Entryway 1.2

Joe Pallai · Doom II
Author(s)
Joe Pallai
Map(s) replaced
MAP01
Download it (54 KB)
Rating
8 out of 10

The Review

Outside the facility

Entryway is set in a sort of military installation - yet another UAC facility that was taken over by monsters.  Apparently they thought their teleportation technology wouldn't cause any more trouble, but they were wrong.

You start the level outside the facility, and soon you see that there are actually two main buildings.  The moment you enter one of them, you find yourself in a large hall, and you can see the blue key.  The key is behind some bars - and you have to do a little running around before you can get to it.  My favourite part in this WAD is definitely when you pick up this key - I won't tell you what happens, but I'll just say it's very reminiscent of a Quake level, only this time a little bit tougher.  Once you have the key, go to where the blue door is - which is the other building.  A few rooms later, you're at the exit.

This is near the end of the level

The level has many interesting touches.  The rooms and different areas are all well-done and fit nicely into the theme of the level.  The predominant texture is the light-brown one you see in the screenshots, and the level looks good.  In one particular room (the one with the green armour atop some crates) the lights actually go off when you come in - and you have a switch which turns them on again.  This is achieved through some trickery and it's something you don't see often.  The secrets here are the ones that stare at you... but the problem is you have to figure out how to get to them!

Almost at the end...

Another remarkable aspect of the level is the monster/ammo/health distribution - in different skill settings.  I played skill 1 almost effortlessly.  Plenty of health and ammo to take care of all the monsters.  But skill 4 is a different matter.  The level does not make use of the harder Doom II monsters - no Revenants, Archviles, or even Barons of Hell.  Still, since there is a very limited quantity of health and ammo, you have to be extremely careful, and make each shot count.  Some really terrific fights made the level challenging and fun.

The level is nicely built overall and uses the textures well.  Aesthetically, I felt it could have been a little better in some places (none of the doors have the "doortrak"s unpegged - but that is of course the author's choice), but you'll be too busy enjoying the level to really care about that.  A well done map that deserves space on your hard drive.

Ratings Info

I rate all movies or game add-ons on a scale of 1 to 10 points.  1 is the lowest score, 6 is barely above average, 8 is good, and 10 is excellent (this score doesn't indicate something that is perfect in every way — it just means that I enjoyed it a lot).  You'll find that I tend to give ratings of 8 and above often (that's only because I enjoy whatever I'm reviewing!).  Reviews are updated as felt necessary.  Of course, everything said in these reviews is my humble opinion only.
Review Date 7 Oct 02
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The Author
Karthik

Karthik Abhiram

27-year old Taurean (birthday 15-May-82), Assistant Manager - HR at Tata Consultancy Services Ltd in Hyderabad, India.  Previously, did Post Graduate Diploma in Management from T A Pai Management Institute (2003-05) and before that, Computer Science Engineering from Sree Nidhi Institute of Science and Technology (1999-2003).

Email: karthik82 -AT- gmail -DOT- com
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