My Review:

 

GAMEPLAY: 8

 

The opening scene:

 

I really wanted to give this a higher score but what held it back was that I spent too much time with nothing to do but search how to move forward in the game but that was only in like the first 3rd of the map. After that things picked up nicely and I was pretty much guaranteed a battle at ever turn. Some of the attacks were somewhat unfair as you would be in a darkened room and suddenly have a Spectre materialize directly behind you or an Archvile directly in front of you. Let's just say I'm glad I saved frequently. Aside from those few moments when I thought the author didn't really play fair (if you will) the gameplay in the 2nd 2/3 of the map was excellent. Nothing I couldn't handle but again, i'm glad I saved often. I frequently found myself low on ammo (and health) and quickly learned that if I found a cache of armour, ammo, etc... that shit was about to get real.

 

 

There is one part of the map where you need to ring a bell at the top of the tower and all I can tell you is this, when you come out - you BETTER have your running shoes on and you better not stop moving. Word to the wise, my friends, word to the wise.

Also, virtually all the badasses make an appearance in this map with several Arch Viles as well as a ton of Revenants, Barons, Imps, Pinkies, etc... Some of the really big badasses in Doom 2 do not make an appearance in this map and thankfully so - it was hard enough without them.

 

 

DESIGN: 7

 

Where to start with this? It was a well designed map - lots of little hidden nooks and crannies for the bad guys to surprise you from plus good use of 3d and textures. My only REAL problem with the design in this map (causing a lower score than it might otherwise have gotten) is the fact that virtually every doorway had unpegged textures. It was SUPER  annoying. Fortunately, it didn't detract from the gameplay but in a map that was otherwise nearly perfect in it's design, this was truly annoying. The author obviously is not a n00b to this and somehow managed to miss this one detail that I consistently found annoying. Because of that, i gave it a 7 instead of a 9. Fix that shit and this is a 9. I do have to say though that I enjoyed the music and the ambient sounds within the map. It's been awhile since I used GZDOOM and it has progressed really nicely as an editor.
 

REPLAYABILITY: 9

 

I can see people doing speedruns in this thing once they get the lay of the land. It's a long map and took me much longer than it should have but once you learn what gets opened where when you hit a switch, you should be able to blast through this map.

 

OVERALL: 8

 

This could have gotten a higher score than this but I did have difficulty in the first 3rd of the map determining a course of action which left me wandering around empty spaces as I searched for something that I missed to allow me to progress through the game. The other thing, which I mentioned, was the lack of pegging the textures for the doors as they opened. Rookie mistake.