FATAL
June 24th, 2007, 11:23 AM
Zeh.wad
Author: Jeremy Zeh
Zeh.wad 41.3 KB
ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/pc/games/idgames/levels/doom2/v-z/zeh.zip
Port: Doom2.exe
Single-player, Co-op, Deathmatch
March 01, 1995
MAP01
Rusty Slacker
Port used was GZDoom
Score: 4.0
Jeremy Zeh's "Zeh.wad" will be remembered for two things. The first is the newbie-esque architecture accompanied by surprisingly solid gameplay. The second is the incredibly uninspired title, but only the first point will be covered in this review.
In the starting area, there are some impaled humans and some vine textures. The vine textures were misaligned, but players probably wouldn't notice unless they were looking specifically at the textures, or taking notes for a review. In that same area, most players will probably notice the odd visual choices; textures that would usually never be on adjacent linedefs are butting up against each other. The same goes for flats: the author seems to have paid no attention to logical and practical design. For example, in one secret room, there is a blood-fall texture flowing down into a brown-tiled floor. Also, the secrets can be incredibly obvious, even to players who aren't usually astute. A brick room may have a secret door with a BROWN texture of some type on it. In short, this wad is ugly. Because of this, it's hard to tell what the "theme" really is.
Mr. Zeh seems to have paid little more attention to lighting. There are light-level changes, but the flickering areas and illuminated sectors have no light source. No floorlamps, candles, or light-fixture flats. There's not even a measly LITE5 texture. The darkened areas, however, do improve the gameplay.
On the subject of gameplay, it's not nearly as bad as the texture selection. There's an even spread of monsters through the whole level, mostly shotgunners and pinky demons. This forces players to keep on their toes. It also means that anyone will take quite a bit of damage. The widespread use of shotgunners effectively dish out pain to the players without overwhelming the marines with monsters. Fortunately, the shortage of stimpacks is accompanied by a healthy amount of ammo, and the rocket launcher and plasma rifle are present and easily accessible.
As for the layout, it's got key-hunts. Players are forced to go back and forth through the map, and some DOOMers dislike this.
While the architecture is one of this wad's main shortcomings, Zeh demonstrates a basic knowledge of stairs, nukage pits, and the like. However, these structures are all very basic.
Note: There's no date in the text file. This review sounds really harsh, and I didn't understand why it was so under-detailed until I realized that it's a 1995 wad. I wrote this review with today's mapping standards in mind. -Rusty
<a href="http://img240.imageshack.us/my.php?image=zeh18kw.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/2494/zeh18kw.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
<a href="http://img314.imageshack.us/my.php?image=zeh29io.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img314.imageshack.us/img314/2841/zeh29io.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
Author: Jeremy Zeh
Zeh.wad 41.3 KB
ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/pc/games/idgames/levels/doom2/v-z/zeh.zip
Port: Doom2.exe
Single-player, Co-op, Deathmatch
March 01, 1995
MAP01
Rusty Slacker
Port used was GZDoom
Score: 4.0
Jeremy Zeh's "Zeh.wad" will be remembered for two things. The first is the newbie-esque architecture accompanied by surprisingly solid gameplay. The second is the incredibly uninspired title, but only the first point will be covered in this review.
In the starting area, there are some impaled humans and some vine textures. The vine textures were misaligned, but players probably wouldn't notice unless they were looking specifically at the textures, or taking notes for a review. In that same area, most players will probably notice the odd visual choices; textures that would usually never be on adjacent linedefs are butting up against each other. The same goes for flats: the author seems to have paid no attention to logical and practical design. For example, in one secret room, there is a blood-fall texture flowing down into a brown-tiled floor. Also, the secrets can be incredibly obvious, even to players who aren't usually astute. A brick room may have a secret door with a BROWN texture of some type on it. In short, this wad is ugly. Because of this, it's hard to tell what the "theme" really is.
Mr. Zeh seems to have paid little more attention to lighting. There are light-level changes, but the flickering areas and illuminated sectors have no light source. No floorlamps, candles, or light-fixture flats. There's not even a measly LITE5 texture. The darkened areas, however, do improve the gameplay.
On the subject of gameplay, it's not nearly as bad as the texture selection. There's an even spread of monsters through the whole level, mostly shotgunners and pinky demons. This forces players to keep on their toes. It also means that anyone will take quite a bit of damage. The widespread use of shotgunners effectively dish out pain to the players without overwhelming the marines with monsters. Fortunately, the shortage of stimpacks is accompanied by a healthy amount of ammo, and the rocket launcher and plasma rifle are present and easily accessible.
As for the layout, it's got key-hunts. Players are forced to go back and forth through the map, and some DOOMers dislike this.
While the architecture is one of this wad's main shortcomings, Zeh demonstrates a basic knowledge of stairs, nukage pits, and the like. However, these structures are all very basic.
Note: There's no date in the text file. This review sounds really harsh, and I didn't understand why it was so under-detailed until I realized that it's a 1995 wad. I wrote this review with today's mapping standards in mind. -Rusty
<a href="http://img240.imageshack.us/my.php?image=zeh18kw.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/2494/zeh18kw.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
<a href="http://img314.imageshack.us/my.php?image=zeh29io.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img314.imageshack.us/img314/2841/zeh29io.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>