H2H-Xmas (H2H-XMAS.WAD)

H2H-Xmas is a lot of things. It is the sequel to Xmas Doom, a small 1994 Christmas-themed minisode that detailed Doomguy as the savior of Christmas. Indeed, some of the Xmas Doom personnel contributed to H2H-Xmas, most notably Joe Wilcox of Simply Silly Software, who went on to do the most reviled Duke Nukem 3D expansion, the similarly-themed Nuclear Winter. It is also one of Doom's first community megaWADs, though it was built on the foundation of the H2HMud competition, which challenged demo recorders to test their mettle in maps built by David Swift (and a few others), led by the Head to Head (H2H) Gaming Network. H2H never really caught on, though, and the ultra-hard level pack that resulted would have languished in obscurity... were it not for H2H-Xmas.

The Enigma Episode (ENIGMA.WAD)

Of all the authors I've ever played, Jim Flynn is my favorite, and will probably remain so barring some kind of crazy Doom PWAD renaissance where people are straining to make large, complex levels that have solid themes or surreal texture and color combinations. Of course, Jim is mostly popular as one of the authors behind the Master Levels for Doom II, which brings us to an interesting point. The Enigma Episode, published back in 1995, is actually a re-release of almost all of Jim's older maps for the original Doom, painstakingly transmogrified to Doom II. I haven't played the originals, but some antiquarians were kind enough to put them on /idgames back in the mid-2000s.

Nostromo's Run (NOSTROMO.WAD)

NOSTROMO'S RUN
by Rich "Nostromo" Johnston

Rich "Nostromo" Johnston would go on to be one of the major players in Banjo Software, responsible for the unfortunately half-baked HACX TC. He got his start here, with Nostromo's Run, a MAP01 replacement for Doom II that was released in 1995. Johnston didn't make a whole lot of levels, but the ones he did tended to be big, sprawling affairs. Like this one! Nostromo's Run made it into the favorite lists of ancient Doomers who like fairly big, sprawling levels with a lot of different themes, kind of like your Polygon Bases. It helps that Johnston was pretty good about stuff like vanilla detailing and lighting.

The Final Gathering (GATHER2.WAD)

Daniel Norman was a member of that initial rush of '94 Doom fervor, releasing The Final Gathering as a three-map episode for the original Doom. Next, he converted the levels to Doom II and added another, before finally adding in one of the levels he'd released as an independent coda of sorts (Dark Side of the Mind) to make it a five-map episode. The final release as covered in Doomworld's Top 100 WADs of All Time is a bit of an odd duck that's split between different periods of artistic sensibilities, and truth be told, it's the later additions that earn it a place in the conspicuously hallowed halls of Doom's history.

The Artifact (ARTIFACT.WAD)

Paul Schmitz is a member of a very small school of authors that includes the likes of Jim Flynn, Bob Evans, and Sverre Kvernmo. It's not just the fact that all of them were contributors to Eternal Doom, but all of these people tend to make large levels where navigation and puzzle play is just as strong of an opponent as the monsters you're supposed to be focusing on. Schmitz had his big debut with The Artifact, and he's revisited it several times. The first was for Doom, and the second updated the level for Doom II. For the third, Schmitz went back and substantially reworked every level for the Boom engine on top of using Team TNT's RETRES resource pack, creating an experience that's both familiar and alien at the same time. Since the version linked in Doomworld's Top 100 WADs of All Time was the Doom II version, that's the one I played, and the one this review is focused on.

A Fistful of Doom (FISTFUL.WAD)

A Fistful of Doom is a charming little partial conversion from the early days of modding. 1995, to be exact. Bob "Soutec" Soutar and A-Ware are still lurking around, though A-Ware goes by Azeraaron nowadays. They left a pretty early but significant mark on the Doom community with A Fistful of Doom, and with the recent advent of stuff like Pirate Doom, I'm really hankering for a Western-themed TC of a similar caliber. And, well, that's why Fistful is so tantalizing. Its fidelity within the bounds of early vanilla PWADcraft is remarkable, and while all the assets may not exactly match up, they do about as good a job as anyone could have expected... In fact, I'll say they do a job better.

Fava Beans (FAVA.WAD)

The thing about Fava Beans is that it's a pretty well-known Episode 1 replacement for the original Doom, but its notoriety is due almost entirely to the skill with which author Sean Birkel recreated the atmosphere and architecture of "Knee Deep in the Dead". In 1995, or thereabouts, it was a pretty big deal since his peers were making maps that looked pretty primitive in comparison. Nowadays, we can sit on a pile of Phobos recreations and call the set on its single most glaring fault. When you've stopped sucking at Doom, the fighting is boring as shit.

Infinity (INFINITY.WAD)

Infinity, published in 1995, rounds out the end of Bjorn (tester) and Holger's (mapper) episode replacements, this one taking the place of E1. It's got all the -ity features: music replacements (ha!), lines that block monster movement (usually the same lines that mark dynamic lighting), and goofy mazes. Finally, and most importantly, Bjorn and Holger made sure every map was readily completable from pistol start this time around. E1M8 is still kind of hard, but for different reasons. You still have some ammo show up sans weapons, but rarely to the effect of the previous episodes.

Obituary (OBTIC.WAD)

Obituary is The Innocent Crew's third and final single-player PWAD bearing their name before they would go on to helm some of the most recognized community megaWADs to this day. It's Doom II, and 17 levels (MAP01-16 plus MAP31, though there are some deathmatch-only extras). Released in 1995, it's also one of the earliest original megaWADs, certainly of those of any appreciable quality. Thomas and Denis Möller declined to add any semblance of story to this map pack; it's basically random levels for Doom II, with an added emphasis on co-op play. It would be great to fight that badass cobra-goat-demon thing on the titlepic, but, spoiler: you don't.