging. Which is why the massive grass field preceding BTSX is such a relief since there's lots of room to move around and even a lake but oddly enough, it's still quite square. The other two maps aren't too much to speak of, though I like the little collection of platforms in Map 01 where the bars leading to the red key are lowered. 5/10, serious case of style over substance.

 

 

Spoiler

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Video here!

 

 

[Walter confetti]

DOOMPIT Ver 1.7 by David B. Cox - Vanilla Doom 2, 1 map, SP, 1995 but uploaded in 2055, played with DSDA-Doom 0.26.0

Spoiler

 

A square slaughtermap village with death nuke pits, catwalks, exit right behind you, badly gestion of monster placement and overall pretty forgettable map. In UV is sadistically insane.

[brick]

Brick | 3 wads | 3 maps

 

Lava (1996) by Denis Tetreault. 1 SP map for vanilla Doom II.

The text file has a detailed explanation of what Denis was trying to do and how he had to cut back on a lot of his aspirations for the map because of the dreaded VPO. The story is really just a pretext but it's lighthearted and fun. There are a lot of modified patches because he wanted more variety in computers, rather than just take them out of the first game's iwad like many others Denis instead opted to make his own. Playing the map itself I kept being struck with a strange contrast between attempts at detailing in parts, like with the conduit tunnels, and flat blocky (and ugly) rectangles elsewhere. My impression is that Denis had some really good ideas in mind, but the implementation didn't quite turn out as well as it could have, partly because by his own admission he had to cut down so much to stay within static limits, but I think in part because he simply didn't have the know-how to do it with the editors of the time. The text file has a list of cool locations to see, and I could tell I was coming across a landmark, but the detailing is not distinctive enough that I could guess what it was supposed to be. I also admit I wasn't enamoured with the map's progression, I kept being blocked by yellow doors that are accessible on both sides but require a lot of backtracking to do so. After about 40 minutes of running around I got just too bored to finish the map. I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to do to get the yellow key, I looked in the editor afterwards but it looks like one of the switches I pressed either makes it impossible to complete the map, or didn't work the way it was supposed to.

Spoiler

 

 

Of Demons And Men (2004) by ravage. 1 SP map for limit-removing Ultimate Doom.

According to the wiki ravage will later go on to make Hocus Pocus Doom (and apparently also contributed a map to Community Chest, though I didn't remember what it looked like). This one is from early on, and surprisingly doesn't use any custom textures. It leans heavily into green, marbles of course but also uses vine midtextures more extensively than usual. It's very highly detailed and looks very beautiful with some great-looking architecture, especially those views of the main building once you get outside. The goal is to find the yellow and red keys and use them to open up the exit. The method to reach the yellow key is not intuitive but the map plays well. The enemy count on HNTR is pretty low and turns it into more of an exploration and sightseeing map, but the sights are worth it. As Walter pointed out the stock music is completely out of place, but otherwise the maps' elements fit well together and make for a short but fun map.

Spoiler

 

 

DOOM IN GRACELAND - Hunka, Hunka Burnin' Love (1994) by Robert "Aaron" Bukoski. 1 SP map for vanilla Doom.

The original wad required some black magic to get the sprite replacements to work, this reupload a decade later works out of the box with source ports. The real point is to showoff Elvis sprite replacements for the zombieman and shotgun guy, in all their bitmap glory. I admit they're well done, but what really charmed were some of the other custom graphics; the walls are gigantic sheet music, barrels are now exploding TVs, the shotgun dropped by the red Elvises looks like a guitar (sadly not replaced when you use it), and my absolute favourite was the guitar-shaped green torch. The map itself is pretty awful, it's a completely linear set of corridors that spell out ELVIS LIVES on the automap, with no height variation to speak of (those stairs in the screenshot? that's the only time you'll see it), and amateurish choices like making a window by sticking a sky texture as the wall. I'm not sure I agree with Walter that it was worth my time, but I can't deny the charm. So I guess it was worth it after all!

Spoiler

 

[LadyMistDragon]

Jumper02 for Doom[ ] Deathmatch 2.0 (1995) by Andrew Tremblay (Crispy Doom)

 

Basically, the sort of underground map with brown rock everywhere but a sort of lit-ceiling in the outer rings, but lots of twisting passageways and a corridor of irregular light where naturally, a BFG can be found. Probably there are too many narrow passageways between all the different larger rooms but it doesn't really seem that bad 4.5/10

 

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Casting of Bones (2022) by Zan-zan-zawa-veia (Crispy Doom)

 

 

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For the 64 Vertex Doomworld project thing, but I missed my chance for a real slot. So the map's dense in terms of linedef reuse with no pillars or anything, just problematic height differences. No story, just side-step a bunch of revenant rockets forever.

ok, Doomguy's had too much pizza and fallen asleep between the pages of a 1983 furry APA - he'd submitted a story anonymously but the characters he'd described were uncannily like himself in a truly insightful and profound way, to the point that it allows his PSTD brain to attack his weak-spots while he's dreaming, and this is the form the nightmare takes

WAD balanced like it was submitted to tnt.wad and rejected

 

 

A map I don't remember being particularly difficult or memorable either. Not to say it's bereft of difficulty but it's not really that unfair and speedrunning this isn't exactly difficult. It does have Pain Elementals and Revenants in large enough numbers to annoy y'all. One thing to note, chaingunning the Revenants on the ledge that happens to surround where the rocket launcher is might not be the best course of action. Don't try to shoot whoever's firing behind the red walls here either. This is a trippy, disorienting but entirely managable sort of map. It's actually really kind of neat how angles are reused here 6/10

 

 

Edited November 4, 2023 by LadyMistDragon

[brick]

Brick | 2 wads | 2 maps

Adventure | 5 wads | 5 maps

 

Dwarf Town (2006) by Pawel Zarczynski. 1 SP map for Doom II in Boom.

Pawel seems to be afflicted with a curse where every project he started died in various stages of completion, whether 1/32 maps in, or when it was almost completed as the case with his magnum opus Stomper. Dwarf Town was his entry for the 1024x1024 Competition started by Thomas Lutrov; not to be confused with Congestion 1024, this was not a CP but an actual contest where maps would be judged and a winner and runner-ups picked. At some point it seemed as if Thomas had left the community so Pawel decided to release his entry as a solo release. Thomas did end up coming back and the contest did go to completion (Dwarf Town got 9th place), which ironically makes this Pawel's only map to feature in a completed project. As you'd expect knowing its origin it adheres to the 1024 restriction, so everything is cramped and combat is very claustrophobic. The map has a lot of charm though, it's full of little cute touches, the architecture is rich but as if scaled down and compressed into the tiny space, it makes the title very fitting. Enemy attacks can be tough because of the lack of space to manoeuvre but the enemy count is tiny on HNTR and so the map isn't that difficult. It's a very quick map but it's worth a look and will hardly take any of your time.

Spoiler

 

Go off with a BOOM (1999) by Rolf Navntoft Jensen. 1 SP map for vanilla Doom II.

It's perhaps not a great sign that, after finishing the map, in just the time it took me to write that small paragraph about Dwarf Town, I couldn't remember what this one was about. Then I looked at the lone idgames review and its mention of "annoyingly tall lifts" and yep I remember now. It's one of those maps with strange progression that doesn't make sense, secret walls that aren't even doors but that we just have to walk through, lots of switches that we press without ever understanding what they do or what goal we're ultimately working towards, and yes, lots of tall lifts. It's different and unique for sure, and in the hands of a skilled mapper some of the ideas could really turn into something interesting, but this was probably Rolf's first map and unfortunately also the last, I would've liked to see what he would do with similar unique ideas but more experience his belt.

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 08 Day 01

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I died/stopped.

 

[1] Simple Map 2 by Milton Maldonado Jr (ARMCoder) @ARMCoder (2022)

 

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A simple, vanilla map for those who enjoy the old classic look and feel. The playtime is short, of about 10 minutes. No keys, five secrets (not required to win), the available weapons are P-SG-SSG-MG-RL-PR. Some switch hunting is required but it's kept well within any reasonable limits.

Difficulty levels are implemented, but IMO I wouldn't try this map in UV at first, there are lots of damaging areas that are better to be mastered first (the map is generous on resources, though).

The final room can be very punishing in UV, but the very last encounter can be somewhat skipped if the player opts to run as to the exit switch. You be the judge.

 

Yes, indeed, simple must not be interpreted as an easy map here because "Simple Map 2" proves to be rich in combats and the midi rendition of the frenetic metal song from Avengers Sevenfold makes it absolutely clear !

 

The marble part features lower enemies for the most part and fools the player about the real difficulty of the map and specifically the last outdoor battle in which you have to defeat a quatuor of cyberdemons and a handful of (really) troublesome arch-viles. I was lucky because another successful flame attack from an arch-vile would have resulted to a painful death. The beginning of the map is also unexpectingly intense because lot of low-tiers enemies appear from nowhere and the weak weaponry prevent you from taking the advantage too easily.

 

Now as expected, the visuals are extremly classic and there's not much to say about it. However, the cloudy blue sky adds a fairly light-hearted atmosphere, and also contributes to the player's belief that the level will be relatively easy. Anyway, I like it and I'm happy that this level didn't exclusively take place in underground.

 

In the end, "Simple Map 2" was a nice punch in the face that would have ended in a ko, but it was a good, short-lived vanilla map with a beautiful sky.

 

Grade : B (13,5/20)

 

[2] PJW4WAY by Patrick J. Williams (1997)

 

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My first level. Turned out to be a little too ambitious for a first level, but what the hey. Sneaky level. Fun for both single play and deathmatch. A little big for two-player death- match, but awesome for 4 player. Has every weapon, if you can figure out how to get to them . . .

 

As the only comment published about this map stated, PJW4WAY ressembles more to a lazily converted Deathmatch map than a real versatile level since there's no sense of progress. The author sends you just in a layout and you don't have to find any key or take a specific path. Just explore the different rooms until you find the exit. 

 

I could tolerate that but the gameplay of this map annoyed me because I was stuck with my poor shotgun from the beginning to the end whereas an arch-vile , a baron and several pain elementals were roaming in the map after exploring the wrong areas. 

 

The layout is uninteresting, between the symmetrical marbled zone and the usual 1990s gimmicks with fake walls, toxic liquid placed for no reason or teleporters leading to who-knows-where. I wouldn't have minded if powerful monsters weren't chasing me all the time.

 

To tell the truth, the little fountain on which the blue armor stands was the only bright spot on this map.

 

I don't know how great this map is on DM but I don't think it's really any better.

 

Grade : D- (4/20) (From a singleplayer perspective)

 

[3] Just another day at school... by Gary Marsh / Genesis PWADs (1995)

 

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A map of Holy Trinity Regional High in Torbay, Newfoundland. Deathmatch-only.

 

The Doom reinterpretation of Holy Trinity Regional High ressembles to a unhospital fortress or a prison but it's just how it feels like going to school afterall. FYI, here is a recent picture of the school. Not sure if the Doom version is worse.... 

 

 

I stop here for today.

[LadyMistDragon]

Colourful Hell Test Map (2023) by Der Angelord or OneDoomedAngelo (GZDoom)

 

Recently, the 1.0 version of a mod called Colourful Hell was released that was in development for around 8 years. The basic premise of it is basically an RPG-style system where colorful variations of all the Doom monsters randomly spawn in that are far more powerful than their vanilla counterparts, like MMO baddies.. They will also drop little items every so often meant to lessen the impact of the pinches you're going to find yourself in.

 

As the name says, this is a Test Map for this mod that demonstrates what anyone who plays it will be in for. There are 4 different areas that show them off: the Zoo, the test lab, the zoo for monsters of colors, and finally the Gauntlet where they all can be encountered. I didn't last too long, but honestly, that's fine, with the gameplay loop here being what it is. But in terms of potential fun, it's hard to criticize pointedly 7.5/10

 

 

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 08 Day 02

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I died/stopped.

 

Canyon by Derek McBurney, This is most likely my last entry to the DOOM world so I tried my best. (1999)

 

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Kick butt in a cool canyon warzone!

 

Derek sends you in a large base among the grassy canyons and he replaced the Doom 2's sky by the mountainous one from Doom's Episode 1 in order to fit with the theme.

 

Despite the minimal detail, Canyon feels like a quite ambitious piece of work because the open layout allows for a lot of exploration and the base itself features a lot of different texturing between the dark-gray cobbletsone, the light gray rock and concrete, green tek textures... There are many themes that don't necessarily have much to do with each other, but the fact that everything is linked by a verdant canyon creates an overall cohesion to the map.

 

Lots of places aren't really visually appealing but the overall spaciousness makes the exploration fluid and therefore pleasant and "Canyon" doesn't suffer of an unnecessary cryptic progression as I often witnessed among maps made in the 90's.

 

The good-natured approach is also reflected in the difficulty, which remains very low, even though there are several Spider Masterminds, arch-viles and cyberdemons to overcome towards the end. The low density of monsters is such that enemies appear on their own or in small packs. Sometimes it's quite funny to see wide monster closets open when they contain 2 poor barons, for example. Some might find this type of gameplay uninspiring and boring, but I find it relaxing and accentuates the fact that this map is more of a stroll with a fair amount of exploration.

 

At last , and maybe the cherry on the cake, this map uses a cheesy midi of "Enter Sandman" from Metallica. This contributes enormously to the charm of this map, which can be felt in some maps from the 1990s.

 

Derek has delivered a charming card that's easy to digest for a final contribution. I mostly  liked this map for the canyon outdoors and the music.  I might have given it an A- if the tech-base visuals were a little more elaborate,

 

Grade : B+   (15/20)

 

[2] DOOM2 CONSISTENCY CHECKER (DCC) v3.01 by Rand Phares (1998)

 

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Many wad editors provide consistency checking, but they provide it to different degrees. My purpose in writing DCC is to provide a single program that can tell you as much as possible about the basic and "fit-and-finish" problems that can (and will) plague map design. It was originally designed for use by TeamTNT on the Bloodlands and Grievance projects, and was used on Final Doom just before publication.

DCC cares Absolutely Nothing about playability or design choices. It simply looks for problems that may cause DOOM2 to abort, or for problems that just Look Bad.

DCC _will not_ alter your *.wad file. It writes its output to the screen, unless you redirect it. You can provide options to have DCC correct certain problems for you, and DCC will create a NEW *.wad file with the corrections.

DCC only handles DOOM2 and BOOM wads. It doesn't deal with DOOM, Heretic, or Hexen wads. There are no plans to make it do so.

 

My knowledge about old softwares is very limited but I've no doubt that is another outdated one, regarding how advanced Doombuilder is nowadays. However, I read some parts of the txt and this software seemed particularly ingenious because, if I understand correctly, it can detect certain problems such as :

 

"Check for bullet-absorbing lower textures.  This is a prevalent condition, and nothing short of redesign will make it go away so checking for it is optional . BOOM corrects the absorption, so no absorption errors will be reported if -boom is included as an option, even if -b is included."

 

or 

" Check for problems caused by undefined textures, y-alignment, invalid flat names, texture height math, or missing textures If you don't specify -t, DCC will only check for missing textures.

 

Ect..

 

It seems like the ancestor of "Map Analysis Mode" from Doom Builder.

 

[3] crappything by @MasterOFDeath (2004)

 

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OK YUO STAT IN A SLIGHTLY TECHIFIED HELL BASE THAT IS BEING VANDALIZED by teh teeenage demons from teh/ middled of the sity and u are supposd to stop them from any more vandalism or wtfever.

 

Making deliberately crappy wads was already a thing way before Terry came to vandalize the Doom community forever. crappything is a short extremly ugly map which doesn't really have a end because hitting the exit switches make you go back to the start of the map. Also, all sectors of the map were tagged as secrets and MasterOFDeath had the brillant idea to replace the reveal sound by "Do You Know Who Ate All The Donuts?". Kinda funny to be frank but it won't save us from disaster.

 

Grade : F (3/20)

 

I got nastily ambushed by a gang of teleporting chaingunners after obtaining the blue key from Sarin (sarin.wad)

 

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[LadyMistDragon]

Untitled (You can call it No Where to Hide if you want)) (2000) by Rob 'Fonz' LoFazo (Crispy Doom)

 

Honestly, I almost wanted to skip this and it granted isn't a good dm map. However, the columns in the middle and the ceiling structures heading to the corners look kind of nice.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Sesame Chicken (2021) by Timothy Brown (From Doom with Love)

 

I lasted maybe 5 seconds in this map before dodging Revenants in open-ground proved too much. Oh why did I even play this? I was hoping to run into another Chocolate Orange-Covered Rage but the problem is that the amount of maps he made after 2021 is not so great that any of them would be worth any time.

 

Spoiler

 

 

khillls series (1998) by Kurt Kesler @kdoom (Crispy Doom)

 

Believe it or not, I had no idea he'd returned to the Doom community some years ago. Anyways, this just seems to be a blocky techbase thing with extensive outdoor areas but even so, distinguishes itself with a strong combat flow and a fair amount of hell knight shotgunning. Past that point though....the map's name comes to the fore and there's extensive use of hills, though it's mostly that one dirt ashawall texture so maybe it looks a little strange but it still works! The random Mancubus in the corner made me chuckle though. The amount of Mancubi starts to build up, we enter an oddly-built storage shed to press a switch opening a gate leading to the blue key and when we enter, several enemies including an Arch-vile teleport behind us! An explosive end to a surprisingly solid map 7.75/10, with rating dragged down by some blocky hillage.

 

 

Edited November 5, 2023 by LadyMistDragon

[brick]

Brick | 1 wad | 32 maps

Adventure | 6 wads | 37 maps

 

Akeldama (2020) by Various. 32 SP maps for (mostly) vanilla Doom II. Played with GZDoom on HNTR.
This is very much in the style of the classic megawads (of course AV is cited as an influence), allegedly running on the original exe (I do recommend a port though, some maps will break on doom2.exe). It gathers many authors but it's not a CP, it's a closed group that therefore collaborates more closely, as a result the style is more consistent despite the variety. There's a good number of custom textures and they fit very well, I thought all of the snowy visuals in particular look lovely. Combat is very approachable on HNTR and fun for the most part (super secret level excluded), though the wad abuses "spectre silently sneaks up from behind" and "revenant/knight teleport right on top of you" a little too much. The maps themselves are good, with beautiful architecture and impressive vanilla detailing. My only complaint is that the wad is not that well paced and can become too much of a good thing, I had to take frequent breaks between maps to avoid burning out. As much as the level design and progression are well done, the maps quickly get big, long, and they can throw complex puzzles and fights. Some of it almost veers into pointless time-wasting, MAP14 is a great map otherwise but the backtracking is infuriating, at one point I dropped down a chute to get a secret then spent several minutes getting back on track through previously-explored and empty passages. MAP19 also drove me nuts with the extensive spiral backtracking, made even weirder when I realized 2 of the 3 keys aren't even needed to exit. On MAP26, when for the third time I pushed a switch having no idea what it had done and spent another few minutes running around trying to find out, I wanted to pull my hair out. MAP30 is a suitably epic finale, instead of yet another IOS it's instead a long adventure map, much more fitting for this slot IMO. Music is fantastic, I feel bad naming individual tracks because they're all so good, but I have to single out @pcorf MAP11 and @Tristan MAP17 compositions for being so incredibly beautiful. It's a great wad but one that can get exhausting, I advise playing in short bursts to avoid burnout.

Spoiler

 

[LadyMistDragon]

NoMonochrome (2018) by @Lorenz0 (GZ Doom)

 

An 8 map collection where each map is constructed around a particular color. And being kind of obscure, we're going to be playing all of them!

 

Map 01: A silver base sort of setup where the only weapon if we can't find any secrets is....a chainsaw! That's right, and there's too many to attack before any weapons can even be reached. We can get a berserk pack at the place leading outside, but bs like flyers above in one room and a Mancubus suggest there might be secrets somewhere. No matter, I've no time and by the end, we skipped it.

 

 

Map 02: This map is quite good, on the other hand. Open spaces, consistent action, and decent ambushes. The best being the Mancubi overlooking the glot of Hell Knights and Revenants forming below at the yellow key. But for no particular reason, Lorenz0 tosses lots of Revenants when we reach some crushers towards the end, despite the fact there's really not enough rockets anywhere for them, and we'd spent more than we should have earlier. Other than that, this was nice!

 

 

[LadyMistDragon]

NoMonochrome (cont)

 

Map 03: Are You Poisoned Yet?

 

This set is done playing around! The color theme this time around is green and it's used to show natural landscapes as well, as bright green tech complexes where the most dangerous of experiments take place, emitting an incredibly grim grey fog.. The ammo tighteness of the previous maps continues, at least until we've acquired a couple of keys. It's quite amusing to see the folks around the blue key shoot each other in their fury to get at you. It even makes for the line of hitscanners in the previous station! The focus on incidental combat is fine as comparted to the other two maps because this is a sort of constant action map. Lorenz0's use of Arch-viles must also be praised: it's largely sparing but always at some dread-inducing moments. The best part of the map is, of course, the bullet hell with the Cyberdemon in the center on the rising/falling lifts, Arachnotrons on the walkways, and an Arch-vile and Barons up some stairs where a supercharge is. Unfortunately, our health was quite low after a bit which resulted in our deaths to the secondly-last Arch-vile far too many times. At that point, we just ran past everything else to the exit when they were taken care of, being that this map took longer than we would've liked. It was really cool though!

 

 

 

 

 

Map 04: Da Ba Dee

 

A map of blue and gray, containing less eye-catching scenery than the last map but undoubtedly with a higher difficulty that isn't obvious right away. At first, it seems like hanging back can neutralize most of the threats but around the point we get to the catwalks with chaingunners on them, that changes and as we move forward toward the Arachnotrons, an Arch-vile emerges from the big room to the right, taxing our already limited resources. The wall Cyberdemon feels a little awkward and purposeless though. The final battle arena which remarkably doesn't raise the monster count above 200 is a tense slaughter fight with in addition to Barons, Pain Elementals, a Cyberdemon in the middle and two Arch-viles that'll probably be neutralized by the mobs before them. The following hallway proves to be very nice and suggestive.

 

 

 

Map 05: The Point of No Return

 

Main color scheme seems to be yellow. Doesn't seem like too much at first; just a little leap down some platforms, some incidental engagements until we reach a massive hallway with Arch-viles that exists for no other reason to make us run back and hide behind the room's columns seemingly, then finally, the diamond! That is this huge fight, mostly of Imps but with a fair dosage of Pain Elementals, probably 4 Cyberdemons and easily enough ammo for all of them! There's still some enemies after that but they aren't worth talking about.

 

Map 06: The Life Juice

 

For once, I found both secrets easily here, in the land of orange. Perhaps that's bad, since one of them is quite worthless. Sure, the bit not far from the beginning with the Hell Knight and Revenant mobs isn't too bad but then comes toward the end, some hitscanners enemies, a mass of Imps, an Arch-vile that underscores the map's awkwardness by the way it rushes in from the right, then some Barons and a Cyberdemon at the far end of this room. Believe it or not, the Cyberdemon lost rather handily here.

 

 

 

 

[brick]

Brick | 1 wad | 13 maps

Adventure | 7 wads | 50 maps

 

The Experiment (1997) by Gaston Lahaut, Roger Moraga, Matt Olson, Michael "Prower" Reid, Simon "Simonfeld" Russel, Tim "Overkill II" Sodergren. 13 SP maps for vanilla Doom II.
I'm sure many will get so excited when seeing Gaston Lahaut as one of the authors of this wad, but despite getting first billing he isn't credited with any of the maps in the wad. In fact it's not clear if he made anything for it at all, the only relevant mention in the text file is that he showed Michael how to make a vanilla bridge, and apparently that was enough to warrant authorship. As it is the lion's share of the design comes from Michael and Roger, with the others (Gaston excluded) contributing one map each. The set starts with very small maps but they eventually get bigger, longer, and a couple field hundreds of enemies on HNTR. Quite frankly some of them are not very good, although they're never really awful (maybe with the exception of MAP12, which is pure right-angle design and has some atrocious dead end backtracking) they can still get grindy and the design too often is just simple room-corridor-room with all right angles. I like some of Michael's later solo wads but this was early in his mapping career, his MAP07 here is just tedious. His other maps fare better, MAP08 and MAP11 are closer to his later quality work and are probably the best maps in the wad. There are even a handful of of rooms with nice lighting and detailing and that look quite good, especially for the time. Roger isn't credited with any maps outside this wad, the others don't even have wiki entries, and their maps play like beginner levels. What's worse are some very questionable designs, the worst being in MAP09, where going for the yellow key will guarantee a softlock unless you keep at least one enemy alive and hope they don't go down the lift until you're done and ready to go back up. I don't think the wad is bad but it's too amateurish and lacking in particularly interesting design to be worth playing.

Spoiler

 

 

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 08 Day 03

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I died/stopped.

 

[1] Gasplant by Jakob (2015)

 

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Thanks for downloading!

This is a very simple Doom deathmatch map, there isn't really anything redeeming about it.

I'm only uploading for archiving purposes, but I hope you enjoy it.

 

A pointless Deathmatch map I already explored during Month 7 Day 28 (9 February 2022). Here's what I written about it :

 

"An extremely bland looking Deathmatch map. I also doubt that it has good gameplay because of the long straight corridors.  Even some 1994 DM wads look better. The only custom texture is badly converted too. "

 

Nothing else to add.

 

[2] the Challenge by Jacob "ellmo" Zuchowski (2006)

 

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Okay, this basically is a very old WAD of mine, that comes from the times of my first steps in Doom editing. The actual date of this file's creation is 20-10-2002, and it's chronologically somewhere among my 10 very first maps. However it's not utterly crap, so I thought I might as well upload it. Despite it's age it should still provide some fun (even it is just for 3 minutes).

 

My computer told me that I already downloaded this file but I was not sure but I wasn't sure I'd ever played this map until I got to the cyberdemon area, which confirmed it. In fact, I played this map "a long time ago", on day 29 (11 May 2021). Here's what I said about it :

 

"A map called "The Challenge" should be at least a little challenging and it is.

 

It's a fairly small and narrow map with lots of little traps that can kill the most inattentive.  Beyond that, the difficulty at the beginning is to know how to get the first weapon, the shotgun. You have to go through some traps with a gun, which can be considered as quite brutal.

 

Beyond that, the encounter with the cyberdemon is probably the hardest part of the level. I killed it with my weapons but the gimmick was to find the crusher to finish it off.

 

The level is quite nice for the time. There is no particular theme knowing that we go through a wooden part, a tech base part, an infernal section..."

 

My comment remains more or less the same. I played DOOM2.EXE instead of Crispy-Doom but the experience was similar. The difference is that I managed to find an SSG hidden in a secret before getting the SG, which simplified the start of the map.

 

Grade : B-  (12/20)

 

[2] ea Gothic 2 by Erik Alm @Erik (2001)

 

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A difficult single player map for Doom2. Don't play skill 4 unless you are VERY confident in your skills. Skill 3 should be challenge enough for 90% of all players.

THIS LEVEL REQUIRES GOTHICTX.WAD

 

A spicy dish signed by one of the Doom scene's most influential mappers. Nevertheless, according to doomwiki, this is one of his earliest releases, and his maps designed before the "Scythe" series seem to be largely unknown.

 

This map contains "only" 57 monsters but don't feel too confident, because all enemies here have a purpose and the ammo balance is TIGHT. Improperly used ammunition can seriously condemn you to having to restart the level (if you're playing in UV mode). Moreover Erik puts a lot of emphasis on brutal ambushes and combats in confined spaces. Honestly it's quite a miracle I managed to beat that map blind regarding how nasty the cyberdemon's trap is, where you get the plasma gun in 64 pixels-wide corridor...

 

 

But honestly, the level is pretty tame if you have a bit of prior knowledge. However, some designs are counter-intuitive. For instance, I wasted all my ammo against the cyberdemon because I didn't understand that I had to rush to him in order to telefrag. It's a purely suicidal move and I did it because I had no other option.

 

In terms of visuals, the graphics aren't as polished as Adelusion's architecture, but the theme adds a little freshness (or warmth, in this case!).

 

The most interesting aspect is that the level design is very much "proto-death-destiny's" in style. I have to admit that playing this type of map is frustrating on the first try, but I've been warned. It's still a good map.

 

By the way, it's the kind of stuff you seem to look for  @Lila Feuer.

 

Grade : B-  (12/20)

 

A chaingunner was viciously hidden behind a tree in HellBase and shot me to death.

 

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[LadyMistDragon]

Map 07: Across the Snow

 

So colors this time are white and blue instead of blue and white I guess. It's also very modernist visually, although that's harder to say design-wise. The groups of enemies at the start are intimidating but there's enough room to where they really aren't much of a threat. Two Arch-viles that teleport in the long tunnel leading out are hard to shoot. The Cyberdemon here isn't really a huge deal because he seems to teleport away, but right after this, we emerge into a large open area, Cyberdemons firing from...somewhere and all sorts of incidental crap in between. The two paths both lead us to other buildings containing keys, with the red one in particular perhaps proving trickier than attended since there's not lots of time to shoot the enemies on the platforms. But after all this, we use the BFG on the masses of enemies that teleport in after pressing one of the respective switches. After this, run through more massive open areas to the exit. One thing to say - don't get the BFG early. It's okay to expend rockets, though there's not exactly tons of spares around.

 

Map 08: In Flames

 

900+ monster count says it all. This is the Alien Vendetta or Sunlust of this map set, not as drawn out or hard but still containing plenty of challenging and explosive fights. The yellow key fight amongst the blood falls was fantastic, Cyb ambush is basically a sort of fire-wildly situation, Arch-viles aren't spammed but still manage to appear basically everywhere and finally the end fight, though not so hard is quite intimidating! The culmination of the previous efforts so far. And the color is red, in case you couldn't guess:)

 

 

Final verdict: Great set, plenty of cool ideas, maybe a map or two that didn't quite do it, but is well worth it outside of all that 8/10

 

 

 

 

[Li'l devil]

So I went to /idgames, hit "random wad" and was granted with this:

 

Test Level by Lucent97

 

HAHAHAHAHAHA, it's literally just one simple room with 2 monsters and a rocket launcher.

 

 

This is the entire wad!

 

Okay, bye!

[LadyMistDragon]

Chris K. (1994-5) by Chris Klie (Crispy Doom)

 

I'd almost certainly have skipped this but I spent too long on the other wad as it is. No matter, I knew I wasn't going to finish it because of the pure lack of essentiality displayed pretty much everywhere and besides, it's not unknown as these are, guess what, part of the Lost Episode of Doom

 

The good news is, these maps are all perfectly playable. Layouts aren't terribly complicated, difficulty is thankfully not as stingy as many of Chris' Doom 2 efforts...and that's really about it. The switch pressing makes absolutely no sense, Chris basically experiments with sector manipulation in maps that doesn't necessarily integrate very well with the combat, and everywhere else shows up typical 94isms with the layout of certain areas and visual ideas that have shows up in other wads (Tim Ash's The Lost Level for instance with its usage of a vined outdoor courtyard.). Also, it seems like Chris didn't realize what a door texture was at this point because unconventional choices will be used for doors every so often. In the case of E1M3, it's actually quite annoying because said door's located in a room of similar lift textures, although the map will probably tell one where it is.

 

As much as I should probably play the rest of this, the fact remains that the sort of quirkiness of the average '94 map is largely absent here. Which is kind of why I've never really liked any Chris Klie maps, outside of the Garrison because it's sort of like, here's some plain textures, make some odd shapes, maybe throw in an odd puzzle or two and some stupid trap then call it a day. It's sort of the mapping equivalent of throwing shit at the wall. Granted, Chris did at least seem to understand how an editor worked far better than many other people mapping in '94, but moments of decent combat are too scattered. Maybe the console opening doors in E1M3 was a decent idea but that's fine, I'm probably done for good.

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

Spoiler

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Spoiler

Spoiler

 

Edited November 10, 2023 by LadyMistDragon

[brick]

Brick | 1 wad | 7 maps
Adventure | 8 wads | 57 maps
 

Attack on IO (2021) by Brian "Bri" Irving. 7 SP maps for Doom II in GZDoom/DSDA-Doom.
@Bri made a name for himself in 2021 by being named a Promising Newcomer at the Cacowards for this, his first release. A few minutes in it's easy to see why. The wad uses OTEX and the visuals leverage its power well, stunning or gorgeous don't do them justice. The versatility of OTEX is on display in the progression of themes, the wad starts in a base, goes on an excursion in something much more hellish, and then ends back at the base. The detailing and lighting are top notch. Music borrows from a wide variety of sources, there's one track by Jimmy, one by Aubrey Hodges, the rest are from various other games. Progression is incredibly fun, it's not complicated but there are lots of little steps and they are well paced and laid out despite the small levels, it made me feel like I'm always pushing ahead one step at a time, and the increments feel so rewarding. The wad has one of the most polarized difficulty balancing I've ever seen, reading the thread it seems people were having a good time being challenged on UV, but as usual for me I played on HNTR and it is an order of magnitude easier. It was so easy I almost wish I had played on HMP, but this just gives me an excuse to come back and replay it some time. Some of the combat setpieces were still very fun, such as the finale in MAP06 (what an incredibly atmospheric map, too), or the way the south part of MAP07 keeps opening up to reveal new enemies as more of them teleport elsewhere and reenter through the north doors. It's a beautiful and very entertaining wad.

Spoiler

 

[LadyMistDragon]

GIT! (1995) by Brian Kelly (Crispy Doom)

 

Hey, I didn't know my 7 year old so-called annoying 'friend' had this much.....no, I'm kidding. The text file is long and lengthy and arguably contains more information than necessary. In any case, these are borderline shovelware maps, with poorly-textures doors, odd angles, and monster placement that doesn't really make very much sense. It's definitely one of those 'bounce from one side to the other' type sets because the combat doesn't hold any interest for the most part, and in the case of E1M2, borrows an IWAD gimmick that shouldn't have been attempted to be repeated by an amateur (essentially, a version of the Deimos Anomaly concept) That said, there are occasional cool visual details and certain architectural choices that show a real world influence. I couldn't find the hidden pool that came from swimpool.wad though, a real shame because I've never heard of it. E1M5 actually manages to be an improvement over the rest in terms of layout and combat flow. E1M6 though, was a more difficult pistol start than I wanted to acheive at the time and might've been a back slide anyway. 3.5/10

 

 

 

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 08 Day 04

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I died/stopped.

 

[1] MOOeD DOOM by Aaron Flatten (bugfixed and re-released by Funduke) (2004)

 

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Funny joke-wad, that will give you something to laugh. Pink status bar, new Title-screen, reversed Doom-Logo (MooD instead of DooM), new sounds, music and three levels.

 

Saying that things were better before is usually not a popular opinion and quickly categorize you as an old fart but I seriously think so about joke wads. Although there are some excellent ones today, the Terry Wads craze has definitely ruined the genre. 

 

MOOeD DOOM, released in 1994, is an example of a little joke wad whose aim is to make the player smile rather than suffer in "Terry Traps" or other such treacherous situations. The author replaced some sounds with cartoons' ones. Pinkies and spectres do a bottle sound when they open. Strange but it's qui fun to hear this !  Some stock textures beneficiated of a flashy recolor. For instance, in E2M2 there are some grey textures recolored in... fuscshia. Demon-headed textures now pull a funny face too ! Some new music has been added, such as Green Sleeves in E1M3, which reinforces the good-natured feeling of the wad.

 

However, E1M2 was surprisingly tricky because getting the red key traps you with a cyberdemon in a tight space. I almost died but eventually managed to escape. The maps themselves aren't really special though, probably a tad better designed than the usual 1994 stuff but expect the usual tropes

 

Anyway I have to say that it was a charming tiny mapset to explore and I want to give a special mention for the starry sky.

 

Grade : B (13,5/20)

 

[2] Rogue Elements by Fyrebrand (2005)

 

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A small Contra-like map. 100% kills near impossible

 

Don't say your map is completly linear and totally lacks of exploration but say rather it's "Contra-like". Because yes, Rogue Elements is a succession of disgusting startan rooms assembled in such an incoherent way that it would make any map released almost 30 years ago look like a work of art.

 

The map has almost no health and no armor which isn't a problem until you meet the Spider Mastermind. Creating an infight with the cyberdemon (and arch-vile) is compulsory if you want to finish the level in one piece. No enemy can be ignored, as the map is extremely linear. Moreover, your arsenal and ammo is limited and like me,  the only thing to do is pray that you have enough ammunition to take down the SMM in case it eliminates the Cyberdemon.

 

So, the visuals are ugly, doors are stupidly gigantic, the combat starts off boring to end up being frustrating, and there are Nazis. That's all you need to know.

 

Grade : F (3/20)

 

[3] DETHKASM.WAD (Death Chasm) by Kenneth S. Forte (1995)

 

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Original Deathmatch PWAD for Heretic (Registered)

 

I felt a bit nostalgic about that wheel-shaped random Heretic Deathmatch map because it was one of the few random files I downloaded before starting all my review for the Er/iwa. My foreknowledege on this map helped to protect myself of hat nasty illusio-pit full of malautors located in front of the timed door guarding the exit. This map puts the emphasis on the wings item because it serves not only to cross the pit, but also obtaining items and the weapons placed in elevated compartments.

 

[4] Tab23 Level by Michael Contorno (1997)

 

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It's Tab23. Do you have what it takes to brave a subterrainian cavern? Run through Hell flames with Imps literally coming up out of the fire all around you? Destroy a fortress of Satan? Then download this wad!

 

Yep, the starting point of Tab23 seems to announce that the action will take place inside a pretty-looking cavern filled with toxic nukage but it suffices to explore a bit more to realize than the 23th map of Tab, like some other ones I played, don't follow any specific theme. It's a jumble of themes centred around a rather abstract green courtyard.

 

The heavy presence of damaging liquid, barrels and the lack of armor at the beginning make the player think that the level is going to be pretty tough, but all you have to do is explore a little and you'll find blue armour, a few spheres and more than enough ammunition for your guns.

 

The Tab series never disappointed me for now. Michael Contorno manage to recreate Iwad-like maps with moderate difficulty and fairly compact layouts. It's fun and easy to digest. 

 

Grade : B (12,5/20)

 

I stop here for today.

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 08 Day 05

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I died/stopped.

 

[1] fallout.wad by Jim and John Jankowski (1997)

 

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This is a level, designed for both single player and deathmatch. co-op starts are also included

 

Fallout.wad is a map containing a tiny number of ennemies (26 on UV according to the comment on idgames) but it features a certain number of areas explore despite the monster count. I took more or less 6 minutes 30 .The DM aspect doesn't take too much place over the single-player aspect, unlike a lot of versatile maps of this kind.

 

You have three keys to obtain but none of them present particular challenge by triggering a big trap or something else. The only "difficult" part resides in the cyberdemon courtyard. Killing him can be a little tricky but the bestiary used in this map is fairly trivial beside that.

 

fallout.wad follows a classic tech-base scheme but the architecture is rather carefully crafted for an early 1997 map. Well-chosen textures and structures such as curved staircases make this level a pleasure to visit. Some places remind me slightly of the first maps of Kama Sutra, specifically map 04 "Water Base".

 

In the end, it was a short but clean and relaxing map. Perhaps a few more monsters would have made it more complete.

 

Grade : B- (12/20)

 

I died in a nasty crampy fight involving a cyberdemon from the adventurous map 02 from Ol' No Name

 

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[Walter confetti]

15 hours ago, Roofi said:

DETHKASM.WAD (Death Chasm) by Kenneth S. Forte (1995)

I don't know why, but this thing ring me a bell, i should have played this in a recent past! I remember the Tower of Babel-like layout of the central building...

[LadyMistDragon]

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worst.....

 

DOOM MUSIC! (1994) by Steve 

 

Basically, a collection of some music that's been extracted from other sources. Interestingly, the Overture theme from what I believe was Final Fantasy VI internationally is in here, quite the beautiful little piece. The problem is, it takes a lot of fiddling to actually get this to run apparently, without replacing the default music in the file with typical 90s silliness. Indeed, the two /idgames reviews of this confirm it.

 

 

Wildwest (1994) by Kevin Roels 

 

One of those 'cute' concept maps from 1994 (shortly after Doom 2's release!) this one is packaged in such a way that it will literally not run on modern source ports. And it seems like one can't just run the .bat file in DOSBOX without installing Doom again....and no! But it turns out this was actually in Maximum Doom and at least one other collection so there's at least one video available. It's precisely what it sounds like, an Old West town with trees in one corner and a watering hole in the other. It's an abstract design but it's also easy to tell what everything is. Appreciate the custom status bar, but the 'howling guys' sound effect is pointless and I dunno what the graphical patch adds. Meh

 

King of the Fort "KING.WAD" (1994) by Robert Carlson (Crispy Doom)

 

Interestingly, the second Doom II '94 map. It's a simple King of the Hill thing naturally (cue the damn it Bobby memes), a simple but elaborate fort comprises the middle while low-red walls line the map. 

 

 

 

Spoiler

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James Bond Skin for Doom legacy (2000) by @Armaetus

 

A rather goofy-looking skin for Doom 2, the outdated sense of proportion is quite amusing to view, especially the clouded, expressionless look of Bond's eyes in the avatar. Someone compared it to a MUGEN model which I suppose says it all. Eh, it's not bad otherwise.

 

My Master Left Me (2013) by Smedis2 (GZ Doom)

 

A short little thing basically designed to test out ZDoom's scripting features. The titular master kills himself most amusingly, capped off by the "And that's when I realized everything is pointless" message.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

Edited November 11, 2023 by LadyMistDragon

[LadyMistDragon]

And here's my last hit from yesterday!

 

 

The Grim Fortress (2016) by Sabucnameth (From Doom with Love)

 

An E3 Doom-styled sort of map, seeming vaguely amateurish in certain spots with odd sharp angles and curious opennness in places but nevertheless proves to be a solid map that packs a real punch! Overwhelmingly, the architecture is red brick and contained here are the sorts of heavy enemies one would expect to find in a fortress. No hitscanners here though! Things do get perhaps a bit too grindy for their own good in the parking garage where we're just shotgunning nobles all over the place, at the end where a rocket launcher is sitting on a table, next to some place where humans have all been ritually executed. The outdoor river that we know is poisonous to mortals was a nice area, though the hidden berserk pack would sure have been nice here! Seeing the nobles teleport in when we reach the other side of the river, then having arachnotrons emerge from a cave near the yellow key is quite intense. There's also a bit near some rooms we'll just call offices adjacent to the parking garage stairs where we had to allow infighting because we were running quite low on shotgun shells. Ending sees us gazing through some bars to some ledges of silver and is kind of almost "that's it?" Still, easy 7/10

 

 

[ICID]

 

Lava (1996) by Denis Tetreault

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Difficulty: Ultra-Violence}

^{Source Port: Crispy Doom}

 

An extremely impressive and ambitious technical achievement for 1996 which takes place inside of a facility to turn lava into energy. It looks terrific and there's lots of great details - I particularly loved the "flammable crate room" shown above, where every "crate" is stuffed with explosive barrels causing them to "explode" when hit. Aesthetically I find the map mostly unimpeachable.

 

Sadly the map was clearly built with gameplay as an afterthought, so you're mostly just picking off imps and zombies in really tight corridors. You're often forced to walk directly on lava and health is surprisingly sparse. Backtracking is difficult because the majority of the hallways connecting rooms look the same, or so similar as to be indistinguishable. And then, just like brick, I got trapped in a room with a one-sided yellow key door and never figured out how to escape.

 

I really respect the ambition and would love to see the sequel promised in the text file somehow surface all these years later. But it's not very fun to play.

 

Grade: 5/10

 

 

Of Demons And Men (2004) by ravage

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Difficulty: Ultra-Violence}

^{Source Port: Crispy Doom}

 

Now HERE'S a great-looking map that actually plays great too. I really like the vine maze that partially obscures enemies without outright using false walls. Had some trouble finding the yellow key (I think I may have accidentally skipped a line the first time) and some areas are SO detailed that either I or the demons got stuck on em thanks to Doom's infamously wacky collision physics, but other than that I don't really have any complaints. Just a solid, creepy little base - I even like the use of green marble, for once.

 

Grade: 7/10

 

 

 

DOOM IN GRACELAND - Hunka, Hunka Burnin' Love (2004 / 1994) by Robert "Aaron" Bukoski

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Difficulty: Ultra-Violence}

^{Source Port: Crispy Doom}

 

This map was uploaded in 1994 in a format that required you to manually edit the IWAD, but was given new life in 2004 as a series of PWADs. Truly awful. The one map in question is an eyesore of a thing where you shoot zombiemen (Elvis) and shotgunners (uh, also Elvis) through a series of huge identical hallways that spell out "ELVIS LIVES", each of which you have to walk through twice. After that you can play the rest of The Ultimate Doom with the sprite replacements, if for some reason you hate yourself. Unpleasant and half-assed even by the standards of 90s sprite conversions - and how the fuck do you not replace "At Doom's Gate" with a horrible grating MIDI version of an Elvis song, at the very least. I mean, come on. What are we doing here.

 

Grade: 2/10

 

 

Dwarf Town (2006) by Pawel Zarczynski

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Difficulty: Ultra-Violence}

^{Source Port: GZDoom}

 

Cute! A 1024x1024 map taking place in a tiny town complete with tiny computers, tiny kitchens, tiny couches etc. Gameplay is a joke - you get the SSG early on and then hold down M1 as a handful of lethargic imps and hell knights wander into view, but the Final Fantasy XI music makes it all feel very cozy and pleasant rather than dull. You're just here to hang out for a couple minutes, see the sights, then move onto something else. It's nice.

 

Grade: 6/10

 

 

Go off with a BOOM. (1999) by Rolf Nantoft Jensen

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Difficulty: Ultra-Violence}

^{Source Port: dsda-doom}

 

A map very obviously inspired by, of all things, Sandy Peterson's Downtown, from Doom II. Now I like "Downtown", probably more than most people reading this - but c'mon. You and I both know why making another map like it is a bad idea.

 

Confusing, ugly, and horribly paced, you know you're in trouble right away when you start to notice that every room looks like nothing. Some of them are just bland monotextured nothing, some of them are way-too-dark nothing, some of them are these weird chasms, but all of them look like nothing. Still you might even put up with this until you get to the infamous lifts, noted by both brick and the sole Anonymous idgames reviewer - incredibly tall, slow-moving lifts that are designed to let you take out the apartment snipers (who are chaingunners here rather than imps) but which more accurately serve to try your patience.

 

The best thing I can say about this one is that it's at least bad in an unusual way.

 

Grade: 2/10

[brick]

Brick | 1 wad | 1 map
Adventure | 9 wads | 58 maps

Doom - The Arcade Game Phobos Bonus Level 2 - You Sunk My Battleship! (2002) by Ethan Watson aka GooberMan. 1 SP map for Doom II in ZDoom.

Doom - The Arcade Game is one of those incredibly ambitious mods that were being developed at the turn of the millennium. Just like many of them it was never completed, in fact the only release had a single main map of the planned 35 (!) and one bonus level. The main wad deserves a much longer discussion, especially since it has become practically unplayable (it won't get past the opening cutscene in modern GZDoom, and when I tried the vintage ZDoom it kept crashing and corrupting my saves). This wad was a second bonus map, playable separately, and this one actually ran with no issues on GZDoom. Just like the built-in bonus map, its gameplay is completely different from the main Arcade Game (and they're both different from Doom). There are 6 imps each on a battleship and you have to hit and kill an imp to sink its ship. They can't damage your ship but their fireballs still hurt, though good dodging skill will trivialize the defence. As for offence we're not using our pistol but our ship's guns, and there are buttons to control the angle, pitch and speed of the shot. Then push the green button and see where the shot goes, adjust, try again. It's not exactly a pretty wad and it got repetitive long before I got to the last imp, but I can't help but admire the cleverness of the scripting, it's always fun to see what people did to make something completely unlike Doom in those early ZDoom days.

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[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 08 Day 06

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I died/stopped.

 

[1] It's the Final Deathmatch... by Reptile & Sub-Zero (1995)

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A (we think) very fine Deathmatch Level for the cool Game named "Heretic" and we hope you enjoy to fight with any opponent !!!!

 

Just a boring Deathmatch map for Heretic which actually has more the appearance of a test room than a real DM arena. The layout consists of different blocks using different textures as if both authors  were trying out different textures to see how they would look in game. The result is a somewhat labyrinthine map, and I think a duel quickly becomes a game of cat and mouse. Some teleporters help to reach some weapons.

 

[2] The Shores of Russia by @Chainie,  @joe-ilya, @Memfis (2017)

 

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Three authors, three limit removing maps. Welcome to the shores of Russia.

e2m1 - Chaingunner e2m2 - joe-ilya e2m3 - Memfis

 

When I read "Russia" in a wad title, I expect heavy ogg music and the usage of HD textures all over of the place but knowing more or less the background of each author, we're definitely on the classic side.

 

As the description and title indicate, this is a russian hommage to the second episode of Doom and if you're sharp-eyed enough, you"ll spot the Saint Basil's Cathedral in the hellish moutainous sky !

 

Whereas the wad follows classic Iwad-y visuals, the style of each mapper can be recognized. Let's give a short review about each of them !

 

E2M1 : A sort of crossover between the episode 1 and episode 2 as it takes a place in a beige tech-base filled with nukage and you can find a baron and several cacodemons. The combats are pretty standard but the clean texture usage and architecture make this level visually appealing.

 

E2M2 : A messy and unfun junkyard filled with ton of details, enemies but ammo and health are rare though. I don't mind about the deliberate janky aesthetics but lack of ressources make this level unnecessarly frustrating and damn the midi used in this map got on my nerves in the end. Definitely the hardest map in the set. It's the only one I disliked.

 

E2M3 : Memfis's submission seems to me to be the most ambitious and best captures the spirit of episode 2, with its tortuous layout and unusual traps. I also appreciate the emphasis on outdoor environments, given that Episode 2's maps are generally pretty enclosed. The 'Shores' aspect is taken more literally.

 

Overall it's a good little mappack but I have to admit that E2M2 adds a bit of bitterness.

 

Grade : B-  (12/20)

 

I died in one of the slaughtermaps from the heretic megawad Hordes of Chaos X

 

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