Summary

More Screenshots

Author(s):

Dave Carlson

davec2@home.com

SP Doom2  (map 1)

requires: Vanilla Doom2 or any port

Reviewer: Sematary

Download DHC11CO.ZIP 

Overview

I thought it appropriate, being as it's January 1st and all that I begin the year with a review.

I chose to dive into the past to search for a worthy adversary (or at least something fun).

What I found was this map you see here. I hope you enjoy it. I did. it is a classic styled Doom 2 map

with somewhat less detail than I thought was possible at the time that this was released (Jan 2000).

The author did state, however, that there was no theme - just wanted to create a fun map.

That he did. Read on.

P.S. I am NOT scoring this. I just like reviving these old maps for a new generation to see and play

and hopefully appreciate.

Design

As noted, this was fairly basic and straight forward as far as map design goes. Not a ton of detail but there were

some nice elements to it - especially the hidden staircase that is activated later in the map. It is basically a

find the key, move on to the next section of the map design that flows from point A to point B, etc... fairly uninterrupted.

I thought the use of teleporters was interesting - especially to take you to a part of the map that has pretty much zip

to do with actually completing the map but gives you a fun fight if you want to take the fork in the road and go for it.

I will also admit that I enjoyed the simplicity of the design. As the years have gone on, people have worked harder

to add more design elements to their maps and that is great. I love those maps. But there is something to be said for

this basic approach that effectively mimics some of the earlier Doom maps.

Gameplay

This was, honestly, a fairly easy map. The author put in more than sufficient amounts of weaponry, ammo and bonuses to keep it

fairly easy. If you want to go in to challenge yourself (I was on UV using Chocolate Doom) I would recommend using Nightmare and

seeing if you can get through it that way. It started off relatively easier and the difficulty did progress as the map played out and there

were some interesting battles with Barons, Hellknights and a few Revanants thrown in as rocket fodder. There were even a couple

of Mancubuses around but the placement of the more difficult enemies and the weapons you have at your disposal mean that you'll

never really be in any danger. Not that you won't die even if you don't use Nightmare. There were some surprises and those damn

Chaingunners have a habit of coming out of nowhere when you least expect them.

Final thoughts

While I felt that this map was lacking in the imagination department, it was fairly well constructed

and I think, accomplished what the author set out to do - which was to simply put together a fun map

to play. You won't be wowed by any of the design or gameplay elements but you probably won't

be bore either. I was able to play through this fairly quickly and I have to admit, I enjoy playing a map

that doesn't present me with a shit ton of puzzles I have no interest in solving. I just want to kill things

and have fun. This map accomplished that.

top