#Decade of DOOMstruction

[m39]

Decade of DOOMstruction(2000s): 8-9 maps WADs

One thing I noticed about episode replacements is that these are always made for Doom I. Seriously, it’s like moths flying to the nearest light source. That and in at least 8/10 cases they pay homage to the first episode from what I’ve seen.

But anyway, here are the best episode replacements for the classic Doom games.

VANILLA

2000 – THE CLASSIC EPISODE

Let me tell you now, that if you enjoy homages to KDitD, you will enjoy this WAD. If you are like me and expect something more from these, you can skip it.

One of the biggest restrictions in making Doom I WADs is the much smaller amount of enemy types, with this game having only one high-tier and one mid-tier enemy with the rest feeling like cannon fodder, where only hitscanners have a chance to hit you if you are a god of dodging. And this WAD suffers from it, with encounters being either boring or tiring due to having a small amount of rockets and cells until around the second half of E2M7.

Other than fights, it’s basically (and probably mostly) a bizzaro E1 – simple, yet abstract locations and rather simple to play through maps, with maybe one or two moments where you get stuck if you are an idiot like me and miss an important switch right next to you.

2002 – CH RETRO EPISODE

This WAD gave me a better experience than the last one since it doesn’t feel like it overstays its welcome until around the second half/ last third and it doesn’t have tiring encounters with cacos and barons; just boring and, sometimes, annoying ones.

Still, it’s basically another E1-based episode replacement that doesn’t really add anything significantly memorable.

2004 – PHOBOS REVISITED

I think this WAD might be the best one by far. Taking the foundations of the original episode and flipping some of its concepts upside down, giving it a fresh experience to the familiar locations, utilizing original secret areas as regular ones, and also making it harder and better looking (it’s still rather easy though).

Out of all the vanilla WADs in this category (at least the ones that I replayed now), I would say to try at least this one. This one is good.

2008 – BACK TO BASICS

While better WAD than Ruma, primarily due to having no new, piss-poor sound effects, I’m still not fond of Espi’s level design.

While I appreciate how it is not yet another E1 reference WAD like the previous one and how it manages to do some tricks with the engine on vanilla restrictions, it still suffers from the boring and (occasionally) tiring fights with Doom I’s limited bestiary (although the fights didn’t feel as boring as the previous WADs), added with infuriating backtracking that I feel like it forces you to go through at least half of the map per one just to open a colored door/press another switch. Topped with some of the secrets being annoying to grab due to forced SR40/50 straferunning and the fact that you are forced to pistol start the final map because fuck you and your BFG.

While I still recommend playing this WAD (if at least for the secret map that is), I don’t think it’s worth playing further after E2M7.

WINNER

Let’s cut to the chase, people – Phobos Revisited earns the first GoldenSpider Nest award for the best episode replacement of the decade. It’s kind of hilarious how the vanilla WAD that references Knee-Deep in the Dead the most in the one that gave the most fun.

Even though I am not that fond of the rest of the WADs, I must choose the runner-up. And for me, it’s the CH Retro Episode that deserves to get this title. Back to Basics might be better than that WAD, but at least CHRE wasn’t as frustrating as BtB.

Now, let’s move on to the second half of this category.

SOURCE PORT

Let’s hope that the following WADs will give me more fun than the previous ones.

2003 – PHOBOS: ANOMALY REBORN

And we immediately start off with a bang.

This WAD has some of the most gorgeous maps ever created in the 2000s; made even more impressive that it looked like it was all made with nothing BUT Doom I stock textures. It all looks insane.

It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, though. Many encounters have a hard time living up to the standard of being actually fun, rather than being forced to fight barons with shotgun/chaingun, fighting hitscanners with next to no cover, or just being straight-up boring.

It’s not as great as it was when I first played it, but it's still a good WAD worth checking out, especially for its design and interaction with the environment.

2006 – THE CLASSIC EPISODE PART 2

A sequel to the original Classic Episode WAD, made by the same guy, and it’s at least 100% better than the original. Having a hub map that gets more corrupted when you reach it for the last time is great, along with encounters feeling much less boring, tiring, and (to some degree) annoying. And as for the complexity level of the maps, I guess it’s somewhere around the same level as the previous WAD, AKA not that much.

This one is worth checking out.

2009 – MAPGAME

Another, pretty solid WAD IMO. It kind of spices up the gameplay by switching the chaingun with a projectiles-based flare gun, and transforming spider mastermind into a much weaker turret (it’s still a hitscanner but at least it’s something fresh in the roster), but aside from these, it’s a rather standard E1 replacement with pretty locations (not as pretty as PAR though). That’s all I have to say for this WAD.

WINNER

And now, it looks like I have a problem since all of the WADs are good, but not really amazing. I would gladly give the second Golden Spider Nest award for Phobos AR, but then I am reminded that fun shouldn’t be hindered by pretty locations. So, ultimately, I give the award for Mapgame, and the other two WADs get named runners-up.

Now that I’m done with episode replacements, I can only hope that I’ll finally play some Doom II stuff in the next category.

I’ll see you then.

[m39]

Decade of DOOMstruction(2000s): 30-32 maps WADs (vanilla)

Just a little warning before we start: Four WADs from this batch were played on easy because they were hard, and I want to be less tired when playing them. Avert your gaze if you are allergic to easy difficulty plebs. Also, try to guess which WAD I haven’t played like this.

BTW, I’ve decided to spice up my playthroughs of Revolution and Alien Vendetta with MIDI packs. It definitely helped with the former which has nothing but stocks.

Speaking of which…

2001 – REVOLUTION!

This WAD is still fun to play. It has some annoyingly cheap moments involving being surrounded by hitscanners, and the amount of damage floors might be too much in at least one-third of the maps, but the rest of it is great. I especially like the first third of the WAD, where stuff happens on Earth (at least I think that was Earth), and you explore many... earthly locations for the lack of better words (but there are still moments where the other maps shine).

Also, the MIDI pack has bangers. Worth playing with it if you are allergic to stocks.

This WAD is worth checking out, even if I feel like it should tone down with cheapness and damaging floors (even when I think that it’s easy).

2002 – ALIEN VENDETTA

Another WAD that still holds up. Sure, the last sixth of it might feel like a slog (not counting yet another oh-so-popular icon of shit map), especially MAP26 and MAP27 (to a lesser degree than the former), and, if I’m being honest, can be kind of outdated in some places, but other than that, it was a blast most of the time. Maps like Misri Halek are something that should be played without any prior knowledge. And the MIDI pack from 2022 only helps it (it made some of the more sluggish maps less annoying).

I 100% recommend checking it out, if just for MAP20.

2003 – SCYTHE

Aside from MAP28 (which I refuse to even touch with a 2m long stick), this WAD was also just as much fun as it was before. AKA pretty good. This WAD is a perfect choice for people who want to play small maps rather than some monolithic-sized ones, with only MAP26 and 30 being oddballs of slaughter fest variety. It also (haphazardly) splits into three episodes, starting easy and getting harder and harder with each episode.

Not to mention how it’s a megaWAD that doesn’t end on another icon of shit.

Check it out.

2004 – HELL REVEALED II

Oh… Oh boy…

I’m gonna be straight with you people – I skipped like four maps in this WAD (bonus ones, MAP27 and 28; not counting MAP30 because it’s yet another icon of shit) because I was that done with it using every cheap tactic at least once per map and the WAD itself overall. I felt like at least one-third of it was made with the idea of shoving as many monsters as possible on maps blockier than LEGO. And that’s just on easy. I’m still surprised I managed to finish it twice in the past on normal without burnout. If not for the fact that the music is great, I would probably throw a towel around half a point; up to the two first thirds if I would have a better mood.

Now, my rant aside, it’s not really a bad WAD per se, because it has some fun moments. It just feels so outdated even by the standard of the year it was released that I would recommend it only for people who are really curious about this WAD, or masochists who eat a couple of slaughter/hard maps on breakfast all at once.

I recommend checking Dean of Doom on this WAD to see how insane it gets (on Ultra-Violence that is)

2005 – SAMA KUTRA

Now, this WAD is what Hell Revealed II should’ve been. It has a smaller amount of blocky maps stuffed with demons (although, I still skipped two maps due to this fact) and replaced them with the ones with fun gimmicks like the map getting darker with each grabbed key, the one that happens on the sports gymnasium, and the one resembling a mini-golf course (and it’s a shame that the only map that’s talked about when the WAD is mention is MAP30 and its… Hellaverse fitting humored).

Not to mention the WAD feeling less cheap than the previous one (although, there are still moments here and there). The music could have less semi-duds, though.

Still, if I had to choose between this WAD and HRII, I would go for this one. It gave me much more fun.

WINNER

Back in 2022, I wasn’t sure if Alien Vendetta was the best WAD of the 2000s’ because I have so many more WADs like this to check out.

Today, I am confident to say that… it is (at least when it comes to having 32 maps and with vanilla restrictions). And so, it gets the first Queen of Diamonds award for the best 30-32 maps long megaWAD of the decade. And as for runners-up, I am naming Revolution and Scythe 1 as those.

For the next roster of WADs… oh God… get yourself some anti-insomnia pills.

We have community projects galore coming up.

[m39]

Decade of DOOMstruction(2000s): 10-19 maps WADs

Disclaimer: I updated GZDoom to version 4.13, because 4.12 had a bug where partial invisibility couldn’t make enemies miss their shot.

With that said, let’s take a look at today’s patch of WADs.

VANILLA

2000 – THE DARKENING EPISODE 2

Finally, a Doom II WAD.

Being a homage to Quake II like the first Darkening to Quake I, this WAD ended up better than I expected. Sure, some of the levels tend to get annoying (like the final map being the biggest case of a mangled maze filled with corrosive slime), but it wasn’t that painful most of the time. And it was rather easy might I add (with a couple of cheap hiccups). Also, my past self was right; I do appreciate the music more now (although I still think some tracks are too loud and have questionable parts in them).

It might be an over two decades old fossil of the WAD, but it didn’t age that horribly.

2001 – SLAYER

Oh, great. This one.

It’s far from being a bad WAD. It’s just that I have so many pet peeves with it. Starting with relatively minor ones like pea shooter/chaingun and shotgun now sounding like hammers, to the more severe ones like how the WAD is hard for the wrong reasons, forcing you to fight hordes of mid to high-tier enemies in small areas, and/or hitscanners with next to no cover (especially during the latter half). Not to mention the piss-poor start of the first map, where you are forced to fight an armada of hitscanners with just a peashooter in order to get ammo/shotgun for later.

It’s basically not my cup of tea.

WINNER

Yeah, the winner should be obvious. It’s the Darkening Episode 2. It gets the Platinum Bone Zone award for the best 10-19 maps-long WAD of the decade. And, as much as I don’t like it, I am obligated to put SlayeR into the runner-up category.

That was the first half of this category. Let’s take a look at the second one.

SOURCE PORT

2001 – EQUINOX

Welcome back, B.P.R.D!

One of the earliest works of this guy, and... oh boy. New sound effects that are loud as fuck, some of the locations might feel too big in some places, and it’s overall kind of janky.

And yet, most of the time, I had a small blast playing again. Sure, it’s not as good as when I played it in the past, but there are still many great things about it: the music, some of the level design aging greatly, how it creates lore without any shred of dialogue or plot written in the textfile, and encounters, while being dry on ammo most of the time, were rather fun for around 80% of the playthrough.

Not to mention the hub area getting more, and more destroyed with each visit.

It might be old, and it might be janky, but I still recommend you to try this WAD out. But maybe play it on easy on the blind playthrough, just in case.

2005 – CRIMSON CANYON

This is another WAD that ended up better than I expected.

Sure, MAP05 tends to get annoying with its backtracking and switch hunting (its size doesn’t help), but the rest of the levels were pretty good. It all looks good as well, with enemy encounters being rather easy with a couple annoying ones sprinkled in between for the lack of better words. I wish the music was slightly louder, though.

Oh, and as a bonus, you can play an additional two maps from Congestion 1024 made by the author of this WAD.

2006 – HELLCORE 2.0

I still very much like this WAD; especially when it comes to how it was made. The original Hellcore was nothing but an unfinished mess of maps that both of its authors wanted to make but got burned out due to the 9 years of it being in development and released what was finished. But it looks like they weren’t satisfied, so they dusted-off, and revamped nine original maps, added three additional ones, and so they made something great (asides from the new enemy in the credits map; he kind of reeks of cheap shit).

This WAD gets my 100% recommendation.

2007 – IT ONLY GETS WORSE

And we drop the quality to another Mockaward winner… Yippee...

Okay, I’ll try to be brief: While not as bad as Doomworld Forums 3 (mostly because jokes aren’t related to the events of that site and its cutscenes are more polished), it’s still just a bunch of LOL SU FOONY maps for the sake of random stuff being thrown at your face. I might like random humor (mostly talking about Gmod/SFM stuff), but this WAD feels like a low-hanging fruit.

And people say Gen Alpha is watching brain rot.

2008 – REMAIN 3

Thank God! Eternal is back!

Now, on a more serious note, aside from a few annoying encounters/new enemies, I still really enjoy this WAD. I like how it pays homage to the original maps from MAP06 onward, either with their mechanics or visuals that look more like a title to the original Doom II map. Even then, the first five maps, more original ones, didn’t feel samey when compared to each other for the lack of better words. And hey! It’s not that hard (if you don’t mind it)!

Another banger worth checking out.

WINNER

Looks like we have a harder choice again with Hellcore and Remain 3. Both WADs are great, but hey. Only one winner.

Part of me wants to give the second Platinum Bone Zone to Hellcore 2.0 due to the sheer determination of its authors to create something great out of what was previously good at best; but on the other hand, Remain 3 was for me less polarizing than the former WAD.

And just by that, Remain 3 gets the award, but only by the margin.

Other WADs (not counting It Only Gets Worse) get named runners-up. Yes, even Equinox; despite its jank, it deserves some recognition.

THE DRY FARM OF SIEGE COWS

Normally, the next WAD category would be dedicated to the WADs with 20-29 maps along with its dedicated award – Ruby Dairy Farm.

But it looks like the category is dry for the 2000s decade since there were no WADs for it. It’s even more severe than the 1990’s because at least there was one WAD to talk about.

So, yeah. That’s all I have to say for now.

Next up, we will be looking back at 30-32 maps-long WADs, and, like with the first two categories, we split it into two parts due to it having over 10 WADs to replay.

And, by the way, there will be at least two WADs that I’ll play on easy to not drag out the making-of part of this project.

I’ll see you next time with more megaWADs.

[m39]

Decade of DOOMstruction(2000s): 2-7 maps WADs (source port)

Oh, boy! A full stack of WADs to check out today.

Let’s hope at least half of these will give me fun.

2000 – HELL FACTORY

Ah, shit.

This WAD is a perfect reminder of how much the early 2000s ZDoom WADs aged like milk. New sound effects that are louder than the rest of the game (although, this con fits perfectly with other types of WADs as well); unskippable cutscenes; stealth enemies that pop out of nowhere when they attack (including the hitscanners); cringy/pretentious dialogue (I don’t think it would be good even if the author was better in English back then); these are bigger issues that plague this WAD. These and it being somewhat confusing due to its hub-based design.

It does have good moments here and there, but personally? I think it will be better if you skip this one. There are better hub-based ZDoom WADs out there.

2001 – DOOM RESURRECTION

This WAD was a surprisingly better experience than I expected. It removes most of the ZScript-related problems (stealth shit was still there, unfortunately -_-), while adding some interesting stuff in between. I know I was expecting more fun with this WAD, but I think it exceeded my expectations.

If you don’t mind the stealth shit, you can check it out.

2002 – DARK 7

Christ on a bike! Another early ZDoom WAD?!

Well, the good news is – no more stealth shitlings… the bad news is that obnoxious, new sound effects are back… with a vengeance.

And I’m not talking about the ones from Doom 64 (since these are always good, even though here, these are incomplete). I’m talking about the rest of those, including the ambient noises that will make you want to rip your ears out after hearing generic announcement #whatever for the nth time on MAP04. I feel like none of them fits here, either due to not having their volume adjusted (weapon picking one being the worst case (I think it’s from Unreal but I might be wrong)), or sounding nonsensically (never put flak cannon’s firing sound into the Doom’s rocket launcher).

It’s sad to think that the rest of the WAD was IMO rather good (aside from two jumpscare explosions on the first two maps), but the new sound effects make a playthrough of it a half torture at best. It’s basically the same problem with Ruma – enjoyable only if you don’t mind these changes or mute them all together.

Honestly, you can skip that one.

2003 – THE BROTHERHOOD OF RUIN

Compared to the previous WADs, this one feels like a golden bar found in the pile of dung heap. And even without comparison, this WAD is still pretty good; and its Mesoamerican theme only helps even further. It has some cheap moments here and there (like crushers and traps/ambushes with hitscanners), but the amount of pros is overall bigger than the cons.

Worth checking out.

2004 – DOOMWORLD FORUMS 3

…

The hell am I supposed to say about that thing?

I don’t want to sound mean or anything, but this WAD is nothing more but a ZDoom slop made out of more annoying features of this port (at the time), sprinkled with unfunny, outdated humor that references stuff that happened in the Doom community twenty years ago, of which I recognize only the RTC stuff from the beginning.

The only highly positive thing I can think of is that the titular forums look rather dope.

You can skip this one. Only people who experienced these adapted events will probably enjoy it.

2005 – HI-TECH HELL 2 – ALIEN TECH

Well, here is something odd – a WAD made for Doom Legacy (it thankfully became compatible with ZDoom after a while).

Compared with other ZDoom-like WADs, this one feels like a milestone, probably due to the simple yet time-saving option to skip the cutscenes.

Other than that, it’s still a good WAD. Sure, it gets annoyingly loud sometimes (especially on MAP03) and the layout of it seems to get confusing in some places, but other than that, it looks great, and is not really that hard, even when enemies’ counter goes over 200 in three maps.

Not as good as Brotherhood, but I still recommend it.

2006 – VAE VICTUS 2

This one ended up better than I remember.

MAP05 might still be confusing and the new music tracks (at least the ones that I recognize) are kind of scuffed compared to the original versions, but other than that, I can’t recon more significant cons of this WAD. It’s really fun to play. Worth checking out.

That’s basically all I have to say about this WAD.

2007 – EPIC

And now, we reached the final, three WADs in this category; some of the best ones; all made by the same guy. But the question is, do they still hold up?

Well, for starters, this one is still a banger to play. While it is kind of janky (one of Eternal’s earlier works), it is the best WAD in this category that I've played so far. It is also the second WAD on the list with ancient civilization stuff AND a train level. What’s not to like?!

2008 – GRAVITY

This one is still great (as well). Sometimes I wonder if this WAD or Epic looks better, but it doesn’t change the fact, that these two maps have some of the most impressive-looking locations made in the late 2000s’. Some of you might complain that it’s not really hard, but even then, I still, fully recommend playing it. You won’t be disappointed (aside from Gravitown’s music… probably).

Also, it’s less janky than Epic.

2009 – HELL GROUND

Disclaimer: Forget about what said about the MAP07 boss in my review of this WAD. It is not bugged. I was just too stupid to realize I was supposed to shoot the left eye from the right platform and vice versa. Someone please assist me with [[YOUTUBE]]. I am a failure of humanity.

Seriously, though, I really like this WAD. It’s like almost everything fits in there; the music from American McGee’s Alice only makes it better. Some of the enemy encounters can get annoying and some music tracks don’t exactly fit and/or are too short, but the amount of pros is much, MUCH higher than the one of cons.

100% recommendation.

WINNER

Here is a little spoiler for the winner, folks: Each of Eternal's WADs deserves the second award for the best 2-7 maps WAD of the decade, but only one will earn it. And in my opinion, it’s Hell Ground that gets the second Pink Pack award. The other two Eternal’s WADs (along with the Brotherhood of Ruin and Vae Victus 2) are, of course, named runners-up.

I don’t know how to finish this part. All I’ve got to say is that there are 7 8-9 maps WADs to check again next, so there won’t be any slitting into two halves.

That’s all for today, people. See you next time, with 2000s’ episode replacements.

[m39]

Decade of DOOMstruction(2000s): 2-7 maps WADs (vanilla)

Looks like we have another case of over 10 WADs in the category (with two vanillas again). Which means splitting this one into two parts yet again.

I have nothing else to add. Let’s just get to the first WAD.

2002 – RIP IT, TEAR IT, SMASH IT

My opinion on this WAD hasn’t changed much since the last time I played it. The second map kind of overstays its welcome with some confusing moments, annoying fights, and one part with a chess floor lift (-_-) but overall, it’s still a good and easy WAD.

I think I remember having a much better (and easier) time during my previous encounter with RiTiSi; probably because I played it after 007 WAD, and I don’t want to talk about this filth (for now at least). Probably any WAD from 2002 would be considered gold after playing that shit.

Back on the track, if you are interested in this WAD, check it out.

2005 – FOR WHOM THE BELLS TOLLS

I was expecting a worse experience with this WAD and without counting RNG screwing me over on this playthrough, it is a rather good WAD.

It’s detailed despite having vanilla restriction (probably because it’s basically one map split into two), and it’s not that hard, but some of the fights and gimmicks tend to get annoying, like tight areas and the arch-vile encounter at the end of the second part.

Still, it’s worth checking out, I guess? It won’t annoy you to the ass.

WINNER

It’s kind of hard to pick a winner for the first part of this category since both WADs are good, but that’s it.

But honestly, if I had to choose, I would choose Rip It, Tear It, Smash It to win the first Pink Pack award for the best WAD of the decade, with For Whom, of course, being named the runner-up. I just had more fun with the former WAD.

See you much later with another batch of WADs to check again.

[m39]

Decade of DOOMstruction(2000s): 1 map WADs (source port)

If you thought that there weren’t enough WADs to talk about previously, don’t worry. We have 4 times more of these today. And, oh boy… We are off with a bang.

2000 – CHORD 3

As in, the difficult type of a bang, the conclusion to the Chord series has a high chance to kick your ass. Unfortunately, by the end of 2000s standards, it’s closer to the cheap difficulty, with traps surrounding you with enemies, BEING surrounded by enemies at the start (at least there are no hitscanners at the start), the environment usually being against you, starving amounts of ammo until the end of the map, and the less we talk about the bullshit galore of the ending, the better.

I think I might have been more masochistic in the past since I found this map easier with my first review; probably because I found cheap stuff more acceptable and now I got more rusty.

Nonetheless, it’s still a fine map. I still recommend giving it a shot, even though the cheapness of this map might sour your experience with it. Don’t try it on UV when playing blind.

2001 – VRACK 2

This map, on the other hand, felt easier than the last time I played it. Sure, there are over 550 enemies on HMP, but on the other hand, you get a lot of rockets to use, and it doesn’t feel as cheap as the previous map; I’m not even mentioning how some of the secrets trivialize some of the harder moments of the map.

It still looks kind of impressive for a space station from a 2001 WAD. And it was less confusing than during my review of it (probably because I had a secrets guide I made for myself).

It might be an over-two decades-old fossil of a map, but it’s still a good map worth checking out.

2002 – RUMA

While Espi is still fondly remembered by the Doom community even to this day, and even after being dead for 15 years, I’m not really that fond of the decisions he made with his WADs.

Starting with this map, for instance, where the hardest thing to survive is not the small barrage of barons and revenants near the end, but the new sound effects. The pea shooter now sounding like an actual pea shooter, the profanation that is the super slapgun, and the horribly bitcrushed explosion from another game I don’t recognize which, makes me want to play this map muted.

Other than that, it’s still a good map in other parts of it. Sure, the army of zombiemen going down the hallway near the starting area is a bit much, but it’s not a hard map, and by the early 2000s, it looks neat. I think I might appreciate this map slightly more than the last time I played it since it doesn’t try to make unwanted gimmicks over the cost of fun.

If you think you can survive the new sound effects, go ahead and play this map. I don’t think it will disappoint you.

2003 – SPACE STATION OMEGA

It’s kind of hilarious how the author of this map would made the foundation for the Doom+2 port released this year.

As for this map, though? It’s basically one of those tech demos to see what ZDoom can do. My opinion on it doesn’t really change. Annoying? Sure. But it’s less annoying than some of the other tech demos of its time. You can give it a pass.

2004 – GROVE

Trees that block your every move. Darker than a baboon’s arsehole. Irritatingly cryptic in some places. Forces you to do things in a certain way to not rip your remaining hairs out. These are some of the elements that plague this map. A map that should fall apart, and yet it fits in many places.

It’s a marvel for eyes and ears, the atmosphere might be one of its kind, and despite ammo-starving you, you will still have enough ammo to kill all enemies if you know where to look.

This is a map only a madman with the mind of B.P.R.D. could understand 100%. Even though I still like it to some degree, it’s without a doubt one of the most polarizing maps in the WAD community. And yet, I still recommend you play it, if only for the sheer curiosity.

Check the bookcases in the house near the start.

2005 – ALTAR OF EVIL

This might be the best map in this category’s roster by far.

Not overly cryptic. Challenging but not going too far. Atmospheric. Good use of Doom 64’s sound effects. No hitscanners whatsoever.

It’s a really solid map worth trying out. It might have some sound glitches, and the starting area kind of reeks of bullshit, but hey, nothing is perfect. You won’t be disappointed with this one.

2006 – ONIRIA

Another great and fun map to play.

I don’t know how, but I think I enjoyed this map more than the last time I played it. Like Grove, it is one of the more unique experiences of playing Doom WADs, but at the same time, it is much, MUCH less polarizing than that map. Somehow trying to wake up from a monochromatic dream full of skulls to collect became one of the best 2000s WADs to play. And it’s a crime that it isn’t as remembered as the other maps from the roster.

Go ahead and play it. I 100% recommend checking this map.

2007 – SONGS OF THE DAMNED

Three great maps to play in a row, people. And the second one without hitscanners.

It slightly spices up the gameplay by nerfing cacos and lost souls… and plasma gun as well (SHIT), but aside from that, it’s a rather standard, but fun map to play. It might be cheap in some places, but aside from one secret that forces straferunning and the trial-and-error guessing game with the yellow key, this map wasn’t that cheap. It’s not that hard either. And it’s pretty fun to look at when it comes to its architecture and scale.

This map will not disappoint you either.

2008 – ESCAPE FROM CASTLE CHEZCREA

We end today’s roster with a little bit of a letdown (when compared to the previous three maps).

On its own, it is still a fun map to play; it has some interesting things to do, like picking up a pickaxe to unlock one of the secrets (and that pickaxe is not a sprite), but aside from that, it’s rather standard. Nothing else really sticks out aside from some cool locations.

Still, worth checking out.

WINNER

I believe the maps from 2005 to 2007 deserve the title of the best WAD of the decade. It’s like every element of each map snapped in the right place. Only one of them will get this title, though. And I believe that Oniria deserves the second One Man Army award for the best one-map WAD of the decade. The reason for its win is basically the same one why it was named one of the best WADs of 2006 – it stands out from both AoE and SotD.

That doesn’t mean that Altar of Evil and Songs of the Damned are left with nothing. I’m naming both of them runners-up in this category… along with Grove. I might be biased with the latter one, but look, despite its polarizing ideas, it should be at least recognized.

And that’s all for the one-map WADs. Stay tuned in the future folks. The time between each part will only get longer… probably.

[m39]

Decade of DOOMstruction(2000s): 1 map WADs (Vanilla)

Like with the 1990s’ WADs, we will be going from the lowest amount of maps per WAD, culminating on partial and total conversions; with vanilla WADs going on the first line. And this is the first map to check:

2001 – NULL SPACE

You know… I remember playing this map much more fondly years ago than playing it now.

This map aged rather badly. While the concept of two buildings being stranded in the void and looking bigger from the inside is still rather impressive by the 2001 standards, everything else is not. And while this map gets a huge thumbs up for not including any hitscanners asides from Spiderbitch, fighting demons on this map tends to get tedious and annoying most of the time, especially when it comes to a shit ton of imps behind small cages (I am mostly talking about the yellow key area and the bridge between two buildings). Not to mention how this map is mostly gray and brown.

Maybe I had a blast playing Null Space after playing SlayeR, which, wasn’t exactly great, to begin with. Maybe it’s because I was just starting with 2000s WADs and didn’t know much. Either way, while I wish this map could’ve been better, it wasn’t completely horrible to play.

2002 - CONGESTION CONTROL

I didn’t remember shit about this map, and yet I had more fun with it rather than the previous one. And this one starts with hitscanners in front of you.

It’s kind of a shame that this map isn’t more recognizable, because it beats Null Space in probably every department. It might be slightly annoying to move around the map, but other than that (and the fact that I didn’t recognize that I grabbed the blue key already a couple of minutes ago), I don’t think there are any bigger cons that trouble it. It doesn’t require any gimmick to be a very good map. It just is.

So, yeah. In the ironic twist of events, the first One Man Army award for the best single map WAD of the decade goes to Congestion Control, and it’s the Null Space that gets named the runner-up by default.

…

You know what? Since I don’t feel completely moody right now, I would like to come back to the 1990s for a moment and declare UAC_DEAD as another runner-up for that category. It honestly deserves it.

Okay. Enough of award-giving for today. Soon, we will be checking source port maps.

I’ll see you then.

[m39]

Decade of DOOMstruction(2000s): Introduction

So, uhm… How do I start this?

Somewhere at the end of February 2022, I started a project called Decade of DOOMstruction, where I took the best WADs from the 1990s, year by year (1994 onward to be exact), split them by how many maps they have (plus partial/total conversions), and chose which one gave me the most fun and named them the best of the decade.

And now, I’m doing it again, but with the 2000s’. Why not take a closer at that time period for a moment.

From what I’ve seen, by the 2000s’, source port requirement became a common thing in Doom WADs. With the release of the classics’ source code by the end of 1997, people went nuts with ports, raging from more accessible to modern computers, to allowing features from other Doom engine games like Heretic and Strife, ending on basically letting people make completely new games on this engine (something that is still happening with GZDoom). The same can be said about going nuts with WADs themselves, starting with the ones without the limits the original games have (although, there are still vanillas that keep these restrictions for lack of better words), going to the Boom-compatible WADs that use features related to the port (it might as well be marked as the unofficial Classic Doom 3 engine), to finally, ZDoom-compatible WADs, which were basically Boom-compatible WADs but with the amount of features on steroids.

Unfortunately, with the case of the ZDoom-compatible WADs, especially when it comes to the first half of the decade, many of these felt out of their heads and went too far. Like, the authors of these sniffed their own farts for so long, that they thought they were making another Half-Life-level of FPS revolution when in reality, these were just glorified tech demos of what was possible at the time with this source port and its following branches. But that’s just how I feel about the ZDoom WADs that I played from that period.

Despite knowing that some of the WADs I will play in the near future might not be rather fun (usually because many of these won their respective Revenant Awards by default), I’m still excited to see if these WADs hold up after playing them.

There are, however, some additional changes to the second part of the project:

Firstly, after choosing the winners in all categories, I will also be talking about honorable mentions; WADs that were close to becoming the winner in their respective RA categories, but lost due to one or two factors. That includes WADs from the 1990s.

Secondly, in cases of WADs where the amount of slaughter maps is higher than 33%/50% (I still can’t decide which option is better for me), I’ll be playing these on the easy skill level, because it will take me less time to finish these (and I won’t feel that tired after finishing them).

Finally, when the number of WADs (vanilla and source port ones combined) is above ten, I’ll split the category into two parts (one for vanilla WADs, one for the source port ones), in order to give you something to read and not wait long for the next part, and to not burn myself out.

I believe that’s all I have to say. In a moment we will be taking a look at the first batch of WADs (it would’ve been days earlier but personal stuff happened).

[m39]

Doom WADs’ Roulette Bonus Round: Community Chest 1

We interrupt Decade of DOOMstruction to give you some bonus slop.

B18: Community Chest 1

Main author(s): Various (project lead by Dale Harris (cadman))

Release date: June 13th, 2003 (database upload)

Version(s) played: ???

Required port compatibility: Boom

Levels: 32 (standard 30 + 2)

Well, folks… Community Chest series had to start somewhere. I reviewed the second and third installments, of which the former was a better experience despite being more polarizing. And now, we will be taking a look at the first one.

I’ve already talked about how this project came into fruition in my CC2 review, so I’ll try to be quick here – Dale Harris (TeamTNT member) wanted to give less-popular WAD makers a spotlight, came out with the idea for community project that was released around almost a year later, and one of its contributors, Kevin Reay (Magical), died weeks before CC1’s release, with his death only being known half-a-year later.

Now, before properly taking a look at this community project, I’d like to tell you that I won’t be playing the maps the aforementioned Kevin Reay contributed, AKA Goin’ Down (not to be confused with Cyriak’s WAD) and Citadel at the Edge of Eternity, because from what I’ve heard and seen, these two maps are borderline masochistic in terms of the difficulty (mostly the latter map), and crypticness. If I wanted to check these maps as well, I feel like the in-making progress of this review would get longer by at least two weeks just to calm my nerves after playing them.

Also, I only played most of the maps twice. I don’t really have enough patience to go through some of these more than one time.

The story with how the maps look is the same as with any other community project that I played, AKA mixed to the max. Some maps look great, some look primitive, some are in between, yadda, yadda yadda. All in the good, old, 2003 standards of quality.

You might as well mute the music while playing this project because only the title and text screens along with 6 other maps in the final third have the new tracks. Not to be an asswipe, but making the maps as orthodox as possible with textures and music doesn’t sound like a great idea to begin with.

Gameplay-wise, it’s basically the same mixed bag as with every other community project; maps are either big or small (although there weren’t many that felt like they overstayed their welcome), simple or convoluted, and might usually have at least one annoying gimmick that felt outdated even by 2003, like long backtracking, chess-moving floor (although it happened only once from what I can remember), areas that are dark as shit, etc.

I think that in order to not end this section too quickly for the lack of better words, it would be a good idea if I talked about some of the more memorable authors (mostly for the wrong reasons). Starting with Gene Bird.

scare chord

Now, I already talked about him in my CC2 review, so I’ll try to be brief – his maps feel like a 1994 mess made by a preteen back then, and then uploaded years later, only to end up in this community project, making me feel like these were filler maps, because not enough people were interested. But at least his maps were more enjoyable to play compared to some of the more moon-logic-filled WADs I’ve experienced in the past.

Ground Floor felt like a mushed-up, mangled maze; like it’s the first thing I would think of when it comes to bad WAD design, making me go around the large chunk of a map to reach an area right behind the wall I stand next to. But at least the theme wasn’t a complete mess like the maps from Gene Bird.

Mike Alfredson, meanwhile, puts out annoyingly large maps that tend to have a lot of backtracking to be brief. These maps are basically what I was expecting from the first CC. I played them only once, and I don’t think I’d like to play them again (even if MAP13 feels more straightforward)

Oh, yeah, there is also the Ultimate Doomer himself – Stephen Clark. His maps are actually interesting, with Pistol Panic (as the title says) focusing on playing most of it with only your peashooter, and Technodrome having a bomb at the end of it and giving you two minutes to exit the map after activating it (at least it’s not the entire map). But, for some reason, he shoved a bunch of Voodoo dolls into his maps, to make them artificially harder in some areas, because… uhm… Muh artistic vision. Am Le Artiste.

Pretentious snorting

I don’t think I’ll ever understand this guy.

Oh, yeah. I almost forgot. Icon of shit in MAP30. What a lovely surprise... At least it looks great and it has a cool gauntlet of enemies before it.

My opinion on how hard these maps are will end up incomplete (as I mentioned at the start, I only finished most of these maps twice), but I can’t recon them being hard. There were annoying moments for sure (like in every community project), but never into the terms of I don’t want to play this map ever again.

I do remember, however, seeing a couple of bugs; it was mostly demons getting stuck in the floors, at least one instance of void in the ground, and one of the voodoos stuck in the floor on the first map.

Community Chest 1 is rough, to say the least. At least 1/4th of the maps feel like a filler due to these being released before the compilation, and the rest of the content can be good at best, but that’s rather rare from my experience. I just feel happy that I won’t have to deal with this WAD anymore… well, not until 100 most memorable maps at least.

And yet, in spite of everything, I can’t really bring myself to hate this WAD. Because without it, I don’t think we would have bangers from future installments like Mucus Flow for instance.

Now with that WAD done, come back in the (hopefully) near future, as we will be going back to the Decade of DOOMstruction.

[m39]

Community Chest 1 review status

So I just finished my blind playthrough of this WAD a couple of hours ago. It wasn't as bad and tiring as I expected; probably because I skipped Kevin Reay's two maps that he contributed; I heard that these are insanely hard and cryptic. If I played them, I would still be suffering with this WAD for ages. I thought I would finally be able to break my curse of finishing community projects like CC quadrology or NDCP duology without interloping it with other WADs, but uhm... guess I was wrong. Again. Then again, Tetanus became another official add-on for the official Classic Doom ports from 2019 so I have a mighty need to play it. Speaking of ports, these were upgraded into one package called DOOM + DOOM II; now running on a KEX engine among other things such as a new mod standard called ID24, and the new WAD created by Id, Nightdive, and MachineGames called Legacy of Rust, specifically made for this mod standard. So basically, yeah, the blind playthrough for Community Chest 1 is done, new stuff for Classic Doom remaster is ready to check out, and as for me, I'm taking a week-long break from reviewing WADs to also play other stuff on my Steam library. After that, the Decade of DOOMstruction will be back with the 2000s best WADs I chose (with the CC1 review being made in between). See you all in the future.

[m39]

Doom WADs’ Roulette: Revenant Awards 2008

You look out of the bunker. You see nobody.

Okay, I think they are gone now. I’m back on the surface.

THE IRON KUNG FU DOOM GUY – REVENANT AWARDS 2008 EDITION

Well, folks... We did it. 15 years of the best Doom WADs (according to Doomworld and not even all of them) reviewed. It is another big milestone, yes, but only one WAD will win one of the awards, and in this ceremony, we will be choosing four winners (not counting the ones by default).

Okay, enough of the pretentious rambling. Let’s start with the first category.

SOLE SURVIVOR – BEST ONE-MAP WAD OF THE YEAR

In this case, we have a surprise. The winner is the underdog – Escape from Castle Chezcrea. I do realize that XXXI CyberSky is a better map in almost every department, but unfortunately, that map is also a slaughter-type one, and I’m not really fond of these. At least Chezcrea is more accessible.

PUG-OF-PINK – BEST 2-7 MAPS LONG WAD OF THE YEAR

Here, though, Eternal and his WAD, Gravity, easily win. Thunderpeak has its moments, yes, and gameplay-wise is more interesting to play, but, like many other ZDoom before it, it tends to have annoying and unnecessary moments that feel questionable at best. Not to mention Gravity looking much more pleasant and original compared to the other WAD.

PLATINUM REVENANT – BEST 10-19 MAPS LONG WAD/MEGAWAD OF THE YEAR

Another category, another slam-dunk by Eternal, this time with Remain 3. It feels like a reverse situation with Sole Survivor, where one of the two WADs (in this case Deus Vult II) is better than the other one in many departments but I still prefer the other WAD because it’s not a slaughter map/WAD. In that category, Eternal’s WAD lost; in this, however, his WAD won. Even when most of the non-slaughter maps from DVII are better than in Remain 3, I would still rather play the latter.

OFF THE WALL – BEST PARTIAL/TOTAL CONVERSION OF THE YEAR

I thought it would be harder to choose the winner here, but it wasn’t that hard. Of course, I removed Eternal Doom IV and BGPA from the equation because these are just more of the stuff that I hate in their predecessors. Meanwhile, Community is Falling 3 and Cold as Hell: Special Edition might be technical marvels at the time they were originally released, but the former’s almost entirely juvenile humor and the gameplay becoming more and more annoying as you progress, and the latter’s questionable decisions with some new mechanics and changes in gameplay, soured my enthusiasm for these WADs (but at least I managed to finish Cold as Hell compared to Community 3).

And so were are now with two golden eggs – Urban Brawl and Chex Quest 3 (or Chex Quest Trilogy as I like to call the latter). One is the FPP Beat ’em Up that came out of nowhere and became an instant classic that I am appreciating more and more with each passing day; the other is basically Doom for children that even adults can enjoy.

But there is one thing in Chex Quest Trilogythat makes it better by an inch– expectations. Urban Brawl is the prequel to Action Doom, an already fun homage to Contra and similar games, so people thought they would get a fun game too after playing the previous one (and they got); Chex Quest’s concept sounds like a perfect recipe for disaster and people were expecting flop before ending up surprised that it was a high-tier quality product. That’s what makes CQ3 the winner in this category.

But you know what? There is still a part of me that badly wants to play Urban Brawl again. Even if it’s not a winner of this category, I’ll still play this when the Decade of DOOMstruction returns as an honorable mention. I seriously need to try it again to see if I’m not losing my marbles.

OTHER AWARDS

And now for the WADs that won by default. Starting with Golden Spider (best episode replacement) and its winner, Back to Basics...

sigh

This WAD is lucky there wasn’t any other episode replacement, let alone the vanilla one.

But let’s not forget about Diaz: Last Hours of Purity. I didn’t like it that much, but it still deserves an award for being a gameplay mod for Doom. And so, I’ve come up with an award for it (and the future gameplay mods as well) – Tei Tenga’s Arsenal award for the best Doom gameplay mod of the year.

cricket noises

What? I couldn’t think of a better name.

CONCLUSION

And that’s all for the 2008 roster of Doom WADs. At this point of writing, I have reached the half point in Doomworld’s yearly lists of the best WADs. And that’s in almost four years since I started reviewing these things, with shorter or longer breaks.

Speaking of breaks, I need to finally finish both the original Half-Life and its Source remake Black Mesa. It might take me less than a week; it might take more than that. It will depend on how many WADs from the next year will check out. Either way, after one day of finishing both of these, I’ll start properly looking at the 2009 WADs.

Thank you all for reading my life-coping slop. I’ll see you next time.

Bye.

[m39]

Decade of DOOMstruction(90s): Partial/Total Conversions

Before we begin, let’s start with a reminder of what Partial/Total Conversion is:

From what I’ve learned, in Doom WADs, conversion is a type of WAD that changes/modifies the look and/or core mechanics of some/all things to make it different from the regular Doom gameplay. Sometimes it can even add new things like new enemies or weapons. Partial Conversion does this with at least some of this stuff, while a Total Conversion does it to almost all of the aspects, turning it into something that can’t be considered Doom anymore but a game made for Doom Engine.

But for me, it doesn’t matter how much it changes the Doom mechanics. What matters to me is how much fun I had with the WADs I’m about to play again. And the WAD can’t just have tweaked basic monsters and/or weapons. It needs something new added. Also, it needs to be confirmed as a conversion by DoomWiki to make sure I’m reviewing one.

Also, one last thing – at first when the Decade of DOOMstruction idea was starting to shape, I was thinking about judging the conversions like the regular WADs AKA giving a separate reward per map amount but then I realized that it would make it convoluted for all of us so I ditched that idea.

Now that rambling is over, we can finally start it up with something that Doom I was supposed to be at first.

1994 – ALIENS TC

We went a full circle here, folks.

This WAD is basically what can you expect from the title: an Aliens FPS mod created on Doom Engine. And yes, it is fun to play whenever or not you played any games with Xenomorphs in your life. Mostly it plays like the original Doom but with more scarce ammo, otherwise, it’s just as easy as the original stuff.

A little bit of advice: if you hate having a deficit of your ammo, skip the secret level. Otherwise, give it a chance. It won’t be as bad as you might think.

1995 – OBITUARY

Originally I planned to play A Fistful of Doom because I forgot that Obituary fulfills the requirements to be seen as a partial conversion. So I swapped that WAD with this one because I remember it giving me more fun than the Wild West filled with hitscanners.

Now, about Obituary. It’s still somewhat easy and fun WAD in spite of time not being kind towards it. This WAD feels inspiring for the Doom WAD community in my opinion since this might be one of the earliest cases of new weapons and enemies that would later appear in the future WADs like the Flamethrower and the Bazooka Man.

Unfortunately for me, I encountered two game-breaking bugs, forcing me to noclip to actually finish two maps. So be aware of this fact if you decide to play this WAD.

1996 – ARMY OF DARKNESS TC

This is the second out of three WADs that combine Doom Engine with the popular franchise. This time it’s the third Evil Dead movie. And I think it’s good WAD. It has several problems like The Pit and its convoluted mess of a labyrinth that might force you to waste your time if you want to finish this map by the book, and the variety of enemies being not really interesting since it was released for Doom I with a port for the sequel added later, thus making the fights boring for constantly killing Slaughtaurs with your Boomstick. Thankfully, the WAD’s atmosphere and the fact that it follows the story of the titular movie pretty decently, save it from being a complete boredom festival. If you are a fan of Evil Dead, go check this WAD out. You will have a blast.

Speaking of blast...

1997 – STRAIN

Now this is a fucking big one!

This WAD is a fucking goldmine of new shit – new enemies, new weapons, new textures, etc. Some of the best music tracks that were ever created in the 90s WADs! The tough but fair challenge for the most part! Pretty for the eye! Forget about your typical Doom strategy! You must adapt to the new enemies or else you will end up in a cemetery!

Although most of the enemies feel easier than the original counterparts, and new weapons feel underwhelming, this might be the biggest case of must-play WAD of the 90s that I can recommend. In fact, just stop reading and go download. Come back after finishing it.

1999 – BATMAN DOOM

...

I mean...

It’s fricking Batman WAD created by the creators of Rock of Ages! I don’t know how can you top that!

There are annoying enemies to fight, the Super Shotgun replacement is a rare case of it being overshadowed by the normal shotgun replacement, and you don’t really play as Bruce Wayne if you think about it, and yet this WAD mixes everything that makes Batman good (by the time it was created at least) into a single package. Another must-play to add to your WAD list.

THE WINNER

Welp... We might have a problem.

That problem is that both STRAIN and Batman Doom are so good that I feel like they are equal to each other. For different reasons, but still equal. But since I have to choose one, I declare STRAIN as the WAD who gets the Acid Trip award for the best partial/total conversion, with Batman Doom being the runner-up, but only, and I mean ONLY, because the former’s soundtrack is better than the latter’s one (and the Batman Doom’s soundtrack is also full of bangers).

TWILIGHT WARRIOR

Since we have only one conversion that requires a source port to launch properly, another award goes to Twilight Warrior by default. This WAD is basically a military shooter before this sub-genre became popular. From my personal experience that happened months ago, I can recommend this WAD only if you don’t mind hitscanners that much. Otherwise, it may not be a cup of tea for you.

CEREMONY CLOSING

And so, ladies, gentlemen, and others, we are done with conversions. In fact, we are finished with the 90s era of Doom WADs. I had a good time with most of these WADs that Doomworld recommended (the version of it from 2003 that is), while there were individual cases that pissed me off either by convoluted puzzles or unfair difficulty moments. I will remember the laughs, the cries, and other emotions from my underwhelming beginning as a WAD enjoyer to this day.

Phew

It’s time to take a break. Maybe for one week, maybe for two. It will depend on my work as an intern (that is not an April Fools joke lads, I’ve just started my three months long intern work today (let’s hope that my anxiety won’t stop me)) and if I’ll have motivation and time for this.

But until then, see you all next time.

Bye!

[m39]

Decade of DOOMstruction(90s): 30-32 maps long /MegaWADs

And so... we have reached the top... The WADs that have the same amount of maps as the original Doom II. These WADs might as well be considered separate games (or at least free expansions for the main game). They are tougher, prettier, bigger, basically better than the original game in every way.

...

Okay, you got me there. Not every single one of these WADs is like that. And, unfortunately, we will begin this category with the WAD that can be considered as a dud. I know it’s just a couple of weeks ‘till the Eastern Bunny will start shoving his choccy eggs/choccy mini-mes down our throats, but now... I feel like Kris Kringle himself.

VANILLA

1995 – H2H-XMAS

sigh

Looks like I’m giving this WAD another shot.

Originally, I didn’t give it the Full Deck of Diamonds award because this WAD was such a festival of mediocrity that I felt like it didn’t deserve anything. The only award I gave was to one of its mapmakers because his maps felt the most enjoyable.

But hey, now I am more experienced, and I played WADs that gave me a bigger headache than this one (in spite of them looking much better). Maybe I was too harsh for this WAD? Maybe there is more into it than I saw in the past? Maybe-

One playthrough later

Okay, it wasn’t really as bad as I remembered but it’s still mediocre at best MegaWAD.

And it’s not just mediocre WAD. It’s one, big, fucking mixed-bag, stitched together from the maps that were created for the Deathmatch mode. Some maps try harder not to feel like it while others don’t even try. The difficulty constantly goes from painfully easy to painfully unfair and tiring (and some of them in the latter case just straight up give up and shove the map with hundreds of Shotgunners and Revenants). Some maps look good and try to give you some Christmas feeling. Some don’t do that at all. The music might be pleasant and joyful but after around the fifth loop, you will want to cut your ears off. Santa sounds annoying as shit. It’s just pure mediocrity at its finest.

Let’s hope that this is the last time I’m playing this WAD. I have some advice for all of you: try downloading any other Christmas-themed WAD. I feel like you will actually find something better than this one.

1996 – ICARUS: ALIEN VANGUARD

Now, since we are done with the previous WAD, let’s talk about Icarus for a change.

After the controversy involving TeamTNT deciding to make TNT: Evilution a part of Pay-to-Play Final Doom mere hours before its original release in 1995, you would think that there would be no chance that Icarus would actually be good... Well, at least that’s how I’m trying to imagine what was happening in the past.

Well, I played both of these WADs, and let me tell you something – I still believe Icarus is better than its predecessor in every way and it should’ve been on Final Doom instead of Evilution.

Now, Icarus is not without flaws. The first level might be a little bit too difficult and relies too much on damage RNG, some of the maps like Donnybrook have bizarre ways of completing and maps 11 to 15 might quite possibly be the prime examples of how not to make a level for Doom WAD, with the beginning of Hydroponics as the biggest example. But despite these flaws, it still looks good considering the year it came out, the difficulty is fairer than Evilution, some of the more gimmicky levels are fun, the soundtrack (counting the WAD’s leitmotif) is very good, and three types of levels make Icarus thematically very interesting.

With this WAD, TeamTNT might have redeemed itself after the Evilution incident. Icarus has my full recommendation.

1997 – REQUIEM

It’s still amazing how after such a troubled production, this WAD ended up as a 90s all-star classic.

The levels look really damn good and are not overly complicated. The WAD is somewhat difficult without being oversaturated with hitscanners (with Hatred being an exceptional nut kicker because of Dario Casali). The music is pretty cool to listen to. New textures blend really well with the stock ones. It’s basically a very well-made WAD. Another fucking blast to play.

It’s hilarious to think that the creators of Requiem thought that THIS would be the Swan Song for Doom WADs. And, well, you at what we have today.

1998 – CYBERDREAMS

This is a short WAD but it’s a very interesting one. It resolves around Cyberdemons ( if you didn’t get it from the title), where you usually have to kill them by using crushers or telefragging in order to actually progress further. This is a really challenging WAD, where if things will go wrong, you will end up in the morgue. It doesn’t really get boring surprisingly since Cyberdreams often tends to reforge/invert what was done like, for instance, dozens of levels ago.

The only real problem I had with this WAD is that I felt like some of the levels should’ve been placed in later parts and/or remade since, in this playthrough at least, one of these levels ended up unbeatable for me (if you try to do it by the rules) due to the Big Cows’ behavior when being crushed (constant barrage of rockets even when crusher devoured half of their body during the second crushing). I don’t know if this is GZDoom’s fault but I feel like I remember that this behavior didn’t happen during my first playthrough months ago.

Still, it’s one of the more unique WADs of the 90s if you are kind of sick of the typical stuff, and it can be really fun to play (if RNG is on your side that is).

1999 – DEMONFEAR

Another short MegaWAD, but pretty intense one. Demonfear is basically a compilation of smaller WADs released between ’95 and ’99. It kind of feels like a showcase of the author’s evolution as a WAD maker. And I had a blast playing it. It kind of feels like every good quality WAD from the 90s was condensed into this small package.

Yet another perfect recommendation from me.

THE WINNER

It wasn’t actually hard for me to choose the winner for this category. And I’m going to say it now: Requiem earns the Queen of Diamonds award for the best 30-32 maps long MegaWAD of the decade. My latest playthrough on this might have been more sloppy than the previous ones, ending up with me having less fun than months ago, but there is no denying that this WAD is a must-play from the 90s era. And, as I mentioned earlier, it’s amazing how it ended up so good after so many problems in development.

The runner-up would be Demonfear, for being probably as equally fun as the Requiem (stupid only one winner rule). And remember this – if not Adam Windsor’s help on Requiem, that WAD would probably never happen.

THE HERIAN INCIDENT

But unfortunately for me... There is another WAD who will gain the award in this category. One of the black sheep and, in my opinion, a dud. And that is Herian 2.

A WAD that I can describe as Eternal Doom 2.0, where it takes all pros and cons of that WAD and multiplies it all by eleven.

The only reason it gets another award is that it earns it by default, both in terms of a year and a decade. If there were another WAD from ’99 that required a limit-removing source port on the DoomWorld’s list, you bet your ass that the other WAD would get the award.

CONCLUSION

And that was the last category in terms of WADs that doesn’t change the core mechanics of Doom for the lack of better words.

Only one category left to do. Don’t worry, it won’t take as long as this one... I think.

See you all next time.

Bye!

[m39]

Decade of DOOMstruction(90s): 10-19 maps long WADs/MegaWADs

Alright, kids! Playtime is over! We are moving on to some heavier stuff.

Well... not really since the two biggest 90s WADs from this category have only eleven maps.

...

That’s a bit of a letdown...

Oh well, I chose the categories’ amount of maps. I’m the only one to be blamed.

Okay, enough of wasting time. Let’s take a look at the nominees. >:]        

1996 – DYSTOPIA 3: RE-BIRTH OF ANARCHY

This WAD is a lot of fun. It looks amazing by ’96. You can basically wreck anything with Plasma Gun in like two levels. Some levels have fun gimmicks like racing on a literal racing track to survive or a multi-floor mine with the octagonal lift. I... I don’t think there is anything worth complaining about this WAD. Sure, there are some problems (like the music track in level 5) and some of the visuals might not look as breathtaking today as it was in the past, but I can’t find anything severely wrong with it. I can 100% recommend Dystopia 3. You won’t regret playing it.

1998 – EARTH

I see this WAD as Phobos (both of which were created by the same guy), but bigger and more polarizing. When it does something good, it feels really fucking awesome like at least half of the maps looking amazing and the new music tracks. But when it does something bad, like overly dark caves, Automap not showing you where to go in these caves, and the difficulty being based on RNG and what monster will appear in front of you, it can all go straight to hell in a more painful way than this WAD’s smaller predecessor. Fortunately for you, I would still tell you to give it a shot. Just mark my warnings about Earth, okay?

1999 – THE DARKENING EPISODE 1: THE NAMELESS PROJECT

This WAD may suffer from the Quake Syndrome most of the time, but holy shit! These maps can look amazing and distinct even when they are mostly brown. It’s not really that challenging for me but I feel like it makes sense since this is supposed to be the first episode, and these tend to feel easy compared with the rest of the episodes. Plus, this WAD uses many bangers from the other, past WADs. Overall, another really fun WAD to play that has my full recommendation.

THE WINNER

I’m gonna be honest with you folks. It’s pretty tough to choose the winner from this category since two of these WADs are so fun to play that I feel like they are equal to each other. But unfortunately, there can be only one winner of the Platinum Bone Zone award for the best 10-19 maps long WAD/MegaWAD of the decade. And it goes to Dystopia 3, ‘cause it looks better and tries to have some funny gimmicks in it. The first episode of The Darkening is, of course, the runner-up, cause it’s that good.

RUBY DIARY FARM BONUS

Now normally, I would move into the MegaWADs that are 20-29 maps long. But there is a problem – there is only one entry in that category. Which means this WAD, The Talosian Incident, gets the Ruby Diary Farm award for the best 20-29 maps long MegaWAD of the decade by default.

Now, I think I remember that I had mostly a good time with this WAD. So maybe it deserved it. Hopefully, the next decade will have more WADs for that category.

CONCLUSION

There was supposed to be another WAD in this category, but then I realized that it technically is a partial conversion (new enemies and weapons), so I changed its award from the Platinum Revenant one to the Off the Wall one and moved to the proper category. Its time to shine will happen later.

But until then, there is one last category of pure WADs that need to be re-reviewed. The big boys. Oh yeah.

See you all next time.

...

Fuck me, it’s gonna take a while.

[m39]

Decade of DOOMstruction(90s): 8-9 maps long WADs

If some of you don’t know/remember what an Episode Replacement is, it is a WAD that has eight to nine maps, which is the amount of levels that each of the three original episodes from Doom I (and Thy Flesh Consumed) has.

That’s how I interpret episode replacement. That’s how other people interpret episode replacement. So now let’s find out which one of these from the 90s gave me the most fun.

1994 – SLAUGHTER UNTIL DEATH

Out of all ’94 WADs that I have played so far, this one feels the most dated to me. It may be tough if you go here straight from the first Doom but now it feels like a face slap that you won’t even feel. Design-wise speaking, while there are still some locations that look good like the last two maps, now, from my modern perspective, the WAD looks basic in many places. Not to mention some decisions that will stagnate your process like some of the long-moving elevators and whatever the fuck that chessboard divided fuckery in Damned Bastards was. Still, it was the first WAD created by The Innocent Crew, and while it comes out as fine in my opinion if I look at it by my newest standards, it needs to be judged with some levity.

1995 – THE ENIGMA EPISODE

Would you like some brain aneurism? ‘cause this WAD will give you that.

Jim Flynn was a really bizarre WAD maker from what I read/experienced. He could create some of the most beautiful maps possible in Doom Engine, not to mention how he helped in the creation of Boom source port. On the other hand, he had tendencies to shove nonsensical moon logic into his WADs.

The Enigma Episode is a collection of remastered WADs Jim created in 1994-95. And while today the maps may look... blocky for many of you (including me), it still looks very good by the 90s standards. Unfortunately, you may not feel like that since playing these maps may feel like a chore. Not completely in terms of moon logic puzzles surprisingly (‘cause I’ve experienced worse stuff and Jim gives you some clues as a form of throwing a bone), or/and demon-fighting (even though there is some unfair bullshit here and there), but because of the map sizes. You will likely spend at least 20 minutes per each of the maps if you are lucky, even if you know where to go and what to do next. After finishing one of these levels, you will want to die. This WAD took me around three days to complete due to the combination of things that I just mentioned.

I believe many people would like to try this WAD themselves, but personally, despite its pros, I can’t recommend it. Find something else. Something that doesn’t sacrifice the fun of Ripping and Tearing for worthless, overly cryptic puzzles.

1996 – THE TROOPERS’ PLAYGROUND

Fortunately, this WAD (unlike the last one) will not give you brain damage. Unfortunately, it might severely kick your arse.

This WAD has two glaring problems. The first one is the status bar being too dark, meaning that even the smallest ray of the sun will make it completely unreadable. The second problem is the new enemy that I like to call Green Baldy – a fucknut with the hitscanning gun as powerful as the Spider Mastermind’s chaingun, health big enough that he has a chance to survive two blasts from Super Shotgun/ Rocket Launcher and no wind-up. Every encounter with him for at least the first third of the WAD screams unfair difficulty.

And yet, somehow, I don’t know why, I ended up appreciating it more now than during my first encounter with it. I don’t know if that’s because of the previous WAD being a chore to play through, but still, I had more fun than the last time I played The Troopers’ Playground. And I’ll be honest with you for a moment; while I stand by that this WAD can be challenging, now, it was nothing compared to the other, hard, 90s WADs recommended by Doomworld.

1997 – DAWN OF THE DEAD

This one might be the second case of the WAD that I appreciate more now than in the past from this category. If someone asked me which episode replacement from the 90s should they play as first, I think I would suggest them this. Aside from (partially) music, everything in this WAD is purely vanilla flavored, and that’s actually okay since this WAD proves that you don’t need new enemies/weapons/textures to be good. And it’s all done with only Doom I assets, which makes it all even more impressive.

1999 – CRUSADES: AN UNHOLY WAR

Crusades is another WAD created by Richard Wiles, the creator of Dickie 10, which I claimed as one of the best vanilla WADs of the 90s. Unfortunately, I don’t think that it is as good as its author’s previous WAD. The main problem with Crusades is its pacing AKA it forces you to constantly fight Barons while you rarely have ammo for more powerful guns, even if you aggressively conserve ammo for them. And it’s like that until you reach Bloodbath.

Ignoring Barons for the moment, not gonna lie, sometimes it looks very good. And it has some fun stuff for the Quake fans at the very end. New weapon sounds could’ve been better though. Also, the previously mentioned Bloodbath didn’t feel as frustrating as the last time I played it (praise the power of hindsight).

THE WINNER

I’m gonna be honest with you guys, I was expecting more fun from episode replacements but it all ended up as just good at best.

But I have to be professional here and choose the winner. And I’ve decided, that the Golden Spider Nest award (hilarious and original title) for the best episode replacement of the decade goes to Dawn of the Dead. As I said earlier, this would be the first WAD of this kind to recommend to someone completely new to the 90s WADs. As for the runner-up, it’s Slaughter Until Death. Even if it’s dated, I can still somewhat find good things in it. And it has fewer issues/extremes than the rest of the WADs from this category.

CONCLUSION

And, well, that’s basically it for the episode replacements. I hope the next category will be more exciting. I know for sure that it has one banger WAD to play.

Tune in next time folks, for the best 10-19 maps long WADs (with a little bonus at the end).

Bye!

[m39]

Decade of DOOMstruction(90s): 2-7 maps long WADs

Okay, let me elaborate on the thing that I said in the last part about the next parts needing more time to finish due to the length of the WADs. While I still believe that it might take a longer time due to the factor that I just mentioned separately in terms of WADs themselves, that doesn’t mean that the overall product will take more days to finish by default. It will all depend on how many WADs are on the list (depending on their type). And that’s without counting the real-life accidents.

Got it?

Good!

Now, let’s take a look at WADs that have more than one map but not enough to be considered episode replacements.

1994 – GALAXIA: THE ULTIMATE CZECH LEVEL

It might have some problems like the needless labyrinth at the very end that doesn’t show up on the Automap, and most of the new sound effects tend to be off, but GODDAMMIT! I feel like I still adore this WAD! Carefully shooting the walls behind Voodoo Dolls to get the Plasma Gun, using the one-time usable only switches to temporarily give you a safe passage through a zone full of Spider Masterminds, and overall, trying to escape the hostile planet filled with these abominations plus other monstrosities along the way. And while it is still easy, its choice of music (in the first map) fits so perfectly that it makes you ready to whoop some serious ass.

1995 – THE FINAL GATHERING

Another WAD that will give you a lot of fun. It is significantly harder than Galaxia (especially in the 4th and 5th maps) while still being manageable, and while it might look off (the first three levels came on Doom I in ‘94), if we can somewhat judge it by the standards of the time it was fully released, it looks pretty good. Also, the music tracks from the even-numbered levels are fucking bangers.

1996 – 99 WAYS TO DIE

The only things that I find memorable in this WAD are that it uses some tricks in lightning to create multi-layered shadows and some gimmicks with keys. And that’s it. Otherwise, it’s just your typical WAD that you could find on the 90s Internet. It’s mostly brown. It was mostly easy for me. It just... exists.

1998 – PHOBOS

One of the earlier cases of trying to remake the locations from the original Doom I, and despite the limitations of the original engine, it all comes out as some of the prettiest locations from the WAD community of the 90s. Sure, in many places it’s too dark, it gets especially infuriating when the Automap doesn’t even show where to go in these dark tunnels, and for some reason, everything can go fuck itself with the randomized battles if you are unlucky. Still, I was having a blast for most of the time with this WAD. Maybe because the problems that I mentioned are not as prominent as you can see at the first sight.

THE WINNER

It’s all pretty hard to choose the winner since everyone of the entries has something big to offer (except 99 Ways to Die and its lightning). None of the WADs are perfect, but if someone put a gun to my head, I would give the Pink Pack award for the best 2-7 maps long WAD of the decade to Phobos, with Galaxia as the runner-up because I’m biased. They may not be perfect as I mentioned before, but these two gave me the most fun out of this group.

THE TEI TENGA CASE

There is also the last WAD that needs to be talked about: Assault on Tei Tenga.

The only WAD that requires a source port from the entire group. And the one that gets another award by default in the limit free category. But mark my words. This WAD is not really that good. Sure, the hub style of progression feels amazing and this WAD looks really pretty, but the somewhat cringy dialogue/story that goes on and on, and the bonus map with the completely invisible Revenants can make this WAD boring and not fun.

Still, it’s one of the first WADs that does this, so I hope it will only get better with time.

CONCLUSION

That’s the second time we got the vanilla winner from ’98 and the limit free winner from ‘99. We will see in the future if the other years will be lucky.

Until then, tune in next time folks, as we will be looking at the best episode replacements.

Bye!