ONEMANDOOM: WAD Reviews started out in late April of 2011 as "One Man's Journey Through Doom", a place for me to post my opinions on WADs I'd played starting some time in 2010, since when browsing the internet I found so few websites to compare experiences against. The earliest edition was pretty barebones; no screenshots, no indices, and very light writing. Over time I've gone back and edited the earliest reviews (nothing major, mostly fleshing things out) and added most of the site's navigation features. I'm pretty happy with the current incarnation, but I'm definitely open to suggestions.
In 2017 in answer to a question, I wrote an article that attempted to offer advice on describing PWADs. I think that I answered the question in a roundabout way but I think that it outlines a lot of my own "creative" process and what motivates me to write. I am not happy with some of the things that I wrote back in 2011 through 2015. I am a different person and in a very different headspace from the same author who complained about, say, Hellbound. If I replayed from these older reviews then I'm pretty sure that I'd have nicer things to say about PWADs that I was hard on.
I start off with one primary assumption: that every WAD, regardless of quality, has something worth experiencing in it. Of course, this isn't true, but it's nice to greet every encounter with some measure of optimism. Sure, I've been frustrated, and let down, and bored, but if I can find at least one nice thing to say about the map, I'll say it, along with all the things I disliked. I worry whether my reviews may seem to be unbridled circlejerking, but I think the discerning reader can distinguish between different levels of enthusiasm. Also, I've largely been playing highly recommended material, so the ratio of gold to crap is in gold's favor.
What I like is action. I honestly do love WADs like Hell Revealed that keep you on your toes the entire fight. I also love exploring and puzzle solving. Eternal Doom, though exhausting, is probably in my top ten list, if only due to Jim Flynn's almost adventure game-style works. I love it when authors twist or change the Doom experience, and am always looking forward to cool stuff from ZDoom authors (though my review itinerary seems hopelessly stuck pre-ZDoom). I have played and enjoyed Heretic, Hexen and Strife, and excepting my familiarity with Doom's style of action, Strife is my favorite iteration of Doom-powered games. What I am is one of the lowest common denominators, except for PVP. I don't do deathmatch.
I play Doom in ZDoom, under strict compatibility settings, unless the WAD requires something else (including a different engine). Reviews prior to Hell Revealed were done with no saves and pistol starts; I've since taken to saves, but I still start maps with the ol' sidearm unless it's not feasible. My least appreciated engine bug is the blockmap / hitscan bug. This blog is currently powered by Chrome. I have no idea what it looks in other web browsers anymore, and it's kind of a nightmare getting them to run Blogger's posting interface. Well, thanks for reading this masturbatory blurb. Have fun playing Doom!
