21/09/2007 @07:53:23 ^09:27:36

Remain 1

Remakes of the first eleven maps of Doom 2, by the author of Generator of Evil. Varying degrees of similarity, some instantly recognisable, some with only a couple of things in common.

Looks good without being stupidly overdetailed, indeed it apparently works with vanilla (no visplane overflows) Gameplay level is quite easy, most of the maps took only a couple of attempts.

My pick of the maps would probably be 8, 10 and 11. 10 also has a nice speedrunning trick, but I think you'd need a map editor to find it.

Overall this wad is excellent, indeed it's restored some of my faith in the game - there are still people around who actually know how to map!

Links: remain1.zip

By the Pain I See In Others

Techbase in the mountains, runs on map16 for some reason. Kind of split into two parts.

You start in a small cave outside a small entry area that has two doors, one locked with a red key. The first half consists of exploring a techbase area until you have the key. The second half, which is more like a finale, involves a climb up through some larger caves to the top of a giant slimefall.

What I like about this one is its sense of space, high ceilings, jumping off high ledges and down waterfalls and so forth. It looks decent without being overdetailed, and isn't too hard, at least once you know what's coming.

There's a few secrets but some are quite hard to find; you may need a map editor. I can cheerfully recommend this one; the description in the text file about crusher mazes and unkillable cyberdemons turned out to be an exaggeration.

Links: bypain.zip

Tremor: Part I - Genesis

Large, highly detailed techbase, sort of like a green and tan version of Vrack. Unfortunately riddled with flaws.

For example, the claim that it's PrBoom-compatible is laughable. The author seems to be concerned more with putting shout-outs to his IRC friends in secret areas than doing proper testing. ZDoomisms - fake manuals and implicit passuses in particular - everywhere.

The detail is abundant to ridiculous levels, but it's very cliche and repetitive. For example, every sector has a border - Doom Builder's borders on sectors feature, overused again. If you ignore all the detail that's irrelevant to gameplay, you'd just end up with another large rooms and halls map; the player enters a new area, does whatever he has to do, and moves on, and the area is never seen again.

The gameplay is quite average, unevenly difficult, often with a frustrating lack of resources. On UV you're up against it for most of the way, but the final confrontation with two cyberdemons and a crowd of teleporting demons is rendered largely bypassable by an invulnerability.

Overall, I liked some of this map, but despite its attractiveness I can't recommend it, due to the bugs. Unfortunately it's this kind of map that newbs eat up and beg for more.

Links: tremor.zip