FATAL
July 25th, 2007, 11:18 AM
Map name: Demons of Problematique
Map author: Exl
Download: ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/pc/games/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/d-f/dop.zip
Required port: ZDoom
File-size: 10389 KB
Play modes: Singleplayer
Release date: 16th july 2007
Maps: 5
Reviewed by: Fatal
Source port used: GZDoom
Score: 6,5
Demons of Problematique grips the player right at the beginning. You see fellow marines fighting against Barons outside, and the base area the player is in is very dark and atmospheric. Before you even realise, you find yourself in hell thats an even gloomier than the star base you were in just a while ago. It is clear that one hell of a ride is waiting.
The first moments of the wad are very tense and I was on the edge of my chair at all times. You never know what youre going to meet in the dark hellish corridors. In fact, the difficulty first doesnt come from big and powerful monsters, but from the realisation that its hard to see the smaller ones. If you dislike spectres in dark places, you may not enjoy this, but it was done properly, and therefore I found it most enjoyable. In the likely case that my description was a bit too vague, you should think about how Doom 3s hell level looked like. This is pretty much that. Very fancy.
The levels contain many secret areas, of which none are vital for progress, and of which many are more like easter eggs, merely showing some random stuff. The maps include a lot of backtracking and some optional areas, so the careless player may have to wander a bit in order to find the next place to go to. However, usually a quick glance at the map helps find the way. The design consists mostly of the usual button opening a door somewhere which leads to another button that opens yet another door etc. Nothing tremendous there.
As you get further in the wad, the fun difficulty that the start has starts to shift towards the unfortunately quite common trend of modern wads; unfair traps that teleport dozens of monsters around the player. While it is an easy way to raise the difficulty, in my opinion it is a wrong one. One or two times per wad is OK, but further than that it becomes more of an annoyance than thrilling challenge, forcing the player to save after every corner in fear of yet another trap. While Demons of Problematique didnt use such traps downright excessively, they were frequent enough to get me peeved. This also raised the difficulty of the wad by a lot, and I can already state at this point that this wad is mostly aimed at skilled players. There arent any difficulty levels, so you cant adjust the wad to play on your skill level.
There is enough firepower in the wad, and you dont have to be a tremendous shot in order to have ammo to kill all the bad guys. Also health packs are spread quite evenly around the map, although it feels a bit weird finding stim packs and such right after a supercharge or a megasphere. Armor bonuses are a bit more scarce, and I got the feeling that they were concentrated in the maps to certain places, so that you could go through half a map with little to no armor, and then find two armor powerups right one after another. However, this could be some weird illusion of mine, or I went through the maps in a special or unexpected way.
What I liked in this map was that there were many places you could explore, that were pretty much optional. At one point it was possible skip over half the map using a secret passage, but of course missing some much needed weaponry while at it. At one point I managed to break an event by approaching it from the opposite way than the intended route was. This was nothing major, but rather caused a somewhat funny event, where a fellow marine tried to kill me with no weapons.
The maps are quite gorgeous, and for the detail fiend there are many neat places to look at. Its not overdone, and doesnt distract from the actual map at all. Some zdoom effects were also used, which indeed do add up. Instead of the usual mid version of the authors favourite song, only ambient sounds are present in the wad. This works very well, and adds depth to the atmosphere at certain points.
The wad pretty much ends two large boss battles, which were pretty fun and challenging. The latter one may be annoying if you dont figure out what to do and how, but surely if the player has made it that far in this difficult wad, it shouldnt be a great problem to clear.
All in all, this wad works pretty well. It has its flaws, mostly with the annoying traps that the player frequently has to step into, but it left me with a pretty good aftertaste, as its a rather good all around performer.
Good:
-Very good atmosphere
-Intro and outro
Problematique:
-Cheap monster traps
http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/4159/dop1xn0.th.jpg (http://img160.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dop1xn0.jpg)
Luckily my comrades here helped me to clear this mess.
http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/8219/dop2ez3.th.jpg (http://img444.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dop2ez3.jpg)
Now heres a coward! Even though I cleared the area for him, he refuses to join me! What a cod!
http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/4702/dop3tr8.th.jpg (http://img444.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dop3tr8.jpg)
Oh my god! Kill it now!
Map author: Exl
Download: ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/pc/games/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/d-f/dop.zip
Required port: ZDoom
File-size: 10389 KB
Play modes: Singleplayer
Release date: 16th july 2007
Maps: 5
Reviewed by: Fatal
Source port used: GZDoom
Score: 6,5
Demons of Problematique grips the player right at the beginning. You see fellow marines fighting against Barons outside, and the base area the player is in is very dark and atmospheric. Before you even realise, you find yourself in hell thats an even gloomier than the star base you were in just a while ago. It is clear that one hell of a ride is waiting.
The first moments of the wad are very tense and I was on the edge of my chair at all times. You never know what youre going to meet in the dark hellish corridors. In fact, the difficulty first doesnt come from big and powerful monsters, but from the realisation that its hard to see the smaller ones. If you dislike spectres in dark places, you may not enjoy this, but it was done properly, and therefore I found it most enjoyable. In the likely case that my description was a bit too vague, you should think about how Doom 3s hell level looked like. This is pretty much that. Very fancy.
The levels contain many secret areas, of which none are vital for progress, and of which many are more like easter eggs, merely showing some random stuff. The maps include a lot of backtracking and some optional areas, so the careless player may have to wander a bit in order to find the next place to go to. However, usually a quick glance at the map helps find the way. The design consists mostly of the usual button opening a door somewhere which leads to another button that opens yet another door etc. Nothing tremendous there.
As you get further in the wad, the fun difficulty that the start has starts to shift towards the unfortunately quite common trend of modern wads; unfair traps that teleport dozens of monsters around the player. While it is an easy way to raise the difficulty, in my opinion it is a wrong one. One or two times per wad is OK, but further than that it becomes more of an annoyance than thrilling challenge, forcing the player to save after every corner in fear of yet another trap. While Demons of Problematique didnt use such traps downright excessively, they were frequent enough to get me peeved. This also raised the difficulty of the wad by a lot, and I can already state at this point that this wad is mostly aimed at skilled players. There arent any difficulty levels, so you cant adjust the wad to play on your skill level.
There is enough firepower in the wad, and you dont have to be a tremendous shot in order to have ammo to kill all the bad guys. Also health packs are spread quite evenly around the map, although it feels a bit weird finding stim packs and such right after a supercharge or a megasphere. Armor bonuses are a bit more scarce, and I got the feeling that they were concentrated in the maps to certain places, so that you could go through half a map with little to no armor, and then find two armor powerups right one after another. However, this could be some weird illusion of mine, or I went through the maps in a special or unexpected way.
What I liked in this map was that there were many places you could explore, that were pretty much optional. At one point it was possible skip over half the map using a secret passage, but of course missing some much needed weaponry while at it. At one point I managed to break an event by approaching it from the opposite way than the intended route was. This was nothing major, but rather caused a somewhat funny event, where a fellow marine tried to kill me with no weapons.
The maps are quite gorgeous, and for the detail fiend there are many neat places to look at. Its not overdone, and doesnt distract from the actual map at all. Some zdoom effects were also used, which indeed do add up. Instead of the usual mid version of the authors favourite song, only ambient sounds are present in the wad. This works very well, and adds depth to the atmosphere at certain points.
The wad pretty much ends two large boss battles, which were pretty fun and challenging. The latter one may be annoying if you dont figure out what to do and how, but surely if the player has made it that far in this difficult wad, it shouldnt be a great problem to clear.
All in all, this wad works pretty well. It has its flaws, mostly with the annoying traps that the player frequently has to step into, but it left me with a pretty good aftertaste, as its a rather good all around performer.
Good:
-Very good atmosphere
-Intro and outro
Problematique:
-Cheap monster traps
http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/4159/dop1xn0.th.jpg (http://img160.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dop1xn0.jpg)
Luckily my comrades here helped me to clear this mess.
http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/8219/dop2ez3.th.jpg (http://img444.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dop2ez3.jpg)
Now heres a coward! Even though I cleared the area for him, he refuses to join me! What a cod!
http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/4702/dop3tr8.th.jpg (http://img444.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dop3tr8.jpg)
Oh my god! Kill it now!