![]() AshtralFiend's debut on the Doom scene is at once inventive and pure, expertly treading the line between the surreal and the realistic while never shying away from offering an unadulterated, fun experience. Head Trauma thrusts the player deep into a world of computers gone astray, mechanical aberrations, unnerving architecture and, last but not least, the prettiest Doomcute this side of Phobos. Every map may not jive with every player - even more so than most community projects, I think, due to the extreme and / or experimental nature of many entries – but I’d be surprised if every player didn’t find at least one new favourite amongst the set’s wide array of offerings. Like all community projects, the quality of individual entries may vary, but no map drags down the experience as a whole, and the coexistence of magnum opuses, humbler outings and everything in between is ultimately to the set’s benefit. UDiNO is a massive achievement, easily one of the most ambitious and impressive of all Ultimate Doom wads, comparable even to No End In Sight in its scope and ingenuity. Erebus” and “Dis” SteveD’s classy, refined and effortlessly enjoyable romps through techbases and hellscapes alike tourniquet’s ingenious and unpredictable unfolding death maze, reminiscent in its geometry and encounter design of the later Mutabor Scotty’s visually sumptuous and masterfully constructed slaughterlite reimagining of “Tower of Babel” Mouldy’s guileful, subversive and frenetic take on the grungy E2 techbase aesthetic Benjogami’s immersive and suitably morose interpretation of “Slough of Despair” ProcessingControl’s appropriately iconic and telling reimagining of ”Hangar”, which elegantly sets the tone for the rest of the experience and many more besides, from a number of talented mappers, which you will have to discover on your own. ![]() Some of the most notable experiences include: Nine Inch Heels’ brilliant and brutally uncompromising combat puzzles and platforming challenges in “Mt. The efforts of these two legendary mappers together form the set’s foundation, upon which the myriad contributions of the project’s other participants rest. Cannonball’s influence is also readily felt, stemming both from his role as project lead and his personal contributions – which form something of a half-length lost episode of Return to Hadron, a rougher but markedly more experimental collection than one might find elsewhere in his body of work. ![]() None of these have left a greater mark on the set as a whole than the inimitable dobu gabu maru, co-project lead, whose numerous solo contributions represent a treasure trove of unique experiences – ranging from pure puzzlers to vast subterranean adventures to the wad’s jaw droppingly grandiose finale – and whose editorial influence permeates the set, unifying and enhancing the experience without in any way homogenising it. The result is a veritable kaleidoscope of interpretations from a wide range of authors who each bring their unique styles and interests to the fore, all clad in the familiar skin of the game that started it all.Īs with all the best community projects, UDiNO’s greatest strength is its lineup of participants, counting among their number some of the waddom’s finest mappers. The brief here is simple and intuitive: take the name of one of the original levels, and build upon it anything that one can imagine, within the bounds of Ultimate Doom’s assets and the limit-removing standard of course. ![]() This tension lies at the heart of most such projects, and I’d be hard-pressed to find a more successful attempt at overcoming it than Ultimate Doom in Name Only. ![]() The soul of a good community project is a clear high concept which both maintains a strong sense of coherence between entries and allows for all participants to express their personal styles, two goals which can very easily come into conflict. ![]()
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