12/09/2006 @17:57:42 ^20:11:46

Nilla DooM

Yes it is written that way. Some people do. Some people write it all in capitals. I have no idea why, Doom looks much more natural, the Quake logo is all in capitals as well but it's always written Quake. I think maybe Doom's original press releases in 1993 or whenever wrote DOOM though. Also I mean if you're trying to imitate the game logo properly you'd end up with D°°M. Yeah, degree signs, the ultimate fanboy writing. Don't get me started on people who write Doom 2 as DooM ][.

Anyway Nilla DooM replaces MAP01-MAP07 of DooM [] no wait ][ no fuck it Doom 2 with a highly varied and tough set of maps. First thing you notice is the order you get the weapons in. There's no shotgun to begin, no, first you get a plasma gun! It then goes shotgun, super shotgun, rocket launcher, chaingun on successive maps. I think. You might be able to get a chaingun earlier than MAP05 but maybe not. There's a BFG on one map but it's hidden.

The texture theme is weird too, it mixes everything together. But it does it with some skill and never looks bad, just odd. In fact it's quite inventive. Switches and computer panels covered in vines are common, and seeing base, brick and cave textures all relatively close to each other is too.

1. Plasma Springs: Part industrial base, part garden(!) This is apparently where you retired to after Hell on Earth
2. Greenseas: A vaguely town-like map surrounded by a slime lake. Much of the town is below the level of the lake, with brick walls keeping the slime out. It's a disaster waiting to happen...
3. Hot Shot: Red brick structures in underground lava-filled caves.
4. Call of the Zombie: Two large lakes surrounded by canyons and a couple of buildings
5. Unearthed: More underground caves, bricks and vines
6. Chance: Industrial-style buildings in caves, both underground and open to the sky
7. Tinman's Folly: Red bricks, red rocks, lava, this is like a factory in Hell or something.

On UV the gameplay is pretty nasty. The first two maps aren't so bad but the third starts to get nasty. 4 to 7 I have not been able to beat from a pistol start. For instance at the start of MAP04 you're in this wide open canyon with zombies (bullet weapons) everywhere. There's not much health or ammo. You pretty much have to carry ammunition forward for the last few maps; you could do it from scratch but you'd need so much luck you'd lose patience, I think.

But it's pretty good if you play all 7 maps in a row. Well... actually, it's pretty good if you play all 7 maps in a row once you know them. Unfortunately many of the maps basically require you to know them before you play them. For instance there are a number of single-use doors, lifts, teleporters etc. that basically lock you out of shit unless you know exactly what you're doing. I found this very irritating.

• MAP03 has a secret area accessed by jumping into a lava lake at a candle in the corner. When you run over it, you teleport. Unfortunately it's single-use and unless you know it's there and jump for it right at the start of the level a lost soul will trip it and you're locked out of the secret area.
• MAP05 has a secret area containing a soulsphere that you access by pressing a button that only works once. It causes a platform to lower briefly. Unless you a) know it's there b) have cleared the crowd of hellknights off the top of it you're not going to get the secret.
• MAP06: there is a berserk box at the start on a lift that only lowers once when you first walk out of the alcove you start in. Unfortunately the entire area is crawling with monsters so you're not going to want to charge out. If you try to let the monsters come to you, well, monsters can trip lift triggers and you've lost your opportunity.
• MAP07: perhaps worst of all, on the final map, in order to lower the pillar with the red key on it you have to press a switch. The route to this switch goes via a ledge which rises out of a lava river. In order to raise this ledge the player has to run over a candle stuck on the bank of the river. Now I don't know about you but I don't go running around over candles just to see if they do something - basically I don't see how anybody's going to work that out without resorting to using a map editor.

Those are all, for me, major annoyances. I hate single-use lifts, teleporters etc. I hate crushing ceilings as well, check out the chaingunner/revenant crossfire behind a crusher on MAP06 (the crusher means you can't just dodge back out of the room and use the doorway as cover), check out those stupid barriers on MAP07 that you have to stand around waiting for, for ages, and all the running through lava, shootable switches that were really easy to miss...

Basically you need to know the maps before you've played them and I can't see into the future. Bottom line, this wad tries to be imaginatively different and sort of succeeds but has a bunch of flaws that make it just a bit too annoying.