RRWARD02 (RRWARD02.WAD)

RRWARD02

by Richard R. Ward

Rich was a pretty cool dude who published a couple of fantastic 1994 levels. The promise of his early work gave way to the aborted remnants of an episode for the original Doom, published in 1996. I enjoyed RRWARD01 in spite of its sometimes featureless rooms and corridors. It's cool to blast through, features some great larger areas, and has a neat twist partway toward the end where the monsters start to come through the walls. RRWARD02 is a bigger level and while it's no less complex I think that it takes the weakest aspects of his debut and merely reshapes them. It's still a great E1M1 replacement, though.

There's a sizable .TXT but it actually says very little since it mostly emphasizes the difference between yourself - a pilot - and the power armor-clad special forces who you were transporting to a top secret facility on Phobos who are now dead due to explosive decompression. And you can't use any of their gear because it's all wired directly to the brain. You might be another Doomed space marine or Ward could be attempting to retell the story of the original Doom. Take your pick! It's more interesting to me to imagine concurrent combat going on at the Phobos installation and it's not like paramilitary / governmental agencies are known for great interdepartmental communication.

/idgames commentators slagged RRWARD01 for STARTAN wallpapering but it didn't really bother me. There were a couple of relatively barebones rooms but I think that it tied together okay and while the areas where Ward spent his time may stick out they're still great to see from the perspective of an adventure. RRWARD02 ditches the network of corridors but replaces it with a sizable segment of rooms that feels like a very large unfinished basement. When taken in context with the enormous marble structure to the north you could spin it as part of the story. Say the UAC discovered the chapel / castle on Phobos and had built an\ adjacent structure to house the research facility. That doesn't make it any less visually boring... or confusing.

The combat works, though, because there are a couple of sizable multiple-direction ambushes and the author has stuffed monsters into every corner to keep you on your toes. The unfurnished underhalls may become a maze-y morass but your enemies still approach you with what feels like fairly organic pacing. The vast majority of the monsters are Doom trash (zombies, shotgun guys, and imps) but all of the other regulars appear with heavies like demons weighted toward the back half. RRWARD02 has more setpiece fights, too, from teleport ambushes to big outdoor yard bullet Hell events. Stepping outside into the chapel area is a nice change of pace.

There are some interesting custom textures early on so I was surprised to find that so much of it is boring, flat STARTAN. I really liked the rusted-out panels seen during the initial descent and I dig the Blue Öyster Cult tribute in the keep. Could it also be a Prince of Darkness reference? I'm ambivalent about the Doomguy face switches; I'm not sure whether they're supposed to be camp or unsettling since the title music is "Homeward Bound" from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Some of the cooler sights include what little lab machinery exists (in the southeastern section) and a mess hall complete with raw meat. Besides the bigass outdoor temple, I mean.

The bare and largely unremarkable floorplan makes navigation a little difficult. Ward isn't helping by making such a wide area and disassociating switches from their effects. There are a handful of computer terminals that you can "use" but short of cracking the map open in an editor I don't know what each one does. It's definitely rewarding to explore, though, as you won't finish the map without inspecting poles for switches. Secret-hunting also grants exclusive access to the deep blue rocket launcher area and the mess of metal corridors that leads to the yard / cistern behind the castle. I doubt whether it's any worse than, say, the hidden-on-the-automap tunnels from the beginning of RRWARD01. It's just different is all.

RRWARD02 is still a frickin' awesome level. It's fun to unravel, has plenty of beasties to kill, and changes the tone of its encounters several times to keep the combat feeling fresh. From what I read Richard only got crazier with custom textures and concepts so I'm definitely looking forward to see what he finished before leaving Doom. If you like 1994 levels then you simply must play this map.

AND THE RRWARD FOR MOST UNDERRATED WAD GOES TO...