Blackness (BLKNS.WAD)

Samuel Villarreal kicked off his career with two sizable releases. DSV was a megaWAD that could be played back in each of the then-popular source ports. A sizable portion of its levels were based on Doom 64 maps, ever near and dear to Kaiser's heart. Blackness was released at the exact same time in 2000 and appears to have been intended for a bigger run. This second installment of the DSV series, however, only came out to a five-level hub with a final boss map. The author described it as "abandoned" and a parody of Hexen. I can agree with the first statement but I doubt whether it was initially intended to satirize or poke fun at Hexen. If so, then it would be amusing considering how much of Hexen is woven into Doom 64's DNA. This set was explicitly designed for ZDoom; owing to its relatively early place in the port's history, it is not compatible with later versions of (G)ZDoom. Jumping is absolutely required.

Temple of the Ancients (TEMPLE2.WAD)

In some ways, Temple of the Ancients is the sort of project Rex has been leaning toward since he began his authorial career. While he may have tested his levels in ZDoom, they weren't really specific to it until he started to embrace jumping in Military Research Complex. Phoenix Rising saw him play with the idea of if not the actual mechanics of a Hub arrangement and Paranoia involved the incorporation of scripted events to push the gameplay slightly beyond the tried and true limits of Doom. TEMPLE2 then takes both of these elements and welds them together for a dashing adventure, released in 2000. While Temple of the Ancients is another five-level mapset, it sits in map slots 10-14 instead of the MAP02-MAP06 block that Phoenix Rising and Paranoia had. This is the one time I can't really guess at why it's structured as such since Claussen has used the MAPINFO lump to set skies and music.

The Phobos Directive (PHOBOS-G.PK3)

Rex Claussen released Phobos Revisited in 2004. Yet another E1 remake, it was praised for its fidelity to the source material. The 2004 Cacowards singled the episode out for its vanilla compatibility, which I find funny, because in 2011 Claussen and the rest of The Persecution Complex put their heads together and released The Phobos Directive, an E1-styled episode for GZDoom. It's not exactly a remastering of PR; while it's clear Claussen did a GL pass over his original maps, adding lots of eye candy, he's added vast new areas with heavy 3D geometry (usually secret annexes). Remodeling seems more like the word I want to use.

Star Wars: Chibi Rebellion (CR_59.7Z)

Apparently this little work began as LilWhiteMouse's first ZDoom project. Considering the version of Chosen I reviewed is circa 2003, that makes Chibi Rebellion's foundation quite old indeed. It saw several phases of development, with the most recent leading to a 5.0 idgames release. And yet, it moves... This article covers the 5.9 release of Star Wars: Chibi Rebellion. Yeah, some stuff's been added since. CR was released to little fanfare, which is a shame. This is a quality game on the level of some of Doom's most ambitious total conversions. Though it may lack the polish of works like Action Doom II, it's worth a play. It'll be a long one, and my only hope is that LWM continues to preen this product.