So, welcome to doom - 1994! - May 18, 1994 to be exact. A time when even doom 2 hadn't been released (I know - hard to beleive). It's not that I don't have enough reviews to do or anything but i had this itch to do something different. I was looking through some of the old maps I had already reviewed on the site and it came to me that maybe I could review something that came out before there were review sites. the journey of my thoughts led me to choosing something that was turning 20 years old! this one will be exactly 20 years old within hours of me posting this review. - i looked through a bunch and this one looked interesting! and it is! i hope you enjoy playing it as much as i did. and, it finally gets a review after all these years. Peter, wherever you may be today - good job!



Difficulty: 8



One of the "selling points" by the author was that the maps that were coming out at the time were - in his words - "too easy". he decided to rectify that. i have to admit, he accomplished his goal - this map was hard, but not ridiculously hard. hard in 1994 had a slightly different meaning than it does in 2014. i stayed away from the obvious stuff that they couldn't do in the day - crouching, jumping, all that happy stuff. the only thing i kept was strafing. you are going to meet a large assortment of the original doom badasses in this map! as you would expect, soldiers and imps are very prevalent along with caco's, Lost souls, demons, specters as well as hell knights and barons of hell in varying numbers. there was even a cyberdemon as you neared the end in your search for the red key which eventually brought you to the exit. In all honesty, i'm not a tremendously gifted player, so, while sections of this map did present me with some problems, it wasn't all that difficult in retrospect. most of the badasses were easily taken care of with the weapons at hand and there was a fair amount of ammo, health, etc... to keep me going. i was caught out several times, however and while the cyberdemon appeared to be a real issue at first, i quickly discovered that i could handle the big boy. regardless... this was a very enjoyable map to play and considerably more difficult that many of the maps that id software released in the original game and certainly probably more difficult than the majority of what was available at the time.



Design: 7



I remember buying a cd absolutely packed with maps - dzone! I believe it was called and I also recall t hat most of the maps in that cd were absolute garbage (which is why i got involved with mapping in the first place - but that's a story for a different day. this map proves that there absolutely were quality maps being produced only months after the initial release of doom. there are tons of tricks and traps to keep you on your toes. specters are always fun in dark places - not! and the author really put the time in which you will quickly realize as you make your way around the map. it is somewhat linear but far surpasses much of what has come out over the last 20 years in design and is absolutely a joy to frag some ass in!



Playability: 8



this map brings back the old joy of banging around in a map that you just simply enjoy playing. i absolutely enjoyed this map. it was well crafted with editors that most people today wouldn't have a clue how to use. i could also see this map being used for a speed run. once you know your way around, it should be a quick lock and load - even on uv.



Overall (Not An Average): 8



well designed, just enough difficulty to keep it interesting and that old doom feel. i don't think you could ask for much more, and , oh, it's a fairly large and spacious map so you're not going to feel cramped (something i've been known to do in a few of my maps). :-)