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WAD Reviews - Rebirth & Da Will
10 years ago
General
Hello, furry Doom fans! 
victoriaviper here again with a few more WAD reviews that I actually finished a really long time ago and forgot to post until now. XD
The Rebirth (click to download)
Click here for screenshots
INFO: 32 maps. Requires DOOM2.WAD. Limit-removing source port recommended.
RATING: 4 out of 5
The early maps lack zest, not being complex enough, difficult enough or attractive enough to leave much of an impression, aside from perhaps worrying you that you might be playing something manufactured using an automatic level generator. One level is even called "Ugly Halls," seemingly poking fun at its less than glamorous visual style.
However, if you can push through these mediocre opening techbase maps, things start warming up around Map13. The levels start expanding in scope and take on a more urban flair, which inherently looks better and gives the levels a bit more depth as you fight from building to building. Then in the final "episode," the designer seems to take cues from Doom 64's more gothic depiction of Hell, with lots of castles and dungeons and carved stone structures, and since Doom 64 looked really cool, this is not something I'll complain about.
The combat itself in the latter half of the WAD is also pleasantly tight and well-staged. "Plutonia for Beginners" is the best way I can describe it: it has those carefully-arranged ambushes that surprise and overwhelm you with good monster placement and impeding architecture rather than sheer quantity, but it's balanced far more fairly than Plutonia, meaning you have a good chance of finding enough supplies to readily handle the next set of bad guys leaping out at you.
It's due to this balance that I eagerly came back for more with this WAD. Once it hit its stride, the difficulty and level length were just right. Of course, this balance also keeps it from excelling at anything in particular: it won't leave you dripping with sweat from a series of battles you barely survived, trembling with fear from the immersively creepy locales, or exhilarating you with epic adventures through winding labyrinths. But it does have a lot of fun battles that keep you on your toes and your finger firmly on the trigger.
Da Will (click to download)
Click here for screenshots
INFO: 10 maps. Requires PLUTONIA.WAD and a limit-removing source port. (PrBoom-Plus at complevel 9 recommended.)
RATING: 4 out of 5
If there's one great thing about Da Will, it's the variety. Virtually all of the maps have a distinct tone, both visually and how they play, which keeps things interesting. I preferred the more exploration-focused maps, like Map06: Dungeon, which lets you investigate the winding passageways of a large underground labyrinth in a nonlinear order, and Map08: Fallen City, which recalled Doom 2's city levels in how you have to go from building to building looking for clues. Map09: Warped teases your brain with a rapid-fire series of puzzles. And perhaps most unique was Map05: Everdark, which is almost entirely shrouded in darkness and creates some exciting tension when it gives you light-amp goggles and presents you with a task you've got to complete before their batteries run out.
This variety does a fine job of making you feel like you're on a genuine adventure instead of just blasting through a series of random maps, but some dud levels (Maps 02, 04 & 07 in particular), lukewarm challenge with easy fights that often keep you well out of harm's way (aside from the first two maps, which are unusually difficult), and an underwhelming utilization of limit-removing architecture (only Map 08 and especially 10 really push the boundaries beyond vanilla capabilities. You can see them in the bottom two screenshots) keep it from truly shining. Other minor quibbles are how some of the music fades out before looping, which is a little annoying, and several maps don't allow backtracking, which always makes me mad. "Wanna go back and get that health sphere you were saving for later? Screw you!" XD
This one's a bit hard to rate since the faults are definitely there, but I genuinely enjoy a lot of the level design concepts and the constantly changing gameplay themes. With tighter difficulty and some more visual interest, it would've been an outright winner, but even so, it's still totally worth trying if you're in the mood for a brief adventure that's not too tough.
Also, the Map06 song is so good. I wonder what it's from. XD
victoriaviper here again with a few more WAD reviews that I actually finished a really long time ago and forgot to post until now. XDThe Rebirth (click to download)
Click here for screenshots
INFO: 32 maps. Requires DOOM2.WAD. Limit-removing source port recommended.
RATING: 4 out of 5
The early maps lack zest, not being complex enough, difficult enough or attractive enough to leave much of an impression, aside from perhaps worrying you that you might be playing something manufactured using an automatic level generator. One level is even called "Ugly Halls," seemingly poking fun at its less than glamorous visual style.
However, if you can push through these mediocre opening techbase maps, things start warming up around Map13. The levels start expanding in scope and take on a more urban flair, which inherently looks better and gives the levels a bit more depth as you fight from building to building. Then in the final "episode," the designer seems to take cues from Doom 64's more gothic depiction of Hell, with lots of castles and dungeons and carved stone structures, and since Doom 64 looked really cool, this is not something I'll complain about.
The combat itself in the latter half of the WAD is also pleasantly tight and well-staged. "Plutonia for Beginners" is the best way I can describe it: it has those carefully-arranged ambushes that surprise and overwhelm you with good monster placement and impeding architecture rather than sheer quantity, but it's balanced far more fairly than Plutonia, meaning you have a good chance of finding enough supplies to readily handle the next set of bad guys leaping out at you.
It's due to this balance that I eagerly came back for more with this WAD. Once it hit its stride, the difficulty and level length were just right. Of course, this balance also keeps it from excelling at anything in particular: it won't leave you dripping with sweat from a series of battles you barely survived, trembling with fear from the immersively creepy locales, or exhilarating you with epic adventures through winding labyrinths. But it does have a lot of fun battles that keep you on your toes and your finger firmly on the trigger.
Da Will (click to download)
Click here for screenshots
INFO: 10 maps. Requires PLUTONIA.WAD and a limit-removing source port. (PrBoom-Plus at complevel 9 recommended.)
RATING: 4 out of 5
If there's one great thing about Da Will, it's the variety. Virtually all of the maps have a distinct tone, both visually and how they play, which keeps things interesting. I preferred the more exploration-focused maps, like Map06: Dungeon, which lets you investigate the winding passageways of a large underground labyrinth in a nonlinear order, and Map08: Fallen City, which recalled Doom 2's city levels in how you have to go from building to building looking for clues. Map09: Warped teases your brain with a rapid-fire series of puzzles. And perhaps most unique was Map05: Everdark, which is almost entirely shrouded in darkness and creates some exciting tension when it gives you light-amp goggles and presents you with a task you've got to complete before their batteries run out.
This variety does a fine job of making you feel like you're on a genuine adventure instead of just blasting through a series of random maps, but some dud levels (Maps 02, 04 & 07 in particular), lukewarm challenge with easy fights that often keep you well out of harm's way (aside from the first two maps, which are unusually difficult), and an underwhelming utilization of limit-removing architecture (only Map 08 and especially 10 really push the boundaries beyond vanilla capabilities. You can see them in the bottom two screenshots) keep it from truly shining. Other minor quibbles are how some of the music fades out before looping, which is a little annoying, and several maps don't allow backtracking, which always makes me mad. "Wanna go back and get that health sphere you were saving for later? Screw you!" XD
This one's a bit hard to rate since the faults are definitely there, but I genuinely enjoy a lot of the level design concepts and the constantly changing gameplay themes. With tighter difficulty and some more visual interest, it would've been an outright winner, but even so, it's still totally worth trying if you're in the mood for a brief adventure that's not too tough.
Also, the Map06 song is so good. I wonder what it's from. XD
