FATAL
June 24th, 2007, 11:11 AM
Fort 5
Author: Martin Mirejovsky alias Duke
fort5.wad (815 KB)
ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/pc/games/idgames/levels/doom2/d-f/fort5.zip
Doom2.exe.
Singleplayer
7 Maps.
Fatal using Jdoom.
Score: 5
There are much more bad things to say about this wad than good things, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it's a bad wad. The theme of this whole wad is adventuring in an arctic base and popping outside now and then. What's interesting in the wad is that in different maps some places are revisited and they are a bit different looking every time. However, I would've liked much more if this wad had been a single gigantic map that changes throughout the process. Now the wad was split into seven levels with seamless looking exits. While it was really nice on the continuity factor, the level exit always came as a bitter surprise as I played through this wad without saving and I had spared some extra armour or ammunition to collect before I exit the level. It didn't matter that much, though, as the difficulty level was mostly pretty nice for my skill, although still a bit easy, considering that I didn't have to save and load a single time.
I didn't enjoy the levels very much. The first reason must be that the levels were just tube runs without any crossroads or optional areas. You found the key, you used the key, you finished the level style was repeated in almost all of the levels. That is, some of the levels didn't have any keys, and one of the levels was really stupid as it had only one elevator and the exit behind it. I guess it was some sort of an intersection level to keep up the continuity, but I considered it as a daft idea. Ok, the levels are tubes, now what? The levels itself had poor architecture, and I'm not talking about details like many people tend to connect those two things. The levels itself were poorly designed. The outside areas didn't really feel like I was outside (unless you count being in a mound as outside), and the quality of the tech base portions really falls below the author's usual level.
Some levels were better, some worse. The most diverse levels were my favourites, although there weren't many of them. Most of the other levels just repeated the same textures and monsters, which didn't really drive me to play the wad any further. The levels are really short, and all of the seven maps are complete-able under 30 minutes, so the wad doesn't get incredibly boring before it already ends.
As I said before, the difficulty level has been raised since the last wad. This is really a good thing, as the former wads were far too easy even for new doom players. While it's more difficult than last time, it's still a bit too easy for my taste, and only the last level offered a good challenge. Enemies range mostly on the imp shotgunner chaingunner axle, but now and then the stronger are introduced too. There's nothing special on this department. All of the enemies you meet are in your path, and there's no traps around to make things harder.
Ammunition regulation was really well done. At no point I had enough ammo to waste (except in the last level), but also being a careful shooter, didn't run out of ammo when facing a tight spot. In the first level pistol is used pretty much, as shotgun ammunition isn't so usual. Afterwards the player gets to use shotgun more and more, and soon he'll be able to use it all the time. All of the weapons are found in the level, which is a bit dumb, as BFG or plasma rifle don't really fit in the picture.
This wad's detailing level has lowered incredibly since the last time. In fort 4 there was really thought put into everything, while in this wad it seems to be the opposite. Some stuff is just put around the levels just because it would look way too bare otherwise. This causes two things. A. The levels still look quite bare, and B. The details don't resemble any real life counterparts as they certainly did in fort 4. Sure there's a radio mast here and a computer terminal there, but that's it. There's nothing really worth mentioning, and the only things that keep this wad from sinking are the snow textures and the quite randomly placed shadow and light effects. Needless to say, the textures are still totally misaligned, and this time, unlike in the last wad, they're clearly noticeable in many places. All in all, I didn't like the visuals.
Bet you got quite a negative image of the wad, huh? Well the truth is, that I didn't really enjoy this wad. Maybe it's because fort 4 was such a nicely made wad and I expected the same from this one as well. Anyway, if you'd like to play some snowy levels and don't know where you could find some, you can probably have a try at this one. Of course, everyone <i>may</i> like this wad, it's just so unlikely when there's a much better option of this series: Fort 4.
Cool:
- Snow!
- Difficulty was in place
- Items were given in good amounts
- The level continuation was clear
Chilly:
- Boring and mostly bad level design
- The exits were totally unrecognisable
- All textures are unaligned
Thank you everyone who have read through this series of reviews of the fort series. I found it to be quite interesting to follow a mapper's development from making totally basic wads to really good wads, and then taking a slight downfall at the end. I hope you enjoyed reading through these five reviews. I actually had quite a good time reviewing these five wads. Who knows, maybe I'll again review some wad series later on. But for now, I'll move back onto random wads.
<a href="http://img52.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fort5a7cs.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/3473/fort5a7cs.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
There's loads of snow. And tunnels. And some base areas.
<a href="http://img52.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fort5b0qe.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/3694/fort5b0qe.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
That's one DOOMED space marine.
<a href="http://img476.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fort5c6wg.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img476.imageshack.us/img476/174/fort5c6wg.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
The battle over the great outdoors was mighty, but who could've guessed that I resulted as the winner?
Author: Martin Mirejovsky alias Duke
fort5.wad (815 KB)
ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/pc/games/idgames/levels/doom2/d-f/fort5.zip
Doom2.exe.
Singleplayer
7 Maps.
Fatal using Jdoom.
Score: 5
There are much more bad things to say about this wad than good things, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it's a bad wad. The theme of this whole wad is adventuring in an arctic base and popping outside now and then. What's interesting in the wad is that in different maps some places are revisited and they are a bit different looking every time. However, I would've liked much more if this wad had been a single gigantic map that changes throughout the process. Now the wad was split into seven levels with seamless looking exits. While it was really nice on the continuity factor, the level exit always came as a bitter surprise as I played through this wad without saving and I had spared some extra armour or ammunition to collect before I exit the level. It didn't matter that much, though, as the difficulty level was mostly pretty nice for my skill, although still a bit easy, considering that I didn't have to save and load a single time.
I didn't enjoy the levels very much. The first reason must be that the levels were just tube runs without any crossroads or optional areas. You found the key, you used the key, you finished the level style was repeated in almost all of the levels. That is, some of the levels didn't have any keys, and one of the levels was really stupid as it had only one elevator and the exit behind it. I guess it was some sort of an intersection level to keep up the continuity, but I considered it as a daft idea. Ok, the levels are tubes, now what? The levels itself had poor architecture, and I'm not talking about details like many people tend to connect those two things. The levels itself were poorly designed. The outside areas didn't really feel like I was outside (unless you count being in a mound as outside), and the quality of the tech base portions really falls below the author's usual level.
Some levels were better, some worse. The most diverse levels were my favourites, although there weren't many of them. Most of the other levels just repeated the same textures and monsters, which didn't really drive me to play the wad any further. The levels are really short, and all of the seven maps are complete-able under 30 minutes, so the wad doesn't get incredibly boring before it already ends.
As I said before, the difficulty level has been raised since the last wad. This is really a good thing, as the former wads were far too easy even for new doom players. While it's more difficult than last time, it's still a bit too easy for my taste, and only the last level offered a good challenge. Enemies range mostly on the imp shotgunner chaingunner axle, but now and then the stronger are introduced too. There's nothing special on this department. All of the enemies you meet are in your path, and there's no traps around to make things harder.
Ammunition regulation was really well done. At no point I had enough ammo to waste (except in the last level), but also being a careful shooter, didn't run out of ammo when facing a tight spot. In the first level pistol is used pretty much, as shotgun ammunition isn't so usual. Afterwards the player gets to use shotgun more and more, and soon he'll be able to use it all the time. All of the weapons are found in the level, which is a bit dumb, as BFG or plasma rifle don't really fit in the picture.
This wad's detailing level has lowered incredibly since the last time. In fort 4 there was really thought put into everything, while in this wad it seems to be the opposite. Some stuff is just put around the levels just because it would look way too bare otherwise. This causes two things. A. The levels still look quite bare, and B. The details don't resemble any real life counterparts as they certainly did in fort 4. Sure there's a radio mast here and a computer terminal there, but that's it. There's nothing really worth mentioning, and the only things that keep this wad from sinking are the snow textures and the quite randomly placed shadow and light effects. Needless to say, the textures are still totally misaligned, and this time, unlike in the last wad, they're clearly noticeable in many places. All in all, I didn't like the visuals.
Bet you got quite a negative image of the wad, huh? Well the truth is, that I didn't really enjoy this wad. Maybe it's because fort 4 was such a nicely made wad and I expected the same from this one as well. Anyway, if you'd like to play some snowy levels and don't know where you could find some, you can probably have a try at this one. Of course, everyone <i>may</i> like this wad, it's just so unlikely when there's a much better option of this series: Fort 4.
Cool:
- Snow!
- Difficulty was in place
- Items were given in good amounts
- The level continuation was clear
Chilly:
- Boring and mostly bad level design
- The exits were totally unrecognisable
- All textures are unaligned
Thank you everyone who have read through this series of reviews of the fort series. I found it to be quite interesting to follow a mapper's development from making totally basic wads to really good wads, and then taking a slight downfall at the end. I hope you enjoyed reading through these five reviews. I actually had quite a good time reviewing these five wads. Who knows, maybe I'll again review some wad series later on. But for now, I'll move back onto random wads.
<a href="http://img52.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fort5a7cs.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/3473/fort5a7cs.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
There's loads of snow. And tunnels. And some base areas.
<a href="http://img52.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fort5b0qe.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/3694/fort5b0qe.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
That's one DOOMED space marine.
<a href="http://img476.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fort5c6wg.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img476.imageshack.us/img476/174/fort5c6wg.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
The battle over the great outdoors was mighty, but who could've guessed that I resulted as the winner?