The /newstuff Chronicles #454

• 40oz showdown. - David "Springy" Spring
  Doom 2 - CTF Support - CTF - 644586 bytes
  Reviewed by: doomguy93
  40oz showdown "40map1.wad" created by the one and only Sir David Spring (AKA: Springy), is a one-level wad for capture the flag gameplay. The map is medium sized and very symmetrical, which is pretty much crucial to implement when making CTF maps. The usual red and blue wall textures are present too.
  
  Well there really isn't that much more to say about this wad because I haven't played it online yet. Don't bother playing with bots because they never score when they take an enemy flag.
  
  Overall, download it and give it a play online. :)
  
  
• Chaos, Uprising - Richard Smith Long
  Heretic - ZDoom Compatible - Solo Play - 25569286 bytes -
  Reviewed by: kmxexii
  This is a large, cool mod from RSL that takes Heretic in a bit of a different direction. You're "The Newcomer", a dude who came to the world of Parthoris expecting a peaceful retirement. It's never that easy, though - the Cult of the Serpent appears following a dire plague, and the ancient evils of D'Sparil rear their ugly heads again.
  
  RSL replaces every weapon in the game. The base set is more low-tech but I like the split between the crossbow and revolver (slot 2 weps), and the shotgun is really punchy. I don't like the revolver's firing delay. The other weapons are powered by various types of mana and are all pretty useful, though the Pyrokrates felt kind of clumsy to me. Each has a deadly tome effect, like that trident that borrows a bit from the arc of death, which turns into a beastly weapon. The spear (slot 4) is the de facto bread and butter weapon, though.
  
  Another major change is a lite-RPG styling with the introduction of spells and sigil pieces. These drop from powerful monsters (like the maulotaur replacement and cult pontiffs). The sigil is pretty simple and deadly, either chaining to enemies at rapid-fire or deploying BFG10K shots when powered up. The spells have varying utility, like charming monsters, and are tiered so that you increase your caster level via scroll drops to reach the nasty stuff, which while dangerous on its own is an absolute nightmare when amplified by the tome of power. Note - you advance through the tiers with alt-fire, so make sure it's bound.
  
  You also have some new items to deal with the nasties. The timebomb of the ancients is supercharged, attracting monsters to it before its devastating explosion. The morph ovum is no more, replaced with a statue of Corvus that turns you into a BEAST OF A MAN, massacring enemies up close or with rays of holy power. You're not invincible, but you get a pretty big health pool to start out with. The ring of invulnerability gets replaced by Hexen's icon, but since RSL hasn't implemented classes yet, it's pretty much the same.
  
  As far as monsters go, they aren't too bad, with a handful of the cast returning. Cultists crop up everywhere, wielding revolvers, arquebuses, and different levels of magic. The strongest enemies can be utter bastards, though, and a few times I found myself getting wailed on when the relatively tame Heretic enemies (like ophidians) were replaced by beefier beasts. I managed to make it through E5M1 without too much trouble, except for those iron lich replacements that spawn in jumping spiders, which was really more of a circle-kite. I hope you aren't afraid of spiders!
  
  RSL makes Heretic harder and adds in his own particular flavor with the RPG-lite stuff and gunpowder weapons, plus graphical enhancements like additional gore. If the original was too... underwhelming for you, fast forward to the future of Parthoris and give this a crack.
  
  
• Robot Junkyard Workshop's Doom Pack - Nick Baker (not to be confused with the other Doom-map-making gentleman of the same name)
  Doom 2 - Limit Removing - Solo Play - 617747 bytes -
  Reviewed by: kmxexii
  This is a pretty cool nine-map episode from another dude named Nick Baker. It's full of classic Doom II action and is pretty forgiving in the health and ammo departments, especially the latter. There's no strong sense of progression as you flip back and forth between tech and Hell, but there is a bit of a narrative as you move through this little Doom microcosm. MAP08 has a fun gimmick where you enter a large "box" structure and then from there enter a bigger pocket dimension through a few teleports to access the exit. MAP09 was a fun large base-type level that for all the ammo slung about felt threatening. If it seems like I'm glazing over the first seven maps, that's because the last two were my favorites, though there are some pointless mobs of monsters to be slaughtered. I would not mind seeing more maps from Nick "not to be confused with NiGHTMARE" Baker.
  
  
• Blood Thirst - Captain Toenail
  Doom 2 - Vanilla - Deathmatch - 68374 bytes -
  Reviewed by: joepallai
  Blood Thirst by Captain Toenail is a visually impressive Deathmatch map with excellent flow, good item placement, and a catchy song to frag your friends to while inside this gore-soaked arena. Well worth the download.
  
  
• Rock It! Electronic Edition - Mr. Chris
  Doom/Doom 2 - Vanilla - N/A - 322290 bytes -
  Reviewed by: walter confalonieri
  Another music wad from our formerly known Mr. Chris (I don't remember his new username here in Doomworld now) is a variant version of the "Rock It!" series, this time using electronic music genre instead of hard rock / metal.
  
  Some tunes are relaxing but also ominous, like MAP01, and some others are pretty fast and hard.
  
  However, it is a very cool music compilation, play it with your favorite wads of choice or also with your doom iwads, if you like (also if you don't) this is a must have!
  
  
• LaboUAC - jameson2_fr
  Doom 2 - ZDoom Compatible - Solo Play - 5152553 bytes -
  Reviewed by: kmxexii
  This is a huge level with lots of 3D architecture that plays in the map01 slot. By the time I was done, I'd clocked in at just about two hours played, not counting deaths, just to give you an idea. It's kind of the GZDoom equivalent of a realistic office level, with all the banalities. There are a few surreal twists, mainly in the huge, open atrium with the layered 3D bridges and crumbled but not sunken walkway that opens the map. The whole run is a bear to clear, and you might get stuck trying to remember where certain key doors are or where various switch puzzles lead to, since the 3D architecture is actually fairly well-layered. I got stalled around the final stretch when I failed to notice an open floor tile in the cubicle area I had activated elsewhere that led to the last major area.
  
  Combat is mostly what you'd expect from a semi-realistic level, with a lot of claustrophobic fighting with the occasional open area where, due to balconies and the like, you're avoiding bullets and lots of fireballs. There are plenty of R667 monsters, some of which are one-offs tailored to their appearances as part of the lab facilities. I kind of liked the madcap tech silo room with all the super-powered enemies, which is actually made dangerous through a drip feed of plasma troopers. It's mostly about blowing away tons of monsters with the SSG, though, and the occasional horde of super-fast spiders. It's just not very distinguished, same as the actual level architecture, though I did like some of the futuristic tech like the computer banks. Something other than D_RUNNIN might have helped, too.
  
  The real mystery was why the facility had brown, cracked rock for most of its office walls, with light strips dividing the top and bottom, to me a dubious aesthetic. About halfway through, jameson surprised me with an under construction wing of the lab, complete with open boxes with brown rock tiles, which was in the process of being layered over the more sensible (by contrast) steel walls. I laughed a good bit.
  
  
• Styx Deathmatch 02 - Richard "Styx" Jaspars
  Doom 2 - Vanilla - Deathmatch - 21487 bytes -
  Reviewed by: dew
  Richard "Styx" Jaspers was a prolific DM mapper back in the late 90's and early 00's when he kept slowly inflating his Styx and Paranoid series of small(ish) 1on1 maps. Then in 2006 he released StyxDM01 and poof, he was gone. It's certainly a shame, because he could've continued developing his mapping skills and exploring his fairly unique layout tropes. StyxDM01 was pretty good, you know. It wasn't a notorious top10 of all time DM project, and even your usual average, well-educated, mild-mannered gentleman of the DM scene might have a problem recalling it on the spot, but this 4-map set had some good ideas going, and the first two maps were recognized by getting featured in many a tournament or duel map compilation.
  
  Why am I making you sit through this history lesson when you could be playing [prefix]ball with your friends outside? Well, Styx obviously popped back into existence out of thin air, holding a new DM map in his hand! Thank you, quantum physics. Is the comeback after 7+ years worth it? Weeeeell... fuck yeah!
  
  First of all, it's just one map, and technically not even a new one. It's a "Director's Cut" of StyxDM01 map01, expanding the original layout with some additional areas. Styx is luckily more of a Michael Mann than a George Lucas, so the edits are greatly beneficial. The original was already a fun map, but it was quite microscopic, one of the smallest maps used competitively. The layout is also split into two parts by a parallel line. The middle imposes some restrictions on movement, and combined with the pocket size, it's fairly easy to hide behind a corner and guard all access routes to your section. This led to a strange bipolar gameplay that switched between furious spawnfragging and the waiting game in which the passive defender has a slight advantage.
  
  The DC adds a new hallway to the west and adds a connection on the eastern high platforms. Also some stairs. I can't express enough joy on how this works just right. The staring-through-corners-contest gameplay is gone, and thanks to more space on which the spawns are distributed, the spawnfragging is also less prominent. The layout navigates wonderfully; Styx sized the local elements of his architecture just right for Doom DMing, and he also excels at using verticality. It's fairly modest, but again just the right size, so it already helps with sectioning the map, introducing interesting obstacles, and hiding spots, etc. Now with improved freedom of movement! The map is still very small though, so even two hardcore pr0s furiously colliding with all the speed of two glaciers playing hide and seek will still finish a 30-frag game in under 10 minutes.
  
  Just telegraphically now. Visuals are austere and classic, but clean and pleasing to a deathmatcher's eyes. No brutal colours or busy visual noise. The BFG was moved from the tunnel on top of a switch-operated lift. It's less useful now, because it's harder to get, more of a bait than a prize, and you can run from it easier too. RL is also slightly less powerful, as the interconnected design limits its stopping power. I've seen it used to great effect though, so I wouldn't dismiss it. Styx recommends playing without OS limits (in the form of ZDaemon DMFlags), but also without freelook and jumping. The original actually played much better with mouselook as rockets became more interesting, but the DC seems fairly ambidextrous. Finally, there's something to bitch about: no less than three spawns are moved away from their starting SSGs for some reason I don't understand, all on the eastern elevated side. It seems like a small detail, but it's really annoying during a tight high-stake game, and it unnecessarily punishes the spawning guy. That warrants a fix, then the map can proudly sit among the best duel maps in the most competitive league map pools.
  
  
• Industrial Suicide - Wraith
  Doom 2 - ZDoom Compatible - Solo Play - 277805 bytes -
  Reviewed by: Tuxlar
  Competent detailing and visuals. Spacious, non-linear layout that can't make up its mind. Confusing progression with lots of needless areas and annoying use of lifts. Challenge occasionally fun, occasionally boring. Some neat gimmicks. Started wandering aimlessly through silent corridors towards the end. Verdict: Worth playing if bored.
  
  
• Rienzi (release 6) - Christopher Bazley
  Doom 2 - Boom Compatible - Solo Play - 391403 bytes -
  Reviewed by: Tuxlar
  "Standard" competent detailing and visuals. Mostly claustrophobic, dark, atmospheric, caves with some decent hellish crap and a theme shift towards end. Recommend turning off D_RUNNIN music. Odd inescapable lava trenches and some seemingly unavoidable damage sectors. Light, semi-fun challenge throughout, albeit a tad annoyingly claustrophobic, with some mild ammo squeezes. Found no secrets. Darkness overused. Verdict: Worth playing if bored.
  
  
• The Sewage Works (release 8) - Christopher Bazley & John Tardrew
  Doom 2 - Boom Compatible - Solo Play - 249200 bytes -
  Reviewed by: Tuxlar
  "Standard" competent detailing and visuals, albeit a bit thematically uninteresting. "Standard" challenge, also a bit uninteresting, and a bit annoyingly claustrophobic. Lots of intricate props, rooms, dynamic lights, and "IRL" stuff modeled from sectors. With sector-drinking fountains. Layout claustrophobic and occasionally annoyingly dark, with bits of geometry to snag on. Theme change towards end. Verdict: Worth playing if bored.
  
  
• Medieval Castle (release 4) - Christopher Bazley
  Doom 2 - Boom Compatible - Solo Play - 93765 bytes
  Reviewed by: doomguy93
  Medieval Castle (release 4), "castle3.wad" created by Christopher Bazley is a medium sized one-map wad designed for single player and deathmatch. The text file states that it was originally made back in September 14th 2000. Basically, you are playing in a castle surrounded by a moat filled with spectre demons. Inside the castle there are lots of imps and some more powerful demons, such as cacodemons and mancubuses. I thought the gameplay was pretty solid. The weapon/item placement was well balanced throughout the map. I wasn't too keen on the texture usage though, and I highly disliked the use of the silver tech door in a medieval castle. The text file also states that it is implemented for deathmatch, though I haven't tried it yet. Based on the design of the map, I wouldn't imagine the deathmatch mode to be so great.
  
  Overall, a neat looking wad and well worth a download.
  
  
• The Trials - Phil Walker
  Doom 2 - Vanilla - Solo Play - 73069 bytes -
  Reviewed by: Tuxlar
  Lazy visuals and detailing. Has a tightrope-button puzzle surrounded by 360 imp turrets over nukage. Followed by a lengthy SHAWN2 maze, and a surprise Spectre pit that killed me because the mandatory berserk was unreachable amidst jam-packed Spectre collision boxes. Final areas were unchallenging. Verdict: Not worth playing, unless really bored.
  
  
• I Am Very Weird - Martin & Christopher Bazley
  Ultimate Doom - Vanilla - Solo Play - 41552 bytes -
  Reviewed by: Canofbacon
  The title of this WAD is "I Am Very Weird." I dunno what that has to do with the WAD, but the title doesn't really matter so it's okay. The gameplay is pretty basic, and it doesn't have anything super exiting in it. I should mention that the WAD has a handful of useless teleporting which can be a little annoying. It also has some pit traps that you can't escape, which is also a bit annoying. However, from reading the textfile we can find out that the main person who made this is 7 years old, so it suppose we can let the annoying traps and teleporting slide. One or two rooms are actually pretty nicely detailed, but the rest is just basic rooms with some small details, nothing too fancy. Overall, this isn't a horrible WAD, but it's nothing too great. I recommend downloading this if you are running out of better WADs to play.
  
  
• Sewer Control (release 3) - Martin Bazley
  Ultimate Doom - Vanilla - Solo Play - 39761 bytes -
  Reviewed by: Tuxlar
  Lazy visuals and detailing. Semi-claustrophic layout. Spectres trapped on mini-stairs. Uninteresting and unchallenging. Short duration. Verdict: Not worth playing, unless really bored.
  
  
• The Catacombs (release 2) - Martin Bazley
  Ultimate Doom - Vanilla - Solo Play - 25808 bytes
  Reviewed by: doomguy93
  The Catacombs (release 2), "ccombs.wad" created by Martin Bazley, is a frustrating one map wad implemented for single player, co-op and deathmatch. From the start, the map looked poorly designed with long and dark narrow corridors. The enemies are easy to kill, but there was literally nothing fun about this wad. If this map was better detailed along with more strategically placed enemies, then maybe it would have been better. I would imagine that deathmatching with this wad wouldn't be any better than single player or co-op. Overall, the wad is NOT worth downloading. Don't waste your time.
  
  
• Demon Asylum - Sophie Kirschner
  Doom 2 - Vanilla - Solo Play - 319812 bytes -
  Reviewed by: Tuxlar
  Competent, "standard" visuals and details; minimal thematic diversity (hope you enjoy tan-colored everything). Non-linear layouts with lots of unneeded fluff, especially early on. Lots of semi-obvious secret areas. Too easy for my tastes, but not boring; recommend pistol starts. Verdict: Worth playing.
  
  Also, has a thread on the forums.
  
  
• Sinister Halls - Five Magics
  Doom 2 - Vanilla - Solo Play - 73131 bytes -
  Reviewed by: Tuxlar
  Minimal visual embellishment, but decent and diverse enough thematically. Virtually every line on the map is 90 degrees. Too easy for my tastes (on UV), but was not boring. Uncomplicated progression, but some backtracking appears to be needed. Early exit possible; recommend not exploiting. Verdict: Worth playing.
  
  
• Little Evil. - Lukasxd
  Doom 2 - ZDoom Compatible - Solo Play - 127834 bytes -
  Reviewed by: Tuxlar
  Competent and intricate detailing. Somewhat easy, standard gameplay, albeit very short. Layout claustrophobic, with triggerables in weird shapes, sizes, and places. Appears to end after a brief "boss" battle. Verdict: Worth playing.
  
  
• Styx Deathmatch 03 - Richard "Styx" Jaspars
  Doom 2 - Vanilla - Deathmatch - 29041 bytes
  Reviewed by: doomguy93
  Styx Deathmatch 03, "styxdm03.wad" created by Richard "Styx" Jaspars, is a DM wad that consists of one nicely crafted map. The map is beautiful with hellish tan brick textures and strategically-placed items. The map also has good flow even when playing against bots. I would recommend when hosting a server to have at least 3 or 4 players, though it could possibly have around 8.
  
  The author should definitely look to submit this to a deathmatch megawad project. Overall, excellent wad. Download if you are an Old School DM fan like I am.
  
  
• Bryan J's Room of DM (Conversion of BSMAZE from MapEdit on Blood) - xBRYAN2000x
  Doom 2 - Vanilla - Deathmatch - 11185 bytes
  Reviewed by: doomguy93
  Bryan J's Room of DM (Conversion of BSMAZE from MapEdit on Blood) "bjroomdm.wad" created by xBRYAN2000x, is a tiny one-map wad implemented for 1-on-1 deathmatching. I haven't played this online or with bots, but I can just say that it just isn't my style of DM. I don't particularly like tiny DM maps even if it is for a 1-on-1 duel. The map even has a BFG in the middle which is ridiculously easy to get. The textures are ugly in my opinion.
  
  Overall, it reminds me of a wad called "shoot.wad" which I really wasn't all that crazy about. If you like small/symmetrical 1-on-1 DM maps with easy to get weapons, then download this. If this doesn't interest you, then avoid this.