Summary

REVIEW

Screenshots

Author(s):

Obsidian

SP doom2 (maps 1 - 3)

requires: Zdoom

or chocolate Doom

Reviewer: Sematary

Operation Hydra

challenge:   

My son - who is a far better gamer than i, managed to get past the cyber bruiser (aka cybruiser) but was pretty much hosed after that. So here is his challenge - he wants to see a video of someone defeating this map on ultra violence. so there you go! have at - and email me if you actually do it, with the link to your video - no cheats!

DIFFICULTY RATING  - rating: 8

    This is my first review in 7 years and, like my Doom skillz, my reviewing skills might be a tad rusty. Regardless,here we go. I'm going to tell you right now, if you think you are a doom god - by all means,  play this map on ultra violence. I tried - I'm not a doom god. it wasn't too difficult at the beginning, once i got my bearings, but things becamse noticeably more difficult as a traversed this map until I reached a point where i could no longer continue on ultra violence. i came across this section where i was face to face with what the author called a "cybruiser" - sort of a cross between a baron of hell and a cyberdemon. he's fast, he shoots rockets and i couldn't beat him. i finally succumbed to my inadequacies as a player and chose to begin anew on "hurt me plenty". so yes, the map got easier but in that same area i was still face to face with a major bad ass - in this case, the archvile. i managed to defeat him as he isn't too tough as long as you stay out of his way. then it was on to retrieve the yellow key which again, wasn't horribly difficult on "hurt me plenty" but there was still plenty of pain to be dispensed at the hands of hell knights, baby spiders, - you get the picture. after retrieving the yellow key i again found myself in a difficulty position - with by ammo low, two demons and a baby spider to face - you get the idea. again, beatable, but come on - this is hurt me plenty for goodness sakes! lol. :-)   So, i give the final score in this category an 8 - why? because your average player doesn't stand a chance! it's a bloodbath all the way. at least, if you're in that category of player, don't pull the ultra violence card - stick with one of the easier settings and enjoy the ride because it is one hell of a ride.

Playability -  rating: 10

     This map has playability written all over it. not only is it large but it is well designed, inhabited by the full menagerie of bad asses and will probably take you a fair amount of time to complete. to me, the sign of a really good map, is one that you want to come back to, even after you defeat it. i found 1 secret in level 1 - i'm sure there were probably more but i was too busy trying to keep my poor marine ass out of the graveyard to spend alot of time hunting for them - if they exist at all. So ya, once you get the hang of it and you've had yer fun - go out and play it again - maybe on a higher difficulty - do it on nightmare, I dare you! :-)

Level Design -  rating: 8

     the author obviously knows what he's doing. this wasn't just some e1m1 rip off that i was playing through. there are lots of lifts and crooks and crannies and great attention to detail. the texture use was well done and - when i had a chance to look around (not often) it seemed like everything was aligned properly. i think the one thing that really makes or breaks level design is attention to detail. as you can tell from these screen shots (taken in zdoom), the author has a good sense of detail and knows where to use lighting. perhaps the one thing that dragged on the score a little bit for me was that there seemed to be an inordinate amount of doors or things that looked like they should open on something, that didn't. a little misdirection is one thing but there was a fair amount of it with little notes popping up about that particular object not doing anything (not exact verbage). something else i'd like to see is a little bit more attention to actual lighting effects - shadows and such. i love that stuff. i tried to use it alot in my maps when i was actually making maps. that's pretty much all i've got though. i think you'll enjoy it!

overall -  rating: 9.3 or something to that effect

     I really enjoyed my time in this map. some people think i'm an easy grader. maybe i am - maybe not. who knows. Everything is subjective anyway and what i like might not be what someone else likes. am i ready to declare this the greatest map since the release of doom? nope, but it beats the pants off of much of what is out there. one thing is for sure. playing this map left me hungry for more and more i shall get! enjoy the maps. they are unquestionably worth your time. As a side note - the author says it's for chocolate doom and he recommends it but i couldn't get it to play with anything but zdoom.

In Case you think this CAN'T be done on UV - video evidence!

Map 1

Map 2

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