800 Reviews and a Happy Doomsday!

When I posted the 700 review milestone back in January I wasn't expecting to hit 800 at the end of the year. Close, maybe, but not within ten months! This was a crazy year, my most productive since 2012. I've been writing a lot about a twenty-six year old computer game.

In review (with a repost of my mid-year state of the blog to start):

10 Sectors Part 2 (10SECTO2.WAD)

In 2000, Doomworld hosted a contest inspired by an Unreal community challenge. 10 Sectors took more than 120 submissions from authors looking to create the most interesting Doom II level they could using - you guessed it - no more than 10 sectors. The premise actually allows for fairly complex levels as demonstrated in the official 10SECTOR megaWAD. It collected the thirty highest-rated entries plus two special mentions. 10SECTO2 is then the first and only spillover release. 27 of these levels were part of the top 32 for at least one judge. The illustrious Linguica hand-picked the remaining five to round the collection out to the mythic "complete game replacement" status. Like the primary release, this 2000 PWAD should be played with Doom II in a Boom-compatible port.

Blind Alley M., The Citadel (BNDALYM.WAD)

BLIND ALLEY M.

THE CITADEL

by Gene Bird

G.B. had been mapping since 1998 but he was one of those authors who kept his works to himself. Until 2002, that is, where he started to publish them as he finalized each entry. Most people who are familiar with Gene know his entries in the original Community Chest and CCHEST2. He still hangs out on the forums as Searcher, though, and appears to be primarily interested in watching the speed demos of other players. All of Birds's works are part of a series called Blind Alley, each one having a letter designator to signify where it would have appeared in the running order of the finished megaWAD. The Citadel is situated before the previously released Nukage (O) and The Boardwalk (P), probably occupying MAP22. As an individual release in 2002, though, it's a MAP01 replacement for Doom II.

Dark Tide (DT-LUTZ.WAD)

DARK TIDE

by Chris Lutz

2017 was Chris's biggest year to date. He could have just ridden the high from having helped to flesh out 2016's No End In Sight but he also finished off his ambitious Hellscape, a re-envisioning of Doom II's final episode. His last surprise was a single level release - Dark Tide. This MAP01 replacement is meant for Boom-compatible ports but as with DHS Lutz recommends an engine that has more complex Z clipping. Vertical mouselook is also a nicety to make the gameplay considerably less frustrating. As far as WADs go, you can't get by with just DOOM2.WAD. DT-LUTZ also requires Team TNT's resource package for The Return.

Suteni (SUTENI.WAD)

SUTENI

by "Memfis" and Aleks Shahov aka "Plut"

Memfis has had a long and obscenely productive authorial career. 2011-2012 was a sort of warming-up period, followed by an even more prolific string of ideas in 2013-2015. Suteni isn't the last of his '12 period - that honor belongs to Horalky - but it wasn't uploaded into 2014, part of a huge dump to /idgames. Of all his early releases it's distinct for being a tag team feature. I dunno what sort of relationship Memfis and Plut had back in 2012 but they appear to share some similar interests. After all, they both cameoed in the French community's 3 Heures d'Agonie II. On this particular occasion they collaborated to produce a MAP01 replacement for Doom II that affirms compatibility with limit-removing ports.

Hellscape (DHS-LUTZ.WAD)

A large portion of Chris's inimitable career has been spent taking classic Doom themes and rendering them in his particular idiom. This began with his debut, Inferno, but extends to Phobos: Anomaly Reborn as well as several aborted attempts at a similar E2 scenario. Doom the Way id Did's "Lake of Fire" and No End In Sight's "Poison Control" were more id-oriented but the latter's "The Blood Beneath" is a considerable E4 take. I dunno how long Lutz had kicked around this particular idea but The Dying End, its MAP29, was released individually in 2007. Not as a teaser or anything; as far as I know there was zero indication that Hellscape was in development until its public unveiling in 2015. This Doom II episode was finally released in 2017 and replaces MAP21-MAP30, Chris's least favorite run of levels in the original campaign. The bare-minimum compatibility is Boom / MBF but the author suggests using a port with more complex Z-clipping, e.g. ZDoom.

The Tyrell Corporation (TYRELL.WAD)

THE TYRELL CORPORATION

by Brad Spencer

The Brad who goes by "Vorpal" has a fair bit of prestige. His Atomic Tomb, released in 2000, was named one of Doomworld's Top 10 WADs of 2000. He was also one of the main not-Anders Johnson voices behind Alien Vendetta, responsible for part of the character of its second episode. He had a bit of a hiatus but he's still making Doom maps. His pre-AV career consists of a roughly even mix of single / coop levels and deathmatch. Something missing called AMBUSHA was his first released level but it isn't on the archives. Instead, we have 1999's The Tyrell Corporation. It's a MAP01 replacement for Doom II and is recommended for ZDoom. I see that the actual geometry is probably limit-removing but Spencer makes use of MAPINFO and MOD music files so you might as well.

Inn-Escapable (INNESC3.WAD)

INN-ESCAPABLE

by Mike "Impie" MacDee

Mike debuted in the community making relatively vanilla Doom II levels in terms of action if not necessarily the intended settings. Impie made his first major mark exploring the Cthulhu mythos with Strange Aeons but he also delved into Alone In the Dark's Derceto manor. He additionally riffed on a toy line (MAX1 and MAX2, the latter for Heretic). Inn-Escapable doesn't reference a recognizable property because it actually comes from a series of one-off adventures that he composed for the HeroQuest board game. It doesn't look like it's currently available on his website, though. INNESC is a MAP01 replacement for Doom II that apparently requires a ZDoom-family port but not for any obvious reason. Jumping is not recommended as it could break the level.