|
Conflagrated
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 1969 6:00 pm
Posts: 4573
Location: Alaska
|
 Whoops! The SSR team got a little side tracked! (Nothing new there!)
Also, we reviewed GBA Doom and Doom 64 for one reason or another.
So uh... read and then cry about it.
Lake of Fire
By: Capt. J3
Reviewed by: Weiss
Mode of Play: Duel
Now I'm normally not too big on duel maps, but this interested me. 4 hours to make? I had to check it out.
First of all, I must say, I'm very impressed. This map is beautiful. I mean, this doesn't seem like 4 hours of work (especially to me, since I suck at mapping), it seems like maybe a week's worth or more, it's just that good.
On to gameplay: The map is fairly small, but this doesn't restrict gameplay in the slightest; I never felt like I was going to be trapped in a room or a corner at all, as there's multiple exits pretty much anywhere you go. It's a good size for a duel map, or hell, you could probably do 3-4 player DM if you really wanted to. There's plenty of stimpacks and medikits, as well as ammunition for the 3 guns you can find in the level (shotgun, SSG and rocketlauncher, unless there's a secret I didn't find).
If you want a really excellent duel map that isn't Greenwar or Dwango, this is probably what you want to play, at least for a little while. I have a feeling it's going to be played quite a lot.
-------------------------------------------------
How it looks: 9/10
Beautiful, and the name really fits the map.
How it plays: 9/10
Great map, just the right size for duels.
Replayability: High
You'll probably want to play this over and over again until you can get a Perfection medal in your sleep.
Overall: 9/10
A really fun map, with a perfect balance of beauty and gameplay.
Doom (GBA)
By David A. Palmer Productions
Reviewed by: t3h Icy
Mode of Play: Cooperative/Survival/Deathmatch
Firstly, the GBA port for Doom has many significant changes.
Going through the list, a lot of content was removed, but this is a port to a handheld system and was made in 2001, so it's not bad. However, some important aspects were removed, some parts of levels were leftover and the organization is somewhat poor.
Starting off is the gameplay itself. For a handheld port, this game runs at a reasonable rate, but lag is very noticeable and in large levels like Mount Erebus, it can be quite an annoyance. What's worse is that the best parts of the game were removed. Without a climactic battle with the Cyberdemon or Spider Mastermind, the player is left with battles against Barons and Cacodemons. The final level is merely the Fortress of Mystery from the original Doom. It's understandable that much content had to be removed, but taking out the two bosses of the game is really disappointing.
The next part of some disappointment is that many levels have been trimmed and torn apart, such as Containment Area, Spawning Vats and Command Center. Quite frankly, if the group that worked on this project felt it necessary to replace a few levels, it would have been more fun to play some more fresh levels, rather than what's left of some of the bigger levels, now in a vegetative state. Yet, in Containment Area and Halls of the Damned, there are some inaccessible sections leftover which actually makes getting 100% Secrets and Kills without using two Rocket Launcher bugs (using Rockets to get blasted through corners of levels and using the splash damage to hit monsters through solid walls). A waste of space and irritating for players that like to get 100%. There are other little things that show poor organization, such as a now unused switch in Limbo.
Still, perhaps the game should get some credit. After all, having Doom in your pocket and being able to play with friends is pretty neat (2P Coop, 2-4P DM), but other than the fact for being portable, this is a really lousy port for Doom.
Score:
---
How it looks: 8/10
Though pixelly and laggy at times, the graphics are quite good for a GBA game, though many textures were removed and it can be a tad bit of an eyesore with the overuse of some of the same textures to replace removed ones, but overall, the game holds well in the visual department.
How it plays: 6/10
Again, it is quite impressive for being a handheld port, but it could have been better, having the boss monsters, and better control. The game also could use some bug fixing, and some cleaning up. Multiplayer does make up for it though, but it's not the best game for a Single-player experience.
Overall: 7/10
8 years later, most people had Doom at some point on their computer and 8 more years later, this game is left in the dust, since Doom can actually be played on an iPhone these days. However, for any Doomers that have a GBA, it may be worth checking out, but don't expect Doom's best.
Doom 64 (N64)
Midway
Reviewed by: t3h Icy
Mode of Play: Survival (Single-Player)
Doom 64 is somewhat of a spiritual Doom 3 and had many new features and changes.
Doom 64 is a much darker and scarier game than Doom and Doom 2 having eerie music, satanic imagery, larger sprites, and the brightness is toned down for the most part. The visuals are much more improved having basic dynamic lighting, floors over floors, enhanced sprites, scrolling skies. It's a big step up and looks like a brand new game. The atmosphere of the game is much more hellish and frightening rather than rocking and rolling and shooting some bad guys. The actual levels have taken a step up in detail, and though aren't littered with nooks everywhere, the high-res textures work well enough to further add to the visuals.
The gameplay itself is fantastic as well, but unfortunately lacking for hardened Doomers. Throughout the 32 levels (4 are secret and 3 are bonus), there are many examples of excellent usage of Doom 64 features, such as Terror Core's 3D floors, Dark Entries' scripts, Hectic's traps and Alpha Quadrant's platform physics; all new to Doom. The addition of scripting allows Doom to be played in ways only seen in Hexen thus far. With a few exceptions of some subpar levels, all the levels present the player with an adventure through a spiraling battlefield, dark castles, hellish pits and many more worlds.
The difficulty of the game is where Doom 64 falls short. Arguably, the most annoying and tricky monsters were removed, and only replaced with a new boss and the Nightmare Imp (which is merely a semi-transparent Imp that has a faster projectile). The monsters themselves aren't as difficult in both quality and quantity (barring Pain Elementals). There is also plenty of ammo; enough to have a player leave the level with an excess from a "Pistol start". The Laser and the artifacts (or Demon Keys) are also rather gamebreaking. If a player goes through the secret levels, they can receive the Laser with one of the artifacts before Level 5, and is already capable of killing any monster in sight with ease. Of course it eats ammo like no tomorrow, but with ammo all over the place and careful usage, the Laser makes the game very easy. The final boss with the Motherdemon, while a powerful demon, succumbs to either the BFG9000 or the Laser effortlessly. On top with the artifacts, the teleporters containing all the demons before the final battle can be killed, and with enough speed, that leaves just a few Pain Elementals, rather than an entire army.
The Laser when fully powered (having all artifacts), fires in multiple directions, at an incredible speed rate and hits just as hard as plasma shots. Even Cyberdemons or the Motherdemon fall to the Laser within seconds. Furthermore, the Laser is an incredibly thin projectile. While that may be bad in some cases, it can sneak in between pillared barriers, most notably in No Escape, where the Cyberdemon(s) in the back of the room can be killed without releasing them.
As far as a challenge goes, this game is lacking. The only notably difficult parts are playing from a Pistol start (though this is still rather easy), the battle against the Motherdemon without the BFG9000 or Laser, Cat and Mouse, and the Mancubus cage "trap" in Outpost Omega. More or less could be added to the list as it's subjective, but those are the main difficulties.
Score:
---
How it looks: 9/10
Doom 64 takes Doom to a whole new level with the beautiful architecture, graphics and other visuals. A very large step forward for Doom, though some levels could be prettied up still, such as The Absolution, Hardcore or In The Void
How it plays: 8/10
The game plays very well and has many excellently-designed levels and usage of scripts and what Doom 64 is capable of. However, Doom 64 falls short in providing a difficult gameplay environment and players have to resort to personal challenges if they are wanting a tough game.
Overall: 8/10
Ultimately, Doom 64 is not a true sequel (per se), but the game is great and would be a blast for Doom fanatics. The sounds and graphics create an incredible environment and the changes make the game feel new, but still keeping the Doom style.
Doom Weapons in Heretic
by: NovaKiller
reviewed by: Weiss
Mode of play: Any.
When I saw the topic for this WAD, I was ecstatic. A Heretic mod? Awesome.
Doom Weapons in Heretic does exactly what it says: It brings the weapons from Doom into Heretic. Cool, huh? While it IS quite fun to blast your favorite Heretic monsters with a shotgun, it's really just a cheap gimmick. However, I did like the fact that the weapons get a "powered up" mode when you use a Tome of Power; that adds the little extra flavor it takes to make a weapon-porting mod great.
While it was cool that someone took the time to port the Doom weapons over, the gameplay is... lacking, I suppose. It's just like playing a Doom megawad that uses the Heretic monsters and textures, but that's OK -- if it's fun to play, what's to complain about? This could possibly draw more people into the Heretic world. Which is a good thing, right?
Overall, this is a great way to get into Heretic, and it DOES provide something new... but it gets old quick.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How it looks: N/A
You really can't judge sprites.
How it plays: 10/10
The weapons are perfect copies of the Doom weapons, and the powered up versions are pretty cool.
Replayability: 7/10
While it's great to blast Iron Liches with rockets, this mod gets old fast. But then again, don't all weapon mods?
Overall: 9/10
A solid Heretic weapons mod that may inspire others to join the Heretic community while providing some spice to those of us who love Heretic already.
(Removed redundant reviews. oops!)
There you have it; Hopefully we can get back on track (again) and continue to be nowhere near as good as NewStuff.
Until next year!
|
