FATAL
June 24th, 2007, 11:25 AM
Denial
By: Jonathan Tourtellot
Denial.zip (98kb)
ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/pc/games/idgames/levels/doom2/d-f/denial.zip
Port: Doom2.exe.
Single player, Coop, Deathmatch.
1995 (Text file).
1 map (map28).
Reviewer: Danimetal using ZDoom v.2.0.98.
Score: 5
There´s always something special about classic maps... Personally, I like to refer as "Classic maps" to those who try to capture the essence of original Doom wads, that were particularly fresh but, how would you refer to Doom2 maps?. There´s no point in denying that as Doom2 goes on it becomes more and more trickier in battles, puzzles and decieving layouts (wich didn´t happen at all in Doom until, maybe, Episode 4) but I´m not sure if they´re classic maps. I prefer to think about them as classic puzzling maps, do you know what I mean?. Well, if you enjoyed classic puzzling maps back then and you still like this kind of gameplay you could enjoy Denial a lot as it plays with these layouts and tricks, taking them to the extreme.
Denial is a lenghty (around 30 minutes) Doom2 wad embedded in a surprisingly "medium to large" sized layout. Your first impression about it is pretty decieving as it presents you with an open area with some attractive details but it doesn´t take long for the player to be lost in a pretty tight and initially open-ended maze full of monsters and secrets. This maze will be where the player will spend most of the time and let me tell you that it´s a damn hard time. Personally I like to play these oldies without mouselook, just old-school keyboard but I don´t think that mouselooking is gonna make this map much easier: gameplay revolves around close quarter battles, ambushes that will have you completely surrounded and figuring out a way to get through the whole maze and access new areas. Sometimes it´s all about luck to guess it, but sometimes requires a little brain or observation. Anyway, most of the time you´ll be exploring the layout and fighting, but the puzzling moments can take their time. And, about time, we said it can take about 30 minutes but there´s a problem with the planning of the map (you can skip picking up the two last keys and scape directly with the first using a jump trick) that can make it shorter than it should be. Still, the map is extraordinarily hard even skipping most of the meat.
So, what´s exactly the value of this map then?. Well, ultimately the map can be fun for those who enjoy this kind of gameplay but its difficulty can really discourage a lot of players: I think this map could be bearable with some quicksaving action but if you really want to put yourself to the test play with no saves or just two of them. Of course, this does not add a real replayability value and after running through the whole map I don´t think that I want to do it again just to check if I missed any of the many secrets or something... The only real replayability value I can think of is to play the whole wad again if you (accidentally) did the jumping trick and missed half of the map, as it happened to me.
About this little problem, I think that it´s a pretty amusing bug as you could actually think that the map is meant to end that way as the layout is, at least, strange. Unless you recall having seen other coloured doors around you could finish it and miss more than half of the map but keep in mind that almost every place in the layout has a purpose in this map. I was particularly pleased with that aspect of the odd layout (I think I found a lot of secrets and hidden places) and I´m sure that you could too but, at the same time, this feature is decieving when you are stuck: you could search and search for ages trying to figure out what to do next only to find that the answer is not in any of those unlocked secrets but in a place accessible right from the start. And this is only half of the difficulty. Let me remind you that most places in this maze are pretty narrow with almost no cover so you´ll soon learn how valuable armor can be when confronted with all those monsters (imps, zombies, demons, barons, cacodemons, some arch-vile... There´s a lot of variety to choose from in there). Also, take into consideration that weapons are given at a very slow pace (I don´t think I got the rocket launcher except for finding a secret) and ammunition is really scarce. Health is used more often in the map, usually inside any of the places where monsters are waiting for you, but it´s never enough to fully regain your health considering the amount of punishment you will be taking in this map.
Oh, also, it doesn´t help that the map has pretty dark spots where monsters will be lurking (or that a large part of the map becomes dark when you perform a certain action) but, speaking about light, there´s not a lot of nice lighting effects in here. In fact, I remember seeing only one of them while the rest of the places where almost randomly set. This really makes a good couple with the visuals of the map: starts out looking good but takes little to notice a lot of areas that are just ugly with little texture coherence... Anyway, I don´t think it´s really important to talk about this aspects as, in a sense, it does look like the later Doom2 maps and we all know how these look like.
One last consideration before boiling the whole wad together: the text file states that it´s playable in both Coop and DM but I think I have to argue with that. O.k, maybe the starting points are there but in no way this map is playable on Cooperative (it would load and stuff, but could get really boring) due to the narrowness of its layout. Also, yeah, if you like to play DM in large maps with little connectivity and stuff like that you could enjoy this map but, do you really like to play like that?.
So, I think I just said everything I had to say about this map and I´ve reconsidered my initial score. I thought of a nice enough score so it wouldn´t seem that this map was saved by the bell but after reconsidering my own tastes and what are the good and bad aspects of this wad I don´t think I´m giving it more than a 5. I´m sure that other people would rate this map with less than a half of my rating but I also have to be honest: I enjoyed this map and I think it features a lot of things that certain people can enjoy. So, well, it´s a 5 but it´s also up to you.
<a href="http://img125.imageshack.us/my.php?image=doom00003lo.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/8306/doom00003lo.th.png" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
How truthful this word is...
<a href="http://img182.imageshack.us/my.php?image=doom00014go.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/8436/doom00014go.th.png" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
Check out the health meter.
By: Jonathan Tourtellot
Denial.zip (98kb)
ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/pc/games/idgames/levels/doom2/d-f/denial.zip
Port: Doom2.exe.
Single player, Coop, Deathmatch.
1995 (Text file).
1 map (map28).
Reviewer: Danimetal using ZDoom v.2.0.98.
Score: 5
There´s always something special about classic maps... Personally, I like to refer as "Classic maps" to those who try to capture the essence of original Doom wads, that were particularly fresh but, how would you refer to Doom2 maps?. There´s no point in denying that as Doom2 goes on it becomes more and more trickier in battles, puzzles and decieving layouts (wich didn´t happen at all in Doom until, maybe, Episode 4) but I´m not sure if they´re classic maps. I prefer to think about them as classic puzzling maps, do you know what I mean?. Well, if you enjoyed classic puzzling maps back then and you still like this kind of gameplay you could enjoy Denial a lot as it plays with these layouts and tricks, taking them to the extreme.
Denial is a lenghty (around 30 minutes) Doom2 wad embedded in a surprisingly "medium to large" sized layout. Your first impression about it is pretty decieving as it presents you with an open area with some attractive details but it doesn´t take long for the player to be lost in a pretty tight and initially open-ended maze full of monsters and secrets. This maze will be where the player will spend most of the time and let me tell you that it´s a damn hard time. Personally I like to play these oldies without mouselook, just old-school keyboard but I don´t think that mouselooking is gonna make this map much easier: gameplay revolves around close quarter battles, ambushes that will have you completely surrounded and figuring out a way to get through the whole maze and access new areas. Sometimes it´s all about luck to guess it, but sometimes requires a little brain or observation. Anyway, most of the time you´ll be exploring the layout and fighting, but the puzzling moments can take their time. And, about time, we said it can take about 30 minutes but there´s a problem with the planning of the map (you can skip picking up the two last keys and scape directly with the first using a jump trick) that can make it shorter than it should be. Still, the map is extraordinarily hard even skipping most of the meat.
So, what´s exactly the value of this map then?. Well, ultimately the map can be fun for those who enjoy this kind of gameplay but its difficulty can really discourage a lot of players: I think this map could be bearable with some quicksaving action but if you really want to put yourself to the test play with no saves or just two of them. Of course, this does not add a real replayability value and after running through the whole map I don´t think that I want to do it again just to check if I missed any of the many secrets or something... The only real replayability value I can think of is to play the whole wad again if you (accidentally) did the jumping trick and missed half of the map, as it happened to me.
About this little problem, I think that it´s a pretty amusing bug as you could actually think that the map is meant to end that way as the layout is, at least, strange. Unless you recall having seen other coloured doors around you could finish it and miss more than half of the map but keep in mind that almost every place in the layout has a purpose in this map. I was particularly pleased with that aspect of the odd layout (I think I found a lot of secrets and hidden places) and I´m sure that you could too but, at the same time, this feature is decieving when you are stuck: you could search and search for ages trying to figure out what to do next only to find that the answer is not in any of those unlocked secrets but in a place accessible right from the start. And this is only half of the difficulty. Let me remind you that most places in this maze are pretty narrow with almost no cover so you´ll soon learn how valuable armor can be when confronted with all those monsters (imps, zombies, demons, barons, cacodemons, some arch-vile... There´s a lot of variety to choose from in there). Also, take into consideration that weapons are given at a very slow pace (I don´t think I got the rocket launcher except for finding a secret) and ammunition is really scarce. Health is used more often in the map, usually inside any of the places where monsters are waiting for you, but it´s never enough to fully regain your health considering the amount of punishment you will be taking in this map.
Oh, also, it doesn´t help that the map has pretty dark spots where monsters will be lurking (or that a large part of the map becomes dark when you perform a certain action) but, speaking about light, there´s not a lot of nice lighting effects in here. In fact, I remember seeing only one of them while the rest of the places where almost randomly set. This really makes a good couple with the visuals of the map: starts out looking good but takes little to notice a lot of areas that are just ugly with little texture coherence... Anyway, I don´t think it´s really important to talk about this aspects as, in a sense, it does look like the later Doom2 maps and we all know how these look like.
One last consideration before boiling the whole wad together: the text file states that it´s playable in both Coop and DM but I think I have to argue with that. O.k, maybe the starting points are there but in no way this map is playable on Cooperative (it would load and stuff, but could get really boring) due to the narrowness of its layout. Also, yeah, if you like to play DM in large maps with little connectivity and stuff like that you could enjoy this map but, do you really like to play like that?.
So, I think I just said everything I had to say about this map and I´ve reconsidered my initial score. I thought of a nice enough score so it wouldn´t seem that this map was saved by the bell but after reconsidering my own tastes and what are the good and bad aspects of this wad I don´t think I´m giving it more than a 5. I´m sure that other people would rate this map with less than a half of my rating but I also have to be honest: I enjoyed this map and I think it features a lot of things that certain people can enjoy. So, well, it´s a 5 but it´s also up to you.
<a href="http://img125.imageshack.us/my.php?image=doom00003lo.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/8306/doom00003lo.th.png" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
How truthful this word is...
<a href="http://img182.imageshack.us/my.php?image=doom00014go.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/8436/doom00014go.th.png" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
Check out the health meter.