ONEMANDOOM Rides Again

I've formally changed the title of this blog from Doomed: Doom WAD Reviews to ONEMANDOOM: WAD Reviews. ONEMANDOOM is usually how I've seen it introduced on the internet since that is its unique URL; it doesn't clash with the DooMed Speed Demos Archive (DSDA); and it has a nice, punchy rhythm.

The moniker came from the blog's original title, One Man's Journey Through Doom. The idea was to present it as my travelogue through the Doom community's offerings both past and present with the intent to emphasize that I am but one person offering an opinion on my own experiences. I didn't want to claim a monopoly on writing reviews even if I virtually had one by default. I certainly never thought that I would have taken a part in writing any of the Cacowards, though I remember thinking that it would be cool to be asked to write something for 2011.

I would like to think that I recognize where my writings over the past seven years have shaped the way that we as a community describe the experience of playing Doom levels. I also hope that by providing an example I have given others who might not even know where to begin a starting point so that they can feel comfortable discussing their opinions with their own, unique voices.

I thank you for reading ONEMANDOOM and I'd also like to thank the mappers, musicians, graphic artists, coders, writers, and anyone else who makes the Doom community such a treat to be a part of.

Codename HYENA: Killer Machine (HYENA.WAD)

Kristian Käll went on to major acclaim for his Legacy PWADs - Phobia, Ni'mRoD: IXNAY on the HOMBRE, and Phobia: The Age - and more recently his Heretic and Hexen projects, Curse of D'sparil and Curse of the Lost Gods. The first two happened during his tenure as a member of Unholy Software and their earliest release was a total conversion for the original Doom, published in 1998. Codename HYENA: Killer Machine gets mentioned every now and then but there's a hint of uncertainty behind the namedrops. It replaces the first three episodes of the original Doom - the last a decidedly Deathmatch dalliance - and has a fair bit of DeHackEd work in order to tweak the values of its core gameplay for a fairly different experience.

Quick is Good (QUIKISGD.WAD)

QUICK IS GOOD
by Malcolm Sailor

SHORT AND HARD
Quick is Good	Baron Gate	Center

The archive has QUIKISGD listed immediately after 3PACK_1 as far as release dates go but the .ZIP for its sequel, QUIKISG2, has a bibliography of sorts that calls a lot of things into question. I believe it to be an artifact of Sailor's penchant for updating stuff to fix bugs. In the previous year, 1995, he released a couple of single levels - DARKER and RULER - before a package of three individual outings including a new version of the latter solo venture (3PACK_1). All of his 1996 stuff is timestamped in July of that year but I couldn't tell you whether he was just storing PWADs like a camel, updated a bunch of stuff at the same time, or had one really productive summer vacation. I'm leaning toward the second.

DS-61-3 (DS-61-3.ZIP)

DS-61-3

by Malcolm Sailor

ALAPOLGY	FROMDREM
LAB	BOOM
WASTEME	SINFERNO

I think it was way more common in the early days of Doom but it was still relatively uncommon to find someone who had uploaded a .ZIP that collected single-level PWADs. The biggest exception in my recent memory would be jazzmaster's 32-in-32 series. In any case, two of Malcolm's earliest - and largest - releases were done in this style of compilation. 3PACK_1 collected one earlier level for an update and added two for an odd three. DS-61-2 doubled the fun with six PWADs and this time they were all originals. Most of its contents saw an update in 1996 as part of the DS-61-3 package. Both are named after Darth Vader's wing men in the first Star Wars movie. Based on the timestamp for FROMDREM I'm pretty sure that the original date of publication was late 1995 but I would need a copy of the first release to verify my assumption.

SINFERNO (SINFERNO.WAD)

SINFERNO

by Malcolm Sailor

DS-61-3
ALAPOLGY	FROMDREM	LAB
BOOM	WASTEME	SINFERNO

Seven levels in six WADs collected in one .ZIP file - that's DS-61-3. While every item has its own individual .TXT, only one of them goes unmentioned in the compilation's own information document - SINFERNO. It did find its way into some of Malcolm's WADographies, though, and is the last selection from its assemblage to be listed in QUIKISG2. The author didn't have much to say about it except to call it an okay Hell-themed level and mention that there were no changes between its re-release and the original, published in an earlier edition of the same package titled DS-61-2.

WASTEME (WASTEME.WAD)

WASTEME

by Malcolm Sailor

DS-61-3
ALAPOLGY	FROMDREM	LAB
BOOM	WASTEME	SINFERNO

DARKER, then 3PACK_1, and later probably DS-61-2... 1995 was likely a fairly productive year for Malcolm. The last .ZIP I mentioned had most of its contents updated and then uploaded as DS-61-3 in 1996, which is where this version of WASTEME comes from. And it's a good thing that the author fixed it! The initial release appears to have lacked an exit switch. It's still a MAP01 replacement for Doom II and while the monster count is a tad higher compared to the PWADs comprising the rest of the collection it's still shorter than the average bear. This level has nothing in the way of a framing narrative but information provided by Sailor suggests a lack of his own enthusiasm for it.

Boom (BOOM.WAD)

BOOM

by Malcolm Sailor

DS-61-3
ALAPOLGY	FROMDREM	LAB
BOOM	WASTEME	SINFERNO

Like the rest of the contents of the author's DS-61-3, this replaces MAP01 and was re-released mid-1996 but probably initially published as a part of DS-61-2 in late 1995. It's hard for me to gauge what sort of early influences MS had. In the one hand, denigrating id's own Hell episode in Doom II (and I know that he's not alone in his sentiments). On the other, using ideas from "Nirvana", "The Spirit World", and "The Living End" in his own ORIGINAL COPY DO NOT STEAL maps in 3PACK_1. One thing is plainly obvious here, though, and he so much as admits it in QUIKISG2's .TXT: BOOM.WAD borrows from John Anderson's Dante's Gate and given the texture scheme I assume its aesthetic sense as well.

Lab (LAB.WAD)

LAB

by Malcolm Sailor

DS-61-3
ALAPOLGY	FROMDREM	LAB
BOOM	WASTEME	SINFERNO

DS-61-3 is a 1996 update to a similarly-titled collection that could have been released in 1995, judging by the timestamp on FROMDREM. It contained six individual PWADs, all of which occupy the MAP01 slot. The imaginatively-titled LAB is one such delight. Of all the files in the package it's the only one with a framing story. Malcolm manages to slam both schools of thought concerning Doom's antagonists into one blurb. He describing the facility in question as belonging to aliens and then goes on to assert that while you ought to "blow it to hell", it's actually "already there".