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Welcome
to the Wolfenstein
3-D Dome reviews
section. Below you will
find reviews of add-ons
released at the
Wolfenstein 3D Dome.
These reviews are done
by Jack Ryerson. The
views in the add-on
reviews are his only,
and not endorsed by the
Wolfenstein 3D Dome
Management. As such, if
you have any problems
with the reviews on this
site, please contact
Jack Ryerson.
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Review
#1: "Countdown to
Disaster" by Gary
Ragland
Version: 1.0
Reviewer: Jack
Ryerson
Released: April
23, 2002
Reviewed: June 8,
2002
Foreword:
"Countdown to Disaster"
was, for about two
years, an ongoing
mystery to the
Wolfenstein community.
Gary Ragland (the
creator), after posting
info about it being the
final of his Wolf add-on
trilogy (preceded by the
excellent Schabbs 2000
and Assasinate Hitler),
dissapeared from the
community. His site was
never updated and
nothing was heard from
him for almost two years
until he reapeared with
"Episode 4" earlier.
Now, he's taken together
some of the levels from
the old "Countdown to
Disaster" set (along
with some new ones) in a
slightly scaled-down
effort.
Storyline: The
storyline is pretty much
the same as Episode 6 of
Wolfenstein - You have
to assasine General
Fettgesicht in a final
showdown to prevent
something truly, well,
disasterous from
happening! The original
story was a little more
detailed and ambitious,
but Gary scaled it down,
also.
Levels: I'm happy
to say that these levels
are in fact better than
Schabbs 2000 in my own
opinion. The addition of
two more keys (four
total) in pretty much
every level has added to
the depth and complexity
of the maps. And if you
look at those suckers in
a mapeditor (which Gary
so nicely supplies the
data for), you'll see
that almost every one
takes up the whole 64x64
space. This is a nice
change from Schabbs 2000
considerably more
cramped levels. There's
no coding changes
besides the absolute
minimum required (new
music order and ceiling
colors), and there are
only sixteen levels,
which might turn some
players off, but it'll
be their fault for
overlooking such a
masterpiece.
Level Design: As
I said, most of the
levels are long and
complex castle runs that
still manage to stay
varied and fun along the
way. All the technical
stuff is there to: Tom
Hall and John Romero
would be proud. And
although it doesn't have
the same epic and puzzly
feel Schabbs 2000
inspired, it's still as
much Wolfenstein as you
can get.
Sound: Good new
music order (as always),
but otherwise nothing is
new.
Graphics: There
are some effectively
used from Spear along
with the his precious
checkerboard texture
from Schabbs 2000. It's
nothing extreme, but
they all add to the
visual splendor and
atmosphere.
Unfortunetely, there are
no new menu graphics or
things like that, which
people are starting to
expect in every
add-on.
Pros: Awesome
level design.
Cons: Extreme
lack of changes and new
material.
Overall: This
add-on is simply the
epitome of Wolfenstein
minimalism. It proves
that there still is some
room to make just levels
in this community. So
don't overlook the lack
of changes and download
it now! You'll hopefully
be glad you did....
cdown1 caption:
hmm...that's a strangely
pretty view....
cdown2 caption:
you gotta love the
progression in these
levels...
cdown3 caption:
the final showdown - get
ready to dodge some
rockets...
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Review #4:
MPIXSOD by
Maarten
Pinxten
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Version:
1.0
Reviewer: Jack
Ryerson
Released: June
22, 2002
Reviewed: July
20, 2002
Foreword: I
thought I'd pick one of
the recently released
"add-ons" on this site
to review. This is one
that came out of nowhere
to suprise and captivate
me. I'll give you what I
like about it and what I
don't like about it, if
you'd just look down to
the rest of the review
and quit reading this
crappy intro. Thank
you.
Storyline: As far
as I know, this follows
the original Spear. It's
just new levels, after
all!
Levels: The
levels are in the style
of the original Spear of
Destiny (aka mazy), and
also has the same
progression as Spear
has. This seems to have
the same theory as
Conflict in the
Fatherland, wherein you
take the same plot and
levels and expand upon
them. And unlike so many
other sets, it does it
very very nicely. One
strange thing, though,
is that the original
version of this add-on
(from '98) has the many
of the same levels as
this. To avoid any
extreme confusion, this
one does have all 21
levels changed, and
although the '98 version
does have some different
levels, this is the
better one.
Level Design: The
level design is good
(the king of original
topic sentences). When I
started playing it, I
wasn't sure about the
quality, since the first
level is merely okay.
But it gets better and
better, taking that mazy
quality of the original
Spear, and making it
just as fun and maybe
even more playable. As
in a set like this, the
levels correspond to the
originals, but not too
much as to be
annoying.
Sound: No new
sounds...unless the
sound of old is new to
you. I dunno...it might
be....
Graphics: I gotta
give big props to id
software for delivering
these graphics about ten
years ago (that's
another way of saying
"There are no new
graphics").
Pros: Great,
expansive level
design.
Cons: Some levels
are the same as in older
versions.
Overall: If
you're a Spear fan
looking for a Conflict
in the Fatherland for
Spear, you've found the
one :)
mpix1 caption:
One of the more
memorable and Gary
Ragland-esque areas in
the game.
mpix2 caption:
Seem familiar? It
should...
mpix3 caption:
The Ubermutant seems
a bit like episode
2...
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