Review 9 - DOOMBEARS

Well hot damn! It’s good to be back! It’s been ages since my last review, I know but have I got a treat for you! Before I even start to talk about DOOMBEARS, I might as well point out the bad side: only the beta testing has been enabled so far so it’s not fully available for now. Be sure to keep updated though as it’s sure to come out soon enough: DeimosComaBlack is working a lot on it to improve and get it ready for you guys.

Now what’s worse than being stuck in small, tight, labyrinthine corridors and realizing that there is very little ammo and even fewer health packs? Why, being stuck in small, tight, labyrinthine corridors being chased by enormous bear monstrosities! Yes, that’s right! DOOMBEARS puts the player in a labyrinth of sorts and sharing these halls of death are giant, fucking, floating, bear heads. The player must go down practically every corridor, systematically flipping switches to find the exit. All this, of course, whilst avoiding the swift jaws of death of those bears. Ammo is scarce and the bears have this nasty habit of turning the player into a gross, inside-out looking pile of gibbed material in less time than it takes you to say “OMG WTF?!”. So what does this tell us? The wad can be a pain in the ass when it comes to difficulty. Not that this is a bad thing, mind you, as it’s similar to the Ghouls Forest series where it’s seemingly impossible to pass but gives you an enormous sense of gratification when you managed to clear it. When looking at comments from players about DOOMBEARS I found comments very similar to those in the Ghouls Forest: “OMFG man! This is fucking impossible! Has anyone actually finished this wad?”

Multiplayer will, of course, make this wad significantly easier and very likely, a lot more fun. Since I have only played the beta version so far, I must say that I have not experimented this on multiplayer but just imagine what it must be like to play survival mode trying to get out of a bear-infested maze? I imagine it would be similar to playing The Ghouls Forest in multiplayer.

Ah yes; there is still one more treat when it comes to difficulty in this wad: changing the difficulty will have a great effect on the gameplay of the wad. There are two main difficulty levels. From everything up to Hurt Me Plenty there is one criteria; in Ulta-Violence and Nightmare we have the other. This is what’s mainly affected

I’m too young to die! / Hey, not too rough / Hurt me Plenty:

*The speed of Bears
*The damage the Bears cause

On Ultra-Violence / Nightmare:

*Bears are invisible until they spot you
*No health pickups or Plasma Rifle are supplied

GRADES

• What can I say about the new content other than it’s simply hilarious? Come on! Bears? This scores a 10 just out of plain randomness! You gotta love the bears!
• The difficulty levels having an effect on the bears and the equipment provided are a definite plus! This is worth at least a 9.
• Despite it’s lightning fast gameplay, it’s consistency and it’s challenge, the wad is still not the most innovative thing ever. It’s still a rather gun-down-your-enemies-as-you-try-to-survive type of wad. Gameplay-wise, it would only be worth a 7.
• Multiplayer is just speculation, really, but I imagine that it would be worth a 9 due to its fast-paced survival co-op feel.
• The maze is very well designed and what really pleased me in the architecture was the “bear wall”: instead of having the big skull thing carved into the wall, the player scores more laughs when they see the big bear head instead of a skull making up some parts of the walls! 8 points for this brilliant idea!

10+9+7+9+8 = 43

43 \ 5 = 8.6

DOOMBEARS scores an 8.6 out of a total of 10. A great wad and great for some laughs and a challenge. Unfortunately it is not available for the general public yet. Be sure to stay posted and play it as soon as it becomes available!

Unfortunately...

...it has been just over a month since I posted my latest review.

Truth be told I have simply not had time to play much DOOM. It is also unfortunate that I'm not here to tell you, faithful readers, that another one will be out just yet.

Time.

Time affects all of us, eh? And it seems, more and more, that we don't have enough.

The good news is that I'm going to have some spare time in 2 weeks. During one week I shall post 3 more reviews, if all goes well, to account for all that I have missed in this past month.

Afterwards, again, I shall probably not have time anymore, but I think it's safe to say that over December, January and February there will be the regular weekly waits for a review.

Review 8 - Mordeth E2

In 1997, a wad came out that was considered one of the greatest wads. It's a total conversion made up of 6 levels. 6 levels means that it's the equivalent of one episode of the original DOOM game.

The levels revolve around mansion-looking settings in the first 3 levels and moving on to city-like in the next 3 levels.

This wad is going to be reviewed a little differently than normal simply because, well, there is no wad to review!

Mordeth E2 (meaning Episode 2) made it to the 10th place in the Top 10 Infamous Wads simply because it is the "one of the longest-waited high-profile incomplete projects in Doom world."

I guess there's not really much else to say about this one. Don't worry though, I've reviewed number 2 in the list already (wow.wad) but I'll compensate this short one when we get to number one in the list: The Sky May Be.

A new review

Dear review readers.

Sorry I haven't posted a review in a while. I've just been very, very busy.

If all goes well, I'll have a review up by Sunday. And the good news is, it's the start of the Top 10 Infamous wads!

Review 7 - The Ghouls Forest 3

When I see someone reaching into glowing embers and managing to restart a bonfire, it just amazes me. Just in case you people have very uncreative minds that was a metaphor for someone recreating something amazing and new out of an "old". With the arrival of the first and second installments of the Ghouls Forest trilogy, it was clear that Cutman Mike had done exactly that. Whilst I particularly enjoy the first two Ghouls Forest wads it is really the Ghouls Forest 3 that is the diamond in the rough.

The Ghouls Forest 1 put the DOOM player against a never-seen-before foe. Good old Choke. In the Ghouls Forest 2, the players knew what to expect but knowledge on what was coming didn’t necessarily help them to survive.

The Ghouls Forest 3 puts the player against not 1, not 2, but 4 different Ghouls! The other detail is that each Ghoul is unique. It has different sounds, attack patterns, they look different… I won’t write much about them seeing as I don’t want to spoil much; but just to let you know that if you thought the first 2 Ghouls Forest wads were scary, just wait until you fight the Yurei or the Jittersk….hold on; I’m trying very hard to contain my excitement here!!

Oh, yeah…apart from the difficulty that you face when trying to battle different types of Ghouls, dear Cutman Mike thought he would be a little more generous to the player by giving them a weapon they’re certainly not used to using if they played a lot of DOOM: a bow and arrows. Yes, that’s right. The character of this wad is not the regular DOOM guy but another person called the “Hunter”, who is (as you may have guessed) a professional Ghoul hunter.

Well, in the interests of not spoiling too much here I’m gonna go straight to the

Grades

• Whilst each of the other Ghouls Forest wads presented us with new content; the Ghouls Forest 3 tops that off with simply fabulous Ghouls. Note the plural here! It's not only one Ghoul!! The new form of weapons is absolutely stunning too! 10
• Another glorious detail added here was the change in difficulty. Now, there are choices of how hard you want the game to be. This affects two details in the game: the number of arrows you have as ammo (although you can collect used arrows {if you find them, of course}) and the darkness of the forest. For example, in the easist difficulty, you have unlimited arrows and everything in the forest is pretty much visible. In the hardest, you're limited to only a few arrows and you can't see more than 2 metres in front of you! The change in difficulty allows easier or harder gameplay; therefore expanding the possibility of gameplay. 10
• The variety of gameplay is one of the most attractive features of the wad. When you've learned the attack patterns of one Ghoul and finally manage to slay it, you're forced to stay alert whilst waiting for the next Ghoul, as you have no idea at all of how to defeat it! 10
• The downsite of the whole Ghouls Forest series is the multiplayer experience, in my opinion. As stated in both other reviews of the Ghouls Forest series, it's practically limited to survival and co-op.8
• The architechture in this forest is very, very similar to that of the second Ghouls Forest. To be honest, other than the changes in darkness, there is not much to be said here. 8
  

10+10+10+8+8 = 46

46 / 5 = 9.2

The Ghouls Forest 3 gets a 9.2 out of 10!!

It's a brilliant wad! As Cutman Mike said, it's not for the faint of heart so don't play it if you have any problems about seeing blood, guts, or getting scared in general! If you can handle it, though, it's a wad that cannot be missed for anything!

Linguica's "Top 10 Infamous Wads" List

The Top 10 Infamous WADs article was created by Andrew "Linguica" Stine and Mike "Cyb" Watson for Doomworldscelebration of Doom's 10th birthday. It was created as a counter-article to the 100 best WADs ever.

- taken from the DOOM Wiki site.

Now whilst I haven't played all of the 10 wads on this list I have played most of them. I was filled with excitement at the idea of reviewing the list.

Tomorrow's wad is Cutman Mike's "The Ghouls Forest 3". After that, for the next 9 weeks I'll review the Top 10 Infamous wads. "Why 9?" you ask? It's simple: one of the wads in that list has already been reviewed. You may have guessed that it's Wow.

Oh, yeah...here's the list in the order I'll review them:

10. Mordeth E2 - Gaston Lahaut

9. Slige - Dave Chess

8. Mockery - Scott Cover

7. Imp Encounter - anonymous

6. Gothic99 - Matt Dixon & friends

5. Evilution - TeamTNT

4. Nuts - B.P.R.D.

3. UAC Labs - Eric Harris

(2. Wow) - Paul Thrussell

1. The Sky May Be - Doug the Eagle and Kansam

Review 6 - The Ghouls Forest 2

Well, what do you know? After killing Choke there still is another ghoul?

He's faster!

He's louder!

He's....er...living in a darker forest?

It's Sjas!!

Well, The Ghouls Forest (ghouls2.wad) has the same gameplay as the previous edition. Kill the ghoul in the dark, creepy forest before he kills you.

There are, however, a few modifications that Cutman Mike made on this one that led to some significant differences in the overall wad.

Probably the 3 most important differences are the weapons and ammo provided, the Ghoul that is your target and the map itself.

The weapons provided in this wad make it into a much more difficult situation for the player. We are given a super shotgun. This basically means that whenever we fire at Sjas, not only do we use up two shotgun shells, but we also use precious time to reload. Time that usually decides if you live or die.

Sjas is also a very different ghouls to Choke. He is easier to spot because he screams like a cat being tortured whenever he moves around. He's black and red as opposed to Choke's brown colour, but he's about as easy to spot as Choke, visually. Whenever Sjas gets shot, he disappears into a puff of smoke and the player usually thinks that he's dead. He's not. He just got teleported to another part of the map. This pretty much means that if you hit him you get a few seconds to recover before the next strike. If you miss...well....

In terms of architechture, the forest itself is not so different from the previous wad. The main difference is the size and lighting. Ghouls 2 has a much smaller forest. This makes it easier you to find Sjas...and for him to find you... The lighting also makes a difference because you can see much less in front of you. Cutman Mike, it seems, wanted to increase the sense of terror brought on by the first Ghouls Forest wad.

Other than these three main differences, there is not much to say that has not been said in the previous Ghouls Forest wad. They are sister wads so they are very similar.

Grades

• A new ghoul and a different forest. The New Content in this wad is good enough to get it a 7 again.
• Difficulty has been one of the main problems with The Ghouls Forest series. Many people have passed it off as a joke and not taken it seriously because of it's extreme difficulty. It's fun and a challenge, but it puts off many players and therefore looses points here. 5
• A "cat and mouse" gameplay is excellent and much more vivid than in Ghouls 1. Sjas as a new opponent as a new form of challenge is something to be craved in this wad. 9
• My friend Sh4dOwS14d3 and I played multiplayer on this wad together and the survival / co-op experience was great on this wad. Spectacular. It's great hearing Sjas screaming, thinking he's following you, then realizing that he was chasing your friend when you hear another person's death scream. 8
• The darkness of the level coupled with the smaller size, hence creating the cat and mouse feeling, give the architechture of this wad a high 8.

7+5+9+8+8 = 37

37 / 5 = 7.4

The Ghouls Forest 2 is a great improvement on the original Ghouls Forest. Cutman Mike goes forth to create an even more superb Ghouls survival wad in The Ghouls Forest 3.