Jun 8, 2015

And The Bloodshed Began

Score - 3.46 / 6
- The first part of this megawad is clearly the best.

















Released in 2014, "And The Bloodshed Began" is one of those stealth megawads that just snuck under the radar and took us by an instant teleport surprise. French author Maxime "Datacore" Bisiaux is the main force behind this, having created all but five of the maps, in a years time. Co-author "Subject119" reportedly pitched in with five maps, and it would stylistically seem these might not have been intended for the project originally. As is, they contribute to some variation with moderate success. No other entries under these author's names can be tracked on idgames at the time of writing this, so one would assume they are fresh out of the woodwork.

The textures utilized are basically the good old i-wad selections, with the exception of a somber, nice looking brown sky for the first episode. The third and fourth episode run with the two only slightly different and much familiar red hell skies, consequently leaving almost no noticeable episodic change. The new statusbar doesn't do much, as it's practically the old one with a few tiny alterations. The wad require a limit removing sourceport to run proper.

Much can be said about naming maps, but one could certainly pull a few of these as contestants for the annual "Top 10" nutty list. Luckily errors in playability are less frequent, as the coop session would reveal;



MAP01 - Out post
[Johnsen]
The less prolific contributor among the two designers gets the honor of starting things. I might be a little hard on this one with my rating. It's more than adequate as a megawad starter, forcing you to peck away at low-end monsters with the peashooter until you can upgrade your arsenal. Theme-wise it's a pretty straight forward Ultimate Doom episode 1 tech base, giving little to no indication of what is to come later on in the megawad. The rectangular windows grant nice views of the new brown sky - one that mesh well with the maps overall earth tones and silvery' tech-style. What mainly pulls the rating down for me is the sensation that the map was completed too soon, it could really need another layer of details and shading. As it stands it looks a bit too simple and bare to make much of an impact in these days. You can track two secrets, a rather early backpack and the green armor. The best part of the map would be the very first room and the following hallway leading to said armor. Towards the end it shortcuts too much on the detailing and becomes just plain.

Aesthetics: 3/6 - Layout: 3/6 - Gameplay: 4/6 - Score:  10/18

[Hunsager]
We start out in a small Ultimate Doom looking tech-base. It isn't especially impressive, but its got decent details and proper decoration. I like all the windows, openings and skylight which gives a spacious feeling in this little base. The opposition is light as it usually is in the first level of a megawad. The placement of the shotgun at the end was useless since we already picked it up from several shotgun guys earlier on. What a thoughtless placement for the only weapon in this map, this will drag the points down in such a small level, but that aside, this is a promising start.

Aesthetics: 4/6 - Layout: 3/6 - Gameplay: 3/6 - Score:  10/18

Pick up that armor and start the Battle!





















Map02 - Cleaned up  
[Johnsen] 
The 2nd map comes from the same author, and it pretty much picks up where the former left. One wonder if his contributions were originally intended for a more Ultimate Doom themed project as you are treated to another startan-styled tech-base, this one somewhat larger, and with more utilization of outdoor scenery. Through the years this is a theme that has been done thousands of times over, so you should not expect any part of it to linger on the retina after completion. Again, the map borders too much on the side of plain simplicity - annoyingly so since a little bit of detailing would go a long way. I would have gone for a darker indoor lighting to allow more contrast from doorways, windows and other light sources. If one keep lurking one also discover some really suspect texture transitions, and a very obvious "sky overlapping the walls" error in the largest outdoor garden. The outer wall of the base generally seems too paper-thin, and this detracts from the realism as soon as you catch on to it. It's on the easy and fun side as far as gameplay goes, and it's a proper sized level for its placement in the megawad. A bit on the cheap side, but not bad. The yellow bar enclosed teleporter that leads to a small gimmicky flickering light section with a hell knight seemed like a quick toss-in, and the sky pit exit looks out of place in a map like this.

Aesthetics: 3/6 - Layout: 4/6 - Gameplay: 4/6 - Score:  11/18

[Hunsager]
The next one is another tech-base which is a little bigger than the previous, and with more variation in textures. Apart from having a few rooms inside the structure, involving a secret with some strange lifts to get to the super shotgun and the chaingun, we even take a tour on the outside of the base, crossing a small yard and then proceeding to search for the yellow key - which we find on top of a pillar in a nukage room. Then we backtrack to the yellow key teleporter to get to a dark room in order to fight a hell knight. This is all in all very simple and small, and the ideas in here were executed to a limited extent without much depth. There is a wide widow on one side of the base with a view towards a waterfront. This window and its view summarizes this map for me: Something more could perhaps have been done with the scenery and the ideas behind everything here. It feels too empty.

Aesthetics: 3/6 - Layout: 4/6 - Gameplay: 4/6 - Score:  11/18





















Map03 - It's a trap  
[Johnsen]
This is an interesting level to rate, since it's incredibly cheap, yet perfectly honest about said fact, and fun. Its pretty much a few sectors copy-pasted to make a box. It's a nice looking boxed garden, with two lowering walls revealing a bunch of monsters on each side, then it toss a shitload more at you by teleportation. We had fun the first time through, but it's a filler map in every sense of the word. All in all it looks more like a tiny deathmatch level. Nice use of textures and no grand uglyness. Hard to hate it, so I'm gonna be nice on the scoring.

Aesthetics: 3/6 - Layout: 3/6 - Gameplay: 4/6 - Score:  10/18

[Hunsager]
So we are told there is a trap waiting for us, and while we are ascending this shaft we are wondering what it might be. We seem to be trapped inside a small arena, and monsters are teleporting in as we push two buttons and grab a red key. This is not surprising enough to be called a trap, but it is a tense, fun and rapid battle and exactly what we came for! After the battle, we found the two identical secrets and their rather boring content - something more inspired should have been done here and the map should have been bigger.

Aesthetics: 3/6 - Layout: 3/6 - Gameplay: 5/6 - Score:  11/18



Map04 - The Grassland  
[Johnsen]
Ah, this map sort of represent my guilty pleasure as far as simplistic level designs goes. You start in this enclosed silvery tech room, and then badly transition into a green zimmer-textured cave maze. The maze reveal the keys after you hump some obviously differing walls, and if you pay attention you will even snag a few welcomed secrets in the process - the most notable one being the tasty computer-area map, with its crack beneath the door, allowing you to peak back to the start of the map. Firing a shot when you spawn will wake up most of the inhabitants in the maze, making them gather and fill up portions of it, thus allowing for a quick disposal. It's a really fun and fast-blazing ride, much thanks to the non-intrusive and low level of detailing. The start of the map functions as a teleport transition into the last half, a really cheap design decision that should have been handled differently. The final garden area is one of those oddly abstract Doom places which just looks good on the eye and happen to play just right, perhaps more out of sheer coincidence and good texture combinations than through meticulous planning and detailing. The rocket launcher secret is tempting to track as you can peak into its enclosed area before figuring out how to access it. Fun, cheap stuff!

Aesthetics: 3/6 - Layout: 3/6 - Gameplay: 5/6 - Score:  11/18

[Hunsager]
We are now in a maze in a totally green environment. It's green above us, underneath us and on both sides, and it's filled up with a lot of shotgun firing dudes and some hell knights. At the end of some dark corridors, there is a computer area map. This combination with the green, green grass and these corridors seem a little weird, but the computer area map is very handy for clearing out the rest of the grass maze and for finding all the keys. The second part of this level is some sort of forgotten garden with marble faces and Ashwall textures. It feels like we are discovering a desolate and abandoned place and it seems that someone also left a nice rocket launcher behind some bars. After a lot of running around we finally figured out how to grab it. The concept of making you walk around in a totally green maze felt like some sort of experimental idea and it really sticks to the memory.

Aesthetics: 4/6 - Layout: 4/6 - Gameplay: 4/6 - Score:  12/18




Map05 - No time to sleep
[Johnsen]
An obvious mesh between Ultimate Dooms E3M1 and E3M2. Tribute maps are often a fail, and they sort of defeat their purpose by their very concept of recreating what has already been done. This one however, manage to generate a decent atmosphere as well as an excellent flow. I really enjoyed the fast pace of the gameplay here, despite an arguable placement of revenants by the end of the map. You start in an E3M2 / E4M6 inspired mountain area, and transition into a reddish hell base. Always a good mixture when it's done right. The snagged "run across the bridge before it lowers" trap managed to kill my partner, and although I generally do not like this gimmick with areas being closed off if you fail, it seemed acceptable here. It's a simple map, and the creativity is obviously shelved when you recreate old stuff, but one can not deny its playful charm.

Aesthetics: 3/6 - Layout: 3/6 - Gameplay: 5/6 - Score:  11/18

[Hunsager]
I had a brutal start in this map as I was penetrated with bullets in the "Slough of Despair" inspired area, and gone was my rocket launcher from the previous map. The second sad death came as we simultaneously walked across the lowering red ledge, as only my partner reached the promised land on the other side, leaving med running in circles in the lava without spotting the teleporter behind the cliffs. This is what happens in multiplayer when both try to do the same thing at the same time! It was so annoying that there was no other way to reach that area, making it a one time reachable room only. Especially since Andy could tell about a rocket launcher residing there - just what I was missing after loosing mine in the beginning. So I was hoping for a secret teleporter leading to this room, at least before the end of the level - but no. So for me the this map is the one that really said "keep your hands away from the RL, it's not for you". The last grey stretch of corridors and rooms, and especially the secret with the super shotgun, are not especially beautiful, but they are probably meant to be influenced by Ultimate Dooms third episode. The arachnotrons sitting just before the exit area didn't pose any threat at all since they lacked space to move. That's just a wrong environment and not the way to introduce this monster - any other low-end monster here would have been much better.

Aesthetics: 4/6 - Layout: 3/6 - Gameplay: 3/6 - Score:  10/18

Help! I'm in the blood and I can't find any teleporter, is this the end?





















Map06 - Gloomy melancoly
[Johnsen]
At the sixth entry comes one of the best maps in the set. Textures and light levels work together to create a spooky, hellish map. The creepy feel is further helped by an oppressing basement and hallway design, with narrow passages and a gameplay that keep you on your toes. It really has excellent flow. There is a grey brick maze with a nasty teleporting arch-vile which reward you with a super shotgun and a secret supercharge, if you can find them in time. I usually detest mazes, but this one was fitted with a really nice flow, and some smooth light effects that gives it more depth, and it's forgivingly short. The secrets are plentiful and fun to catch since they give you small texture based hints if you pay attention. The ammo and health bonuses are tightly distributed but never tilts into frustratingly low, and there is a berserk to knock some sense into the surroundings should you squander it still. A few of the fights are decently challenging, mostly because of the limited space for navigation, and the map feels sufficiently complex so to create immersion without going overboard with puzzles or backtracking.

Aesthetics: 4/6 - Layout: 5/6 - Gameplay: 5/6 - Score:  14/18

[Hunsager]
A lot of subterranean rooms and hallways make up this map, and it is narrow and cramped. The battles constantly kept us on our toes, and had us wondering what would happen around the next corner. At the same time we wanted to explore more and more of this cool environment, and even the medium sized maze wasn't too annoying as soon as we found the yellow key. Just before the maze though, we split up and explored different sections. Going to the plasma room alone was not a good idea since I had to fight the ambush with all those barons on my own, and it was to late to scream for my partner and hope to be rescued as he was at a totally different location. This  map is much larger than what we have seen so far. Even though I had some deaths and had to walk my way back a few times, it felt like and interesting journey through a varied level, which we both really enjoyed. This is clearly the best map so far, and I'm looking forward to more like it!

Aesthetics: 5/6 - Layout: 5/6 - Gameplay: 5/6 - Score:  15/18




















Map07 - Blood caves

[Johnsen]
Thankfully it's possible to come across Map07's that do not make it a point to mimic "Dead Simple". What you have here is tech-base-meets-cave map, with the occasional abstract weirdness such a mix tend to grant. One cant help but notice the simple and cheap solutions with over-sized lifts taking care of the transitions between areas, and the really odd use of city styled textures, but somehow it all mesh sufficiently to give the map a consistent feel. The gameplay is excellent, with its mixture of lower end monsters and a few high end ones in large open areas, as well as fast paced hallway slaughters for variation. I enjoyed this one, and it looks alright - all in all one of the best entries in the first episode, and easily the best map from the mysterious guest-author.

Aesthetics: 4/6 - Layout: 4/6 - Gameplay: 5/6 - Score:  13/18

[Hunsager]
This is a mix of large caves, tech rooms and more abstract hell decorated parts, a combination that works surprisingly good. The large battle after picking up the red key (in what must be the biggest hall we have seen so far), was the most tense moment. This was followed by a good deal of searching around for switches, riding lifts and exploring new rooms before we could unlock the exit. The route did not feel very straightforward and it had us running back and forth while fooling around a bit. Maybe the excitement and fun reached its climax a little prematurely in this level, but I guess it's due to its complexity and size. We also had to search around for the last remaining imp as we do not tolerate any survivors on our crusade. His croaking  gave him away, leading us to a blood-pit behind a small gap at the start of the map. What a strange placement for such a lonely sob, he couldn't even do any harm from there.

Aesthetics: 5/6 - Layout: 4/6 - Gameplay: 5/6 - Score:  14/18




















Map08 - Downstroy 
[Johnsen]
Another solid tech-base, this one seems to blend the typical styles of Doom and Doom II into one. Plenty to explore, with several nifty secrets which all give off some kind of hint as to their existence. It looks nice and interesting too, with some smooth lighting, nice texture variations and abstract areas - like the green brick wall yellow key section and its blocky staircase. The Spider Master-mind seemed a bit out of place here, and didn't offer much of a challenge, but I will let that slide since the overall gameplay feel had an excellent flow. Another slight favorite of mine in the megawad as a whole.

Aesthetics: 4/6 - Layout: 4/6 - Gameplay: 5/6 - Score:  13/18

[Hunsager]
This is a really nice looking, but deadly level. There is no coherent theme, but the detailing is still nice and creative, and it grant lots of fast action. Thanks to good weapon and item placement, the deaths didn't stall me too much before I was back in action. The first Spider Master-mind of this megawad was a bit of a disappointment though, as he was just introduced all of a sudden behind a door in the rear end of the brick section. There's also a good number of interesting secrets in this level.

Aesthetics: 5/6 - Layout: 4/6 - Gameplay: 5/6 - Score:  14/18





















Map09 - Toxic Waste 
[Johnsen]
Much like Map04, this brown base manage to appeal to my taste on account of simplistic design which allow Dooms gameplay to shine, while still maintaining a decent sense of location. The detour to get the blue key after climbing the spiraled stairway, is a nice touch. One look at the automap will reveal how simple of a creation this is - it feels larger than it looks, but it's a very clean design with well measured gameplay. You will either enjoy or belittle the section with door after door revealing boxed monsters, but as long as it knows when to stop in time, such gimmicks work well now and again. This should have been larger, and it gets away with being cheap because it entertains sufficiently and avoids silliness. There is a nasty arch-vile trap in the exit, be warned.

Aesthetics: 4/6 - Layout: 4/6 - Gameplay: 5/6 - Score: 13/18

[Hunsager]
The start had several waves of ambushes. The arch-vile on top of the spiral stairs is a very good placement of him, and the jump to get inside the mountains, and over to the plasma, was nice. The bottom area with all the square rooms, allowing us to eventually lower the blue key, was too boring and repetitive for me. It just wasn't challenging and fair enough executing these monsters from behind. However it was a cool ride to get to the toxic waste in the basement - though ouch, those crushers! Since I died and had to pick op the red key and pass all the crushers again and again, this became no fun. This is a good example of a situation where a keyed door should have been stay open to prevent you from repeatedly hunting the key every time you die. This pulls the rating down in my opinion. Just before the exit, we had a sudden double date with two arch-viles. It's always an awkward moment when two players coincidentally walk in on two lustrous arch-viles in a dark corridor, and then fail to coordinate the attack. This was one of those bad collaborations and I'm afraid those touchy bastards fried both our asses. Coop isn't always that easy.

Aesthetics: 4/6 - Layout: 4/6 - Gameplay: 4/6 - Score: 12/18

Gasp! Who turned off the lights? And what happened to this guy?






















Map10 - Send it's weighted 
[Johnsen]
First off, what in the fried french is up with the levels name? Another Doom II styled tech-base / cave mashup - this one darker lit than most entries in the set, which helps create a gloomy feel. The secrets are sufficiently entertaining to track, and the use of only one type of low end monster to blast is a cheap way to generate gameplay, yet I can't help but enjoy it. Maps that take this too far often fail, but here one does not overuse this maneuver, as it transitions into a more standard gameplay fare later on. A pretty mediocre map which would not score high if not helped by a decent gameplay flow.

Aesthetics: 3/6 - Layout: 4/6 - Gameplay: 4/6 - Score: 11/18

[Hunsager]
This begins with an easy and satisfying trooper massacre, but we had to continue with a lot more care as there were ambushes with chaingunners and more dangerous traps waiting for us. The map mainly consist of interconnected hallways and utilize brown colors and darkly lit areas. At the end of the level, the secret berserk behind the arch-vile was a very appreciated discovery, since I was low on health.

Aesthetics: 4/6 - Layout: 4/6 - Gameplay: 5/6 - Score: 13/18





















Map11 - Hail to the King !
 
[Johnsen]
The last map of the episode gives a throwback to designs of the old days, mimmicking texture usage from Ultimate Doom, and offering a green stone maze to spout. The design revolves around the classic "central room with several doors", allowing the author to not worry much about having the different areas otherwise connect. After collecting the keys you get the cliched "door after door hallway" towards the exit, granting steeper opposition for each one, culminating in the standard cyber. The gameplay is alright, it has a decent flow to it, although it failed to engage me like the more slick entries of the set. It does grant a nostalgic feel, I'll give it that.

Aesthetics: 3/6 - Layout: 3/6 - Gameplay: 4/6 - Score:  10/18

[Hunsager]
We now change themes and arrive in a marble decorated level. I appreciate this interesting shift, but the map disappoints a bit when we get to the maze section with all the barons. They could have been hell knights instead, and this maze part was no fun to explore. The teleporter leading to the supercharge in the start was a nice reward, but somewhat too easy to find to be justified as a secret. The last corridor with its rising difficulty at each door, wasn't an idea to my taste since there wasn't much of a surprise when we revealed the Cyberdemon in the end.

Aesthetics: 4/6 - Layout: 3/6 - Gameplay: 4/6 - Score:  11/18

The say the king was last seen around here. Let's knock on his door!





















MAP12 - Blood for blood
[Johnsen]
An incredibly simple and small map which luckily pulls the tasty texturing card and thus dodge heavy banter from me. I really enjoy this texture combination of red rocks and red bricks, and it sufficiently qualifies as atmospheric because of that. However, one chicken nugget is not a full meal, so tasty bits aside - this is still incredibly cheap. The arch-vile trap towards the end granted no less than eight snarling specimens, thankfully the BFG was loaded. I would have added more contrasts to the light effects in this one, the texture combinations are basically begging for it. It does enough to entertain and generate some mood, but there is not much to remember say from the vile barbecue.

Aesthetics: 3/6 - Layout: 3/6 - Gameplay: 4/6 - Score:  10/18

[Hunsager]
It's a new episode and a new theme, and it looks like we are stranded in some hellish caves on account of the blood colored and red textures. I like the cave with the small blood falls and also the moment in the red key room when the lost souls are invading through the windows. The platoon of eight arch-viles caused my death, but I was really stupid as I ran through the entire room, releasing every one of them at the same time. This level was very nice to look at, but it turned out to be a rather small map and not the entrance or hellish gate to something big and bad. It's ok as the first map of an episode. If episode two is hell, I have to wonder where episode three is situated?

Aesthetics: 4/6 - Layout: 3/6 - Gameplay: 4/6 - Score:  11/18




















Map13 - Reload 404
[Johnsen] 
Ahh, here we go, this megawad finally delivers a classic. In my opinion this is a perfect example if you want to explain to someone why Dooms gameplay is so legendary. I tend to think you need to play the game for hundreds of hours to fully appreciate its depth though, because fully enjoying it means you have mastered high end movement skills - and that takes time. The flow you get when you blast through a well scaled, perfectly balanced map like this is pretty awesome. My partner was unfortunate and died in the first garden area, but quickly recuperated and managed to build a stack of ammo and weapons, showcasing the maps relatively forgiving spirit both in supply and resistance. The design is simplistic, but creates atmosphere through consistent and tasty use of brown brick textures and a few patches of dark water-filled caves. Doors, lifts and traps are never gameplay intrusive and complements the flow consistently. One cant deny the straight forward simplistic design, and the lack of high end or striking architecture - but it all serves its purpose well. This one just comes together like a symphony, and if proper capable, you can Bruce Lee through it with a smile. I cant help but think some luck was involved here, or else more of the megawad would have emulated this approach.

Aesthetics: 4/6 - Layout: 5/6 - Gameplay: 6/6 - Score:  15/18

[Hunsager]
In the early garden with the blue water, I tried to circle the imps but did it too fast an fell down from the edge only to be torn apart by the mancubus in the cage. What a clumsy way to die. Said mancubus is not alone, as several friends of him reside inside the next door and around the corner. This level feature several mancubi, mostly in hallways. The map is very linear but pull some turns and twists and have some small creative details along the way. Near the end you come about some giant curved stairs with lots of hell knights, and this fight must have been the most memorable moment so far on or journey through this megawad. A sudden height variation like this adds a dramatic feel to the action, and I will never forget this specific moment as long as I think of ATBB. It really felt like the legions of the underworld were crawling up towards us. The last battle with the Cyberdemon and the Spider Master-mind was a great ending to this map and kept the excitement high until the flip of the exit switch, even though there was an invulnerability sphere to use. Very well done!

Aesthetics: 4/6 - Layout: 4/6 - Gameplay: 6/6 - Score:  14/18

Time to stack up some ammo. 5 backpacks for you and 5 for me!





















Map14 - Air mail 4 the Arch Vile  
[Johnsen]
I'm not a grand hater of authors putting their gameplay before the aesthetics, as long as the gameplay delivers. This is pretty much a revenant and arch-vile spawn maze, and it mildly works for what it's trying to do. While it draws obvious inspiration from the legendary (and tiresome) arch-vile maze in "Plutonia", it never tries nearly as hard to confuse you, and it's too small to pose much of a problem. The weapon supply areas in the start consist simply of mirrored copy-paste sections, contributing to the cheapness. The transition between the beautiful (but abused) brown rock texture and the stark red bricks later on, is simply awful. Too cheap, and too redundant would be my verdict here. You could maintain the concept and do much more with the architecture still.

Aesthetics: 2/6 - Layout: 3/6 - Gameplay: 3/6 - Score:  8/18

[Hunsager]
Oh no, what is this? A maze with both revenants and arch-viles on the loose? This has been done before, but thank God - not all of them are running around freely. The only variation and surprise in this maze would be the two cacos in the cage and the red brick area around the red key with its band of barons. This is not enough from saving this map from being a total failure. When the secrets are so boring on top, this becomes nothing but a tragedy!

Aesthetics: 3/6 - Layout: 2/6 - Gameplay: 3/6 - Score:  8/18




















Map15 - Small phobia
[Johnsen]
Cheap, cheap. This is pretty much just a slot filler from the guy who made Map01, 02 and 07, much like Adam Windsors Requiem maps if one is to draw a parallel. What little there is looks alright, but someone was in a hurry to get the job done. You start in a slimy trench, then jump down from a ledge and run around a brown base with almost no interior except the blue key, and then enter a simple and clean looking exit hall. Everything seems too bright, the author could at least have added some contrast. A hard map to rate, since you wont have enough time to hate on it before you exit.

Aesthetics: 3/6 - Layout: 2/6 - Gameplay: 3/6 - Score:  8/18

[Hunsager]
We managed to instigate a hugely successful infight here, which quickly took care of the Spider Master-mind. At first I thought we could expect a cool looking large tech base, because of the the windows, doors and balconies, but I was wrong. How strange and disappointing that it could look so interesting on the outside, yet hold almost nothing to explore behind the front. This could have been the beginning of a glorious achievement in making a tech base, but it feels very incomplete as it is. The secret exit was no challenge to find either.

Aesthetics: 5/6 - Layout: 2/6 - Gameplay: 4/6 - Score:  11/18

Andy snapshots the action, as Hunsager looks on in awe.
That spider shoulda never killed the most popular imp on the block.





















Map31 - Shame on them

[Johnsen]
A highly appropriate title since the first secret level adds to the plummeting quality of the total experience thus far. So, I suppose the author figured it's a good idea to make a Wolfenstein secret map, since nobody thought of that before. This is much like telling a joke, to a crowd that already heard it five thousand times. Not only is it a dumb decision to occupy an entire map slot with something that was cool once - when id did it - but it also managed the feat of sucking more architecturally than Doom II's version. You get zero variation in monsters, since it's the mandatory SS soldier all the way through, there are no cool secrets in it, unlike the original. I guess the joke is on me, but the shame is most certainly on them.

Aesthetics: 2/6 - Layout: 2/6 - Gameplay: 2/6 - Score:  6/18

[Hunsager]
So we are back in Wolfenstein. This has been done before. If someone would want to repeat this worn out idea successfully, they would have to do something genius. Already in the first couple of rooms and the narrow corridors we can see that nothing legendary is gonna happen here. To be honest, this is a much crappier map than the original Doom II Map31. The map just drags on and on with cheap, square and identical looking rooms and corridors. There is a total of more than 30 doors in the map, and the only monster present is the SS soldier. As I constantly open doors and walk in circles I just long for a spectre, please, please, give us at least a spectre, just for the variation. If I see a spectre in the next room I will make an exception and not kill him but give him a kiss instead, I promise! I'm so fed up with the SS soldiers by now. And for the first time in this megawad we seem to be lacking ammo. What is going on here? There is a chainsaw in a secret, but why? WHY? Who will want to use a chainsaw against SS soldiers? There isn't even an invisibility here, even though it could have come in good use. You get red textures in the rooms to the west and the long and narrow northern and southern corridors. The sections in the middle around the start area are white, and the rooms to the west are light brown with blue colors leading to the exits. The only positive thing that I can see here would be this variation in color use, and it prevents me from giving the lowest score on aesthetics. However, to summarize I have to conclude that this rip-off  is a total failure. It adds nothing new to the original concept, and even removes the invisibility and the beloved spectre, and pumps out a lot of boring and almost useless secrets. But, wait, there is actually another monster here, there is a demon in a secret in one of the blue rooms...but he is already dead, why? What is the point of making a secret with a demons corpse and nothing more? Is it some kind of a joke? The empty rooms of this map contain nothing apart from some 130 SS soldiers, 10 yellow candles, a few comforting stimpacks and some boxes of ammo. I really don't see why the author suddenly decided to put the spectre on his extermination list, even the SS didn't go that far. I can't tell if this qualifies as crimes against humanity but it is a cruel thing to do for sure, very cruel. Just the sound of the spectre dancing around would be sweet music in my ears now.

Aesthetics: 3/6 - Layout: 1/6 - Gameplay: 2/6 - Score:  6/18

Shame on them! Take 'em to the Nuremberg trials!





















Map32 - World it's just a fake !!
[Johnsen]
Again, whats with the brain-scrambled naming of the level. Perhaps something got lost in translation. I suspect the secret maps didn't garner much excitement for the designer, as this borders for what one can call a complete map. It consist of a tiny start cave, then you drop into a shaft and end up in a cacodemon infested cave with nukage on the floor. You grab the BFG and plenty of cells and go to work. There is a Cyberdemon behind the flowing green stuff, as a last minute knee-jerk attempt to create a dramatic challenge before the exit. It's mildly entertaining to press the fire button and see cacodemons deflate in groups, and you might get to suck on the cybies rockets a few times. All that is lacking from this masterpiece is a computer-area map.

Aesthetics: 2/6 - Layout: 1/6 - Gameplay: 2/6 - Score:  5/18

[Hunsager]
This one room map consists of a caco-massacre, a Keen doll and a hidden cyber behind a slime fall. What a pointless use of the Keen doll, and what a stupid idea for a map. The only secret teleports you to an empty cage so you can get another view of this ugly room. Nope, this is rubbish and it's even a slight step down from the Wolfenstein map. 

Aesthetics: 1/6 - Layout: 1/6 - Gameplay: 2/6 - Score:  4/18

The super-secret map in all its glory. No really. This is all of it.




Map16 - Ketamine intravenously
[Johnsen]
This map is wrongly named on the automap, copying the title of Map15, a small error to note. You get another simple arena concept here, and even tho the ammo seemed plentiful, especially since we came in loaded from Map31, somehow we still ran out of bullets. I suspect infights and less waste upon deaths would have cut back on that issue, we admittedly didn't utilize those anywhere near their potential. I found the map to be way too loaded, and more of a drag than a challenge. When a map like this fails to entertain or flow proper, there is really very little left to save it from getting verbally bashed. It looks completely bland on top.

Aesthetics: 2/6 - Layout: 2/6 - Gameplay: 2/6 - Score:  6/18

[Hunsager]
All the ammo from the shotgun guys, the chaingunners and the BFG from the last map helped us in this short arena with overpopulated groups of monsters as well as two cybers in the end. As the previous one, this one also feels too short and cheap. I am not enjoying the direction this megawad is going at the moment, what is happening to the gameplay? It seems like it's turning into Hell Revealed now.

Aesthetics: 3/6 - Layout: 3/6 - Gameplay: 2/6 - Score:  8/18





















Map17 - Chaingun guy to the rescue 
[Johnsen]
Dooms' E3m6 - Mt. Erebus has inspired a lot of really cool creations through the years. I have a weak spot for some of them, and really enjoy the original for what it brought to the table. This bland and mundane clone somehow manage to take a concept which allows for a lot of crazy texturing and make it a dull and forgettable piece. I do not like the design choice of adding a cage-fence around the arena you start in, it clutters the view and ruins the sense of a large, open space. There's a painful lack of contrasts going on, as if the author failed to realize a spark of fruity textures and abrupt contrasts is what make this kind of map work. This is a good example of how you do not want to execute a tribute to E3M6. The fights are ok, a bit on the frustrating side when you first enter the arena, and there is a somewhat annoying distribution of ammo (plenty early on, then scars later on). The best part of the map would probably be the red brick hallways with the brightly lit fire texture, but we have seen it many times before, and done better. A highly mediocre entry. You probably wont hate it as much as a rock in your shoe, but it's not a jolly affair.

Aesthetics: 3/6 - Layout: 3/6 - Gameplay: 3/6 - Score:  9/18

[Hunsager]
What kind of a place is this? We are trapped behind fences in a dirty looking start area and the red key is just lying there in a tiny, boring house. The only thing I like here is that it's actually possible to reach the room with the cacos which one could see in the distance from the start.

Aesthetics: 3/6 - Layout: 3/6 - Gameplay: 3/6 - Score:  9/18

The great puzzle of how to lower the red key.





















Map18 - Mistake nostalgic  
[Johnsen]
Even tho the level name makes me want to smack the author with a dictionary, this is possibly one of the best simple arena maps in the set as a whole. There is nothing grand going on here, but the fireworks in the start do linger on your mind after completion, so there is something to be said about that. The design is nice enough to look at, and it compliments the kind of gameplay it wants to achieve. You get a ton of imps raining fireballs down on you from a caged ledge, and a few hell knights on the ground floor to tense things up a bit. The walkway encompassing the arena has a cave filled with rockets and the required launcher, making it a fun romp to splatter the clusters of imps with a vengeance. It runs out of steam fast, and had it not been such a short ride, I would punish the gameplay rating. For what it wants to achieve, this is a decent piece, but lets not kid ourselves - it's no masterpiece.

Aesthetics: 4/6 - Layout: 4/6 - Gameplay: 4/6 - Score: 12/18

[Hunsager]
I can tolerate some small maps in a megawad, even among the later maps. But then they must be good, and thankfully, this is one of the better ones. We really needed that now, and wow - it sure was satisfying to squash 200 imps with the rocket launcher! This is a fast, fun and nice looking arena map. 

Aesthetics: 4/6 - Layout: 4/6 - Gameplay: 5/6 - Score: 13/18




















Map19 - Transient amnesia
[Johnsen]
We were somewhat disappointed when this turned into yet another slaughter styled arena map. It held promise of something more complex and creatively fulfilling with the mountain area you start in, but then degraded into teleporting you from one stretch of monster filled hallways to the next. The different parts don't fit well together at all, but they are equally decently executed as far as texturing goes, albeit too heavy on the cheap use of copy-paste repetitive detailing. This feels more like a slightly upgraded entry from "Hell Revealed" design-wise, and although the fights are sufficiently loaded, it becomes highly repetitive and uninteresting quickly. The best looking part was probably the arena with the Spider Master-mind, and the atmospheric light effects applied in front of the exit gate. That is until said gate was lowered, and the shading stayed unchanged, leaving a really quirky blunder to behold.

Aesthetics: 3/6 - Layout: 3/6 - Gameplay: 3/6 - Score: 9/18

[Hunsager]
There are vast areas and hordes of monsters in this level, and we are reminded that this isn't vanilla doom after all. The design is extremely abstract and weird looking. I'm afraid this is too weird for me. And what's up with that last secret? It's a teleporter leading back to the start area, revealing the final monster - a lonely arch-vile. What a very strange design decision.

Aesthetics: 3/6 - Layout: 3/6 - Gameplay: 3/6 - Score: 9/18




Map20 - Milk it

[Johnsen]
One of the larger maps in the set, yet still falling short of grandeur in the size-department. The first area consist of a hillside with some brownish dirt colored mountains and a toxic fall, a piece that seems out of place with the rest of the texturing, but sits nice enough on its own. As you first enter the hellish garden area, the obvious high point of the map is revealed, as you get peppered from every angle. Cacos floating in, accompanied by loads of imps and a variety of other pesky inhabitants, force you to keep moving. It's relatively easy to survive as long as you run around, as the ammo and health is sufficient to carry you through, if you are lucky enough to locate it in time that is. Later on, this central outdoor area can be viewed from a ledge near the yellow key door, where it delivers one of the best sights the megawad has to offer. The key hunt itself is proper challenging, culminating in a Cyberdemon locked off in a small room, next to a pathway with lava on each side. Said muscled goat killed us off a few times, but would have been easier to deal with if one realized the amount of cells he nested on. The ammo do get crammy quick if you die here, so take care to not excess die (now there is something you don't hear every day). All in all a somewhat inconsistent and confused map, which could have been great but falls short by a bit.

Aesthetics: 4/6 - Layout: 4/6 - Gameplay: 4/6 - Score:  12/18

[Hunsager]
It's a new episode and we seem to be in Hell still. Again, it's a very large level with big groups of monsters and abstract looks. Like with some previous cases, this level also suffer from not making the keyed doors stay open. The placement of the cyber was not a favorite of mine. He instantly telport behind you to make sure you get a rocket in your back. Then you have to journey all the way back to him, in other words you have to run around and pick up every key to open all the doors and then try to kill the cyber again. In our case he actually moved and stalked next to the lift in the crazily textured basement. Ugh, this do not make for a good gameplay, nor layout!

Aesthetics: 4/6 - Layout: 3/6 - Gameplay: 3/6 - Score:  10/18




















MAP21 - Pain Elementals castle
[Johnsen]
One of the low points so far. A mixture of wood, grey stone and blood textures manage to create some sense of atmosphere, but the design suffers through simplicity, repetitive areas and laziness. The monsters teleport in with annoying frequency, and the secrets are almost crucial for survival, as they grant the BFG and plenty of vital ammo. The only high point would be the supercharge secret in the outdoor area, hinting of its existence through a crack in the wall. As a whole, this is pretty crappy, though.

Aesthetics: 2/6 - Layout: 2/6 - Gameplay: 3/6 - Score:  7/18

[Hunsager]
This is a painful map, both in terms of looks and gameplay! It features a lot of Pain Elementals and several mean and borderline unfair ambushes. I stood right in front of the yellow key pillar wondering how to lower the thing. Suddenly it came down as Andy flipped a switch at the other side of the map, and I was instantly ripped apart by a baron and two mancubi. The last cyberdemon felt easy though, as he didn't have much space to move around and we could shoot at him through the door. We realized in the end that there is actually a secret BFG. If discovered earlier this would have lowered the difficulty and been very helpful to us.

Aesthetics: 3/6 - Layout: 2/6 - Gameplay: 3/6 - Score:  8/18

Blood-filled rooms in this pain-filled castle.





















Map22 - Green peace  
[Johnsen] 
An oddly memorable entry considering it pretty much consist of a few textures. The choice of textures go a long way however, since it utilize the beautiful green zimmer stones and nukage. It's perhaps too sparse on the nukage, since this would allow for more use of contrasts. The smooth light effect in the start of the map is a good example of what you need to bask in if this theme is to work to its full extent. Sadly, the author was in too much of a hurry to pull such off with consistency. The gameplay becomes highly redundant since it basically feed you waves of one type of monster at a time. The final caged area with the exit require quick thinking and good survival skills, or it will leave you in a pool of minced meat in a blink. The added nukage scenery in this area is also decently pretty to look at. It's a tolerable offering with some nice areas, and for some reason it does leave an impression of sorts, but it's certainly not a great map.

Aesthetics: 3/6 - Layout: 3/6 - Gameplay: 3/6 - Score:  9/18

[Hunsager]
Welcome to a real slaughterhouse! This turned into a mass murder of zombies and hell knights. It's a very linear map and it should've had some other monsters in the mix as this become too monotonous when you are almost exclusively killing tons of zombies and hell knights repeatedly. Some variation to the colors and texture could perhaps have been added as well. However, the last scene is a very memorable setup. We already heard the sound of the cyber early on, so we knew he was around, but being teleported into the last arena meant that his location came upon us as a big surprise still. The silhouettes of a Cyberdemon and an arche-vile next to him, against the red hell sky, was both a beautiful and fearful moment since the cyber seemed so much bigger than us as he was looming above, firing his rockets down towards us.

Aesthetics: 5/6 - Layout: 4/6 - Gameplay: 4/6 - Score:  13/18



Map23 - They're waiting for you
[Johnsen]
Another extremely cheap arena, the kind you will whip up in an hour with the proper editing tools of today. Be sure to press the crates, as they hold vital secrets for your survival, at least if you start the map from scratch. The spider vs spider fight is a cliche about as big as the average ass in a fat-camp, but one is able to enjoy it still. This was mildly entertaining but way too short, and I'm glad I had my backpack full of cells when entering this place. What little there is looks ok, in all its copy-paste glory.

Aesthetics: 3/6 - Layout: 3/6 - Gameplay: 3/6 - Score:  9/18

[Hunsager]
Again we get a small arena map, and one that isn't especially creative or inventive. There is not much more to say about this and there isn't much to praise it for. Be that as it may, we utilized the BFG, caused some infights and kicked their asses!

Aesthetics: 3/6 - Layout: 3/6 - Gameplay: 4/6 - Score:  10/18





















Map24 - Hell into my eyes 
[Johnsen]
This is pretty much yet another filler, extremely short, and about as advanced as a crayon drawing on a mums fridge. The contrasts used on the lava and the hellish textures in the very first garden is probably the visual highlight. This atmospheric setup lingers through the map, much thanks to a low light level and the beauty of Adrians' textures. Not much to say about the gameplay, it never delivers much in the sense of flow and excitement, unfortunately.

Aesthetics: 3/6 - Layout: 3/6 - Gameplay: 3/6 - Score:  9/18

[Hunsager]
This level open up with a nice looking hell setting. It sets the mood with lava and a lift which slowly descend into the abyss. However, the map is too short and don't hold enough monsters, just a few groups of mancubi, barons and hell knights. I praised the end scene with the Cyberdemon in map 22 but I wouldn't go as far this time. You have to battle five cybers in a row inside a small arena with four columns. There is both a megasphere and an invulnerability, but the fatal error here is the teleporter, which is difficult to spot. It's just so easy to accidentally jump it and thus be transported back to the start, espeically when you are moving around with the invulnerability on. I would call this a small design blunder which easily could have been avoided.

Aesthetics: 4/6 - Layout: 3/6 - Gameplay: 3/6 - Score:  10/18




















Map25 - I will find you
[Johnsen]
This one take you back to the more Doom II brick styled tech bases of the first episode, and does so with about the same amount of lacking flare and borderline tolerable visuals. It plays quite decently, and supplies a few interesting traps which help the immersion and expectations. The highlight for me was probably the somewhat creative placement of the yellow key, in the midst of a large stack of crates. I had good help from my accumulated ammo here, as it helped achieve a nice flow throughout.

Aesthetics: 3/6 - Layout: 4/6 - Gameplay: 4/6 - Score:  11/18

[Hunsager]
The start area open up with some giant shapes and lines, but as we continue it change into small rooms, tight corridors as well as a narrow slime passage. I will remember this map for the yellow key which was very difficult to find, it could almost have been a secret. Apart from that, this was uninteresting and forgettable. 

Aesthetics: 3/6 - Layout: 3/6 - Gameplay: 4/6 - Score:  10/18

Just go and find him! And pick up that yellow key also, if you can...





















Map26 - Full damage
[Johnsen]
Yet again we get one of the many arena styled takes of this megawad. It's a simple way to fill a slot, and it's done with varying success throughout. This is one of the better ones as far as gameplay go in my opinion, as the mixture of monsters and the way they flood the central area as you flip switches, is a sight to behold. I somehow survived this thing, but had my share of close calls since my partner kept flipping switches, adding to the fry (dude!). The layout here serves its purpose, but it's obviously limited in its execution. Aesthetics could have been easily increased by non-intrusively detailing the heck out of the hellish theme. I appreciate the author never going overboard with the difficulty in these arenas, as such is always an easy temptation.

Aesthetics: 3/6 - Layout: 3/6 - Gameplay: 4/6 - Score:  10/18

[Hunsager]
I guess this one would have to be classified as an arena style map. It's red and rectangular and got a lot of mancubi in cages and one or two furious arch-viles who had me fried several times. It's high on action and create a rising tension as many different monsters teleport in.

Aesthetics: 4/6 - Layout: 3/6 - Gameplay: 5/6 - Score:  12/18




Map27 - In Hell they trust
[Johnsen]
The best hellish map in the pack is easy to pick, and this is it. At times this is a pleasure to look at, with its color-popping lava pools, and the glowing red rocks, contrasted by a more structural feel of red bricks, and metal. Doom just looks great in this suit, and one never completely tire of it. I would have gone even heavier on the contrasts and the fading light effects, and the layout isn't really that great, but it's sufficient to generate the most atmospheric map the megawad has to offer. I originally pegged this one slightly higher point-wise, but after running through it in nomonsters mode to make up my mind, I couldn't shake the little things that would have elevated it further. The ammo distribution and health supply is nice and solid, granting a good and tense gameplay, without being as much of a fight as the earlier maps in the same episode. This is easily one of my favorite maps in the set, despite its shortcomings.

Aesthetics: 4/6 - Layout: 4/6 - Gameplay: 5/6 - Score:  13/18

[Hunsager]
Three revenants standing around a dead marine with his chaingun and his backpack. Ok, we get the message. It's time for revenge. Here! Some rockets for you: Boom, boom, boom! Apart from our dead comrade, this is actually a nice looking scene, it's as pleasant as a little hell cave area can look. There a more red caves to explore and more tough opposition to fight. The ammo is a bit low, especially because we had a couple of deaths. This map isn't big, but it manages to give a good sense of location and it had us running around searching for the red key quite a bit.

Aesthetics: 5/6 - Layout: 5/6 - Gameplay: 4/6 - Score:  14/18

Could it be Adam Hegyi? He has been gone for like - a decade or so. Strange to find him in this place...






















Map28 - Towers of Hate

[Johnsen]
Another highlight of the episode comes in the form of this large, open beast. What you get here is something like E2M8 on steroids, with a little bit of Mt. Erebus and "Hell Revealed" in the mix. You start in a very misleading and disjointed, but nice looking and clean tech base, then jump a teleporter and end up in a huge garden area, with pesky chaingunners on top of sky high pillars. In the center you can run atop a huge pyramid construction to grab a BFG - but take care to not eat one of the many rockets filling the sky. The place crawls with Cyberdemons, and they are eager to plaster you on sight. The fights are fair, and quite survivable if you apply a bit of strategy. The ammo is more than plentiful, perhaps a bit on the heavy side when you reach the outer part of the map after basically having disposed of the cybers already. I snagged the 200% secret by doing a ninja maneuver and using the pyramid as a ramp, but it's also reachable by a teleport. My biggest issue with the layout here is the tech base start which seems to serve only to expand the maps size, and looks completely out of place. It's a lazy solution to just teleport the player into the main section of the map, since this piece could have easily been constructed as a building within the outdoor area. Still, this is a cool and memorable entry, and a solid step up from the previous arenas overall.

Aesthetics: 4/6 - Layout: 4/6 - Gameplay: 4/6 - Score:  12/18

[Hunsager]
What a start...we are back in Ultimate Doom? No, not this time, this is just a joke. It's in fact another arena map, with a pyramid construction in the center and several cybers on each side. It turned out to be great fun to run up and down the pyramid with high speed, while trying to dodge slanting rockets. This one managed to create intense and great gameplay, something which we appreciate, so I will give it 6 in that category! It's clearly the most creative and inventive arena in the megawad.

Aesthetics: 3/6 - Layout: 4/6 - Gameplay: 6/6 - Score:  13/18





















Map29 - Shub-Nigguraths Pit
[Johnsen]
As a remake of Quakes final map, this manage to look convincingly familiar, but it's super cheap on the detailing, and Quake remakes stopped being extravagant and cool back in 96'. Obviously a map that should have gone into a secret or final map slot instead of occupying Map29, a placement that is usually reserved for the complex high point in a megawad, in order to create a proper buildup before the often lackluster final map. Having a great Map29 is sort of a way to make up for the often creativity lacking Map30, which usually end with a clustered variation of the Icon of Sin ordeal. As such, this map seems like a silly misplaced filler, but one have to give it points for convincingly pulling off a simple version of Shubs ol' pit.

Aesthetics: 3/6 - Layout: 3/6 - Gameplay: 3/6 - Score: 9/18

[Hunsager]
Map29 is always an epic journey, isn't it? Like "The Living End" and "Odyssey of Noises". So what is waiting for us here? Well, Shub-Niggurath's pit isn't an epic journey, but exactly the opposite. It's a short run and just a lame joke of a map. Is this supposed to be a tribute or plain mockery?

Aesthetics: 3/6 - Layout: 2/6 - Gameplay: 3/6 - Score: 8/18

Something awesome awaits as soon as we cross the teleporter 
line, I'm sure, this is map 29!






















Map30 - Painfull Mortally
[Johnsen]
Before I go into an offline tantrum about gibberish map-names, lets get the last review in: Insert standard Icon of Sin ordeal. I cant remember the last time I played a Map30 that was actually good when it chose to go the usual route of spawning cubes at you. There are some pretty hardcore lameness attempts of creative architecture to make a new Icon of Sin here, but if you don't go all in with the texture efforts and meticulous use of sectors and light, you just cant make stuff like this look good in Doom. The result more often than not becomes horrible, as in this case; cue blocky cartoonish slabs on the floor simulating claws. The entire construction looks pretty much like SpongeBob Squarepants ass with a bad rash. On top of this, the way to scalp Romero is plain retarded, we had to check an editor amidst the carnage in order to realize one is supposed to jump from the rocket launcher / BFG podiums and onto a lower cliff, and then pepper a gun trigger wall inside a tunnel behind a covering texture where the spawn-cubes originate from. This will then make it possible to pump rockets into the central spot where the head resides. It's hard to create a good Map30, I should know as I did a shitty job of it in "Alien Vendetta" too, but this is smack dab silly.

Aesthetics: 2/6 - Layout: 2/6 - Gameplay: 2/6 - Score: 6/18

[Hunsager]
Map 30 is usually an annoying map because of The Icon of Sin battle. There is always an attempt to make it a little different and a little harder than the original. Some authors do this by making a long route with obstacles before you reach the Icon. I will reward this map for not going that way but instead tossing us right into the midst of the battle arena. However, the alteration this time turned out to be that we were supposed to shoot some hidden gun-trigger walls to reveal the Icon of Sin, and then fire rockets from two platforms. This was too difficult to figure out during the inferno so we had to look it up in Doombuilder. Is this cheating? Well, I guess we just have to admit that in the end we are not Doom gods but just painfull mortally. Sorry!

Aesthetics: 3/6 - Layout: 3/6 - Gameplay: 3/6 - Score: 9/18





Johnsens' Summary and total score:
It was a pleasant surprise to just accidentally come across this megawad, and we cannot deny having enjoyed darting through it. However, it's a bit like a steak someone removed from the grill before it was proper done. There are too many fillers present here, although since this is the work of mainly one guy with only a guest author doing five of them, props should be given for establishing a playable and varied megawad at all. The first episode achieved the best flow, and the real downfall didn't start until Map14. From there on, what you pretty much get is various arenas, and conceptual maps, with some proper entries in between. Part of this is undoubtedly because of the limitations that comes when one man completes almost all the maps in a years time. Had it been more of a co-effort, I suspect the depth would have been richer, and the shortcuts fewer.

Main author Maxime shines the most when he delve into the medium sized non slaughter maps, be it tech levels or hellish themes. Some of the earlier, simpler creations are great fun to play. Subject199 - whoever that guy is, contributed a few playable and simplistic levels too, the best one being Map07. Also, the care that was taken to not make coop sabotaging design choices like paths getting permanently blocked, is a huge selling point in itself. Few megawads are as free of such annoying screwups as this one. The short map duration also mean you wont have to backtrack through lengthy corridors in order to pick up keys you already grabbed once - several of the doors are tagged stay open on top, although this falls short of consistency in some maps. Ammo and item placements vary between decent to really good, with a few exceptions in the sillier arenas; another sign the author took joy in playing these maps himself. The arena thing is overdone, but there are no real gameplay stinkers present, and it's highly commendable that it shows a healthy restraint with the difficulty ceiling. The short verdict from my end would be to peg "And the Bloodshed Began" as quite mediocre in its total offerings, but with a few shining moments.

My score: 3.35
Aesthetics: 3.09 - Layout: 3.21 - Gameplay: 3.75
(Awarded points: 99 / 103 / 120 = 322)


Hunsagers' Summary and total score:
The best parts of ATBB, where aesthetics, layout and gameplay all flow well together and create the good Doom moments would be the following; The maze in "Grassland" (Map04), the exploration of "Gloomy Melancholy" (Map06), the neat and beautiful "Downstroy" (Map08), the varied journey through "Reload 404" (Map13), seeing the Spider Mastermind getting severely punished by a group of smaller monsters consisting of four imps and a hell knight in "Small Phobia" (Map15), the end scene of "Green Peace" (Map23) and the red caves of "In Hell they trust" (Map28).

The first part of this megawad is clearly the best. Something seem to change at Map14 with the archie and revenant maze, followed by the way too small Map15. After this turning point, the megawad never manage to recuperate and get it right, apart from with Map27. Too many small arena maps are tossed in during the second half (map 15, 32, 16, 18, 23, 26, 28, 30) and they disappoint for the most part. The first levels are not large, they are small or medium sized techbases, most of them also linear maps. Still, some of them feel like interesting journeys through varied rooms and environments. Later on it offers the Hell maps, some of these are in typical red colors, others more flamboyant and sparkling. I prefer the smaller Hell maps over the two big badasses Map19 and 20. When I think of these, I even feel that including these smaller arena maps isn't a bad idea after all.

What this megawad does best is that it manages to create good gameplay, even though I would say it's done better in the first half than in the second. The weapons and ammo supply is always well balanced, always! Such would be a proof of good playtesting. We were never got stuck or accidentally sealed off from keys or large sections of any part of the maps. The monster placement is also good, as they mainly appear with variation instead of being randomly tossed.

More could have been done with the aesthetics and the layouts however, mostly with applying more light and height variations. We haven't seen too many stairs, or vertical experimentation with plateaus and ledges. Such would have taken this to a higher level architecturally. In the case this author wants to create more levels in the future, that's a suggestion to him which could perhaps improve his Doom map making.

Anyway, ATBB, it was nice getting to know you! The score isn't that high, but there is nothing to be ashamed of here (no, the secret maps don't count in the summary!). My conclusion is simple: Thumbs up, go and play it!

My score: 3.57
Aesthetics: 3.68 - Layout: 3.18 - Gameplay: 3.84

(Awarded points: 118 / 102 / 123 = 343)



COMBINED SCORE: 3.46
Aesthetics: 3.39 - Layout: 3.20 - Gameplay: 3.79

2 comments:

  1. Hey, thanks for the review guys, I actually released a few maps but I just think Datacore got my nick wrong x) we also both had entries in 3ha wads.

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  2. Hello Subject_119 - nice to see a proper nick behind the mysterious co-author of ATBB :) I will make sure to get your nick correct from now on, sorry about the mixup, but I guess Datacore is to blame! :) Did not know the two of you also released other stuff, I'll have to check these out, thanks.

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