HACX: Twitch'n Kill (HACX.WAD)

HACX was never destined for greatness. A commercial TC published for Doom II in 1997 and featuring some of the better-known authors of Doom's golden age ('96-'97) (notably superstars Adelusion and Iikka Kernanen), it came out subsequent to the release of the new breed of FPS games, namely Quake and Duke Nukem 3D. It's odd, because HACX feels like a natural bridge between the Doom and BUILD engines. It has themed maps, destroyable objects, and a penchant for goofiness that lies outside the normal bounds of Doom. Unfortunately, it never fulfilled the proposed design documents, topping out at twenty-one out of thirty-two levels replaced, and that's looking at it from a purely numerical standpoint.

Requiem (REQUIEM.WAD)

Most of these authors should look familiar to you. Requiem gathered some of the greatest "star" power when it came to megaWAD authors of the time. Some of the names you may recognize from Memento Mori / MM2, and others from STRAIN and Dystopia 3. And, of course, there are a few new faces, as always seems to be the case with these community projects. The show-stealers for this particular project appear to be Iikka Keranen and Anthony "Adelusion" Czerwonka who together might as well have released Dystopia 4 in disguise. Adam Windsor contributes a fair number of maps as well, but all but one of them are short but sweet affairs, singled out by some as filler speedmaps made to push Requiem to release (given an apparently troubled development, not unlike STRAIN and The Talosian Incident).

STRAIN (STRAIN.WAD)

STRAIN is a 32-map partial conversion created by the Alpha Dog Alliance, a loose confederation of Doom enthusiasts, many of them fairly prolific in the community at the time. While some I recognize from their individual works, others are familiar contributors to the community WADs of the past (MM and MMII) and then present (Requiem). STRAIN was in production for quite some time; Patterson (the project director) spoke of work stalling while a number of 1996 high-profile WADs were released (some of their authors also contributing to STRAIN!). Fortunately, STRAIN saw a release, and though it has a few very short levels and some donations (from the cancelled Serenity IV project and Dystopia 3), it would still be worth your attention if half the WAD went missing.

Dystopia 3: Re-Birth of Anarchy - Add-On Level (DYST301.WAD)

DYSTOPIA 3:
RE-BIRTH OF ANARCHY
Add-On Level
by Anthony "Adelusion" Czerwonka

Dystopia 3's .TXT gave a homepage for the project that hinted at more Dystopia levels to come in the future. As of 2011, only one add-on level for Dystopia 3 has been released, a MAP01 replacement by Anthony "Adelusion" Czerwonka. Just load it up with DYST3TEX.WAD or on top of DYST3.WAD to utilize the custom textures. There's no real story included, so one can only assume it's the continuing adventures of the Marine trying desperately to escape the hellish borderlands after destroying the demonic cult.

Dystopia 3: Re-Birth of Anarchy (DYST3.WAD)

Anthony "Adelusion" Czerwonka and Iikka "Fingers" Keränen got together and had a baby. The baby's name was Dystopia 3, the apparent descendant of Czerwonka's DYST2.WAD, itself a conversion of a Heretic WAD (DYST.WAD). Really, I'd be hard pressed to draw any parallels between Dystopia and Dystopia 3. It's clear that Adelusion considerably honed his mapping skills, producing much tighter and deliberate gameplay through encounters and layout. His partner, Keränen, contributes a formidable six levels of his own, rounding out an 11-map episode for Doom II.

Dystopia (DYST2.WAD)

DYSTOPIA
FOR DOOM II
by Anthony "Adelusion" Czerwonka

Dystopia is the progenitor of Anthony "Adelusion" Czerwonka's and Iikka "Fingers" Keranen's Dystopia 3, the trend-setting 1996 episode that in some ways led to STRAIN, Hacx, and other cyberpunk-flavored goodies. Dystopia was originally a Heretic level; Adelusion converted it to Doom II and re-released it (if you could call it that) in 1995, hence DYST2.WAD. It's a fairly large MAP01 replacement, containing in excess of 280 monsters. It also has no clear texturing theme, though the architecture design is clear and the individual detailing is internally coherent.