FATAL
June 24th, 2007, 11:15 AM
PstLevM
Author: Pichusoft.
PstLevM.wad (394 kb)
ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/pc/games/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/p-r/pstlevm.zip
Port used: ZDoom.
Single player, cooperative.
October 2nd, 1999.
1 map.
Danimetal using ZDoom v.2.0.96.
Score: 6.5
You can´t imagine my surprise when I read the txt file for the first time... Come on, go and read it yourself. Yes, it´s not in english!. In other circunstances I would have just cursed the author but given that the txt file was in spanish I couldn´t do anything but smile. Really, the word Pichusoft is quite fun for spanish speakers and I´m afraid I won´t be able to find anything like that in english but well, anyway, after a little investigation I found about Pichusoft being and old site (now deleted) devoted to Doom in spanish language. I´m not quite sure if it exists under another form now but maybe the author of Hedrox could know anything about it. Gotta visit his forums one of these days...
Anyway, PstLevM (No clue about what this stands for... Pichusoft-Levels-dooM????) is a surprising wad, reminding of some Boom powered wads in structure but with simple gameplay that makes it perfect for a 15 minute play. PstlevM is set upon what seems to be some kind of castle surrounded by slime and rocks. This setting does not vary for the whole map and does not offer any other change than a few crates here and there, indoors and outdoor areas but, you know what?, it doesn´t really get tiring at all since it´s fast and pleasant.
This fast gameplay style is medium sized and could last, as said, for about 15 minutes for your first run. You could get killed here and there making the wad a little longer but, overall, the map is pretty balanced and you´ll rarely feel like the author was being unfair or laying cheap traps... In the end, the map is really playable with some low moments (getting lost while backtracking) but it pays being a fun and satisfying experience. The replayability value of the wad is somewhat assured if you want to do a second run: 7 secrets that are not easy to find (one of them hiding a new weapon) or reach at all and the possibility to experience the joy of blasting everything with a shotgun again. On the other hand, there are not many ways of approaching the battles and challenges and the level is quite linear but well, that only means that this map is not meant to be played a hundred times. Maybe a second cooperative play?. Maybe. I´m not sure that this map would deliver a great cooperative game with that little number of monsters but at least it would pay to respawn if you fall into a slime pit.
The layout for the map not exactly simple: though it´s mainly comprised of hallways and open air areas with little connectivity there´s a backtracking factor that spices things up a bit in the "where the hell was the blue door anyway???". This backtracking can get frustrating a couple of times but the map seems well planned and makes a good use of some common areas and specially of heights: it´s not strange that you can see a lot of higher or lower ways from most areas. Walking through these places and seeing areas you were in previously makes the map coherent... Did I say coherent?. Not like this map depicts a real or possible castle-like building but at least it makes for a coherent world of playing. Anyway, I´d recommend you to lay some marks on the automap where you find suspicious stuff, just in case you have to come back later. A big complain about the layout and design?. Well, once you fall into the slime there´s no way to get out so you´ll effectively die. This is likely to happen in the beginning of the map but can also happen when you´re pretty advanced due to a stupid accident and it´s just frustrating.
In fact, you´ll be coming back later to various places. Some are obvious, like the locked doors but some others I just didn´t thought of and just wandered a little to find them. That is the nature of the puzzles in this wad: you find a switch, you hit a switch and if you can´t figure out what it did you just walk around for a while until you see something you never noticed before. In a sense this is a bad aspect (I don´t consider it positive at all) and artificially makes the map much longer. It´s true that when you see what your way is you think "Oh, yes, now I remember there were some bars here" but I tend to think that it´s nice to let the players know what a switch did.
Then there´s the other half of the gameplay: battles. Do you like maps when you waste a lot of monsters in one or two shotgun shots?. You´re going to like these battles. Do you like shotgun fests?. You´re gonna like this map too!!!. Do you like fast battles?. You´re going to love this map... And it´s that clear: most monsters are pretty weak ranging from zombies to demons with some chaingunners here and there. There´s also the ocassional Cacodemon or Revenant but most monsters won´t take a lot of shots before dying... These monsters are generously spread through the map in small groups and form balanced battles (with some ambushes from above), though a little on the easy side. The author was also generous with ammunition so don´t worry a lot about it: you can run out of shells but you´ll have plenty of bullets for your chaingun until you find some more... If you´re going to have a problem in this map (apart from backtracking and slime pits you can´t exit) it could be with health. It´s not as abundant as ammo and while it´s enough to survive you can take a few shots in an ambush that will leave you looking for a stimpack you didn´t pick up.
The architecture is simplistic by today´s uber-detailed styles but don´t think it´s a blocky map at all. It manages to make a good use of beams, borders, shapes and some lighting with a more than correct layout. The map looks really balanced and pleasant with a sober choice of textures and a few details (like a long carpet or the mentioned beams) getting the eye in some places. What I liked the most about the visuals was the way in wich the author managed the colours: green slime, grey castles, brown metal and brown rocks blend together smoothly and always keep the outline of the place very clear. We could mention the new textures (not really a lot and seen before, I think), the new sky or the new titlepicture: not really essential for the wad but an added value.
Finally, there are a few "features" on this wad that finish outlining it. First: new sounds. I´m sure I´ve heard those sounds before but a different pistol shot is always welcome. Okay, okay, it has a lot of bass and little crack but sounds powerful enough. Second, new music... Here I can´t talk in positive terms about this wad: it doesn´t matter how much I liked or could like Guns and Roses but "You could be mine" is not a tune to be played in a Doom wad: it has no mood at all and fails to suggest anything relative to the map itself!. Third: new weapons. There´s a ZDoom railgun (the plasma gun) hidden in one of the secrets and, though it´s welcome to have it aboard it doesn´t change the map at all: it´s reload speed is alike to that of the shotgun and with a narrower damage zone it´s not a good choice for this map. Fourth and final: there are no difficulty settings. Again, I can´t say anything good about that. What if you just wanted to try in a harder level?. What if you can´t manage it in UV and want to try something smoother?. Well, no way. It´s quite sad since it really destroys part of the replayability and charm but if you can forget about that you can see a good map in here. 6.5 for good maps.
<a href="http://img476.imageshack.us/my.php?image=doom00000fa.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://img476.imageshack.us/img476/6721/doom00000fa.th.png" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
This is indoors...
<a href="http://img376.imageshack.us/my.php?image=doom00014rx.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/2684/doom00014rx.th.png" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
... and this is berserked outdoors!.
Author: Pichusoft.
PstLevM.wad (394 kb)
ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/pc/games/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/p-r/pstlevm.zip
Port used: ZDoom.
Single player, cooperative.
October 2nd, 1999.
1 map.
Danimetal using ZDoom v.2.0.96.
Score: 6.5
You can´t imagine my surprise when I read the txt file for the first time... Come on, go and read it yourself. Yes, it´s not in english!. In other circunstances I would have just cursed the author but given that the txt file was in spanish I couldn´t do anything but smile. Really, the word Pichusoft is quite fun for spanish speakers and I´m afraid I won´t be able to find anything like that in english but well, anyway, after a little investigation I found about Pichusoft being and old site (now deleted) devoted to Doom in spanish language. I´m not quite sure if it exists under another form now but maybe the author of Hedrox could know anything about it. Gotta visit his forums one of these days...
Anyway, PstLevM (No clue about what this stands for... Pichusoft-Levels-dooM????) is a surprising wad, reminding of some Boom powered wads in structure but with simple gameplay that makes it perfect for a 15 minute play. PstlevM is set upon what seems to be some kind of castle surrounded by slime and rocks. This setting does not vary for the whole map and does not offer any other change than a few crates here and there, indoors and outdoor areas but, you know what?, it doesn´t really get tiring at all since it´s fast and pleasant.
This fast gameplay style is medium sized and could last, as said, for about 15 minutes for your first run. You could get killed here and there making the wad a little longer but, overall, the map is pretty balanced and you´ll rarely feel like the author was being unfair or laying cheap traps... In the end, the map is really playable with some low moments (getting lost while backtracking) but it pays being a fun and satisfying experience. The replayability value of the wad is somewhat assured if you want to do a second run: 7 secrets that are not easy to find (one of them hiding a new weapon) or reach at all and the possibility to experience the joy of blasting everything with a shotgun again. On the other hand, there are not many ways of approaching the battles and challenges and the level is quite linear but well, that only means that this map is not meant to be played a hundred times. Maybe a second cooperative play?. Maybe. I´m not sure that this map would deliver a great cooperative game with that little number of monsters but at least it would pay to respawn if you fall into a slime pit.
The layout for the map not exactly simple: though it´s mainly comprised of hallways and open air areas with little connectivity there´s a backtracking factor that spices things up a bit in the "where the hell was the blue door anyway???". This backtracking can get frustrating a couple of times but the map seems well planned and makes a good use of some common areas and specially of heights: it´s not strange that you can see a lot of higher or lower ways from most areas. Walking through these places and seeing areas you were in previously makes the map coherent... Did I say coherent?. Not like this map depicts a real or possible castle-like building but at least it makes for a coherent world of playing. Anyway, I´d recommend you to lay some marks on the automap where you find suspicious stuff, just in case you have to come back later. A big complain about the layout and design?. Well, once you fall into the slime there´s no way to get out so you´ll effectively die. This is likely to happen in the beginning of the map but can also happen when you´re pretty advanced due to a stupid accident and it´s just frustrating.
In fact, you´ll be coming back later to various places. Some are obvious, like the locked doors but some others I just didn´t thought of and just wandered a little to find them. That is the nature of the puzzles in this wad: you find a switch, you hit a switch and if you can´t figure out what it did you just walk around for a while until you see something you never noticed before. In a sense this is a bad aspect (I don´t consider it positive at all) and artificially makes the map much longer. It´s true that when you see what your way is you think "Oh, yes, now I remember there were some bars here" but I tend to think that it´s nice to let the players know what a switch did.
Then there´s the other half of the gameplay: battles. Do you like maps when you waste a lot of monsters in one or two shotgun shots?. You´re going to like these battles. Do you like shotgun fests?. You´re gonna like this map too!!!. Do you like fast battles?. You´re going to love this map... And it´s that clear: most monsters are pretty weak ranging from zombies to demons with some chaingunners here and there. There´s also the ocassional Cacodemon or Revenant but most monsters won´t take a lot of shots before dying... These monsters are generously spread through the map in small groups and form balanced battles (with some ambushes from above), though a little on the easy side. The author was also generous with ammunition so don´t worry a lot about it: you can run out of shells but you´ll have plenty of bullets for your chaingun until you find some more... If you´re going to have a problem in this map (apart from backtracking and slime pits you can´t exit) it could be with health. It´s not as abundant as ammo and while it´s enough to survive you can take a few shots in an ambush that will leave you looking for a stimpack you didn´t pick up.
The architecture is simplistic by today´s uber-detailed styles but don´t think it´s a blocky map at all. It manages to make a good use of beams, borders, shapes and some lighting with a more than correct layout. The map looks really balanced and pleasant with a sober choice of textures and a few details (like a long carpet or the mentioned beams) getting the eye in some places. What I liked the most about the visuals was the way in wich the author managed the colours: green slime, grey castles, brown metal and brown rocks blend together smoothly and always keep the outline of the place very clear. We could mention the new textures (not really a lot and seen before, I think), the new sky or the new titlepicture: not really essential for the wad but an added value.
Finally, there are a few "features" on this wad that finish outlining it. First: new sounds. I´m sure I´ve heard those sounds before but a different pistol shot is always welcome. Okay, okay, it has a lot of bass and little crack but sounds powerful enough. Second, new music... Here I can´t talk in positive terms about this wad: it doesn´t matter how much I liked or could like Guns and Roses but "You could be mine" is not a tune to be played in a Doom wad: it has no mood at all and fails to suggest anything relative to the map itself!. Third: new weapons. There´s a ZDoom railgun (the plasma gun) hidden in one of the secrets and, though it´s welcome to have it aboard it doesn´t change the map at all: it´s reload speed is alike to that of the shotgun and with a narrower damage zone it´s not a good choice for this map. Fourth and final: there are no difficulty settings. Again, I can´t say anything good about that. What if you just wanted to try in a harder level?. What if you can´t manage it in UV and want to try something smoother?. Well, no way. It´s quite sad since it really destroys part of the replayability and charm but if you can forget about that you can see a good map in here. 6.5 for good maps.
<a href="http://img476.imageshack.us/my.php?image=doom00000fa.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://img476.imageshack.us/img476/6721/doom00000fa.th.png" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
This is indoors...
<a href="http://img376.imageshack.us/my.php?image=doom00014rx.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/2684/doom00014rx.th.png" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
... and this is berserked outdoors!.