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DUMP Episode 1: Fuck Time Limits - TerminusEst13 (et al)
Doom 2 - Single Player - ZDoom Compatible - 14.12 MB -
Reviewed by: gaspe
DUMP Episode 1 is the wad that started the series; after it it came a bigger second episode (already reviewed here), and a much bigger third episode, which is getting close to being completed, I guess?! Even compared to the second episode this one is very short, and you can see that the thing started as a group of friends that decided to try to make a map. Among the participants are people who don't have very much experience in mapping, and others that are more seasoned. Overall it's a very fun set to play, and the maps aren't totally serious, and I would say that the mood is rather light-hearted. The maps were made for ZDoom, and many features were used and in a nice way. However I don't think there were any moments really remarkable or that stand-out to others; the maps are short, and the ZDoom stuff made the things more interesting actually.
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MAYhem 1500 AKA MAYhem2015 - A buncha schmucks
Doom 2 - Single Player - MBF-compatible - 4.23 MB -
Reviewed by: Csonicgo
Are you ready for 1.5 litres of Doom action injected straight into your spinal column? No? Too bad, because MAYhem 1500 promises just that. All made during the month of May (allegedly), these maps are restricted to 1500 lines. I didn't even notice this, as most maps worth a damn wind up in that 1000-2000 range anyway, unless you have a hankerin' to Torm it up or spam some Jimmylights.
MAYhem 1500, because in the sparsest of conditions, diversity truly flourishes. Or something like that.
These are all Gothic DM-themed maps, so I'm already on board. I've always wanted Gothic style SP maps, and I finally get my wish here. I think.
Since the maps have to be at or under 1500 lines, the result is a clean set of maps, at least visually. I can tell who could competently work within those limits, and who chickened out too early and made an arena-style slaughtermap. C'mon guys!
So, how are the levels? All over the place gameplay-wise. Some are fun romps, and others require you to plan your route before you even start playing, because 500 monsters surround you, yet are looking the other way. That's always something. If you stop moving for just a second in those kinds of levels, you can kiss it all bye-bye. There is little room to hide, and as the levels progress, you'll be swarmed from all degrees pretty much all the time. The level of "gothicness" varies from map to map, as expected - not everyone really likes using those textures exclusively.
Ammo balance can be... what's the word... ridiculous. In all caps, because this is something that could have been avoided. Some parts feel "out of sequence", especially the first map, which throws you a super shotgun but barely any ammo to use it. Oh, and then monsters teleport in from everywhere. Great. It feels like it once was a key trap, but the key door is on the end of the hallway, so I assume some last minute fiddling was done to add a few extra rooms, and those rooms are BRUTAL.
So in an attempt to prevent this review from becoming any longer, as is always my reviews, here is what to expect: 32+ levels with a limitation that probably didn't restrict the mappers that much. Gothic textures were used. Difficulty ranges from walks in parks to walks in the Apocalypse. Some levels wear out their welcome rather quickly. Some pull the "grab all three keys to open the exit" trope. Some cram monsters into one huge room. Boring.
What isn't boring is MAP33 - a mansion that tries to kill you. There are no monsters. The level itself hates you. Hit the wrong switch, and the floor turns to poison. Fun! And the next map - A Joemap - it doesn't suck either. (Can't believe I'm saying these things.)
Verdict? Skip around and play a few, but don't marathon this. I don't think they really play well unless you pistol start each one - else they become way too easy.
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Disaster Area - Maxime "Datacore" Bisiaux
Evilution - Deathmatch - Vanilla - 24.2 KB -
Reviewed by: bzzrak
In June 2016, Maxime "Datacore" Bisiaux released a vanilla deathmatch level for the TNT: Evilution IWAD, Disaster Area. For some reason it has been sitting in the review center for far too long, so I have decided to give this thing a review, although I'm not much of a deathmatcher.
The level is set in a small techbase built of bricks; everything is mostly brown. There are a few small indoor rooms situated around a medium-sized outdoor area, but that's really it for geometry. Disaster Base is small, but very well detailed, the lighting is decently done as well. It's all really pleasing to look at.
Datacore has also credited a guy named Oxide for a lift that raises and lowers instantly. Well, Oxide's contribution to the level was an useful one, as it's a handy means of escape from a tricky situation.
I have been playing this level in ZDaemon with 4 bots, although the level does seem to work in vanilla just as good.
My impressions on the gameplay:
The weapon placement is OK. The chainsaw and one of the chainguns are located right next to each other, which might be a problem if you play with auto-switching weapons. The chainsaw is kind of a secret, though.
The BFG isn't just lying in the open - you have to lower a lift and then run to it - but that allows everyone else to pick it up before you, so you might actually be better off not pressing that switch. Well, I guess Datacore didn't want to make the level become a BFG spamfest.
The weapons that you'll mostly be using are the Chaingun, Super Shotgun and Plasmagun; therefore, the action is pretty fast-paced and very fun.
Overall, Disaster Base is a neat little level that you might enjoy if you want to pass some time with a deathmatch game of good ol' Doom 2.
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Disaster Area - Maxime "Datacore" Bisiaux
Doom 2 - Deathmatch - Vanilla - 32.71 KB
Reviewed by: bzzrak
This seems to be the same thing as the Evilution version of the level, but most of the TNT exclusive textures have been replaced with Doom 2 ones, and the music is D_DOOM. Because of that "most of" the level won't work in vanilla.
Download the TNT one instead of this.
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End of Eon - Overstory_Lover_63
Doom 2 - Single Player - GZDoom - 353.46 KB -
Reviewed by: Not Jabba
End of Eon is a single huge map made for the Vinesauce mapping contest. It requires GZDoom for reasons not really clear to me, and it has... a lot of issues. When I started it up, my first thought was that it has over 600 monsters and very little visual appeal (the starting room, like most other rooms in the level, is large and mostly empty), and it seemed very unlikely that it could hold a player's interest for the length of time required to beat it. However, I quickly realized that this issue is totally beside the point.
There are a lot of questionable choices in this map, and many are downright confusing. The progression is sometimes unclear -- at one point I hit a couple of switches, teleported back to the hub area, and seemingly couldn't do anything until I realized I was supposed to press Use on a random pillar-like construction to lower it and access another teleporter. The author has a habit of locking you into every room by using doors that only open from one side rather than, say, a one-time set of bars that come up when you enter and are lowered later to restore freedom of exploration. There was one point where I was teleported back into a crossroads room, went the wrong way, got locked in again, and then had to go back through several rooms to reach the teleporter again so that I could go the right way.
There are three yellow keys in one area of the map: I picked one up off of a throne, then walked out into a previous room and found another one that had appeared there, picked it up, then made my way to the teleport room that leads out of the area, where the third one popped up from a desk. It makes me wonder if it was supposed to be one of those setups where the key keeps appearing and disappearing, and maybe it's just glitched. I'm not really sure. There was another room where, after a Cyberdemon battle, I lowered a secret wall and was greeted with little more than a dozen or so Arch-Viles. The author has defended similar choices as intentional in the past, so although I don't think it makes much sense, I'll just leave it to the reader to decide. After that, there was a room with two Spiderdemons stuck in a low ceiling, an invulnerability pickup, a few Arachnotrons, and a ceiling that starts lowering to crush you as soon as you enter. I think the idea was that the spiders are just obstacles, and you have to kill them quickly to run under their low ceiling and avoid the crusher; however, I was able to get in under this ceiling before killing them and avoid the crusher without effort, making the whole setup pointless.
The rest of the rooms were only slightly better. Many of them are big, barren rectangles where you have a lot of fire coming at you but basically just dodge around the empty space until you beat the enemies. The author relies heavily on traps and gimmicks, and although I have absolutely no problem with this, I think they still have a lot of work to do before they reach the point where the traps and gimmicks feel really interesting and clever instead of cheap. It never seemed like there was enough ammo, but the setups make me think you're supposed to rely on infighting and maybe luring monsters into crushers and possibly even avoiding some combat. Also, there are a total of nine bloody Berserk packs in this level, so maybe that's a hint that you're supposed to Tyson it? Anyway, one final bug report before I move on to the coup de grace: there was a large HOM error in the big red room with all the crushers, and I think maybe it happened when I hit a hidden switch in the area with all the moving platforms? Unfortunately, cause-and-effect relationships are often pretty unclear in this map.
Everything I have mentioned so far happens just in the first half of the level. What happens in the second half of the level? I have no idea. Reaching the second half requires the red key. Where is the red key? Apparently nowhere. I did a search for both red keys in Doom Builder and found nothing. It's possible that it's generated by a ZDoom feature as a result of some obscure action that I never figured out, but I have a feeling the level was rushed out the door to make the contest deadline and was never tested. It's a bit of a shame that it wasn't fixed up before being uploaded to /idgames, but its problems run deep, and I would still not recommend it if it were free of the major bugs. To the author, I would recommend starting on something much smaller and taking a lot more time with it. Overstory_Lover_63 has figured out the basics, so this is the point where they can start putting more care and artistry into the layout, use of space, thing placement, and visuals.
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The Wreck - Thomas Nijman
Doom 2 - Single Player - GZDoom - 2.36 MB -
Reviewed by: gaspe
The Wreck is a rather short wad for GZDoom, and it was made for the Vinesauce Doom mapping contest. The maps are a remake of the levels set in the sunken ship on Tomb Raider 2. There's some usage of slopes and 3D floors to make the level look close to the original source, and there's also some nice scripting to recreate (even if not always faithfully) the puzzles. Tomb Raider is a game that focuses on platforming and puzzles instead of Doom's emphasis on action, and a few times the two things are combined well here, but for the most part the gameplay was bland. The levels don't look particularly great, and they lack the atmosphere that was really needed in these levels. I would say that overall it feels a bit rushed, but it's understandable as it was made in a short time for the contest. If you liked Tomb Raider 2 and in general the series, this could be rather interesting to check out, or if you want to see a few levels that do some different things than the usual stuff.
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WOOO 3: Too Good For the Mappers Who Made It - Various
Doom 2 - Single Player - GZDoom - 48.41 MB -
Reviewed by: gaspe
What are we doing, besides forgetting about our worries and, for once, enjoying ourselves?
You have been playing Doom wads and mods for more than 20 years, when one day, pretty much randomly, you stumble upon something rather weird. It wasn't so different from the usual stuff, but it was something you never thought could exist. The jokewad. Jokewads are for everyone, and in some cases for nobody. And I know of people that are still trying to recover from their experiences and they are just playing scythe.wad for the 100th time... But that's another story.
"Wooo 3 sucks like the other 2. Is not even a joke anymore, is a fucking cliche" -Gandhi
This time for the third episode of the series, from the same authors, or at least some of the same authors, we are going for a journey to save Ratchet and Clank from... Anita Jackson???? Or not?! But it doesn't matter that much. Wooo 3 is a bit like I was expecting, with gimmicks, some stupid adventures which were the best part, and the inevitable crappy/nooby maps on purpose. Sometimes it was funny, and the idea of making some stuff going through all the wad made many things more enjoyable, other times it was rather bland. I would say it's a bit like Wooo 1/2.
So, in the end, does gaspe recommend Wooo 3? Yeah, sure. And in any case you can always press the 0 stars button on /idgames. If the symptoms persist, I guess it's time to boot up scythe.wad AGAIN.
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Toilet of the Gods - Benjogami
Doom 2 - Single Player - Boom Compatible - 1.87 MB -
Reviewed by: rodster
"Toilet of the Gods", is a five-map WAD made by Benjogami and released in October 2016. I played maps 01-04 on Ultra Violence and just IDDQD'd through Map31. I used glboom-plus. Other difficulty settings are supported too.
The beginning of Map01 already shows you that this is going to be a hard WAD. You start in a pit surrounded by Hell Knights on pillars. The pillars progressively increase in height. It's obvious what you have to do: Kill Hell Knights and make your way out of the pit. Thankfully, a super shotgun and a Chaingun are lying around, with enough ammo and some health packs to take on those HellKnights, but it's no easy task; while you balance on the pillars, you also have to dodge their projectiles. When you've finally reached the top, you realize that this was just a warm up of what's truly awaiting you. You see two swarms of Cacodemons in the distance and know that you gotta move on to have a chance for survival. You roll up your sleeves and load your super shotgun...
This map might remind you of Sunder Map05, but this one is more forgiving than that, and it isn't as long. We can pretty much break this map down to three main parts. The first part is the starting area with the Hell Knights, which I liked a lot because this situation was quite new to me and it was really interesting and fun. In the second part you see two big swarms of Cacodemons in the distance, and you know that the space you currently occupy won't be enough to survive, so you have to move on to have a chance. While you wait for the platforms to rise up and form a path, you have to dodge the Cacodemon projectiles. After the platforms rise up you run to the other side; there you will encounter up to three Cyberdemons as well as a bunch of Barons of Hell. A good strategy is key here (hint: infight and grab Soulsphere/Megasphere). You might have to redo this area a few times to pull off the right moves for your strategy. After you've done this part you move to the final part of this map. Here, you have to pretty much dance around and dodge projectiles while you try to kill as many monsters as you can to create more room for yourself, but don't fall down, and be aware of the approaching Cacodemon swarm!
All in all, I like this map. It has good architecture and aesthetics, well-thought out encounters, and enough ammo and enough health to take on all the challenges. Also, the platforming part isn't too hardcore, which gets a plus point from me, because I generally don't like extreme platforming in Doom. Although, there are three points I didn't like in this map: first point is, some of the platforms are still bumpy in glboom-plus, they might actually ruin a good run. According to the Toilet of the Gods thread, everything runs smooth in ZDoom. My second point regards the tall purple waterfall-pillars, they sometimes looked like HOMs to me; what I want to say is, they looked a little bit weird. The third point regards the placement of the two teleporters in the last area which take you back to several areas of the map. Their placement is kind of in the way, because I accidentally ran into them multiple times and I really didn't want to redo the little platforming part.
Map02 feels like a continuation of Map01, because the sky is dark now. Like, a few hours have passed since you finished Map01, and now you wake up in this map. You look at the great building in front of you, and you kind of feel what awaits you there...
This map can be also separated in to three parts: first encounter, bridge, last encounter. Infighting is the key word for the first encounter, but you also have to do some of the killing yourself, otherwise you soon won't have enough room to breathe. Before you finally reach the bridge, several Archviles and Pain Elementals spawn behind you for maximum annoyance. The task is simple: kill those Archviles as fast as you can before they revive the whole monster army; the most effective weapon should be the Rocket Launcher, but the Pain Elementals literally make this task a pain for you. After you've finally cleared the first area, you move on to activate the bridge to reach the last area. While you wait for the bridge to raise, Cacodemons are starting to spawn in and they are after you. You don't have much time before they reach you, nor do you have enough ammo to kill them all; the only way is to keep making progress. You run into the last room hoping to find health and ammo; you aren't let down: there is a BFG and enough rocket and cell ammo as well as two megaspheres, but you have to move fast because Imps, Hellknights and the Cacodemons which are hunting you are filling up the room quickly. This is the most fun part of the map; you get to kill a lot of different type of monsters within a short amount of time, but be aware that you don't have infinite ammo. You have to find a good balance between infighting and killing, and also watch out for projectiles. You should at least save one megasphere for the blue key part.
I really liked the initial first fight and the last fight where you kill those Imps and Cacodemons, those were a lot of fun. The ammo and health in this map is more strict than in Map01; it's almost perfectly measured. At the end I had around 40 extra shells lying on the ground and one green armor and one big medikit as reserve. The first part has an almost typical Slaughtermap architecture but it still feels quite different, in a positive way. The final part is also almost a pretty standard slaughtermap area. The bridge part was the most interesting area in this map, in an aesthetic-way. But again, the decorative pillars in the bridge part looked weird to me, just like the purple waterfall pillars in Map01. Also, in the first room, I found the Archvile/Pain Elemental fight a little bit tedious.
Map03, one word: Amazing! A very nice slaughtermap.
Map04, you have to experience this yourself. Don't worry, it's a short map, which won't take too much time. It's very nice, and the midi fits the map very well. Map31 is a remix/remake/rearrangement of Map03, so there is not much to say here.
Overall, a really nice slaughter mapset. The midis are really nice too. If you like slaughtermaps, I'm sure you are going to like this WAD as well. The fights are well thought-through by the author and they create a lot of fun. I was kind of disappointed when I found out that there wasn't more than five maps; maybe Benjogami will make more, who knows, stay tuned... :D I'd like to see a UV-Max of Map03 and Map31, and I'd also like to see more maps like these.
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By Bloodshedder
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