FATAL
June 18th, 2007, 11:10 AM
Danimetal using Zdoom v2.0.96.
Thor.
By Chris Pollina.
February 1995.
Doom2.exe,
Single player,
11kb,
Thor.wad.
ftp://ftp.sunet.se/pub/pc/games/idgames/levels/doom2/s-u/thor.zip
Score: 7
Sometimes, a wad seems to take a random name as if names were chosen after finishing the map or even with no relation to the map at all... What could be the relation between Thor and this map?. Surely it´s the hammer shaped first couple of room you will find, but nothing more since the rest of rooms are additions to that basic shape. Being a hammer not precisely the most complicated structure ever created you can expect this to be a quite small map but it´s rather surprising that this was the first wad the author released: it clearly outstands the quality of many "First wads" nowadays.
But let´s start from the beginning: after a short and confusing (better "not explanatory") storyline in the text file you´re set in the first room where you get to see this is an old wad from the usage of floor textures (a room with a tiled teleporter floor)... This is, probably, the worst aspect regarding the texturing of this map since the author surprises with a nice "library" in a secret room or some marble faces, all as nicely aligned as you can ask to a wad from this period.
The gameplay is quite straight forward: whenever you find a door you´re sure to find the key in a room next to it so all you have to do is explore it all, room by room until you find all you need. All puzzles are solved in the very same way and, in the end, this happens to be a very short map. Gameplay was standard but balanced and exciting enough to keep going through it (only small and expected fights, no jumps, no ambushes) until the ending switch that, by the way, happens to be mirrored in the final room. Speaking of switches, there´s a little confusing with two of them: one you could find hard to spot (it´s a texture used only once in Doom2 if I remember correctly) and the other seems to do absolutely nothing. Other than these two, the rest of switches act fine moving sectors so you can access litte parts of the map.
These little parts of the map are quite blocky (there are, in fact, little angle variations from the standard 90 degrees), with little height or light variation with may seem quite boring to the eye but they are nicely textured and with enough variety to make the short walk enjoyable with even a sense of "Detail" in the linedef splitting... Maybe a little too enjoyable and "Walk-in-the-park-like" since you won´t have any troubles with ammunition or health and will surely finish this wad on your first try in a few minutes. Thus, this is possibly a nice old wad to play if you´re looking for something you can beat easily or if your skills aren´t high. Sure the map could have been bigger (the concept of the puzzles themselves makes it easy enough) and less linear, but I think it´s O.k the way it is.
As a little resume of everything: if you look for an old wad still playable today, with not strambotic texture choosing (some exceptions, of course) and you´re not used to difficult maps, you could try this. I´ll give it a 7 out of 10 in the old wads scale given that it was the first wad from the author.
RATING: 7.
http://img465.imageshack.us/img465/2412/thor011ec.th.png (http://img465.imageshack.us/my.php?image=thor011ec.png)
"Just the beginning and we get a locked door".
http://img465.imageshack.us/img465/6410/thor029kj.th.png (http://img465.imageshack.us/my.php?image=thor029kj.png)
"A glimpse of a micro library".
http://img465.imageshack.us/img465/8011/thor037do.th.png (http://img465.imageshack.us/my.php?image=thor037do.png)
"Some linedef splitting with artistic intentions in early 1995".
Thor.
By Chris Pollina.
February 1995.
Doom2.exe,
Single player,
11kb,
Thor.wad.
ftp://ftp.sunet.se/pub/pc/games/idgames/levels/doom2/s-u/thor.zip
Score: 7
Sometimes, a wad seems to take a random name as if names were chosen after finishing the map or even with no relation to the map at all... What could be the relation between Thor and this map?. Surely it´s the hammer shaped first couple of room you will find, but nothing more since the rest of rooms are additions to that basic shape. Being a hammer not precisely the most complicated structure ever created you can expect this to be a quite small map but it´s rather surprising that this was the first wad the author released: it clearly outstands the quality of many "First wads" nowadays.
But let´s start from the beginning: after a short and confusing (better "not explanatory") storyline in the text file you´re set in the first room where you get to see this is an old wad from the usage of floor textures (a room with a tiled teleporter floor)... This is, probably, the worst aspect regarding the texturing of this map since the author surprises with a nice "library" in a secret room or some marble faces, all as nicely aligned as you can ask to a wad from this period.
The gameplay is quite straight forward: whenever you find a door you´re sure to find the key in a room next to it so all you have to do is explore it all, room by room until you find all you need. All puzzles are solved in the very same way and, in the end, this happens to be a very short map. Gameplay was standard but balanced and exciting enough to keep going through it (only small and expected fights, no jumps, no ambushes) until the ending switch that, by the way, happens to be mirrored in the final room. Speaking of switches, there´s a little confusing with two of them: one you could find hard to spot (it´s a texture used only once in Doom2 if I remember correctly) and the other seems to do absolutely nothing. Other than these two, the rest of switches act fine moving sectors so you can access litte parts of the map.
These little parts of the map are quite blocky (there are, in fact, little angle variations from the standard 90 degrees), with little height or light variation with may seem quite boring to the eye but they are nicely textured and with enough variety to make the short walk enjoyable with even a sense of "Detail" in the linedef splitting... Maybe a little too enjoyable and "Walk-in-the-park-like" since you won´t have any troubles with ammunition or health and will surely finish this wad on your first try in a few minutes. Thus, this is possibly a nice old wad to play if you´re looking for something you can beat easily or if your skills aren´t high. Sure the map could have been bigger (the concept of the puzzles themselves makes it easy enough) and less linear, but I think it´s O.k the way it is.
As a little resume of everything: if you look for an old wad still playable today, with not strambotic texture choosing (some exceptions, of course) and you´re not used to difficult maps, you could try this. I´ll give it a 7 out of 10 in the old wads scale given that it was the first wad from the author.
RATING: 7.
http://img465.imageshack.us/img465/2412/thor011ec.th.png (http://img465.imageshack.us/my.php?image=thor011ec.png)
"Just the beginning and we get a locked door".
http://img465.imageshack.us/img465/6410/thor029kj.th.png (http://img465.imageshack.us/my.php?image=thor029kj.png)
"A glimpse of a micro library".
http://img465.imageshack.us/img465/8011/thor037do.th.png (http://img465.imageshack.us/my.php?image=thor037do.png)
"Some linedef splitting with artistic intentions in early 1995".