31/05/2011 @20:49:58 ^22:55:53
Double Impact An impressive E1 replacement. Nicely balanced, not too hard (except for the final map, which is pretty hairy) and looks good without overdoing the pointless detail. I particularly liked the lighting in the outdoor areas. Large, populated maps, though, that take a long time to clear, and a couple of annoying mazes I could have done without. Nevertheless this will probably end up as one of the wads of the year.
Ancient Hatred A slaughter-ish map in the theme of Doom2 map29 or Hell Revealed's "The Path", although much smaller. It still fits in 400 monsters and is very hard. Despite the claims in the text file, there appears to be no skill level support (wadspy says 15449 total monster HP for all skill levels, for example)
Phil's Infested Compound Remake of plutonia map17, requires that iwad to run. Pretty good but hard of course. I haven't played the original enough to know how well it compares. I liked the one secret.
Nukage Dump E1M3 remake/replacement. Solid and worth playing but unremarkable. That doesn't mean bad, it means I can't think of anything else to say. The secret exit is tedious to find. You press a button you have no idea what it does, it opens an invisible door right on the other side of the map. The berserk secret is largely invisible as well.
Pitfalls Another Plutonia map. Disjoint, has several mini-sections. The first part was quite pointless, you could have the first teleporter go straight to where the second one puts you and not lose much. It gets better once you reach the main part of the level, with the outdoor lake and rock island and so on, but overall pretty forgettable.
Malignant Manor A classic mid-nineties "realism" map with chairs and beds and pianos made out of sectors. Adds some new textures, black and white paintings on the wall. This map would be a lot better if any attention had been paid to the flow of it and e.g. the keys weren't hidden behind invisible secret doors; as it is, it's not worth the bother, you just get stuck and frustrated.
