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The /newstuff Chronicles #428

  • [GL] Deathmatch - Okami-AIK, DoktorNuts, Pootis, Umbreon, Manolo
    Doom 2 - ZDoom Compatible - Deathmatch - 3817867 bytes -
    Reviewed by: Eligitine
    Now there are deathmatch wads that look good, and there are ones that play good. GLDM is a rare combination of the two, with surprisingly detailed and pretty map design combined with nice flow and good item placement. These fifteen maps are a collaboration of the [GL] clan, designed for ZDaemon but perfectly compatible with Zandronum.

    The maps themselves flow extremely well, with few choke points and multiple alternate routes. In classic deathmatch fashion, many of the maps spawn players on or near SSGs, with other powerful weapons placed about strategically. A mixture of wide open areas, multiple levels, 3D bridges, and narrow corridors make this map pack extremely varied; heck, in one level you fight on the moon! Each of the maps seems to carry its own theme, easily distinguishable from all the others, and indeed many other wads out there. Advanced mobility is key on several of the maps, with rocket jumping and launchpads providing a chance for a sneaky frag. Others, however, are classic deathmatch fun, players always within a few seconds of each other.

    As mentioned before, these levels are absolutely stunning for a deathmatch wad, but clipping has been strategically done so players never find themselves stuck or lost. Stunning vistas, beautiful waterfalls, and wonderful small details fill this wad. To put things in perspective, these are some of the locations you can fight in GLDM: a medieval stronghold, the fricking Moon, a sewage processing plant, a facility in the middle of a black inky void, a hell temple, an outpost on top of an endless ocean, a UAC outpost on a lava planet, and finally a giant nyan cat (map99).

    I have to give special mention to the music in this level set. It's very well chosen, often directly relating to the stage, although sometimes the choice is a bit questionable. For example, map07 - White Chocolate, has a version of chocolate rain. While not bad, it made me want to kill everything in sight, which I guess helps, considering it is made for deathmatch.

    As a passing word, get some friends together and play through these maps! They're well worth it, even if just for ogling the sights (and sounds).

  • Revenge of the 90's - Faceplant92 / Doomkid
    Doom 2 - ZDoom Compatible - Solo Play - 3526220 bytes -
    Reviewed by: Eligitine
    Revenge of the 90's is an extremely difficult, and rather ugly wad. It looks like maps of the late 90's, and that may have been the author's goal, but that's no excuse for broken reject tables (monster sight lines), ugly texturing, and unfitting decorations. At one point there were several hanging corpses and hell decorations... in the middle of a UAC base. The maps are rather linear, but there are several times where a key is stuck in places where a person simply would not bother to look.

    Now for the part that needs to be addressed. This wad is extremely difficult, on all difficulties. Not because of the lack of ammo, or the rapid fire higher health humans, but because of a new creature: a marine with a BFG9000. You encounter them on the first map, where you are limited to an automatic rifle that replaces the pistol, a shotgun, and if you find it, a rocket launcher with five shots. Those sadistic bastards have caused me to restart this 20 level wad more times than HR has. Then we get to the ambushes, oh lord.

    I am officially declaring this wad the king of sadistic ambushes. It likes to reveal a plethora of stupidly powerful monsters after you grab anything more than a large healthkit. On top of the ambushes, zombiemen seem to have sniper rifles now, constantly plinking away at me from halfway across the map. I found myself wishing for more hell knights and revenants simply because I could dodge their projectiles. Let me clarify now; that is not a good thing!

    This is a 20 level wad, and the levels do get remarkably prettier as time goes on, but it maintains its soul-crushingly hard gameplay. I have to admit, it would actually work quite well for a survival server, but as a singleplayer wad, its just about impossible for anyone who isn't a Doom god.

    As a passing note, I almost forgot to talk about the music. It's very good, extremely good actually. The only reason I managed to play through all of the wads is that I wanted to see what song I would listen to next. Currently of the tracks have been ripped and converted, just so I could listen to them later.

    TLDR: Play it for the music.

  • Happy Birthday, Lainos! - Zoltan Schmidt "Katamori"
    Doom 2 - PrBoom+ - Solo Play - 4071510 bytes -
    Reviewed by: fullmetalvaran33
    "Happy Birthday, Lainos!" is what it sounds like: a birthday tribute/present to the [B0S] mapper, Lainos, famous for making maps such as "Doxylamine Moon Overdose" and "5till L1 Complex." Large, complex, highly detailed, rather challenging maps are what Lainos seems to enjoy most, and "Happy Birthday" seems to be focuses primarily on "Doxylamine," going so far as to have the same title picture, menu music, and level music as said map. I can't complain because the atmospherically haunting, suspenseful music track of "“Doxylamine" is just as lovely as it was the first time I heard it.

    There are two maps, although map 2 is basically just an "end credits" type thing without the credits. Doomguy sails away aboard a ship down a murky forest river. No enemies, no items (save for a barred off yellow skull key and red present(?) boxes)... just smooth sailing. It's kind of a waste, though, if you ask me, especially since map 1 is not very long at all—like, seriously. 10-15 minutes will probably be all it takes, maybe a bit less depending on how you play.

    Map 1 has you jump off a train at a loading station. Crates dot the platform outside, and you come up behind the main train station, grabbing the single-barrel shotgun along the way. The new weapon sprites are well-suited for the dark, dreary city map comprised of nicely detailed, fairly high quality modern city brick and stone textures. The buildings may be blocky, but it matters very little considering the type of map this is.

    When you enter the station, you'll find a megasphere behind a set of blue skull key bars. You go to your left through some doors and OMG IMPS OUT OF NOWHERE and get said key. Now, I'm quite confused as to why the megasphere exists at all in this WAD because there is WAY too much health laying around as is—way more than you need even if you aren't the best at Doom. Combat is too simple and light, and, during one part, the Hell Knights and Mancubuses at the end of two long roads will in-fight anyway, saving you some ammo and trouble. Unless you are horrible at Mancubus fireball dancing—and I mean, utterly HORRIBLE—you should be just fine.

    The end of the map involves a large, spacious area with wide gray stone steps leading down to a green marble pyramid decorated with skull keys. Here you'll get the super shotgun, plasma rifle, cells, shells, and...even more pointless health packs. Two "nasty surprises" await you here, but, in all honesty, you should be able to handle it without losing even 1 percent of health. Disappointing to say the least, but, then again I guess I was expecting a little too much from this bite-sized tribute.

    Overall, Katamori's heart was in the right place when he made "Happy Birthday, Lainos!", but the maps provided are too short, too easy, and unnecessarily overloaded with health. Granted, the visuals are quite nice—very Lainos-like—but due to how short the maps are (and map 2 barely qualifying as a map, period), and how simplistic the game play is, I think they're kind of wasted in the end. Perhaps this map means more to Lainos than anyone else, considering... Otherwise, it's just, "Oh, OK, pretty."

  • Maps by my 6 Year Old Son - Dylan Ellis Bourke
    Doom 2 - Vanilla - Solo Play - 16554 bytes
    Reviewed by: Tarnsman
    Exactly what it says on the tin. Five maps by Purist's son Dylan. The maps are exactly what you'd expect from a six year old. The maps may be extremely basic but they work on the Sandy Petersen principle of Doom being a game to have fun. Sometimes fun comes from a nice challenge or navigating a well-constructed architectural masterpiece, and other times it comes from just BFG spamming a room full of Cacodemons. It's worth checking out just for looking at what a young new mapper comes up with. (Like the crusher room in Map 03 where I thought the floor was raising due to the lack of upper unpegged on the side walls.)

  • Infernos - ReX Claussen
    Ultimate Doom - Vanilla - Solo Play - 707938 bytes -
    Reviewed by: Tarnsman
    Infernos is a nine map E3 replacement by ReX Claussen, continuing his series of "I'll just remake the original IWAD levels but instead of doing interesting stuff with them, I'll just throw some random garbage in every room and call it a day" projects, also consisting of The Phobos Directive and Deimos: Slight Return (sadly, the days of Phobos Revisted seem to be past us). Although for this project, ReX seems to have reduced the amount of nonsensical sectors and "detailing" thrown into each room (in order to "modernize" them) and instead opted to abuse the everliving crap out of the curve tool.

    Map 01: A good Map 01 should introduce the players to about 75-80% of the basic concepts they will be encountering throughout the level set, and I'd say in that aspect this map succeeds. It introduces you right off the bat to what you can expect from this WAD. Circles. Lots and lots of circles. Beyond circles some other main ideas are introduced, such as bizarre monster placement (watch out for the terrible Demon snipers overlooking the shotgun pickup, they might bite you from 40 meters away) and the aforementioned "detailing" that mostly consists of just shoving sectors into a scene and hoping it adds to the aesthetic (it does not). One thing I found odd is that this level is a lot easier than the original map, mainly due to the increase in ammo and firepower you acquire right off the bat, combined with the easy chainsaw acquisition. It's also possible to become permanently stuck behind the evil eyes in the exit room (see the first screenshot).

    Map 02: The most important question when it comes to this map is: does changing the shape of E3M2 from a hand to a spider and adding more monsters do anything to enhance the level? No it doesn't. I guess if you really, really love you some E3M2 then this map might do it for you, but even as someone who doesn't dislike E3M2 as much as others (it's just kinda "meh" to me), this just did nothing for me beyond extending the playtime well past enjoyability. Although there was a nice use of teleport trickery after the BK that helped change things up, but it was a little too late to salvage the experience.

    Map 03: The original E3M3 had some great shapes and some neat optional paths. So naturally when remaking it all the optional paths should become mandatory and most of the cool shapes and interesting connections should be gutted so they can be replaced with square/circle reinterpretations of the original rooms. (Also long 64 wide curving skin tunnels, you need to have those.) Thankfully the rapid theme transitions of the original E3M3 are kept. Gameplay wise, being more "non-linear" than the previous two maps at least does help, but it also does introduce a major problem with ReX's changes to map progression; they're often done in a way that requires you to just stumble upon the correct path after exhausting all other possible options, which I don't hate as an idea, but in maps like this where the blue key is down a path of nukage and the only indication you get that it's down there (instead of a secret or optional area like in most maps) is a small window where you need to stand in the nukage in order to see the blue key, as the mid-texture obscures it otherwise. Also the use of a pretty long nukage tunnel for mandatory progression means you can render the level unwinnable; thankfully it's only -5% nukage and there are plenty medikits near it, so like the original E3M7 you have to actively try to put yourself in this situation.

    Map 04: The start of the original E4M4 worked because you had enough room to move that you could corral the demons to avoid blowing yourself up. Adding a frontal Cacodemon and a rear Demon to the start as well as several new Demons in the flanking rooms means that it becomes less a challenging pistol start and more a clusterfuck of flesh that requires lucky demon pathing more than anything. Like the first level, the abundance of firepower and ammo makes this level pathetically easy once you get past the first room. The rest of the level follows the same stuff as the previous, lots of square/rectangle and circle/oval rooms replacing the original interesting ones. One particular point of irritation is that the circular pit crushers have been replaced with a hollow inescapable pit that doesn't even have the courtesy to kill you.

    Map 05: Every problem with the previous maps is still present here. (I was impressed that ReX managed to make a map that was already basically a circle even more circular – I really hope he remakes Doom 2 so I can play Map 11- Circle of Circles.) This map probably suffers the least from the ReXisms due to the layout and shapes not being changed too much. It did still have some weird things in it like a teleporter that teleports you outside of the room it's in, five feet away, despite there being no locked door or any other obstacle in your path. (I'm assuming the door was supposed to close and lock but didn't.)

    Map 06: The expanded and reshaping of the structures really hurts this level a lot. The end result is a lot of random bare empty blobs filling a lava lake due to the increased size. Still I'd say that this was the most enjoyable map out of the lot, if only because it had a strong original level dragging the remake up from the depths to be something playable.

    Map 09: When I say that it's execution not concept that creates bad mapping, this is what I'm talking about. The Warrens concept has potential; NEIS E2M9 does a great job of showing how to do it properly. Infernos Map 09 does not. Compared to the original Warrens, I'd say this map is an improvement on the concept, but since it uses Infernos Map 01 as the base, that kind of negates that, and the additional areas added aren't that much better.

    Map 07: Like the previous seven maps, you have abuse of curves, symmetry, and odd sector detailing. This map, though, has that extra je ne sais quoi that makes it hit the perfect sweet spot of agitation for me. See, my biggest problem with this WAD isn't all the minor little technical annoyances and aesthetic choices because they're just that, little annoyances. No, the real sticking point here is that it's a bad remake. When remaking something, you need to add to it. Lutz's The Dying End still felt like The Living End, but it had the extra "oomph" that justified its existence. With ReX's recent remakes, they don't feel like a proper reinterpretation of the level using modern design and gameplay choices to enhance the experience. This is then coupled with the failure to add enough new content to the level that it doesn't just feel like you're just playing an inferior copy of the original level. I think this map really hammers that in because it resembles the original level the most, with the exception of a few key changes that exist only to make the playing experience worse. You have more ammo than the original map, which makes the map less of a scramble from pistol start, the progression is changed in such a way that it still resembles the original but has just enough tweaks to screw with the flow and make you figure out what you need to do, and lastly the number of rad suits and medikits has been drastically reduced from the gigantic surplus that populated the original so you don't have as much time to figure out what to do. The progression wouldn't be an issue if it wasn't for the placement of the blue key, which is now an optional secret, but is "hidden" in such a way that it can be easily stumbled across. (It was the first key in E3M7, so that's what I was looking for.) So my first time through the level I got the blue key, missed the red key (which is now in a tiny little offshoot instead of the spacious, easily found area in the original) and went along my way using the blue key to progress. Which I was able to do because, in imitating the original but tweaking it slightly, the blue key gives (quite possibly unintentional) access to the yellow key which I then tried to find a use for (thinking I needed it to get the red key) and died due to the damaging floor. When I finally did find the red key, I then had to contend with the fact that the location of all the red door teleporters was the same, but their destinations were now changed. So of course I had to die a couple of times running across the damaging floors to figure out where I was supposed to go. (I will give ReX credit for some things. The central teleporter being the location of one that takes you to the exit is better than the random side teleporter it previously was.) When I finally did figure out where to go, beating the level required me to avoid as much damage as possible (not that hard), using a secret key in order to access the required key, and then straferunning as much as possible across every damaging floor while knowing exactly where to go, because otherwise I'd run out of power-ups. I know it's just my personal opinion, but outside of niche challenge wads with the specific goal of figuring out how to optimize progression (where I'd say this set up would work pretty well), the player should be able to at least have all the tools necessary to get through the level on their first try, accounting for them figuring out the layout and progression. (E3M7 has like 10 rad suits for that exact reason.) Players should never under any circumstances find themselves in a situation where they can't complete the level simply because the principles of basic design failed.

    Map 08: It's just E1M8 merged with E3M8 with a few added paths.

    If you were thinking of downloading this, just go play E3 instead. Unless you really want to see what E3 would be like if everything was curved and slightly changed, there really is nothing to see here. I'm extremely confused by ReX's recent output, as he has demonstrated the ability to craft levels of far greater quality than this in the past. I can only conclude that ReX has gotten "too old for this shit" and simply stopped trying.

  • kuchitsu - Memfis
    Doom 2 - Limit Removing - Solo Play - 619597 bytes -
    Reviewed by: fullmetalvaran33
    "Kuchitsu" is a collection of six short, casual Doom maps with an emphasis on nature--structures are made primary of tan and green brick, some dark caves and tunnels, and there are some lovely bright green plants and trees sprites placed here and there to enhance the open-air areas of the maps. The maps are very lovely to look at and, while they are somewhat simple in terms of concept and design, the texture usage and architecture is so charmingly done, you can't complain.

    Game play ranges from very easy to moderate, starting off very casual and carefree in the first couple of maps. Ammo is a bit limited (particularly for the single-barrel shotgun) in the beginning, but your enemies consist of mostly Imps, Sergeants, Zombiemen, and Pinky Demons, so it's hardly anything to worry about. Things slowly become a bit more challenging as the maps progress, throwing at you some Hell Knights, Arachnotrons, Revenants, and, in the final map, a couple Arch-Viles. Ammo placement does get better, though, so you'll be more equipped to handle such enemies.

    I had a lot of fun playing through the maps--they're short, simple, and relatively easy, but they're very entertaining. Unless you like only hardcore Doom maps and nothing else, "Kuchitsu" should provide some pleasant entertainment for most players.

  • Jupiterian CTF - ZumbeeKihluhr666
    Doom 2 - Skulltag / Zandronum - CTF - 10771291 bytes -
    Reviewed by: Netherstorm
    Capture The Flag has always been one of my favorite game modes, and I'm sure for a lot of others as well. But here's a CTF wad that includes weird maps and weird texture placement.

    First off, what the hell is up with the M_SKULL graphic? It just some ginormous moving picture of 2 people, you can't even hardly see what you're selecting as well. In total, there are 13 maps to this. Most of them are bland, most of them are un-detailed, most of them are challenging as hell. For example, MAP01 has you starting off on a huge tower leading to a long slope to walk on. When you walk on the slope, winds will attempt to blow you off it, dropping to a floor which bounces you to either direction to die. It's challenging to get to the other team's flag because of this; personally though, I like a challenge. These maps provide new variety and challenge to CTF. Even though the maps are somewhat ugly and bland, they're actually quite fun.

    If you're looking for something new in CTF, gather some friends and play this. If not, stay away.

  • The Abaddon - Deepak Dhillon [richter3456]
    Doom 2 - ZDoom Compatible - Solo Play - 146296 bytes -
    Reviewed by: ReX
    This is a single-player map that plays on Map05 of Doom 2. In the words of the author: "It's a medium sized, hellish themed map which shouldn't be too difficult to beat."

    The map has a nicely-done hellish theme, which remains more-or-less consistent throughout. The author uses a handful of new textures, all which blend well with the stock Doom textures. Sector-based lighting is done in an old-school way but is used to good effect, and many parts of the map are quite atmospheric. Some of the areas are downright creepy (e.g., the path to the armor and computer map). There is a new music track, which I'm guessing is from Doom 3: BFG Edition. (The text file indicates no new music, and does not provide a credit for the MUS file.) The architecture and detailing are quite ordinary, and in some places it looks downright plain. The texture choices are good, but the alignment is occasionally poor.

    This is a fairly non-linear map, with some side areas to explore and some back-tracking. The computer map is available in one of the side areas, but is entirely unnecessary, unless it is to help find the secrets. There are six secrets in all, but I was able to find only four of them. You will need to find all three keys to complete the map, and be warned that the location of the red key is not readily evident. If you miss it, you'll reach the red-key door and have to schlep back to an area previously visited to find it. Otherwise, your progress is intuitive and you're not likely to get lost.

    The gameplay mostly features encounters that allow you to retreat and use a duck-and-snipe method of attrition. There are several traps, but they are generally manageable, serving mostly to keep you on your toes. (I did, however, like the trap when I rushed to pick up the blue key.) You'll pick up the super-shotgun, shotgun, and chaingun in short order. Later, you'll get a plasma rifle, but will have limited cell-ammo for most of the map. A chainsaw and rocket-launcher can be found in secret areas, but I did not find the need for them. A berserk pack is provided, which again, has a limited use because of the monster mix the author throws at you. There's plenty of ammo, adequate amount of armor, and just the right amount of health for a careful player (even at UV skill). There is a hella number of chaingunners, and in some areas it's not a good idea to just rush in with guns blazing. Mostly, however, the opposition can be subdued with the right balance of discipline and fun.

    This is a map that has some enjoyable gameplay, despite looking plain in many areas.

  • Hell Awakened... - Death Dealer
    Doom 2 - ZDoom Compatible - Solo Play - 8635068 bytes
    Reviewed by: kmxexii
    This is a long overdue update of Hell Awakened..., originally a 32-level megaWAD for Plutonia. The author has done some considerable cleaning up of the WAD's undercarriage, folding in some resource textures and straightening out the badly mangled MAPINFO lump. It's otherwise the same work as before. It's insanely difficult on UV with reams of teleporting monster packs. Pistol-start pick up and play is reflected in the HMP difficulty. It's also really dark, so bring a flashlight.

  • Elfkill - Steve Duff
    Ultimate Doom - Limit Removing - Solo Play - 97365 bytes -
    Reviewed by: fullmetalvaran33
    "Elfkill" has nothing to do with killing elves, and is a Doom episode 4-inspired map. It's small and generally quite square in shape, but it does have very nice gothic temple visuals. The map takes place inside a green marble temple with an outer hall. On the walls enclosing the hall are sniping Imps and Sergeants who can easily chip away at your health if you're not careful. There will also be two Barons of Hell atop platforms, but I strongly suggest not wasting your ammo on them.

    The most challenging aspect of this map is the fact that the ammo is limited. There is a rocket launcher secret, but even that doesn't give you much (under 10 rockets, if I remember correctly). There are several other Barons in the map that are worth wasting ammo on, but not before allowing them to do some in-fighting for you.

    The map itself is not that difficult, since the design is pretty much made for in-fighting. The main area in the temple, which features a square pool containing some speared corpses and a supercharge and chaingun secret atop pillars, is so spacious that any of the ambushes you face can easily be dealt with by running around. Of course, since ammo is limited, you could run out and that may or may not be the best idea, depending on how things are going. Also, if you're not paying attention, the sniping Imps, Sergeants, and Barons might hit you.

    The map ends with two Barons guarding the exit door, but you can easily avoid fighting them altogether by running past them; you don't even need to open the door to exit. Overall, the map is kind of a disappointment because it's so short and conveniently designed to allow for plenty of in-fighting. The most challenging part is the limited ammo, so if you are going for 100% kills, good luck with that.

    "Elfkill" may be worth a play if you're bored or looking for something quick to play through, but it feels far too brief to be anything truly memorable or worthwhile.

  • Communications Center - Chris Weathers
    Doom 2 - ZDoom Compatible - Solo Play - 81079 bytes -
    Reviewed by: ReX
    This is a single, base-themed map for Doom 2, with plenty of curvy architecture, nice map design, and really just one tough battle.

    The first thing that strikes you about this map is the seemingly organic appearance of the structures. Curved architecture is used throughout, and in my opinion this is very well done. (In the interest of full disclosure, let me say that I am partial to curved architecture, and I may be somewhat biased in this department.) The lighting is competent, and "source lighting" is simulated with the use of sector-based lighting. This is put to good effect in some of the indoor areas. There are a few plain-looking corridors, but there are plenty of other interesting-looking places, and there's a decent amount of height variation. Texturing is consistent with a base theme, although there are some minor instances of texture misalignments.

    The map design is clever, with the main part of the map looping in upon itself. This allows you to see areas that you'll visit later (e.g., the blue key area), and return to the core area without back-tracking. Previously inaccessible areas open up to you after you've completed some exploration. But otherwise, the path is straightforward, and you will not get lost. The author has helpfully provided a computer map in a "regular" area of the map, but you'll only need it to root out the three secrets, all of which are unmarked. You'll play both indoors and outdoors, which provides a nice change of scenery. I had issues with a couple of choices the author made. First, to get to the outside you'll need to lower a section of one of the windows, but it was not immediately evident to me. (The lower edge of the window is indeed marked with a different texture, but it might be mistaken for a decorative device.) The second is that the door to return to the main area after picking up the blue key is textured identically to the surrounding wall, meaning that there's no clue that it's a door.

    For the most part the fights in this map are pedestrian, with your main opposition being former humans and sergeants. There is a smattering of chaingunners thrown in, but plenty of demons. You have the choice of picking off the demons through windows from the safety of areas they can't reach. But you may have more fun if you run outside and try and mix things up a bit. There is a big fight about mid-way into the map, and depending on how you choose to do things, featuring revenants, demons, and chaingunners. The first time I played the map I tried to pick the demons and revenants off through a window, but with just a shotgun it got really tedious, really fast. The second time, however, I darted out and released all three species, allowing the in-fighting to begin. There's more risk, to be sure, but more excitement. A couple of traps are implemented through the instantly-lowering sector trick made popular with Boom. There's plenty of ammo and a decent amount of armor; however, there were times when I was scrounging for health (at UV). The author has "strategically" placed barrels throughout the map; those I really needed were useless because they were too close to walls, and I was unable to lure the enemies close enough to them to create any real damage.

    To summarize, this map has a pleasing appearance, with the potential for some "weave and strike" gameplay.

  • Titty Milk - Nautilus
    Doom 2 - Boom Compatible - Deathmatch - 68141 bytes -
    Reviewed by: nub_hat
    This is a Deathmatch level primarily designed for 1v1. You will have to open it in deathmatch to take a look as there are no items in single player.

    It is a small level with lots of interconnectivity giving you loads of opportunities to surprise your opponent. You get quite an arsenal to do this with, every gun except the BFG is in there. There are a few armors around the place and a berserk pack in the exit room.

    It is a great fast paced map for both duels and DM but I do not recommend any more than 4 players due to the small size of the level.

    I recommend turning on item respawn to get respawning blue armor and berserk on opposite sides of the level; it really adds an extra layer to the level having to control and look out for the health and armor.

    If you are looking for a hot new fresh 1v1 map, this is it. Highly recommended.

  • Die here ! - Jean-Francois Lesperance
    Doom 2 - Vanilla - Deathmatch - 168014 bytes
    Reviewed by: BloodyAcid
    This is presumably an old deathmatch wad uploaded for archival purposes, inferring from wad editors used and comments.

    It's an old level that mods D2's Entryway. die_here is a simple roundabout square hallway with some rooms poking out here and there. As with the bulk of the wads pre-2000, you can skip over this one knowing that you haven't missed anything.

  • The City of Despair - Chris Pisarczyk
    Doom 2 - Vanilla - Solo Play - 105755 bytes -
    Reviewed by: ReX
    This is a large, city-themed map for Doom 2, with an inordinate amount of switch-hunting, backtracking, and exploration. Unfortunately, the rewards you get for your efforts are meager.

    This is a map that, according to the text file, was completed in 1997 and was built with DCK. It is a city map that features large, ordinary-looking buildings with straight, unadorned walls. The up-side of being so plain is that this map is playable in vanilla (or Chocolate) Doom, which gives it an old-school feel that some players will appreciate. Although this is billed as a "city", you'll find a wide sweep of themes, ranging from brick and mortar (in keeping with this being a city), to base and computers; from wood and iron, to fire and brimstone. Perhaps I've become jaded, but I didn't seem to mind the use of every conceivable Doom theme in the book. Others, however, may see things differently. Oh, and see if you can spot the "movie theater" and nearby "toilet".

    The map design is one of openness and general freedom to explore. You'll need all three keys to exit the game, and some of you may give up before you find them all. (I'll admit that I contemplating rage-quitting [minus the rage part] when I couldn't find the yellow key. However, I persisted, mainly by the simple expediency of opening the map in an editor and identifying its location.) There are probably a couple dozen switches you'll need to find to make progress. I'm not averse to switch-hunts, but even I found this to be excessive, particularly as it was not always evident to me what a particular switch did. I played this map twice, and was still lost the second time. And, after a while, the back-tracking got very old.

    With all the schlepping I was doing around the map I was fully expecting to encounter a goodly assortment of hostiles. Instead, I found a bare (almost barren) landscape that offered nary a challenge. Virtually all the fighting occurs indoors, and being able to snipe from doorways means there is almost never a significant degree of risk. (Although, the trap at the first rocket-launcher was fun.) The bestiary used is limited in scope, and the armaments provided are more than adequate to mete out the appropriate punishment. If you find the secret area with the first super shotgun you'll be able to cruise through. I was able to complete the map with mostly just the shotgun and chaingun. Health and ammo are scattered about the map; the health is sufficient for the job at hand, but there is far too much ammo. Armor, too, seems overly abundant - I ended up leaving behind two green armors when I exited. Overall, I found the fights to be a disappointment.

    This map may appeal to "old-schoolers" and aficionados of switch-hunts, but I found the experience to be rather tiresome.

  • Floor Demo - Ethan Watson aka GooberMan
    Doom 2 - ZDoom Compatible - Solo Play - 7137 bytes
    Reviewed by: walter confalonieri
    So, this is a cool example wad by GooberMan that shows to us how to make make a 3D moving floor like the magic carpet in Shadow Warrior.

    This effect is very interesting and unique, but I don't know if this one will work in something other than the ZDoom engine; it could be awesome to see this in a Boom-engine map!

    Anyway, take a look, it's a cool feature!

  • Floor Demo 2 - Ethan Watson aka GooberMan
    Doom 2 - ZDoom Compatible - Solo Play - 6594 bytes -
    Reviewed by: hellothere231
    There's not much to see here. It's just a medium sized room with a moving floor, that's in 3D. Kinda cool to see the Doom engine do that, but the map is very boring and uninteresting. If you're curious, give it a try, but otherwise skip it.

Let me guess; one of those reviewers doesn't know how to properly appreciate a WAD that you liked this week. Want to do something about it? Instead of complaining in the comment thread like you always do, perhaps you can make a difference and write some better reviews than those idiots up there. The /newstuff Review Center is the place to do so. Put that Doomworld Forums account to constructive use, because you need one to submit reviews.