#Phobos: Anomaly Reborn

[m39]

Doom WADs’ Roulette Bonus Round: SubP:AR maps

B7: SubP:AR maps from Phobos: Anomaly Reborn

Main author(s): Christopher Lutz

Release date: January 2nd, 2003 (database)

Version(s) played: ???

Required port compatibility: Boom/MBF

Levels: 4 (from E2M5 to E2M8)

Along with the release of Phobos: Anomaly Reborn, Chris Lutz released four additional maps. Labeled under the title SubP:AR, these maps were finally shown to the world with the release of this WAD.

These four maps were created during and shortly after the development of Chris’ Doom I’s Inferno replacement titled... “Inferno” (peak originality). Just like with his episode 3 replacement, he wanted to do the same thing with the previous episodes too. But then he forgot about it once he and The Chaos Crew started working on Caverns of Darkness. And according to himself, putting these four maps on PAR WAD was the only way to show them to the public.

There’s only one thing left to do now. Let’s see what these maps are like.

I’ll try to go very easy on these maps since, according to Chris himself, they were created around 6 to 8 years before PAR WAD’s release.

If you compare these four maps with the main content of the WAD, then... yeah, they don‘t really look that good. It mostly looks like a mangled mess of textures, especially the first two maps.

But if you look at them without any comparison, and with the knowledge that these maps were released at worst in 1998 (when Inferno WAD was released), and the fact that they were probably created for the Vanilla compatibility, they look good in my opinion. They still feel off in many places but I feel like there is a lot of stuff and details to like. The broken pipe in the second map, space shuttles in the first one, and Temple Consumed overall are some of the better-looking things that this package of maps has to offer.

While the maps are rather easy to understand (even the first one which is the hardest among the four), I would like to slightly focus on each map to somewhat show you what they were supposed to be:

The first map might probably be the most interesting one since you feel like you are playing the beta version of Hangar B from the WAD’s main content. Many things are the same in both of these maps, like railroads that electrify you, space shuttles, cargo loader that awaits to be turned towards the rails, and landing pads among other things.

The second map makes you find three keys to open a set of doors like Halls of the Damned but that’s only the first half. In the second half, you have to turn on the reactor before finishing the level.

The third map, and the only one with the actual title – Temple Consumed, has a teleporter that will take you to the exit switch. To actually enter it, however, you have to flip three switches, east, west, and north from the teleporter respectively. This map was the original secret level in Inferno WAD, but due to the visplane overflows, it was removed. It might also be my favorite map out of the bunch. Even Chris Lutz thinks it’s the best one.

The fourth and final map is literally an extended version of the original Tower of Babel, where instead of starting at its top, you have to earn your way to get there, first by entering the tower itself, then by fighting two gauntlets of Doom I enemies on a slow-moving lift each.

These four maps are really easy. Yes, even the first one where you only have your Peashooter for like 2/3 of the map and start out with 55% of health because that’s how PAR WAD starts. Even the ones that are supposed to be harder, like Temple Consumed and the fourth map, which has high-tier enemies (AKA Barons) and the gauntlets that I mentioned earlier, didn’t give me much of a difference, probably because they have almost no hitscanners for some cheap shots. Even Cyberdemon at the end feels like a light slap on the face at worst. You could probably play these maps Pistol-starting and you wouldn’t really feel that much of a difference.

And that was the SubP:AR maps compilation. Definitely worse than the maps from Phobos: Anomaly Reborn, but judged as late 1990’s Vanilla maps, they are good. Maybe I would feel the same about them as Chris Lutz if I were a WAD maker with almost 10 years of experience looking at my past work but I rarely can feel genuine hatred towards any fan-made mod to any game.

These maps are a funny bonus to the main content and somewhat of a time capsule, showing their author’s journey of being a WAD maker. If you are interested in these maps, go ahead and play them, but you won’t lose anything if you ignore them.

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This is it...            

That’s all WADs and maps from Doomworld’s Top 100 WADs of All Time.

Sure, there are two of these that didn't get a proper review, as in Doom 64 TC and... dear lord... 007 WAD, but their time will eventually come.

But besides these two, I reviewed everything. From 1994 to 2003. Vanilla ones, Boom ones, and ZDoom ones among other source ports. From WADs that were made out of a single map alone to the ones that might as well replace the entire game, no matter if it’s the first Doom or the second one. The ones that were more or less popular. From many creators all around the world. And even if there were cases that made me think Why was this WAD on the list? or Why that WAD was made like that?, it was mostly a lot of fun to experience.

And to think, I was nothing more but a little wanker who couldn’t handle Hell Revealed the first time he played it years ago. And now I see someone who beat WADs like Alien Vendetta and Scythe, that have really hard levels in their arsenal. I got experience not only in fighting Doom monsters but also in what makes the WAD fun or not to me. Whenever I like the WAD due to its visuals side, its gameplay mechanics, the challenge it can offer, or even something from each of these, there will always be something that I can enjoy, even in things that I hate (probably).

I would like to thank everyone who liked my stuff, reblogged it to other people, or hell, even just took a look at it. This project might be something that I do for myself but hey, I appreciate it. And I know Tumblr is probably the last place on earth to make reviews about Doom WADs, but what can I say? This channel officially kicked off as a Homestuck channel before it became what it is. I didn’t want to change the location again. And even then, I’m still coming back to review new stuff related to Homestuck whenever there is a chance. Whether it is a new game, an officially endorsed webcomic, or even new games/visual novels created by Andrew Hussie himself.

Anyway folks, this is getting too long. Thank you all for reading my filth. As I said before, I’ll start making reviews on Doom 64 and the Absolution TC two weeks after posting this review.

I’ll see you all next time.

Bye.

[doomwads]

Phobos: Anomaly Reborn

Game: Doom Year: 2003 Source Port: Boom-compatible Specs: E1M1-E1M9 Gameplay Mods: None Author: Christopher Lutz idgames | doomwiki | onemandoom

Chris Lutz followed up the cinematic universe of Caverns of Darkness - and his re-imagining of the original Doom’s E3 - with a sequel to Knee Deep in the Dead that uses Boom’s higher limits and capacity for voodoo doll scripting. P:AR has been described as fetishistic in its detailing. I understand the sensibilities behind this sentiment but it’s an impressive work in its architecture and environments. I love the ruins that the UAC dug into - the last bits obviously evocative of the void in Caverns of Darkness - and it’s an impressive example of DoomCute realism with all of its midtexture work. The most creative bits involve the voodoo doll scripting, one of which allows you to watch a sluice fill up with water, starting with a puddle and eventually floating the crates in the depression up to the top.

Click here if you’d like to read my full review.

[thathomestar]

Doomworld’s Top 100 Memorable Doom Maps (50-41)

Click on each image to see the map name and author!

[m39]

Doom WADs’ Roulette (2007): The Dying End

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Well, that was disappointing.

G4: The Dying End

Main author(s): Christopher Lutz

Release date: June 23rd, 2007 (database upload)

Version played: ???

Required port compatibility: Limit-removing (Boom/PRBoom is the most recommended)

Levels: 1 (MAP29 replacement)

The Dying End is the map created by Christopher Lutz. This map was created as a fan remake of the original MAP29: The Living End.

Now the author of this map created years ago both Caverns of Darkness (partially in this case) and Phobos: Anomaly Reborn. Both of these WADs, while flawed, were some of the best stuff from the early 2000s. So what the hell happened that made me consider this map a dud when the author did such a good job earlier?

I’ll get to that in a moment. Right now, let’s take a look at what this map does right.

The Dying End looks very good. I can’t quite remember the original level since I played it God knows how many years ago, but I am sure this one looks much better and more colorful than the original one. It’s candy for your eyes, not gonna lie.

The map isn’t really complicated, but it has annoying moments. Many times you will have to do some platforming or run really fast to not fall off. There is even a moment with the chess-like crushers. I don’t even think the original map was that annoying with its design.

But let me tell you something, people. There is nothing more annoying in this map than how much it is filled with bullshit when it comes to the difficulty. This is some kind of a joke. No matter where you go you get bombarded by fucking snipers from every side and corner of the map. And yes, it does include goddamn hitscanners. Traps where you end up surrounded (some of these even have hitscanners). Damaging floor at the bottom. Fighting high-damaging monsters on tight pathways/corridors. Almost every, artificial difficulty bump! The only thing that is lacking are enemies behind fake walls.

And look. I can understand that this map wants to be hard because it is based on the penultimate level of Doom II. I get that. It’s supposed to be hard. But there is a difference between hard but fair challenge and cheap bullshit.

And this map fits to the latter category. The Dying End might look great and it might follow the original concept rather well, but it means nothing when you sacrifice fun for cheap difficulty. For me, after the other two WADs the author was majorly involved, this is his first dud. A disappointment. Something I would not recommend for someone who doesn’t have masochistic tendencies.

I can only hope that the next WAD is more balanced out.

See you next time.

Bye.

[m39]

Doom WADs’ Roulette: Revenant Awards 2003

RETURN OF THE DEMON KING – REVENANT AWARDS 2003 EDITION

Well... here we are. The tenth Revenant Awards I’ve made. And the last one related to Doomworld’s Top 100 WADs of All Time.

Even though 2003 has four WADs/MegaWADs that count as partial/total conversion, it was rather various in terms of the map amount. And there will be two awards that weren’t earned by default.

With that out of the way, let’s finish what we started. Starting with...

ONE MAN ARMY – BEST ONE-MAP WAD OF THE YEAR

Choosing the winner for this category was rather hard. In both cases (Helpyourselfish and Space Station Omega), we have a map that might leave a sour taste in your mouth after your blind playthrough but you appreciate it more each time you play it again. it doesn’t mean that these two maps are some kind of masterpieces. And it all comes down to choosing your poison for the rest of the day: Would you choose the map that is basically a typical ZDoom map/WAD of its time and thinks it’s something more than it really needs to be, or rather a map/WAD that knows what it is and what’s to give you fun but also being dickish in some places at the same time.

In my case, I might have a negative bias towards early ZDoom WADs but I would rather shoot nothing for half of a map rather than being smacked by Hoovies in cages as soon as I attack. So I’m giving the One Man Army award to Space Station Omega. It might suffer from the early ZDoom WAD syndrome, but after playing at least a few maps/WADs like this one, I can say that this one is closer to being good rather than bad.           

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

In this case, we have three competitors (I’m not counting the RTC-3057 demo because, as I said in my review of this map, it’s a demo, and I would rather compare it with other WADs when it’s in its full potential for the lack of better words), all requiring ZDoom to be played properly and, of course, using the source port’s features to enhance themselves, for better or worse.

The second installment of the MassMouth series might have its moments where it looks impressive and/or has insane moments, but this WAD is the one that suffers the most from ZDoom’s unnecessary features. Not to mention some of the jokes falling flat on their faces even by 2003 standards. At least the voice acting doesn’t make it a complete chore to play through (even if I think Nimrod had better voice acting).

Void on the other head feels far less jarring and it’s some of the best ZDoom maps/WADs I’ve played (which is funny considering that this map and MassMouth 2 were made by the same person). Even the cutscenes didn’t feel as jarring and progress stagnating as MassMouth in some moments.

But let me tell you something folks. No matter how good Void is, the Off the Wall award will still go to Doom Raider: Crypt of the Vile. It doesn’t waste time on stuff like dialogue, or cutscenes. It uses ZDoom to enhance itself to go further into the fun zone, and even though one of its locations is now scuffed due to the later version of ZDoom and GZDoom, it is still a really fun map to play. It has my full recommendation.

OTHER AWARDS

And now it’s time for other WADs that earned their respective awards by default:

Pug-of-Pink award (2-7 maps) goes to The Brotherhood of Ruin. A treat for fans of ancient architecture, and even if you don’t care for these, you will probably still have fun while playing this WAD.

Golden Spider award (episode replacement/8-9 maps) goes to Phobos: Anomaly Reborn. Another banger made by Christopher Lutz, that not only looks great but is also fun to play and has at least one unique thing per map. Also, it makes Spider Masterminds shoot plasma. This is one major upgrade from the Classic Doom games.

And the Full Deck of Diamonds award (30-32 maps) goes to Scythe. A small, but creative MegaWAD when it comes to difficulty, splitting itself into three episodes, where you can start with whichever you want, each being harder than the last. Run From It can screw itself though.

CONCLUSION

And that’s all for today. And congratulations to the winners of the 2003 edition of Revenant Awards.

Now you might be thinking that now it’s finally time to take two weeks' worth of a break before starting making a review for Doom 64. But the truth is, Phobos: AR still has four maps known as SubP:AR. It will be funny to take a look at these. It is also a perfect excuse for another day of break to have more time to play Official Classic Doom Addons.

See you next time folks.

Bye!

[m39]

Doom WADs’ Roulette (2003): Phobos: Anomaly Reborn

Gonna be honest with you folks...

This one surprised me...

#1: Phobos: Anomaly Reborn

Main author(s): Christopher Lutz

Release date: January 2nd, 2003 (database)

Version(s) played: ???

Required port compatibility: Boom/MBF

Levels: 9 (episode standard)

Christopher Lutz has done it again, since not only he was the main contributor to the 2002’s Caverns of Darkness but also made this banger too. And both ended up better than I expected. Is Phobos: Anomaly Reborn as good as the previous WAD, thought? Well, time to look at it deeper and find out.

The story is... uhm... stuff happening at Phobos again and Doomguy is sent there to investigate. That’s basically all I got since the story takes itself too seriously, ending up looking pretentious and needlessly wordy.

Can I say, however, that PAR WAD looks amazing? Because it does. Not only it has interesting elements/objects around the maps and the architecture looks great, but all of this was done with nothing but stock textures (at least that’s how it looks for me)! On Doom I! Where the variety of textures is more restricted! I know that sometimes the 1994 types of levels/WADs tend to look uninteresting and/or overly simple, but this WAD looks anything but.

Thematically, Anomaly Reborn feels like it’s the same as Caverns of Darkness. The first half of this WAD starts mostly in some sci-fi tech-related locations created by humanity while the second half makes you go deeper and deeper until you reach the bottom of hellish locations. Sure, there aren’t really that much of ruins of the old times in the first half, and the architecture/textures in the second half don’t really feel that hellish when compared to CoD WAD, but I think the foundations of both WADs are the same.

Hey, if ain’t broken, don’t fix it.

Now let me warn you that this WAD might confuse you. The maps tend to be really big and there are multiple tasks to do on each map to some degree (usually switch hunting). But let me tell you something folks. It’s not as bad as you think it might be. I felt like it was actually one of the easier WADs that put more emphasis on puzzles. Hell, the ZIP file even comes with the text file that has a walkthrough and hints for every map of PAR. So even in the worst cases, you can look where to go next, and continue from that point onwards.

My personal advice to you, at least for the earlier levels, is to check every area from the west first and then go clockwise with every new room to check if there is a split.

Now, if I spend time talking about stuff on all maps, we will be here forever. So instead, I’ll try to summarize one of the levels that I might enjoy the most: Subterra.

To somehow explain this level to you without much of a context, you need two skulls to put on pedestals for each one. One requires to start a machine that needs water to properly work to get to the skull. The other actually needs to be created using lava. It’s insane.

As for the other interesting stuff I would like to share with you:

Railbender is set on a train, which automatically makes this level at least 7/10.

Toxin Refinery’s first half focuses on finding three switches that will allow you to go through the northern door in the lobby (there is even progression shown above this door).

And Lost Barracks’ last location is actually the same as in Dissolution, connecting both of these levels, and making it more sensible how you end up in E1M4 from E1M9.

Like I said earlier, even though the levels are not as complicated as you may think they are, there is still a chance that you might get lost in them. The biggest example for me is the first map, Hangar B. Not in terms of the keys and switches positions because these are piece of cake but due to the layout of this map. It feels like I was playing on a Gordian Knot of a map, not helping with the rails that will electrocute you if you stand on them for too long (and one of the secrets of this map requires you to go through these to get there) and there is probably only one place to get out of them without jumping.

Also, be wary that there are many places where you won’t come back up after falling down (usually where the floor deals damage), so make sure to save if you feel that you might screw up.

I don’t think Anomaly Reborn is that hard. Sure, there are tough moments (especially Hangar B where you start at 55% of health) but with the knowledge of secrets’ locations, you will be fine. There are some bullshit moments here and there like fighting barons in unfriendly terrain (the train level was especially a bitch for this term) or fighting on an open field surrounded by hitscanners (or just hitscanner traps overall) but these were thankfully scarce. There are also at least three moments where you can cheese Cyberdemon.

And here is another thing that I enjoy in this WAD: Spiderdemons now shoot plasma!

It’s a really small thing, but it finally makes fighting these Huge B8tches somewhat enjoyable (even though only two of these appear on the last level on HMP).

The only bugs I’ve encountered were the visual ones. No idea if it’s the fault of GZDoom or the WAD itself.

And that’s all I can say about Phobos: Anomaly Reborn. I was expecting something worse (or at least more irritable) but, like with Caverns of Darkness, I had a blast playing it. It’s a very good episode replacement and I really recommend you to try it out.

If all the WADs will keep the quality as this one, then 2003 will be very enjoyable to play (I know the next two on the list are).

See you next time.

Bye!

[doomwads]

SubP:AR

Game: Doom Year: 2003 Source Port: Boom-compatible (last port tested in - probably limit-removing) Specs: E2M5-E2M8 Gameplay Mods: None Author: Christopher Lutz idgames | onemandoom

These four levels are hidden away in the second episode of Phobos: Anomaly Reborn. E2M5 is Lutz’s original, first attempt at P:AR‘s E1M1 before he settled into using the expanded limits and capability of Boom. The other three levels - E2M6-E2M8 - include his first attempt at an E2M1 for a Shores of Hell-styled remake (E2M6), his first attempt at making an E3M9 for Inferno (E2M7), and a “Tower of Babel” remake with an actual tower (E2M8). If you weren’t much of a fan of Inferno then these levels probably aren’t going to tickle your fancy since they’re all part of the same time period.

Click here if you’d like to read my full review.