FATAL
June 18th, 2007, 12:07 PM
For whom the bell tolls by Didy
belltoll.wad (1632 kb)
ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/pc/games/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/a-c/belltoll.zip
Port: Doom2.exe.
Single player.
20th November 2005.
2 Maps.
Fatal using GZDoom.
Score: 8.5
"How is that possible?" I kept asking to myself as I played through this wad. Many, many editing tricks were used in the making of this two level wad. While usually when people use some of these tricks, they just do it for the sake of it. This time they were actually used to enhance the gameplay. Tricks aside, this was a fun wad. Fun in a way that there was always something that kept me on my toes, without being too difficult. I played this one ultra violence, and think that this wad was nearly perfect for my taste. Maybe one or two less arch viles would've been good, but they were usually in reasonably easy areas where they were easy to pick, especially since the player was given some proper firepower to deal with them. The battles were very good in my opinion. The original doom feeling was there. Monsters weren't stacked in horrible packs, but rather spread a bit to make things more interesting. Many times when I thought that I had cleared an area, the next time I came there, some demon was already waiting for me. I found these surprises to be great fun, as I never knew when some monster was teleported in an area I had already cleansed. The monsters were placed so that I never annoyed with them, yet some of them managed to cause some trouble to my health bar. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. A great variety of monsters was also used. Only couple of monster types were lacking, so I didn't encounter any boredom with fighting the same kind of monsters again and again.
The ammunition to deal with the monsters was given, but nothing more. While I didn't run out of ammo in any situation, a very reckless player may find himself looking for some firepower left in some dark corner. Health packs were given very well, too. After and before large battles the player to patch himself up to carry on. However, body armours were scarce, and the second level didn't have even one of them. Nothing big was here to complain about, though. There was enough ammo, enough monsters, enough happy players to enjoy them.
The level design was brilliant. Starting and ending in a spacecraft, I clearly noticed how the levels were thought very well. It actually seemed as I would've walked in some tech base with consoles, monitors, buttons, pipes and pumps here and there in the first level, and slowly transforming into barren wastes and mountains in the second. The author certainly wanted to create such effect, and he succeeded very well. It made the levels much more enjoyable. As I previously noted, some editing tricks were used to enhance the levels. Some were simpler; some I don't know even now how they were made. The first level was quite large and complex, so I got one or two times a bit lost for couple of minutes before knowing where to head to, but it is the low price of having separate ways. I enjoyed it very much, as exploring the tech base proved to be great fun. The second map isn't as complex, but isn't a straight tube either. The maps evolve very well. And I noticed a nice surprise when I took a glance at the beginning of the first map after completing the wad. The second map is the grand final, and has a very tense feeling at the very end. I won't tell you what happens, but it was rather creepy.
The visual quality is, as the rest of this wad, brilliant. So detailed that playing it with jDoom got my computer on its knees, and I had to run it using GZDoom, which then ran very decently. There are tubes going from place to place, light coming from windows and lights, work desks with buttons. Straight put, this wad has the best visual quality I have ever seen in a Doom map, and when I consider the fact that the author did a great job on not making this a port specific wad, I can't but admire at his work. It's a masterpiece, which everyone should see.
This wad is a must play. I doesn't matter whether you dislike bad looking or bad playing wads, since this wad has neither of those problems. In fact, it made me give a score above 8, which I really doubted that would happen. I really look forward for more wads from this author. He doesn't need to get any better at mapping; he already has made one of the best wads out there. What are you waiting for? Go download it as you should've done ten minutes ago! It's recommended that you read the txt file with the zip, as it has some playing tips which are very useful.
<a href="http://img391.imageshack.us/my.php?image=belltoll15il.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img391.imageshack.us/img391/9134/belltoll15il.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
Radiation hurts. Luckily there are protection suits around!
<a href="http://img391.imageshack.us/my.php?image=belltoll35ec.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img391.imageshack.us/img391/5973/belltoll35ec.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
The space craft is fascinating.
belltoll.wad (1632 kb)
ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/pc/games/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/a-c/belltoll.zip
Port: Doom2.exe.
Single player.
20th November 2005.
2 Maps.
Fatal using GZDoom.
Score: 8.5
"How is that possible?" I kept asking to myself as I played through this wad. Many, many editing tricks were used in the making of this two level wad. While usually when people use some of these tricks, they just do it for the sake of it. This time they were actually used to enhance the gameplay. Tricks aside, this was a fun wad. Fun in a way that there was always something that kept me on my toes, without being too difficult. I played this one ultra violence, and think that this wad was nearly perfect for my taste. Maybe one or two less arch viles would've been good, but they were usually in reasonably easy areas where they were easy to pick, especially since the player was given some proper firepower to deal with them. The battles were very good in my opinion. The original doom feeling was there. Monsters weren't stacked in horrible packs, but rather spread a bit to make things more interesting. Many times when I thought that I had cleared an area, the next time I came there, some demon was already waiting for me. I found these surprises to be great fun, as I never knew when some monster was teleported in an area I had already cleansed. The monsters were placed so that I never annoyed with them, yet some of them managed to cause some trouble to my health bar. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. A great variety of monsters was also used. Only couple of monster types were lacking, so I didn't encounter any boredom with fighting the same kind of monsters again and again.
The ammunition to deal with the monsters was given, but nothing more. While I didn't run out of ammo in any situation, a very reckless player may find himself looking for some firepower left in some dark corner. Health packs were given very well, too. After and before large battles the player to patch himself up to carry on. However, body armours were scarce, and the second level didn't have even one of them. Nothing big was here to complain about, though. There was enough ammo, enough monsters, enough happy players to enjoy them.
The level design was brilliant. Starting and ending in a spacecraft, I clearly noticed how the levels were thought very well. It actually seemed as I would've walked in some tech base with consoles, monitors, buttons, pipes and pumps here and there in the first level, and slowly transforming into barren wastes and mountains in the second. The author certainly wanted to create such effect, and he succeeded very well. It made the levels much more enjoyable. As I previously noted, some editing tricks were used to enhance the levels. Some were simpler; some I don't know even now how they were made. The first level was quite large and complex, so I got one or two times a bit lost for couple of minutes before knowing where to head to, but it is the low price of having separate ways. I enjoyed it very much, as exploring the tech base proved to be great fun. The second map isn't as complex, but isn't a straight tube either. The maps evolve very well. And I noticed a nice surprise when I took a glance at the beginning of the first map after completing the wad. The second map is the grand final, and has a very tense feeling at the very end. I won't tell you what happens, but it was rather creepy.
The visual quality is, as the rest of this wad, brilliant. So detailed that playing it with jDoom got my computer on its knees, and I had to run it using GZDoom, which then ran very decently. There are tubes going from place to place, light coming from windows and lights, work desks with buttons. Straight put, this wad has the best visual quality I have ever seen in a Doom map, and when I consider the fact that the author did a great job on not making this a port specific wad, I can't but admire at his work. It's a masterpiece, which everyone should see.
This wad is a must play. I doesn't matter whether you dislike bad looking or bad playing wads, since this wad has neither of those problems. In fact, it made me give a score above 8, which I really doubted that would happen. I really look forward for more wads from this author. He doesn't need to get any better at mapping; he already has made one of the best wads out there. What are you waiting for? Go download it as you should've done ten minutes ago! It's recommended that you read the txt file with the zip, as it has some playing tips which are very useful.
<a href="http://img391.imageshack.us/my.php?image=belltoll15il.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img391.imageshack.us/img391/9134/belltoll15il.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
Radiation hurts. Luckily there are protection suits around!
<a href="http://img391.imageshack.us/my.php?image=belltoll35ec.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img391.imageshack.us/img391/5973/belltoll35ec.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
The space craft is fascinating.