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WAD Review - Winter's Fury
11 years ago
General
It's almost mid-February now and it's beginning to get darn chilly! We're really starting to feel the full force of...
Winter's Fury (click to download)
Click here for screenshots
INFO: 8 maps (with some divided into two parts). Requires DOOM2.WAD and GZDoom.
BUGS AND ISSUES: Using the latest January 25th, 2015 SVN build of GZDoom, the WAD kept freezing right after the next-to-last boss was defeated. You may want to use an older version of GZDoom. (Or do like I did and just be satisfied that you beat most of the WAD.) Map07B also tended to lag horribly after reloading a savegame for that map, so you may have to restart GZDoom before you load a save in that level. The WAD in general is quite graphically intensive, so those with slower computers will have a hard time playing.
RATING: 5 out of 5
Winter's Fury tasks you with fighting your way through the snowy mountains of Siberia. Gameplay is action-focused (but not slaughtery) with linear levels that only have occasional detours or backtracking, and almost no puzzles. (Only Map07 is more open.) The action is even more slick and quick than Doom normally is thanks to a revamped weapon set which speeds up the firing rate of almost all the classic weapons and feels very good. I heard a few complaints about the WAD being stingy with ammo, but I never had a significant issue with it on the standard Hypothermia skill. Just try not to miss too often. Short controlled bursts and all that. ;)
New enemies are here, though they're not much different from the standard Doom bestiary aside from having a chillier complexion. Their ice-ball attacks usually can't hurt other ice demons though, so this makes large squads of them more dangerous than their hot-blooded, infighting cousins. There's also several new bosses as well, but they're all pretty much what you expect: oversized ammo sponges that shoot tons of stuff at you with occasional enemy waves as backup. These fights aren't particularly hard, and are generally more a matter of endurance as you slowly whittle away their health bars. The change of pace from the typical corridor crawls is nice, but shorter battles against more dangerous bosses with patterns that you have to learn would've been more exciting than these overlong spamfest fights.
Invisible walls in the maps are another issue, not only damaging the immersion but also being inconsistent: sometimes an area in the background is just filler and you'll be blocked, and sometimes it's actually a secret area and you can go in.
So what really sells Winter's Fury? It's gotta be the presentation. Yes, the soundtrack is mostly generic techno/rock that, while catchy and energetic, does little to emphasize the icy ambiance (and is near-deafening in Map4A). Yes, the story told through in-engine cutscenes and text dialogue has flat characterization and isn't very interesting (though it does help bind the levels into a more cohesive whole). It's the level design, occasionally bordering on sheer gorgeousness, that pulls you in. The lighting is striking, generally relying on brilliant blue torches or other strong spotlights to punch through the foggy gloom, as white flakes flutter slowly from the sky and tremendous snowy vistas spread out before you. Frosted-over waterways cracking through cave systems mingle with the cold gray steel and steaming vents of UAC complexes. So...okay, maybe it gets a little too carried away with the gray, but it's still lovely to behold and highly immersive. And though it's a small thing you'll likely hardly notice, the WAD makes good use of sound reverb to emphasize the depth and chilliness of the environments.
Okay, so it's not a perfect WAD, but I had too much fun playing it to really care -- I liked it enough to replay it again immediately on a higher skill. That's gotta mean something. So I'm awarding it the perfect score anyway. Then again, I like snow a lot, so I might be biased. XD
Bonus Vicky Points! - The ice demons bleed ice blood, so seeing these demons leaving behind big grey-white splatters all over the walls is like a dream come true for me. Also, the story heavily revolves around stuff called Hellfire Fuel, which is some sort of energy harvested from demons. So yeah, it's a story about muscular hellbeasts being captured, exploited and thoroughly milked. Definitely gotta give high scores for a concept like that. ;)
~
victoriaviper
Winter's Fury (click to download)
Click here for screenshots
INFO: 8 maps (with some divided into two parts). Requires DOOM2.WAD and GZDoom.
BUGS AND ISSUES: Using the latest January 25th, 2015 SVN build of GZDoom, the WAD kept freezing right after the next-to-last boss was defeated. You may want to use an older version of GZDoom. (Or do like I did and just be satisfied that you beat most of the WAD.) Map07B also tended to lag horribly after reloading a savegame for that map, so you may have to restart GZDoom before you load a save in that level. The WAD in general is quite graphically intensive, so those with slower computers will have a hard time playing.
RATING: 5 out of 5
Winter's Fury tasks you with fighting your way through the snowy mountains of Siberia. Gameplay is action-focused (but not slaughtery) with linear levels that only have occasional detours or backtracking, and almost no puzzles. (Only Map07 is more open.) The action is even more slick and quick than Doom normally is thanks to a revamped weapon set which speeds up the firing rate of almost all the classic weapons and feels very good. I heard a few complaints about the WAD being stingy with ammo, but I never had a significant issue with it on the standard Hypothermia skill. Just try not to miss too often. Short controlled bursts and all that. ;)
New enemies are here, though they're not much different from the standard Doom bestiary aside from having a chillier complexion. Their ice-ball attacks usually can't hurt other ice demons though, so this makes large squads of them more dangerous than their hot-blooded, infighting cousins. There's also several new bosses as well, but they're all pretty much what you expect: oversized ammo sponges that shoot tons of stuff at you with occasional enemy waves as backup. These fights aren't particularly hard, and are generally more a matter of endurance as you slowly whittle away their health bars. The change of pace from the typical corridor crawls is nice, but shorter battles against more dangerous bosses with patterns that you have to learn would've been more exciting than these overlong spamfest fights.
Invisible walls in the maps are another issue, not only damaging the immersion but also being inconsistent: sometimes an area in the background is just filler and you'll be blocked, and sometimes it's actually a secret area and you can go in.
So what really sells Winter's Fury? It's gotta be the presentation. Yes, the soundtrack is mostly generic techno/rock that, while catchy and energetic, does little to emphasize the icy ambiance (and is near-deafening in Map4A). Yes, the story told through in-engine cutscenes and text dialogue has flat characterization and isn't very interesting (though it does help bind the levels into a more cohesive whole). It's the level design, occasionally bordering on sheer gorgeousness, that pulls you in. The lighting is striking, generally relying on brilliant blue torches or other strong spotlights to punch through the foggy gloom, as white flakes flutter slowly from the sky and tremendous snowy vistas spread out before you. Frosted-over waterways cracking through cave systems mingle with the cold gray steel and steaming vents of UAC complexes. So...okay, maybe it gets a little too carried away with the gray, but it's still lovely to behold and highly immersive. And though it's a small thing you'll likely hardly notice, the WAD makes good use of sound reverb to emphasize the depth and chilliness of the environments.
Okay, so it's not a perfect WAD, but I had too much fun playing it to really care -- I liked it enough to replay it again immediately on a higher skill. That's gotta mean something. So I'm awarding it the perfect score anyway. Then again, I like snow a lot, so I might be biased. XD
Bonus Vicky Points! - The ice demons bleed ice blood, so seeing these demons leaving behind big grey-white splatters all over the walls is like a dream come true for me. Also, the story heavily revolves around stuff called Hellfire Fuel, which is some sort of energy harvested from demons. So yeah, it's a story about muscular hellbeasts being captured, exploited and thoroughly milked. Definitely gotta give high scores for a concept like that. ;)
~
victoriaviper
Still, it's a very fun WAD despite those issues, and both of those problems occur near the end of the WAD.