Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #94

[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.

 

1. Wasteland: Sands of Death
2. Awakening
3. Lethal Traps
4. Soulcrusher (1.2 Update)

5. PhobosDeimos Anomaly

 

Spoiler

The Top 10 (out of 77):

 

1. @Roofi | 9460

2. @LadyMistDragon | 6735

3. @Walter confetti | 2805

4. @ICID | 2715

5. @Sena | 2695

6. @brick | 2300

7. @Endless | 1315

8. @Thelokk | 725

9. @Clippy | 650

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]

Wasteland is a pretty neat classic 1994 map, by the author of the pretty unknown but great "Mountain of Fire".

 

Also PhobosDeimos Anomaly Is a neat mapset!

[Automaticat]

Demos at the bottom.

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/j-l/kingdiam

That was... not good. It's a series of rooms connected by teleporters with no real terrain and not enough enemies for the space. 

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/m-o/marc1

Incoherent texture choice, no meaningful height variation and a softlock in MAP03. What's not to love?

Auto ERIWA 94 pt1.zip

[LadyMistDragon]

ARMAS 04 (2004) by Daniel Lemos (GZ Doom)

 

From the creator of that incredibly progressive mod Female Doom we have, some overpowered weapons with some charmingly goofy and over-the-top sound effects. The teleportation noise sounds considerably less abrasive and we get a constantly-firing Super Shotgun, a grenade launcher with a stupidly-long detonation time, a plasma rifle that shoots out purple bolts and a Big Atari Weapon that shoots out PacMan ghosts to devastate pretty much everything. Completely unsubtle this mod may be, but it's definitely a lot of fun in slaughter wads. Though the grenade launcher is useless outside of concentrated packs 5/10

 

 

Map55(2022) by James Cuffari (GZ Doom)

 

 

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Weapons, ammunition, Health, and Green armor spawn on a timer delay of (550) Soulsphere, and blue armor spawn much slower (1150). (BFG does not spawn on any of the timers.

Demons are scripted to spawn more demons when killed. (very hard difficulty will revive everything even scripted demons and will spawn more demons when killed again. it's best NOT to play very hard)

Map30 my own built Icon of sin. Demons spawn on a timer, heavy demons spawn slower. Only 4 Cyberdemons are scripted to open the Icon of Sin and expose the inside of it, where then you must kill the "Icon of Sin" sprite. (You can spend as much time as you want on map30, it's practically endless).

map21 Marble Boss, Pressing 7 switches will disable the boss.

Map31 is my first map ever. NOT UDMF FORMAT. No weapons on it as it was built for a mod that didn't need weapons.

*Update* Some level enhancements for map22 map24 and map30.

 

 

 

You can call these a series of arena maps with some impressive renditions of vanilla detailing, mixed with some occasionally horribly-advised usage of skybox textures. There are also some interesting attempts at verticality in narrow spaces that are as hit-and-miss as you expect from such spaces. That moon probe in one map is a particularly impressive example of Doomcute. Don't bother looking for keys on single player at least because you're not going to find them. As an endless wave-style map, I suppose this could be a much worst package but there are a few maps that are just irredeemably bad, imo.

 

 

 

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 12 Day 24

 

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

 

[1] Central HUB by Jarek "Elendir" Karpiel @Elendir (2022)

 

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Central HUB map is ment to be the first map for a bigger project.

Version 0.1

This map is created specifically for GZDoom and Brutal Doom in mind - as always.

And as always it's a tech base style map. This time I wanted to delve a little bit more into ACS scripting and set a common theme for all future maps which means: - every map will have a boss or many bosses - ACS scripting will be in use - custom textures as a separate project (I hope to release it someday) - medium sized levels - being careful and paying attention to details should benefit the player and allow him/her to solve some bigger fights in an unusual way

This map is sort of experiment to see if it's possible to create more maps sharing the same kind of approach and infuse gameplay with thinking instead of only fighting.

Last but not least - again, there's no story behind this level. This part is up to you guys!

 

A regular tech-base centered around a simple three-keys kind of progression at first sight but the adventure turned out a lot more experimental and challenging than I expected.

 

First of all, you need gzdoom to play this map because this map uses comestic features and small scripts in a subtle way. Indeed, you'll notice some ambiant lighting here and there, floors  textures used for walls and other such miscelleanous things but overall "Central Hub" plays like a limit-removing map. The author didn't use 3D floors all over the place for instance.

 

If I put zdoom's exclusive stuff aside, the author played with shapes and unusual progression that give a strong gimmicky aspect to the level. The central "hub" room housing all the keys has lot of walls that lower in order to reveal paths and monster closets. Even if doors are present, "Central Hub" offer more variations than the typical "door - room - door - room".

 

Now let's talk about the aspect that surprised me the most. The level gives you the impression that you'll play a classic tech-base map placed early in a megawad with just pop-corn lowtiers until a certain number mid-tiers , including an arch-vile teleport from nowhere in the room with the blue carpet. I like how Elendir just throws at you mid-tiers monsters for no particular reason because they usually don't belong in this kind of map and they help breaking the monotony. But, the scariest and at the same time perhaps the most hilarous moment resides in the fight against five (yes I said five) cyberdemons. You have clearly not enough ammo to defeat them with your weapons but the author placed a crusher that instanly kill any kind of enemy (and you of course). I don't know why the author decided to make this but I think it really helps making the level more memorable regarding how absurd this situation is.

 

Overall, "Central Hub" could have been a decent but identityless tech-base but some strange quirks crop up to make the discovery all the more surprising!

 

Grade : B (13/20)

 

I stop here for today.

[LadyMistDragon]

The Eagle (1997) by David Donze (Crispy Doom)

 

A map that's shaped like an eagle....and really has little else. Lots of backtracking down linear paths from switches to find more switches and most enemies are basically avoidable. Shotgun ammo declines in favor of plasma ammo, for no real apparent reason that balances things out. Not good 2/10

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Trans (1996) by Dr. Bombay (Crispy Doom)

 

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My tribute to my favorite wad....Doomed to Run Amok

 

 

I can't say Doomed is a wad I have any familiarity with. But this map is definitely something else. We start in something of a high-rise textured building in some sort of security office....and from there, it's kind of pointless to describe all the changing themes. The usage of slime proved to be particularly charming, even in a bottomless pit. There's also a crusher that made me want to crucify the author before seeming to forget about it instantly. Then finally, there's the large fireblu cube room. This isn't much for intelligent enemy placement but on the other hand, Dr. Bombay was making an attempt at something genuinely dangerous here, which can't be really said for the rest of the map. In the same room is a curious round crusher that's probably meant to pound something down. The only real technical issue is once again, Bombay's failure to mark keyed doors. Why was this so common? Was this just to make things even more cryptic, even though that basically never happened in the OG product? I REALLY don't get why that happens. There's also a well one can get stuck in if they're not doing a running jump already, making the suit kind of useless and suggesting with some other bugs that the map may not have been playtested so vigorously.  But oddly enough, the map 15 midi from MIDTWID goes with this map rather well in accentuating aan already quirky character with energy. 5.5/1o- in the end.

 

 

 

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 12 Day 25

 

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

 

[1] football.zip by Thrasher and Whiplash (1995)

 

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Here it is,the Football arena for Doom II,and just in time for the superbowl!

 

A football courtyard converted in Doom format for Deathmatch purposes. You can go in the grandstands, the locker rooms and, of course, the football field. Even if the result still looks pretty rudimentary, there is a sense of detail I appreciate such as the white rock textures in order to draw the lines. And, how is it possible to forget mentioning the retextured marble faces that now wear a american football helmet ! It's so cute and funny !

 

I stop here for today.

[LadyMistDragon]

Kersplat.wad (1995) by Neil Berg (Crispy Doom)

 

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Deathmatch. Almost every level a Rocker launcher and a Plasma Gun. This is the idea for the level(s). Also, alot of open space, and some levels inclosed. E1M2 meant to be played with Monsters on. All the rest can be played without.

 

 

Plain-sounding wads with zero detail tend to get skipped for the most part. And these should have really been skipped. Simplistic and empty maps with clashing textures and a monster setup that really only works with more than one player on E1M2. E1M4 is oddly the best due to its rather intricate layout and perhaps it's plainess serves it to a degree. All these other maps aren't worth talking about. Well, the skull gate at E1M1 was kind of cool, and actually is one of the better ones visually. 2.5/10

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Wanda.wad (1996) by Eric Simon and Paul Alexander Key

 

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Here it is!  Let Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Palin, and all
the rest from _A Fish Called Wanda_ spice up your dull Doom games!
Definitely a hilarious sound wad for Doom 2.  Try it out, then pass it
along.
 

 

 

I'm not an expert on this stuff. I can say these random voice lines are just about as annoying as one might expect. No, this does not help playing crappy maps, and in fact, I'd rather not hear these people ever speak again. I did get another hit, but I dunno the length so it'll wait til tomorrow.

 

 

 

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 12 Day 26

 

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

 

[1] Talons of the Beast by Adam Windsor (1996)

 

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Playable singleplayer, co-op or deathmatch.

 

A trio of brief levels occuring in castle-like structures. If you know a bit of Adam Windsor's wadography, the short playtime of each of these maps will be no surprise.

However, the meticulous usage of textures and the straightforward difficulty make each of these maps worth playing. Moreover, the short duration isn't an obstacle for exploration as Windsor built a lot of rooms separated by doors.

 

Exploring them provide a small dose of excitement, because even with maps of this caliber, you always wonder what's hidden in each room. The addition of several keys in each map also encourage the player to explore.

 

At last, Adam kept things simple : most of the layouts resemble to sophisticated mazes as they remain mostly orthogonal and flat but simplicity is what makes this wad appealing to me and therefore should be considered as a strength, notably because a lot of maps from the 90's tend to be unnecessary complicated for their own good.

 

"Talons of the Beast" is a clear definition of what "short and sweet" means.

 

Grade : B+ (15/20)

 

[2] Total Darkness 2 by evilhomerdoomer (2005)

 

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A dark level full of detail and difficulty.

 

An horror-oriented skulltag-compatible level that plunge you in a dark underground base. The briefing music from Descent 2 makes it anxiety-inducing , considering the fact the layout is so cramped that it becomes asphyxiating. Actually, I easily understand that lack of fluid movements constitute one of the core designs from horror wads (and horror games as well) but the progression is so procedural and linear that Doom 3 plays like an open-world game compared to this.

 

Indeed, you're forced to follow an etablished path from the beginning to the end and almost no encounter can't be skipped. Add to that , the author placed a lot of mid-tiers and notably stronger ones specific to skulltag port. evilhomerdoomer aimed to create something challenge but it results to very grindy combats instead. The most striking exemple to that is the cyberdemon at the end of the map. It can't move from its pedestal and a pillar almost completly prevent it to attack you. Camping tends to be an overpowered technique in order to survive most of the fights...

 

In terms of visuals, Total Darkness 2 stick to the stock resources but the addition of visual effects such as particles or translucent glasses help make the map look a bit more attractive. Overall I like the detailing such as the broken pipes, the moddy light or the suspended crates.

 

The eerie atmosphere is particularly well executed. But the gameplay remains a major drawback that considerably reduces the interest in playing this map. I don't know if the lower difficulties contain fewer monsters, but if they do, don't play UV because the battles are unnecessarily time-consuming.

 

Grade : C (10/20)

 

[3] R.I.P. Pietro Tarricone by Walter "Daimon" Confalonieri @Walter confetti (2010)

 

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Goodnight sweet prince of italian trash tv...

 

Making "another shitty speed map" seems to be a questionable method to commemorate a deceased person but qualifying it as "shitty" seems a bit too much.

 

Actually, it's not that good and above all, it lacks of substance even for a speed map. Indeed, Just 4 poor monsters that don't show any resistance against the BFG10K, because yes, it's another skulltag-compatible wad.

 

Also, I don't see the link with an italian actor, perhaps the colorful carpets that give me a bit the feeling to be in a sort of TV show?

 

Don't take this map too seriously and you"ll be fine.

 

Grade : C- (8/20)

 

Crossing a simple pool of lava from Xen Level Pack! instantly killed me....

 

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[Walter confetti]

2 hours ago, Roofi said:

R.I.P. Pietro Tarricone

Yeah, is a very lame and stupid wad made by a pretty dumb young me, there's no real connection with the actor in the title, Just titled in this way because of the oversaturation of the news of this man death in that year.

Think of some sort of very idiotic dark humor moment in Doom map format.

[Walter confetti]

On 9/16/2024 at 8:49 PM, ICID said:

 Soulcrusher (1.2 Update)

Sorry for double posting, but is this mapset even playable? Tried to play this with the latest Gzdoom version a pair of times both with Doom 2 and Freedoom, but all i have is no textures, monsters, sounds, music and even difficulty skills over than "Easy"! What is wrong here?

[LadyMistDragon]

Wonderland (2011) by Paul @fiend-o-hell  Stasiuk (Crispy Doom)

 

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You are a space marine. You are stuck in a nightmare. You must escape from this nightmare. Yes, this is somewhat inspired by Alice and Wonderland. So what. The point is its a a 6 level mapset that tries to be dreamlike and mysterious, so I hope you like it!

Personally, I'd say this was more inspired by the Wonderland murders, unless fiend meant American McGee Presents Alice but no, he's actually quite explicit and um, the original story might be weird, with a sign or two of darkness but c'mon. Anyways, we've got a wildly experimental set of essentially short maps that has a certain dependence on teleporting monster swarms that at the same time has a certain design ethos of hostility and excess monster window dressing. where 100 percent kills simply aren't always expected. Anyways.

 

 

Map 01: 8763 Wonderland Avenue. Ok, I'm fairly certain these maps are unnamed but I also didn't consult the text file. Anyways, we've got some curvy hallways of vined walls that actually seems quite unthreatening. At least until we get to the end and pinkies start teleporting in that we thankfully just got given a handy-dandy chainsaw for....but wait! Barrels appear in a line for a bit and kill them all for us...and possibly us too. Down a path that got opened up with a Soulsphere at the end, some weird action takes us down to below 10 health. A precursor of things to come as it happens. But for the moment, the doors on the sides start to open and we have to deal with a mass teleporting wave of various low-tier enemies. This all starts to trickle off eventually, hopefully after finding the right side. Anyways, once we see the letters RUN on the floor, they're not talking about the Cyberdemon at the end! Yes, we've got 30 seconds to make it to the exit at this point. Don't dawdle like me. Although those little SP windows are all too indicative of future nastiness. Fun fact: I didn't finish this map. Also fun fact: this map crashed the source port probably because of how complex the killing action is.

 

Map 02: Constantly damaging and curvy floor. We could kill everything here but it didn't really seem worth the effort since our health was constantly draining. At the end are some circular stairs with some Revenants in the middle that are kind of immaterial. We just head into another ominous void room, deal with a host of teleporting enemies in a quite overpowered manner and.....find ourselves in the middle of a teleporting puzzle that...isn't terrible intutive. See, it seems like the columns with the skulls on top will teleport us but later it becomes clear that one unmarked side on a couple of these will teleport us but there's no clue where. All the while, unkillable Mancubi shoot us from the walls. We did clear this one and frankly, the pressure here was totally fine, but in a longer map, this would be stupid

 

 

Map 03: Don't go to the sides unless you like certain death. So we start out in this room made up of hexagons, containing weapons that will spawn increasingly stronger enemies here until we reach the end with a Cyberdemon. Past this is a rather tech-y area that unleashes a closet trap with some Imps and former humans and then right after that, an Arch-vile. Pushing the switch where we came from opens an exit. In retrospect, this is the most uninspired map so far

 

Map 04: Ok, here's one that seems fairly normal. Really, one should take it slow and easy. However, if it seems like Lost Souls are just infinitely trickling in, that's because they are! Will not comment on the practicality of killing the Pain Elementals spawning them but it's certainly possible. The design here is an irregular but highly impressive melding of hell rock with something perhaps a little more natural. Dealing with the Imps and Revenants at the beginning shouldn't be too difficult. Don't be too confused by the switches here, they each have only one function I think. Save the Invulnerbility if you find it though. Oddly enough, the exit is entirely unguarded. This feels vaguely BS but at the same time, I can work with it. John Romero was clearly riffing off of this when he made Sigil II. Calling it now.

 

Map 05: Now here's something that again feels fairly conventional but in actuality, feels like a quirky take on certain Cyriak linear slaughter situations like BRIDGE OF BLOOOOOD. See, the construction is like that of a more realistic bombed-out bridge, though this is done entirely in hellish themes. Because a Cyberdemon on the first bridge specfically can catch you in some surprising spots but we'll just have to dodge him.  At the end of the bridge, another area will have been unlocked that throws the entire kitchen sink of Imps our way...before transitioning into a particular indoor room which then throws enemies like Barons and at least one Arch-vile along with some Imps. Funny story, I exited while running right onto the Arch-vile's spot

 

Map 06: It's an Icon of Sin....although I don't really think spawned enemies make much difference here. The objective is to basically navigate through a collection of puzzling and difficult areas through a lava field, marked by walkways of torches connecting various rock outcrops. At the end is a pyramid with 3 Cyberdemons at the bottom and enemies that just got stuck in Crispy Doom at the tops of the pyramids. But we don't shoot Romero's head, we just press a switch. Kind of disappointing. But really, the map is a whole lot harder than I'm making it out here and while it's actually rather devoid of gimmickry, it makes up for with quite a bit of ruthlessness and danger.

 

Great set with the sort of unique, anti-100 percent scenarios I wish we had more of. Maybe experimental releases get made today sometimes but these days, it just feels like challenge maps either take off ribbiks or are ridiculously streamlined and that's simply not the case here. It's not perfect by any means, but the job is done in every single map. And that's simply not very common now. 8/10

 

 

 

Edited September 21 by LadyMistDragon

[brick]

Wasteland: Sands of Death (1994) by Alberto Barsella. 1 SP map for vanilla Doom.

I played this I think last year when I rolled the Wasteland Series, but I felt like replaying it and I didn't have much time for something longer anyway. I'm a big fan of the series, but it has its quirks, as I was reminded going through this. The big thing with Alberto's design was to go for an almost cinematic approach (Mountain of Fire is full of moments that would be first-person cutscenes if it were a decade later), very impressive at the time considering the tools available. The gimmick with Sands is that the desert heat will scorch your health off, so you've got to stay in the shade. It's a neat idea but it does lead to some annoyance, especially at the very beginning when you don't really know what you're trying to do and running around from one building's shade to the other trying to find which one has an opening will result in a lot of lost health. Modern players beware, the map is not designed for pistol start; the cache at the beginning is a concession to this (it gives the player the expected gear as if the first 2 maps were played), and I don't think the map is playable without it. The map is not the prettiest, but it has some surprises, the most impressive being the two vanilla bridges (I think this might be the first map to do them, long before Adelusion took them the next level). I had also forgotten how rough it can get, the combat on its own isn't that hard but coupled with the sun damage, health can go down real fast (even when indoors, beware; those nice windows mean you are standing in the sun!). I had fun revisiting, but I do feel the map is stronger as part of the series than when played on its own.

Spoiler

 

[LadyMistDragon]

The Mars Plague (2000) by James Stewart and Ryan Weiss (Crispy Doom)

 

 

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This is an entire level, complete with new music, weapons, and some new graphics. It was designed to provide the best of solo, deathmatch and cooperative play. After you escape the Hell that Mars has become, UAC sends you the bill for several billion dollars worth of property damage. They are willing to forgive this debt if you will clean out one little lab on Mars where some genetic experiments have gone terribly, terribly, wrong. The accompanying UACMars.txt elaborates greatly on this storyline and provides a description of the new weapons you will be provided with.

 

 

Wait you're telling me Jimmy Stewart came back to life to....well, he needn't have bothered. Sorry Ryan's wife, I'm sure you're incredibly disappointed at what was wrought here. 

 

See this episode is one of those with a story that somehow manages to sound much better than the actual gameplay, despite it being a wholly generic one. First off is some of the enemy alert sound effects. They're a complete mess of nonsense. The Cyberdemon alert noise is just terrible. At least the weapon SFX are better, although I dunno if I like them better. But the pitch-shifted Doom II midis are bad with maybe 1 or 2 exceptions and make basically zero sense regarding their modification. It's weird how the dehacked just changes every dead monster to a human corpse but that might be a limitation of the dehacked file on modern systems. Still, the enemy attacks feel oddly bland.

 

And finally....the maps. I won't bother going to each and every one because that would be incomparably tedious given how many ways they actually find to be uninteresting. Along with a general lack of detailing, they sprawl around in a manner that's less tedious and more just wasting the time of anyway who'd dare to play these. Like sorry, you probably just took DM layouts and added some twisting paths in many cases. Also, there's a grand total of TWO maps that have these stupid unbearable tek mazes that comprise far too large a portion of their run time. Worst is how one of the laziest layouts (E1M2) is reprised with very SLIGHT modifications because..... We're not even getting into the extremely lazy secret map where you can literally just complete in 3 seconds because the exit switch is right in front, or the Containment Center ripoff that's a painful switch hunt. I guess there are some decent areas like the open lakes in E1M4 and the bedrooms in E1M2 but these are areas that have appeared in a million other wads far more competently-made with some hook or two to make them interesting. There's nothing of interest here and you'd be completely wasting your time to play this one 1.5/10

 

 

 

[brick]

Brick | 1 wad | 12 maps
Adventure | 2 wads | 13 maps

 

PhobosDeimos Anomaly (2012) by Phobosdeimos1. 12 SP maps for vanilla Doom.
I'm a big fan of Callum's particular style of mapping. He sadly left us far too soon, though he was prolific in the year or so that he mapped. This is a compilation of all of his submissions to Doom The Way id Did, compiled by Xaser a few years later. It's easy to see why none of them made it into the project, but it's absolutely not a statement about their quality. They're just not even remotely TWID and very much Callum's own style, though his sensibilities were steeped in early Doom designs. The maps are strung together into two 6-map episodes but are otherwise untouched, I think the only change is the addition of music taken from Tristan's DTWID soundtrack (they're nice tracks, and they are very fitting). I think it was Xaser who decided on map order and what goes where, but the episode split makes perfect sense: E1 is all bases and E2 is all Inferno-style. The lighting is often great, an incredible improvement over his fist outing in zfactory, he makes use of light-changing linedefs in ways that are sometimes reminiscent of Romero but not even to create ambushes, just purely for atmosphere. Texturing is adequate, nothing fancy or groundbreaking but it does the job. Where the maps shine is in the level design, as I said it's very classical but also very well done, the layouts may be abstract but many are memorable. Calum's most recurring design is his use of windows and ledges, everything opens on everything else yet remains surprisingly navigable, he always had such a great sense for interconnection within his maps and manages to pull off imaginative layouts that sometimes coil around each other without ever becoming confusing. Combat is typical Doom I and typical Callum, it's not hard and on some maps feels like going through the motions, but there are also some more fun setpieces. What surprised me most is that the base maps tend to be the more elaborate with large enemy counts, while the hell ones are all small and quick playing and I don't think they ever even reach 100 enemies. It's not a criticism, there's no real reason Hell maps must always be harder other than sheer habit, though this is another aspect where the wad deviates from TWID. No matter, I had a lot of fun with it!

Spoiler

 

[LadyMistDragon]

LUCKOUT.WAD (1994) by Michael "Dwarf" Giles - (Crispy Doom)

 

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If you suck at Doom don't play this level, it's not worth your time. Erase it now. Or, if you don't have Super DooM Guns, wait till you do. Otherwise, read on.

Well, just like the last, this level is made for those who think they are badass players. Run through it on UV, and that should be enough to make you swear! I did make HMP level lower the monsters, you also loose some weapons, but it is easier, for those of you who were wrong about being a badass. If you beat this level, hey, GOOD JOB, otherwise, play it again, SAM! If you think it is impossible, well, you're a wimp, it has been beaten by people other than me.

If you find that you like the challenge, and the re-occuring themes (teleports) and want some more challenges, get a hold of the other levels in the LUCK series. You can get them at my BBS (listed below) or the one you got this one at.

 

 

You can probably tell from the text file this guy believes more monsters=good. UM, NO. I don't play Doom to play these ugly square boxes of nonsense that only exist to kill mass numbers of monsters with armaments that aren't easily available. Chainsawing lots and lots of Cacodemons isn't fun, it's tedious. Avoid this stupid crap like the plague 1/10

 

 

 

 

Agility (1996) by John H. French (GZ Doom)

 

Pretty good, actually! The aeshthetics are pretty plain but the central tower is good at connecting all the different area. Although it almost seems like a room with industrial doors may be locked. There's a room with a descending series of platforms, and another one that seemingly exists to show off scrolling wall/ceiling effects and on the whole, a balance between detailing and function that's greatly appreciated. Although if you don't like the idea of jumping in Hexen, you'd be advised to avoid this since most areas require it to navigate around 5/10

 

 

 

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Suicide (1995) by Michael Lawrence and Dave Zimmerman (Crispy Doom)

 

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A awesome 9 level deathmatch wad with a variety of cool ideas in each level.

 

 

It's actually quite mediocre with a general lack of detailing and in all but the last map, several maps which feel ridiculously overscaled in many locations, whereas in others, the amount of space is basically on par for the 90s. The most charming part is probably the MS Paint art...well, until you spot a swastika in the middle of one of these. Or the entirety of Map 07 which is covered to oblivion with graffiti. 3/10

 

 

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[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 12 Day 27

 

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

 

[1] Spartan5.wad by Engdahl, Wm. 4-D CREATIONS [aka reddawg] (1995)

 

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A set of 5 DM maps that aall feature a strange texture of inanimated lava embedded in concrete. I don't know why the author decided to do this but the result intrigues me. Beside that, all the maps are conventionnally designed as they don't feature specific gimmick, have all weapons from Doom's arsenal scattered around and the layouts are large enough to facilitate movements. They should be fun to play against a bunch of players, notably if you enjoy Heretic's SFX and soundtrack.

 

[2] Death_Match by Daniel Hsu (1996)

 

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2 Deathmatch Levels

 

Two large arenas but there are nothing special about them, making them as remarkable as the title of the wad. The first one takes place in an almost completly brown room and the other one has prettier colors because you can find grass and water. They seem boring to play as they lack of variation and stakes.

 

Stumbled on Red Galaxy, one of the kaizo maps from Timothy Brown. Death isn't an option here.

 

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[LadyMistDragon]

who needs a title (1995) by Pat Fridl (DSDA Doom)

 

People using words like like "bitchniest" in 1995....anyways, despite his rather indifferent tone, the map is pretty good. Though most rooms are basically squarish, there's a good mix between indoor and outdoor ones and the monster placement is such that it's perfectly fun in either single or multi-player. The gazebo at one point is kind of cool, along with the cave, and there's some decent textural variety. You might have trouble finding another weapon though. Just be patient though 6/10

 

 

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Fatal Arena: Battle for Glory (2014) by Cake Doomer (GZ Doom)

 

 

Sigh.....an unfunny joke wad reveals itself to be blatantly homophobic when you kill the first phase and are greeted with another one that's.....immortal? Not sure, but the natural-appearing arena is actually competently-made. 0/10

 

 

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Hells Clash demo1 (2012) by Catastrophe (Nugget Doom)

 

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I have absolutely no inspiration to continue this, so I decided to release this to idgames instead of letting it collect virtual dust.

This wad goes from map01-map03. Everything after that is either unfinished or crap maps.

 

 

A demo for what, I'm not sure. I think it's probably just Woof-based ports that do that with the Intermission screen. Unintentionally perhaps, it references old cop dramas. But the wad itself is pretty bland. Even the attempts at creating detailed areas, like the outdoor walk or the blood-filled monster closets look like things that a dozen other people could've created. On the plus side, there's nothing really wrong with it and action is consistent. The last map even has a little upswing in action with an Arch-vile toward the end but presumably, the other maps are basically skeletons or just not that good 5.5/10

 

 

 

 

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 12 Day 28

 

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

 

[1] Reactor by @Human_Animal (2023)

 

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Got around to making a new map for you all to suffer through! This time, it's set in an underground facility filled with lava and zombies (and Revenants). I also put lots of barrels near hordes of low-tier enemies, since it's fun blowing them up.

 

A smallish Doom 2 level that I played last year, in Year 2 Month 09 Day 29 (30th December 2023)

 

Here is my former review :

 

"a heavily-crowded tech base which includes no more than the stock assets. It uses the music from Doom 2 Map 04 , that actually fits with the non-stop action. Now, I have to point out that finding the secret located in the toxic pit drastically improved the experience to me. Indeed, there's no armor outside secrets and the fact that you're always feeling vulnerable in this type of map increases the stress for nothing, especially as zombies and the occasional revenants can quickly take you down. 

Obtaining, a soulsphere, a green armor and a RL. The absence of armor, on the other hand, encourages you to hide and advance cautiously, which is a shame for this type of map.

 

Human_Animal doesn't seem to be a prolific mapper as I never seen that name before. I'd like to encourage you to make maps, as the architecture is interestingly spacious and slightly oblique in that one. Knowing that you like to blow things up, I'd encourage you to put a reactor to blow up in your future map, with an IOS for example, to reinforce the explosive gameplay.

 

The chaingun also benefits from an increased rate of fire, which speeds up combat."

 

I initially gave a 12,5/20 equivalent to a grade B. Although I would like to stay with the same letter grade, "Reactor" proved to be a lot more engaging in a second playthrough, because my memories were clear enough to anticipate the biggest dangers, materialized by several revenants here. I didn't really like the unique presence of armor in the only secret of this map , but at the end , I really appreciate the danger because lack of protection always keep the player under pressure as getting hit may quickly be fatal, notably regarding revenant's missiles. The level isn't hard but manages to create a sense of danger that really help making it engaging.

 

Let's give a 14 instead of a 12,5 because Reactor definitely works albeit not being extremly memorable.

 

Grade : B (14/20)

 

I stop here for today.

[brick]

Brick | 1 wad | 17 maps
Adventure | 3 wads | 30 maps

 

Surge (2012) by Josh "Joshy" Sealy. 17 SP maps for Doom II in Boom.
This was meant as a followup to Speed of Doom, but at some point Joshy decided he no longer had the time to map and released what was already done as-is (including MAP18 being just the layout with no enemies or items and I think no exit). A couple of years later he would come back, finish the wad and release it as Resurgence, but the WIP version is still here. I started this weeks months ago (it really has been that long?....) when ICID rolled it, but never had the time to finish it until now. I admit part of it was also because I wasn't having a huge amount of fun with it and didn't try very hard to find the time. It has several designs that I'm not enamored with: platforming, obligaroty straferuns, some very dark maps, ammo starvation... Many of the maps have small enemy counts (usually around 50) but combat can be very claustrophobic, being thrown into a 64x64 pit with a revenant is not my idea of a good time. Early on the lack of ammo really irritated me, shotgunning revenants and knights is not fun, add a lot of obligatory infighting (the alternative is to chainsaw everything and everyone) and Berserks being hidden in secrets. I've long suspected that Speed of Doom is not for me and this hasn't changed my mind, but I'm not sure how similar it is to either that or the final Resurgence. One thing I'll say, despite Joshy's claims about de-emphasizing looks, the maps look good, texturing is very well done and some have some neat architecture (I loved the giant gears in MAP03).

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[LadyMistDragon]

Vacation at the Incineration Station (2015) by RaphaelMode (GZ Doom)

 

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The Earth has been invaded by a NEW and INTERESTING demon! your only hope for defeating him lies in NEW and INTERESTING weapons. This is a thing I made in DECORATE in a few hours. The difficulty settings (HNTR/HMP/UV) control the INCINERATINGNESS of the enemy. You also get some extra items on UV.

Basically this WAD is a reminder that DECORATE exists, ZDoom exists, and the future is now.

 

Unless you really like show-y rocket effects that cause lag over basically any Revenant count over 12, don't bother with this one. But fair play, the marching music is hilarious

 

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Shotgun Blast (2005) by Bjarne Christensen (GZ Doom)

 

Boring series of small square tan rooms whose only quirk is having a teleporter on one side with a slime texture. But it does seem like it might be intense for a bit. Text file fails to mention this only runs properly in ZDoom ports 3.5/10

 

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Hydro Power Plant (1999) by Janizdreg (Crispy Doom)

 

Well, it's certainly better than that Carnevil map I played some weeks back. Pretty good vertical contrast between the lower area and upper area although the way flats just run into the void is a little ugly. And ammo in single-player is frightfully thin. Too bad because the enemy placement is pretty smart and snappish. Two arch-viles in a tiny room may have just been a bit much though. Basically, the nearby shotgunners should be learned here to regain health but it may not work out that well. 5/10 for general meanness. 

 

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https://youtu.be/r569KCf4mD4

[Walter confetti]

Lethal Traps by Aaron M. Fisher - Vanilla Doom 2, SP, 1 map, 1996, played with DSDA-Doom 0.27.4

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A decent looking hell small fortress that indeed wants to make your life a living hell due to the sheer cruelty in the enemy placement in cramped rooms (you're goona love the revenant horde in tight corridors, as well as the cyberdemon inside a small cave trap), no new music over "Running from evil", nothing more powerful than the shotguns and some RL\BFG action near the end of the map and not enough ammo to compesate, the introduction room puzzle is very cryptic to solve, if i wasn't shooting blindly i couldn't even think about that there's 2 semi-hidden switches that you need to shoot to mandatory progress. Cool, but too harsh for my tastes.

 

SARGE.EXE by Jim Donovan - Thing Convertor, DOS, 1996 but released in 1999, played with DosBox-staging

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A small software thing made by this guy back in 1999 that replaces big part of the thing placement with shotgunners, chaingunners and wolfestein SS monsters. With this i mean like 90% of the things used will be changed into that, no backup copies. How delighful. My main question is: why this thing was released for the public? If you want to make your map a hitscan heaven, this is the thing for you.

Test map here i did if you want play: demo-map.zip

 

Edited September 28 by Walter confetti

[LadyMistDragon]

Sludge (1998) by Konrad Breslin (Crispy Doom)

 

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The planet of Cybertierra, a man made planet of metal, is a new hot spot for smugaling of contraband. Some inter galactic forces have been tring to build up for war. To limit smugaling troops have been sent to check ships for wepons. The city of Phlangia is the center for the black market sales. The city has been blocked of so troops can't get in. The city has four main parts a sewer, a wepons storage, a captal, and a molten pool of lava for melting down machines. Warps have been set up to thoes main places, but the enameis have the warps closely garded. Good luck!

 

 

 

I don't really remember if it was this or another Konrad map I'd seen reviewed here but for a so-called 1998 map, the design principles seem to belong purely to that of a prior year. There's an odd touch of experimentalism and ambition without the talent to back it up, resulting in a whole lot of blandness (like I swear, there's only two textures that prevail across this map), a ridiculous amount of Mancubi/Chaingunner shooting, a stockyard fight near the beginning that promises combat far more challenging or stronger than what actually results, a cheap Arch-vile trap near the red key that can only be defused with rockets you'd better hope to god you actually saved and such a hideous lack of health, it makes this map look like a cheap imitation of Drake O'Brien.

 

And naturally, we can't have a Drake O'Brien map without a stupidly overscaled final area, basically a yard leading to a disposal site with chaingunners much too far away to pick off safely and an Arch-vile that we might just be out of ammo for at this point. It's not the worst map I've ever played and indeed, there's some evidence of environmental storytelling but results at simulating the locations are very, very mixed, and despite a somewhat low-enemy account, is extremely tedious. Don't bother 3/10

 

 

 

[brick]

Brick | 1 wad | 9 maps
Adventure | 4 wads | 39 maps

 

Deimos Deja Vu (2010) by hervoheebo. 9 maps for vanilla Doom.
This is another one of those wads that remake IWAD maps and that were so popular in that first 2000s decade. This one obviously remakes E2 (it just occurred to me, why were so many remakes for the first Doom compared to the sequel? it's especially disproportionate when you consider so many more wads in total are made for the sequel). Compared to some of the straight up upgrades that keep much of the original structure intact, @hervoheebo takes a bit more liberty with the level design and injects fresh ideas and layouts. The old and new are very well balanced, memorable landmarks will still be there, a map's special gimmick will still be used in the proper slot, a good example is E2M5 with its skull switch doors, they're here of course and so is the map's original nonlinearity but the layout is almost completely unrecognizable. It all makes the title very fitting, the sense of deja vu is constant but the maps are all new and have hervoheebo's own stamp. E2M7 illustrates this well, the start is very familiar then slowly goes in a different direction, and this was maybe the first time we actually got to see those titular Vats! Another deviation from the original that I liked, there is a BFG in E2 now, but it's the reward for completing the secret map, and considering the hoops we have to go through to get there (and that it only benefits continuous play) I think it's a fair reward. Combat is much harder than the IWAD obviously but HNTR is well balanced, and the episode overall is easier than The Long Trek Back Home, which had a more interesting and fleshed out concept, but Deja Vu's maps do the remixing better. Much as I love Rex Claussen I also think this is superior to Slight Return, hervoheebo really succeeded at capturing the essence of the episode as a whole and each map specifically while creating novel layouts, whereas Rex's modifications to the original didn't always make the map better. As far as this concept goes this is one of my favourite wads, and a great mapset in its own right.

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[ICID]

 

Wasteland: Sands of Death (2004) by Alberto Barsella

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Source Port: Woof, complevel 3}

^{Difficulty: Ultra-Violence}

 

Nifty Doom 1 map taking place mostly in a desert so hot that that you take damage any time you're not in the shade. There's enough health around to make this concept not annoying. Combat is mostly de-emphasized in favor of exploration and story as you find your way through the bizarre, hellish buildings to collect all the keys, although there are a couple close-range shotgunner traps on UV. I liked it!

 

 

Awakening (2010) by Emil Brundage

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Source Port: GZDoom}

^{Difficulty: Ultra-Violence}

 

Mostly loved this - a giant, gorgeously-detailed (with almost exclusively vanilla textures!) pentagram-shaped starbase that you walk through first in eerie silence, then have to return to after activating large numbers of monsters. The setpieces aren't necessary that challenging or inventive, no Sunlust-esque combat puzzles here, but the experience reminded me of playing Skulltag's Invasion Mode back in the day: just you, lots of ammo, and lots of goofy custom monsters. My biggest complaint is that I seemed to be facing a lot of Barons before I had the weaponry to deal with them, but given the map's gigantic and non-linear nature maybe I just went the wrong way. Solid stuff if you, like me, enjoy slaughter.

 

 

Lethal Traps (1996) by Aaron M. Fisher

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Source Port: Woof, complevel 2}

^{Difficulty: Ultra-Violence}

 

Cramped, annoying puzzle map consisting of - you guessed it - lethal traps. Of course dying is one thing, wandering around shooting walls in an ugly little room until you figure out which one is a switch is another. Worth playing only if you have the patience of a saint.

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 12 Day 29

 

[1] uno.zip by Midiguy (Dale B.) (1995)

 

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It is for doom2, strictly deathmatch for dwango.

 

This deathmatch map has unfortunately no link with the famous card game but you can take profit of a rather poor midi rendition of a Metallica song and a custom statbar. The action happens around a gigantic circular arena with a large cross topping it. The surrounding paths contain lot of black pillars that hold items and weapons. Approach them in order to make them lower. The texturing can be criticized but I like the vastness of the main courtyard.

 

[2] Gate of Hell. by John Cartwright (2022)

 

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I made this map a long time ago and found it on my old Yahoo site. This is a massive slaughter map that is not too hard but not too easy either. Good to use with mods.

 

A completly disorganized zdoom-compatible slaughtermap housing more than 1000 monsters and almost exclusively uses stock assets. Having played several Cartwright's levels before, massive sandbox-y levels seems to be his trademark, and you guess what? I'm completly fine with it !

 

Actually, you have three keys to obtain but those are so easy to obtain that I didn't pay that much attention to the locked doors. Right at the beginning, the author lets you go where you want and you can find replicas of the most useful weapons across all the map (RL, SSG...), so you don't have to take the "right" path in order to play decently. Gate of Hell is a real open-world where you have the freedom to engage the combats in the way that feels most comfortable to you, because like progression, no combat is strictly choreographed, so there are plenty of opportunities for cheesing/camping.

 

Something I really like about Gate of Hell , and some other Cartwright's works as well, is the fact that the level design isn't based on arenas or more broadly locked-in fights that you can find among countless modern slaughtermaps. Instead, you can explore large rooms, courtyards and more globally randomly-shaped rooms. The visuals look particularly unappealing to be honest, notably because of the simplistic and repetitve texturing but it reminds of some early slaughtermaps built in the 90's. Also, this map uses the music from E1M4 of Ultimate Doom. While I like the energetic tone of this music, it conveys no specific atmosphere, it almost unfits regarding the size of the map. But the map doesn't contain any elements to make it dramatic, and it's the type of map that exists simply for the pleasure of killing monsters en masse.

 

I really like this map for its lack of planning. It's clear that the author has made his map on the fly and in the end I really like the fact that the emphasis is really on killing monsters, because that's the main purpose of a slaughtermap: to commit genocide against the forces of hell. And a slaughtermap where I enjoy killing demons can't be a bad map, as is the case with ‘Gate of Hell’.

 

Grade : A- (16/20)

 

[3] Siege 2.0 by Vu Q. Le (1994)

 

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A HUGE improvement over Siege 1.0 Your mission, whether or not you choose to accept it, is to infiltrate the castle and maintain control of it. Intelligence suggests a strong outside contingent, but no significant defense on the inside. Your main obstacle will be rival infiltrators... You will NOT be given reinforcements. Good luck. Good-bye.

 

Basically a square and symmetrical castle surrounded by an immense moat filled with nukage. I initially though it was a (terribly boring) ultimate doom level due to the small presence of enemies until I realized there was no exit in this map. Indeed, you have to read further in the text file to know that it was exclusively designed for Deathmatch. And honestly, I have no doubt that "Siege 2.0" isn't more amusing with your friends regarding how large and copy-pasted the layout is. Also, crucial weapons are partially hidden . For instance, you can go through some barriers in order to get chainguns or lower an ordinary pillar to obtain a plasma gun.

 

[4] Urotsuki: Dead End by Lainos (2015)

 

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Second chapter of trilogy "Urotsuki". 1 pretty short map in style inspired by anime Urotsukidoji and Giger pictures.

If you are playing in software mode, then you should turn on 16-bit mode, otherwise the sky will be a mess.

 

"Urotsuki" is a familiar small serie to me because I remember I played and reviewed another map from it 2 years ago. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic hell where alien's dirty techology ended up overruling over human presence. Urotsuki merge messy wires and disgusting flesh and of course, who says Lainos mandatorily say ogg music that only help more immersing us in a parallel world.

 

However, unlike many maps from Lainos's wadography, the accent is a lot more put on tricky combats than exploration. "Dead End" can be described as a short map as it contains "only" 71 monsters but those are methodically placed  so that they all fulfill a specific role and in spite of its length, this map contains several locked-in fights than may quickly become deadly in the case you haven't found the secret blue armor. The difficulty remains reasonable but but a few vile ones can quickly get the better of you and the pain elementals may quickly drain the few ammo you store in your pockets. I think Lainos get out of his comfort zone because while this ribbiks-y combat design, is fair enough to survive on the first try. On the whole, I didn't find the fights all that amusing and they were sometimes clumsy, as some of the viles in particular are very easy to take advantage of, by camping out at a door, for example. I'm thinking in particular of the area containing the buzz saws and one of the level's keys.

 

I'm not sure if this Urotsuki level can be describing as a speed map but I do appreciate how much attention is paid to the atmosphere, even for a map of this calibre. The feeling of being lost in a huge place is maintained by the surrounding decorations and the electronic music, while honestly annoying at times, does a good job of conveying this dystopian futuristic atmosphere.

 

This map is far from being Lainos' masterpiece and I have no desire to play it again, but its author's particular style makes it far from a shitpost.

 

Grade : C+ (11/20)

 

[5] SSLLAOS by Anon. (2005)

 

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A big map for deathmatch playing.

 

The layout of this map is so boxy that I can attest to the fact that everything that could be described as a circle has simply disappeared. The pillars are square, the courtyard are square, the corridors are square... Some areas don't look bad though but the level seems oversized for proper death-matching. Perhaps playable with a large number of players, but I'm afraid that a duel would end up as a game of hide-and-seek.

 

Frayed is a 36-maps megawad for Ultimate Doom. Very nice ! But I don't have to play this in one-sitting so that's all for today.

[ICID]

Thanks for playing, everyone. Here's the new thread!

(And yes, even though it was just posted, I did score Roofi's last five WADs.)