Well, this is a level set with some rather nice level design, but unfortunately too many �I don�t know what to do moments� drag it down. Let�s do the preliminaries, then I�ll go through the levels.
First off, there�s no music. This is supposedly for atmosphere�s sake�but with visuals like the original Doom�s, I honestly have to wonder how much atmosphere you can get. In my opinion, the answer is not much. Things just seem quiet for the most part, except for a few levels towards the end where there was some constant humming in the background. In those I felt some atmosphere. Not only that, the lack o� music is run with some command line option, so there�s not even any intermission music or a kick ass theme when you beat it. Not cool, in my opinion.
Your ammo capacity is cut down by about a third. This isn�t too much of a problem, but you�ll probably want to chainsaw Demons and Lost Souls, especially in the beginning. The Lost Souls have been made tougher, and there�s new green skinned Demons. They�re tougher and faster. As long as they don�t bite through your chainsaw (as we all know certain Demons tend to do sometimes for unknown reason) you�ll be fine. If not, prepare to lose a lot of ammo to them. They�re also quite annoying when placed with other monsters. Overall action is good, and pretty tough in some spots. When stealth monsters are added in it actually helps the gameplay a lot.
The levels all have good detail, and have pretty realistic level design; if it�s supposed to be toxin refinery, it looks and feels like a toxin refinery. Very good design on the levels, A+. Unfortunately the levels suffer from some serious �I have no idea what the fuck I�m supposed to do now� syndrome that definitely detracts from the fun factor. I kid you not when I say this set took me at least 12 hours to complete, due to all the moments where I didn�t know what to do. Of course, I suck at these types of levels, so maybe you�ll fare better. The levels are all nonlinear, which is pretty nice . . . usually. Unfortunately in a lot of cases it means you end up making tracks all over the level looking for that thing you missed. Add the no music and you can get stuck with some serious boredom. A lot of 3-D bridges are used, which is pretty cool, and sometimes used for room-over-room effects . . . sweet. There�s one area in E4M6 that will have you saying, �Dude.� Just like that. That level also has some really neat spiral staircases. A lot of colored lighting and fog effects are used, which for the most part look only okay, because of Doom�s limited palate. They look a lot better in ZDoomGL, so use that if it�ll work right for you. (Fog is screwed over for me.)
Most of the weapon sounds are replaced; I�m not particularly of most of them, except for the BFG sound, and the fist hitting. It�s maybe a bit cartoony but it makes Beserker fests that much more fun. That�s about it for the overview; if you don�t want any spoilers skip down to the rating. Everyone else come with me . . .
E4M1 has you starting out in a canyon. There�s an annoying wind blowing, and it seems like autorun was turned off by default or something, which makes it really hard to fight the wind. The canyon itself is pretty bland, and you only have your pistol . . . meh. There�s also a ledge to an important item that lowers only after you do something totally insignificant. This caused me a great deal of confusion. Afterwards you go through some water tunnels (flashbacks of Turok) and because the Doomguy can hold his breath for only like freakin� 20 seconds you�ll probably come out of it with rather low health . . . unacceptable in my opinion. Afterwards you end up in a small base area where you can finally snag some heavier weaponry. There�s a red keycard on top of a crate. After about twenty minutes I decided to just noclip up to it. Not a good way to start off.
E4M2 consists of some tunnels in the monorail system . . . or train, whichever it is. So you end up running around in tunnels and in the track areas. There�s also a fair amount of backtracking. While I don�t remember anything inherently wrong, the environ itself just isn�t that fun, in my opinion. I totally did not find the secret exit, by the way.
E4M9 is very cool. I won�t ruin it, but suffice to say it�s different from the rest, has some neat puzzles, and should be played! Also it�ll help you out a lot if you find it.
E4M3 takes place near a wharf and a bunch of warehouses. You start off with a timer: 10 minutes to do the whole damn thing (which is jam-packed with monsters by the way) or a security team gets dropped in . . . about a dozen Barons. Bullshit. Fortunately you grab the plasma rifle in this level. Overall pretty good, but there are some confusing moments for sure. There�s one dark area with no power. At first you won�t be allowed to go in. In another area you grab a power source for a totally unrelated reason. Then after that I guess you�re supposed to figure out that *now* you can go in. This had me stuck for quite the while.
E4M4 is Phobos Island. To be 100% frank I don�t remember much aside from the fact that I didn�t like it too much. Pretty generic, and I believe I ended up doing some big backtracking.
E4M5 is an ooze refinery. Lives up to the part with some fitting and cool level design. It�s also generally pretty clear what do. Unfortunately there was one switch I missed which had me tied up for a loooonnngggg time. Pretty good overall though.
E4M6. I must say I *love* this level. The whole thing is worth downloading alone just for this one level. It�s supposed to be a communications relay but it�s basically just a really kick-ass base level. Level design is awesome, makes sense (all the stuff you�d expect in a base), it looks cool, has some neat architecture . . . ah I love it. The Blue Zone especially is really cool.
E4M7 is the geothermal plant. Lots of REDROCK and lava. Looks good, and plays well, no confusing moments except for one part. You�re supposed to get some explosives, and line that reads something to the effect of �Ground caches unlocked� shows up. From this you�re supposed to figure out that on a bunch of raised columns in the main area dynamite just popped up. And you have to collect like 15 pieces. Not cool.
E4M8 starts off with a pretty nice rising lava thing, then turns into another cool base level. Unfortunately a timer starts soon. Thankfully it�s not too constricting. As long as you don�t take your time you�ll be fine. In the labs you�re told to destroy all the equipment. I was really sure what it meant, but it turns out I was right. In LtSD, you can smash any computery thing and break it, if you feel so inclined. What you have to do is go through and smash every single one of them. Don�t miss not a one now! Since you can always smash computers, making such a commonplace event an objective rather confused me. On the plus side the labs are cool.
So what do we got here? Basically a set of for the most part rather cool levels hampered by some moments where you won�t know what to do. If you think you can stand some boredom go for it. But without a doubt play levels 6-9. 3.5/5
Fiffy Remix (1fifrmx.wad) Steve Robinson (aka stphrz) December 29, 2000 Limit-removing port
This is a pretty good WAD. It�s supposed to be a remix of a Fiffy level, but I�m happy to say I haven�t played the original. It�s E2 style, base with hellish influence, and it sticks to the theme. Gameplay is good, though there�s sadly not enough ammo to kill everything (at least, without secrets, �cause I sure didn�t find any J). The design is somewhat nonlinear, like Spawning Vats (E2M7). The level itself is somewhat small. Overall, a fun WAD that should be checked out. 4/5
REoL TOUGH: Chambers of Death (1fifwar4.wad) REoL (George Fiffy) October 29, 1994
I�m not quite sure what the deal is with this file. The text file online is different than the one in the ZIP, and the ZIP files are dated to �94 . . . obviously before source ports were around. Whatever. It�s the usual Fiffy bullshit�lots of Barons, scattered ammo and powerups, rooms full of enemies . . . 1/5