Hell's Eventide (EVENTIDE.WAD)

HELL'S EVENTIDE
by Marty Ihlen, Travers Dunne and Rick Clark

Hell's Eventide is a product of tag-team mapping between Marty Ihlen, Travers Dunne and Rick Clark. The tremendous trio passed the WAD from member to member after modifying it, creating a medium-size map for Doom II with its own particular Hellish style. The story is a little muddled but the protagonist appears to have witnessed the downfall of his father's kingdom to the forces of evil, brought on by a jealous subject, an adviser named Hilsgarde. The result rended time and space in such a way that future, past and present commingled, resulting in a twisted, broken world. The narrator thus resolves to fulfill his father's dying wish, now that he's older, and slay the source of evil, thus returning things to their proper place.

I would feel comfortable dividing the grounds into two distinct sections. The southern / eastern portion of the map is in a stone and steel style and encompasses the opening courtyard (a raised walkway connecting four principle egresses) and a branch off to the right including some incongruous starbase walls as well as a large library section. The opening crossfire is pretty intense and refuses to let up. Upon returning to the main hub, you'll find yourself under assault by something, including surprise arch-viles and cacodemons / pain elementals. The library is fairly low-key unless you happen to activate the teleport trap that crams a small horde of monsters down your throat, including a few revenants. Thankfully this is around the point you pick up the SSG as well as the rocket launcher, and observant Doomers will have the plasma rifle.

The blue key switch activates a bit of a nasty trap, as well as the other main portion of the level, the northwest half. It's more Hell-cavern themed than Hell-fortress, opening with some fairly bland tunnels. Afterward, you get a tricky mancubus crossfire, your survival necessary in order to access the red key room. It's got one of the most memorable fights, coming in several waves. You start out with a fair amount of resistance already kicking around, then a wall lowers to reveal even more monsters, with a final wave filled with hardbodies teleporting in when you're ready to grab the final key. Afterward you can head back, knock out the last few bits of opposition, and reclaim your kingdom.

Lighting and detailing are pretty good. Well, I thin the detailing is phenomenal in most parts, keeping the map from looking boring. I especially like the library with its living room area as well as little touches like the lift leading to the red key door. Difficulty is actually pretty tricky, using a combination of monster packs as well as claustrophobic settings to keep you on your toes and cursing the authors. The bridge shootout with the arch-vile and crew is the only bit I found close to getting out of hand, but I completely forgot I was rocking the plasma rifle at that point, so shame on me. Overall, I'd recommend Hell's Eventide. It's quick, action-packed, and very much in the Doom II style, only higher-quality.

WHAT IS THIS THAT STANDS BEFORE ME?
FIGURE IN BLACK WHICH POINTS AT ME

This post is part of a series on Doomworld's Top 10 WADs of 1997

Requiem	Eternal Doom
Gothic DM	STRAIN
Mordeth	The Talosian Incident
Dawn of the Dead	Hell Revealed
Hell's Eventide	CHORD_NG