Easy
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Overview
Jan Van der Veken, who created the Ultimate DooM episode Dawn Of The Dead, together with Travers Dunne organized this WAD. It's the first episode in an ongoing project to replace all 32 maps. Some great Textures and Flats have been added, giving the episode a Quake-like feel. In between those MAP's are a few Military Base levels(by Jan, of course). Overall design quality is great: Texture alignment and placement are well done; lighting is exceptional; layouts are believable. However all of the maps are pretty small. Even the largest level, Discordia, can be completed in under 15:00. In addition, all levels, except Relentless, are quite easy. Most lack health, but if you're careful you can survive. Only one(Relentless) has an ammo problem; and what a problem it is. Overall, this is an excellent episode created by some very talented people, but the gameplay isn't really in my field. I'm hoping the second episode will contain larger, tougher maps, but players looking for a few quick levels to play will be delighted.
| Scary |
:54 Easy |
| Short and sweet metal/brick level. Like much of the episode it feels very similar to Quake. Good design, with excellent use of the new textures... | |
| Bloody Hell |
2:17 Easy |
| Brick design in another short level by Jan. This one's more along the lines of DooM2 than Quake. Light levels remain fairly high, but the atmosphere is deffinately there. Those four Shotgunners at the beginning are annoying... |  |
| Entropia |
1:42 Easy |
| The smallest level in the episode, done in brick style. Pretty much just a series of small rooms with cool lighting connected by small hallways with cool lighting... |  |
| Relentless |
5:23 Hard |
| Contains very realistic outdoor construction, but still seems quite small. Good lighting all around. It also happens to be the toughest level in the set. There's just barely enough ammo to get by with, so it's a good idea to punch a few monsters. No Berserk Pack makes that a bit harder, though... |  |
| Hand Of DooM |
4:24 Medium |
| Slime and Brick make up most of this level. Small, but it has enough tricks to keep it from getting old. Great design and lighting. Item placement is good, with a minor health shortage. You can run out of ammo if you're a terrible shot... |  |
| The Mines Of Death |
2:21 Easy |
| Not much I can say about this one. Too dark to see anything throughout most of it. Gameplay is fair, but it's hard to fight monsters when you can't see them... |  |
| Dead Simple 2 |
3:29 Easy |
| My favorite level in the episode is this short, fast-paced masterpiece. Sort of an homage to Dead Simple, it is very simple. Great item placement. You just have to love that Mancubi trap. Great job, Nick!! |  |
| Discordia |
4:31 Easy |
| Very realistic Base level. Excellent layout has you weaving in and out of earlier areas of the map. As with Entropia, John focuses more on lighting and detail than gameplay. I'm not saying this is an entirely bad thing. After all, it's an awesome level, visually. It's just not one you're going to play over and over. Plenty of action, but, with the exception of the Arch-Vile/Demon room, it's pretty easy. Altogether, it's the best level I've seen from John Bye. A very worthy effort... |  |
| Military Complex |
3:58 Medium |
| Jan returns to his favorite style with this Knee Deep In The Dead level. What could go wrong? Absolutely nothing. An excellent design with a small dose of DooM2 thrown into the mix. Lighting is perfect, as is the gameplay... |  |
| Under Earth |
3:25 Medium |
| Another realisticly designed level from Travers. Very small, but the awesome construction makes up for it. Low ammo if you use the wrong weapon at the wrong time... |  |
| Stone Tyrant |
2:23 Easy |
| Adam Windsor is king of the small, detailed, violent level(see also: Requeim). Now this one isn't hard, but it's definately got its fair share of action. Good design and gameplay, of course. Adam, I appreciate all the rockets, but a RL would have been helpful. :-) A very nice level... |  |