FATAL
June 24th, 2007, 11:10 AM
Fear is the Price of Sin.
Author: ReX Claussen.
fear_sin.wad (250kb)
ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/pc/msdos/games/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/d-f/fear_sin.zip
Port: Limit Removing port.
Single player.
January 3, 2006,
1 map.
Reviewer: Danimetal using Doom Legacy v1.42 in software mode.
Score: 6.5
The best way I can think to start this review is with a warning: Fear is the Price of Sin is a wad that has its own learning curve, that´s all. It certainly matters how much you´re accustomed to Doom gameplay but what really counts in this map is that it always finds a way to put you into trouble through ambushes, cheap monster rooms or fair battles. Learning to prevent them and being always prepared to be ambushed (pay attention to your ears) is the way to make your plays in this map last longer. Of course, that doesn´t mean that you´ll finish it soon...
I personally took like a week (in and out) to finish this wad. I´m sure you could finish it in an afternoon if you really sit behind your monitor and play hard, but that´s not the case. I enjoyed this wad with a pistol start and no savegames, just restarting each time and coming back once I felt like I would give it a try. My reward was hours of fun and also frustration with this wad. I´d like to state that, per se, this wad is not long. You could finish it in a 30 minute play once you know about it but part of its charm is to take advantage of the non-linear layout and try each one of the three different paths given once you have the yellow key. You´re gonna roam each one of them in the end, but depending on your choices you´ll have different weapons and items making this wad very playable and ultimately fun. The fun value can be ruined by some cheap moments (lots of monsters that pop out of nowhere in dark rooms, tight fights in narrow hallways with dozens of imps coming from everywhere...) but once you study them you think "I can beat that, I only need to apply this or that strategy" adding a stimulating element of learning to the wad.
This also affects the replayability... For example, you can rely on the rocket launcher you get in one of the three paths from the very beginning but if you start again and choose another path you´ll find battles you´ll have to face with other weapons. It´s not a real problem since you can go back and forth through the whole map and you´ll soon adquire a lovely double barreled shotgun to do dirty work but well, as I was saying, the element of learning previously mentioned affects the replayability factor but due to the non linear structure, this map is highly replayable and it´s non likely that you´ll regret a second play through.
The layout is pretty nicely done. This map fits in the "Tight category" when looking at it on the automap: there are no long passages connecting rooms or something. Instead of that, all places are very close to each other and set around the starting room. Still, even with places being so close the connectivity between them relies in a couple of points, mainly in the starting room that is where all the non linearity of the wad comes from: when the map begins you´ll find in a room with three locked doors (with the same key) and a way to get out of there. You have four missions: first get the key to the doors and then solve the puzzles behind each one of them to solve the level. Is a pretty simple starting point for a map, but it´s carried out very well. Have I mentioned the non-linearity for this map before?. O.k, let me then state something: this is not the kind of non-linear map in wich you get lost easily. It´s non linear because you can freely choose what task you´ll do first but that doesnt mean that you have to go back and forth doing switch hunting and stuff: everything seems planned so the gameplay flows smoothly.
If there´s a slowdown in the flow of the map, they´re not the puzzles, but the battles. The author has chosen a wide variety of monsters from weak zombies to a couple of Arch-Viles and the ordinary Baron fauna and all monsters tend to appear in groups once you have the yellow key. There´s nothing wrong with battling a few chaingunners at once but more than once in the wad you´ll find yourself fighting like six cacodemons or six revenants at the same time. Though maybe you´ll have powerful weapons and can dispatch them in a minute, you may as well not have them and enjoy a shotgun fest that will slow your progress down. In the same fashion, there are battles in tight areas against hard monsters that tend to be time consuming and tiresome when you play them for the fifth time... Of course, nothing´s as bad a it seems: in one hand, the seasoned doomer will find fun in these dances and, on the other hand, there are also battles against weaker enemies that are fast and fun. Also, if I had to mention something else regarding monsters I would have liked this map to have less ambush, specially when you´re being ambushed by a lot of powerful monsters.
Puzzling is much more straight forward and fast than the battles. There are no traps except the ambushes we´ve mentioned and all the switch action tends to open a pathway to the end of the map. There´s not innecessary backtracking and you may wonder sometimes where to go but there´s always an exit nearby when you hit a switch or trigger a battle. This is true for each one of the paths that you choose and, if I never mentioned it before (I know I did), you´ll have to visit each and every one area in the map to look for those switches but there´s no particular order in wich you must.
The visuals of the map are pretty average for our times. It doesn´t look bad and has nice touches in curvy (almost circular) walls, beams and some details but you won´t be surprised at the amount of detail or lighting used in this map wich may affect negatively to its mood. Try to see it like this: the rooms on this maps seem to respond to the principle of feeding the game itself, not your eyes. Your eyes will be continously exposed to a brownish, dark metal theme with some bricks that tends to be quite opressive and, in a sense, sad. There are some tech spots in the map as well as some green and even water but for the most time, the ambience is very dark and tight, specially after you get the yellow key... Aside from that, there´s not a lot more to mention in the visuals. Well, O.k, there are some light effects that look quite artificial, a blocky stairway, and, overall, a blocky design but that´s something you better see for yourself. Finally one last note: I don´t know why but I like a lot the way the author did the outdoors.
So, to sum up, this map offers a non linear challenge to players who are patient enough to learn everything about it. You could use savegames but I´m sure you´d ruin almost all the fun on this map and is this fun what makes this map stand out a little from the whole lot of maps out there. I´d give it a 7 on my own scale of fun factor but I also have to think on other people out there so (risking my credibility as reviewer and trying to get some stable rating system) let´s say 6.5. Anyway, go and try it!.
<a href="http://img461.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fearsin018sw.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://img461.imageshack.us/img461/5624/fearsin018sw.th.png" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
The battle rages on.
<a href="http://img57.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fearsin028do.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/8327/fearsin028do.th.png" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
I grew accustomed to the sight of this hallway.
Author: ReX Claussen.
fear_sin.wad (250kb)
ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/pc/msdos/games/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/d-f/fear_sin.zip
Port: Limit Removing port.
Single player.
January 3, 2006,
1 map.
Reviewer: Danimetal using Doom Legacy v1.42 in software mode.
Score: 6.5
The best way I can think to start this review is with a warning: Fear is the Price of Sin is a wad that has its own learning curve, that´s all. It certainly matters how much you´re accustomed to Doom gameplay but what really counts in this map is that it always finds a way to put you into trouble through ambushes, cheap monster rooms or fair battles. Learning to prevent them and being always prepared to be ambushed (pay attention to your ears) is the way to make your plays in this map last longer. Of course, that doesn´t mean that you´ll finish it soon...
I personally took like a week (in and out) to finish this wad. I´m sure you could finish it in an afternoon if you really sit behind your monitor and play hard, but that´s not the case. I enjoyed this wad with a pistol start and no savegames, just restarting each time and coming back once I felt like I would give it a try. My reward was hours of fun and also frustration with this wad. I´d like to state that, per se, this wad is not long. You could finish it in a 30 minute play once you know about it but part of its charm is to take advantage of the non-linear layout and try each one of the three different paths given once you have the yellow key. You´re gonna roam each one of them in the end, but depending on your choices you´ll have different weapons and items making this wad very playable and ultimately fun. The fun value can be ruined by some cheap moments (lots of monsters that pop out of nowhere in dark rooms, tight fights in narrow hallways with dozens of imps coming from everywhere...) but once you study them you think "I can beat that, I only need to apply this or that strategy" adding a stimulating element of learning to the wad.
This also affects the replayability... For example, you can rely on the rocket launcher you get in one of the three paths from the very beginning but if you start again and choose another path you´ll find battles you´ll have to face with other weapons. It´s not a real problem since you can go back and forth through the whole map and you´ll soon adquire a lovely double barreled shotgun to do dirty work but well, as I was saying, the element of learning previously mentioned affects the replayability factor but due to the non linear structure, this map is highly replayable and it´s non likely that you´ll regret a second play through.
The layout is pretty nicely done. This map fits in the "Tight category" when looking at it on the automap: there are no long passages connecting rooms or something. Instead of that, all places are very close to each other and set around the starting room. Still, even with places being so close the connectivity between them relies in a couple of points, mainly in the starting room that is where all the non linearity of the wad comes from: when the map begins you´ll find in a room with three locked doors (with the same key) and a way to get out of there. You have four missions: first get the key to the doors and then solve the puzzles behind each one of them to solve the level. Is a pretty simple starting point for a map, but it´s carried out very well. Have I mentioned the non-linearity for this map before?. O.k, let me then state something: this is not the kind of non-linear map in wich you get lost easily. It´s non linear because you can freely choose what task you´ll do first but that doesnt mean that you have to go back and forth doing switch hunting and stuff: everything seems planned so the gameplay flows smoothly.
If there´s a slowdown in the flow of the map, they´re not the puzzles, but the battles. The author has chosen a wide variety of monsters from weak zombies to a couple of Arch-Viles and the ordinary Baron fauna and all monsters tend to appear in groups once you have the yellow key. There´s nothing wrong with battling a few chaingunners at once but more than once in the wad you´ll find yourself fighting like six cacodemons or six revenants at the same time. Though maybe you´ll have powerful weapons and can dispatch them in a minute, you may as well not have them and enjoy a shotgun fest that will slow your progress down. In the same fashion, there are battles in tight areas against hard monsters that tend to be time consuming and tiresome when you play them for the fifth time... Of course, nothing´s as bad a it seems: in one hand, the seasoned doomer will find fun in these dances and, on the other hand, there are also battles against weaker enemies that are fast and fun. Also, if I had to mention something else regarding monsters I would have liked this map to have less ambush, specially when you´re being ambushed by a lot of powerful monsters.
Puzzling is much more straight forward and fast than the battles. There are no traps except the ambushes we´ve mentioned and all the switch action tends to open a pathway to the end of the map. There´s not innecessary backtracking and you may wonder sometimes where to go but there´s always an exit nearby when you hit a switch or trigger a battle. This is true for each one of the paths that you choose and, if I never mentioned it before (I know I did), you´ll have to visit each and every one area in the map to look for those switches but there´s no particular order in wich you must.
The visuals of the map are pretty average for our times. It doesn´t look bad and has nice touches in curvy (almost circular) walls, beams and some details but you won´t be surprised at the amount of detail or lighting used in this map wich may affect negatively to its mood. Try to see it like this: the rooms on this maps seem to respond to the principle of feeding the game itself, not your eyes. Your eyes will be continously exposed to a brownish, dark metal theme with some bricks that tends to be quite opressive and, in a sense, sad. There are some tech spots in the map as well as some green and even water but for the most time, the ambience is very dark and tight, specially after you get the yellow key... Aside from that, there´s not a lot more to mention in the visuals. Well, O.k, there are some light effects that look quite artificial, a blocky stairway, and, overall, a blocky design but that´s something you better see for yourself. Finally one last note: I don´t know why but I like a lot the way the author did the outdoors.
So, to sum up, this map offers a non linear challenge to players who are patient enough to learn everything about it. You could use savegames but I´m sure you´d ruin almost all the fun on this map and is this fun what makes this map stand out a little from the whole lot of maps out there. I´d give it a 7 on my own scale of fun factor but I also have to think on other people out there so (risking my credibility as reviewer and trying to get some stable rating system) let´s say 6.5. Anyway, go and try it!.
<a href="http://img461.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fearsin018sw.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://img461.imageshack.us/img461/5624/fearsin018sw.th.png" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
The battle rages on.
<a href="http://img57.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fearsin028do.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/8327/fearsin028do.th.png" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
I grew accustomed to the sight of this hallway.