Shadow of the Wool Ball (SHADOWO*.WAD)

Designing a full-fledged Doom clone with all new resources... Well, that's hard. Making a Wolf3D-style game, though, is a different story. It still wouldn't be easy but the simpler level design sets the bar much lower and not having to make full rotations for monster sprites (since they only have to be focused on you) ought to be a boon for working sprite artists. 2016's Shadow of the Wool Ball is a passion project from MSPaintR0cks featuring retro Wolfenstein action rendered in a clean, cartoony art style. A ZDoom release, it's three episodes of six levels for a grand total of eighteen that's meant to run with the Doom II IWAD but can run just fine in the original trilogy excepting a surprise guest appearance by the end text from Doom's Inferno.

The setting is anthropomorphic, to say the least. You're a hedgehog who can go fast in a legally distinct sense and your idyllic planet is invaded by a fleet of fascist felines who start kidnapping your hedgie-wedgie pals... including your girlfriend! You get caught up in the sweep, too, but pull a B. J. Blaskowitz and kill your guard in the bunker where you're being held. Your roly-poly reverie takes you out of the installation and then through space on the same ship that the cats used to attack you, taking the fight to their home planet: the ecliptic, eponymous Wool Ball. It's a simple, compelling narrative provided you don't think too hard about stuff like why every place you visit is conveniently rigged with explosives set to detonate at the press of a big button marked "SHUTDOWN".

Because Shadow of the Wool Ball is fundamentally a somewhat embellished Wolfenstein 3D in its execution (regardless of what its guts are) it will not make any converts of people who have long grown weary of combat on a flat plane. However, MSPaint has done a lot to introduce gameplay hooks to keep the action flowing and the pace at which they're introduced coupled with the three six-level episodes hits a sweet spot that ought to keep less enthusiastic players engaged to the explosive, Michael Bay-spirited finale. If you're not grabbed by the first few levels you can probably set this one down.

One of the biggest differences between SotWB and the original Wolf3D is locomotion. Hedgie moves just like Doomguy, and you'll need the speed because every level but the last has a two-step ending sequence. The door marked "EXIT" doesn't open until you press the "SHUTDOWN" button, which initiates a ten-second self-destruct countdown. Then you either run or be blown to smithereens. While this "flat" game has no resulting platforming aspects, many of the gimmicks rely on the player's precise movement in timing-based scenarios. They have almost all of the elements of platforming, just occurring on the X axis rather than the Y. These typically involve moments like the very viscous vacuum of Hedge space or ventilation fans blowing you toward spike traps and other dangers. You'll also encounter elements including snapping crusher doors that must be carefully navigated.

You'll find many of the objects in the levels to be destructible, usually plant pots and tables but also including fragile doors and nearly every secret wall. Some of the objects yield tasty treats that replenish your health but I wouldn't suggest eating the burgers. After all, those kit kats were capturing hedgehogs for a reason. Secrets contain a variety of goodies but the most notable inclusions are prisoners and, sometimes, the golden shotgun. Freeing the former rewards you with ammo for the latter which is about three times as strong as the normal shotty and a very nice bonus for continuous players especially since you can carry your toolkit between episodes. Load up on shells and give those bullet sponge bosses what-for!

Speaking of weapons, you get the Wolfenstein four plus the aforementioned golden shotgun, alternate to the regular one. Your basic cat fodder will die pretty quickly to the pistol with a dramatic leap in health between them and toughs like the berserker cats, officers, and spiderwalkers. The chaingun is your faster alternative to the pistol, useful for stunlocking but pretty inaccurate when firing continuously. The shotgun will almost certainly be your workhorse for handling tough monsters given that big guys - particularly the officer - can take roughly six shots to bring down. The fist is only really useful for breaking furniture and walls (and viewscreens!) since it's incredibly dangerous to be close to any of these monsters.

The cats themselves have a color scheme that's deliberately evocative of the Nazi totalitarian state; it's not exactly reflected in most of the kitties since they're mostly dressed in maroon but their flags and the garb of the officers / wizards is pretty obvious. Of the two hitscanner grunts the scrawny dude goes down in a single shot while the dual-wielding sunglasses-wearing soldiers are a bit tougher and sound kind of like Duke Nukem. Berserkers fill a niche similar to Doom's demon but feel way more dangerous even if the shotgun tends to knock them back a good bit. The saucer-riders charge you like lost souls but can sort of curve their paths. Officers are slow-moving hulks that fire powerful cannonballs.

Two of the kitties can float; the weaker type shoots (or throws up?) green fireballs (hairballs?) while the powerful wizard fires three in a row and can resurrect the littered bodies of his fellownious felines. He's still pretty flimsy, unlike the spider kitty who moves quite quickly and stops to fire a near-constant stream of plasma. He's an unwelcome surprise... and descended from the bosses of the first episode, who are a lot faster and tougher. Each boss comes with a cool intro sequence but has varying degrees of annoyance involved. The big bad of E2 is the best, I think, because you can figure out a movement scheme that works with his attack pattern whereas the dual arachnocats feel too random and the final boss is just too punishing to do anything but waltz with a pillar between you.

Thankfully, you can turn the environmental hazards to your advantage whether they're the classic exploding barrels, luring them into the steel jaws of click-clack doors, or racing across a room in order to flip a switch to lower the forcefield, causing the slower-moving cats to be sucked into the cold vacuum of space. About the only thing you can't get them to do is attack each other though I think that they're still vulnerable to their own hitscans. As for the more exotic traps like the watcher of E2M4 who unleashes a torrent of guards or the "reverse-gravity" trap of E3M3, well, those are more for your benefit anyway.

All gameplay aside... Shadow of the Wool Ball has a really cool look. I love the cartoony vibe and there's a lot of character in the enemies and their animations. It's about as decorative as it can get away with while adhering to the Wolfenstein format but fairly consistent thematically, notwithstanding stuff like wood paneling inside a space ship. The pulsing, living landscape of the Wool Ball wasn't showcased as much as E3M1 would have suggested. I'm surprised; perhaps MSPaint drew out that particular yarn out to its logical end. It was one of the most evocative environments for me; I had not expected an atmosphere of horror given Wool's otherwise goofy tone.

I haven't played Wolf3D in a long time and I had never experienced a mod adhering to its general style of play but I'm glad to have gotten a chance to see this one. While I hope that any future adventures from the briar patch include more vertical depth, keeping them and their episodes short and sweet do wonders for the flat front. Even if you're not that into it you might want to stick it out for some delicious Easter eggs flavored with Doom, Wolfenstein 3D, and Prince of Persia. Thanks, MSPaint! See you next adventure!

SHADOW OF
THE WOOL BALL
by "MSPaintR0cks"

EPISODE ONE
BUNKER BRAWL

Bunker Catnip

E1M1

A short intro-style level to initiate you into the core gameplay conceits. Already it's hammered in that it's basically a Wolf3D clone but the destructible objects yielding munchies are a nice change-up and all of the normal enemies are the easily-slain variety. It also shows you how to divine secrets, though they're pretty straightforward since you're looking for cracked walls. Secret-hunting also introduces a few other mechanics, namely the golden shell rescues as well as your stronger hitscan enemies plus the shotgun. And, lastly, the exit mechanism, which would suck with Wolf3D's speed but feels pretty neat at Doom's.

E1M2

Bunker Cat Litter

A slightly larger area to explore and introducing the charming Dr. Proton-esque diatribes delivered via camera... with an unexpected (but appreciated) Easter egg. The villain actually introduces the level's major trap so if it wipes you out, you deserve it. The Golden Shotgun also makes its debut, a weapon useful mainly to continuous players. Having its associated ambush lock the player in is a nice way to further differentiate this from its gameplay origins.

Air Vent Ahead

E1M3

The main feature of this level is a moving floor circuit, the result of powerful ventilation fans. Depending on how you navigate the map you may have to travel it several times. The berserker ambush with the walls flinging to the other side of the room is a great moment and a fantastic intro for the newest monster. I suppose that the air vent obstacle in the southeastern area sort of approximates platforming when the plane of action is flat.

E1M4

Flying Saucer Halls

Things get harder with the introduction of a few more enemies. The namesake, of course, are the fast-flying cats in cups which deserve about as much respect as you can muster, plus the cannon-toting officers. The Wolf3D starts to show as big, open rooms are the only thing really appropriate for the rushing dishes. On the other hand the spike traps - especially when paired alongside those devilish fans - make for another moment of quasi-platforming (timing). The big air duct conga line is a potentially interesting encounter though it's probably a lot easier to just hug your way to the prisoners and then turkey shoot it with all the golden shells.

Disco Area	E1M6
A silly map featuring a definite visual gimmick, the blue walls flashing between red and green. MSPaint tries to add a gameplay edge with one big open area vertically sectioned off by railings but it just makes the melee monsters so much easier to kill. It will completely kit you out in golden shells, though, since there are a bunch of prisoners holed up in here.

E1M5

The Whisker Bros

Boss fight! The build-up is worth it. Bimmy and Jimmy aren't particularly nuanced, functioning basically like large, fast-moving arachnotrons, but a pair of those is all you need since you never know quite where they'll show up once you break their line of sight. It's also easy to forget about all the destructible objects and get hung up when you're trying to get away from that plasma spray. A nice topper.

EPISODE TWO
CATS IN SPACE

Forcefield Fiasco

E2M1

A pretty straightforward map with a couple of neat gimmicks to introduce. One are the forcefields that keep you from getting pulled out into space, sort of an inverse of those fan units. The other are breakable glass windows that monsters can see you through. The level's pretty straightforward and runs almost straight from south to north. The only real threat is in the observation room when the cats try to blow you out into the vast expanse.

E2M2

The Fur-nal Frontier

A more typical layout (and grounded textures - wood in space???) swarming with higher-HP monsters like officers and showing off the sinister super-mages, which can resurrect the otherwise flimsy floating cats. There are some exploding mines, too, but they don't really contribute  a dynamic element to the gameplay. It's more interesting that you have to skirt some of the bigger nasties (on Hard) and come back to them later. I like the purely optional locked area and its glut of gameplay goodies.

Windy Warehouse	E2M3
A gimmick map with a hint of Veni, Vidi, Vici. Stepping out into the corridor starts you on an obstacle course as you navigate your path through barb-wire ringed crates; when you forcefully strike the shutdown button you've got to do everything in reverse but under the 10-second time limit. Pretty fun, if very short.

E2M6	Smells of Doom
	Well, yes, it DOES vaguely smell of Doom. The adorable prancing kitty in Doomguy armor is actually a monster though he's harmless apart from getting in your way if you're trying to avoid killing him. The rest is unremarkable but for some glass walls that give it a sort of office-complex look and another air vent / barbed wire obstacle course leading to the finale. Dat sproingy Doomcat, tho...

Watch Out For the Watcher

E2M4

Now this is a neat gimmick. You can either pick a fight to get the secret or just sneak past the highly telegraphed watcher pattern, grab the key and ammo, and then leave to finish the rest of the map. The alarm ambush is not to be trifled with but there are supply stores - including a golden shotgun - that become available when you trigger it to ease the difficulty of the meatier portions. MSPaint continues to mess around with moving floors and in this particular instance some kind of crushing door to add yet another movement and timing component.

E2M5

The Cat-ptain

After striking down the officers you get the big boss. Harkon is pretty dangerous but you should be able to take him down if you utilize a few choice behaviors. Don't go crazy trying to dodge his rockets since it's pretty easy to slow side-step his shots and give you plenty of room. Also, don't get too close since he charges you with ramming speed. Once he's dead it's just a couple of leftovers before this mission is over.

EPISODE THREE
BALLS OF WOOL

Fur of the Dark

E3M1

Difficulty on Hard makes for quite the steep wall; pistol start for challenge mode only! "Dark" is loaded with spider kitties and some other tough monsters, like the officers in the opening area. Just getting your foot inside is tricky and you may have to resort to exploiting a crushing door in order to simply make ends meet. Even then, some of the areas like the spider kitty railing extravaganza are just brutal. The pulsing walls and blood make for a pretty neat look, though.

E3M2	Paw-nic Room
	Ah, much nicer. The combat is a bit tighter but the guns and secrets are far more forgiving making for a solid experience. The whole barrel thing is a cool opening hook that will either destroy you or be quickly turned to your advantage and the guard station sort of room feels fairly organic amid the Wolf3D stuff. Just a nice, relatively meaty level.

Nostalgia Park	E3M6
What animatronics? Oh, right. I'd been waiting for something similar especially after seeing "Smells Like Doom" but having it in the context of a private gallery featuring clumsy, animatronic Nazis and - gasp - swordsmen from Prince of Persia was more than I had hoped for. It's fun to explore and the action is pretty light in keeping with the post-E3M1 pleasant vibe.

E3M3

Purranoia

The monsters should be pretty familiar by now but MSPaint has three different wings, each having its own gameplay gimmick. One of these is an "anti-gravity" trap which just reorients things so that all your foes - the weakest cats - are walking on the ceiling. It's neat - visually. The optional leg is a chain of rooms that seems to go on forever with a couple of minor ambushes. The only reason to run it really is a golden shotgun pickup in a fairly obvious secret. The meat of the map lies to the west because of its timed crushers and false doors (but not at the same time, thankfully) and the level's tougher monsters.

Iron Meowdown	E3M4
Taking many of the previous level gimmicks and folding them together for one big show before the finale. There are a few surprises. Bumping into one of the E1 bosses just about tripped me up, for instance, and the wind tunnel segments get a bit more complex. There should be no reason, though, for this map to stonewall you from the exit.

E3M5

The Paws of Evil

A short leadup to the big bad...'s guardian. The hulking supercat is a total pain in the ass to fight with his chainguns, essentially requiring you to dance around one of those load-bearing segments while holding the shotgun and make sure you can hit him and then immediately duck behind the wall. If you're caught you can expect to lose a lot of health and there isn't a whole lot to go around. When he's dead you're free to confront the big bad which ends about as well as could be expected. Enjoy your Michael Bay-directed victory!

This post is part of a series on
Doomworld's 2016 Cacowards

The Top Ten	Best Multiplayer	Runners Up
Tech Gone Bad	AeonDM	Warphouse
Ancient Aliens	32in24-16	THT: Threnody
Nihility: Infinite Teeth	Best Gameplay Mod	Bloodstain
Mutiny	Doom 4 Doom	Strange Aeons
Absolutely Killed	Mordeth Award	Echelon
Elf Gets Pissed	Doom the Way id Did:	Shadow of the Wool Ball
Comatose	The Lost Episodes
Miasma	Mockaward
Alpha Accident: Terra Nova	Ludicrium
Japanese Community Project	Mapper of the Year
Blades of Agony E1	Lainos