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Paranoia |
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Title: Paranoia
If you're one of those people who reads level storylines, you'll be in for a refreshing change of pace from the average "get some weapons and kill everything" maps that make up 90% of recent releases. In this, you play a somewhat demented (judging by the narrations) genetic researcher who has his project spoiled by some dumb bitch with more degrees than you, and upon your demotion to grunt work, you kill the bitch, get arrested, and promise to yourself to destroy the entire research facility before the rest of your ex-comrades can take credit for your work. Basically, you're the bad guy who breaks out and sets on a revenge mission, and that makes these maps just that much more fun to play. And fun maps these are: all are base/facility settings, and all are some of the best base/facility maps for Doom I have seen in my time. The layouts are superb in all these maps. Secrets are well placed and utilized, and the use of ZDoom scripts and effects to create freezers, health stations and other functional items really gives these maps the final touch. There were only a few points in certain levels that lacked detail (the dirt/nuke sewers come to mind), and, despite a few blatant texture misalignments along the way, the use of original Doom2 textures and new textures (mostly from Half-Life) creates a unique feel to these maps, unlike any other Doom maps I have played. I don't know exactly how to describe it, they just "feel" comfortable, like you're really there. I believe it's the scale of the maps that gives them their odd non-Doom atmosphere; unlike most Doom maps, you can picture these in real life. Pretty funky. The ammo/health/monster balance was near perfect for me. The difference in difficulty levels was not very extreme, but each skill level does a great job of accomodating their user groups. The new human enemy graphics seemed overly large, but managed to fit well in the levels. The rest of the new monsters (most from Half-Life again) fit in the scenario very well. There are hardly any overall complaints I have here. A few enemies were placed at points where their sprites were drawn "into" the ceilings (the cyberdemon replacement at the end of map03 for example) and this could have been easily avoided. Rooms got a little repetive near the end. There was one 'pit' behind a few crates you could get stuck in with no way out (occured in first map after jumping down from a vent.) The two shotguns get a little confusing at times, and a few of the windows early on in the game didn't block projectiles like the others. These and some texture misalignments aside, these are some of the best overall maps I've played this year. Excellent atmosphere and very well thought-out.
Reviewed by Lüt |
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