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- May 13, 2009
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While restoring my Doom to its proper glory, I noticed I had a downloaded WAD sitting around that I hadn't played, so I gave it a go.
"Back to Saturn Part 1" is a 26 Map megawad that looks pretty neat, sporting its own unique textures to give it a neat and futuristic sci-fi appearance that dominates the wad. Demonic/gothic architecture rarely makes an appearance, but left me impressed every time it did so. And some of the maps are well thought out in design, providing a mix of enjoyable arenas with closely-packed rooms. The secrets deserve a special mention as effort was put into hiding them - some of them don't show up on the computer map at all and offer little to no evidence to their existence in the first place. The map names also deserve a special mention, sporting such titles as "The Colossus Crawls West", "Cyclone Utilities (Remember Your Birthday)" and "Big Chief Chinese Restaurant".
The plot is that Doomguy is doing recon on a Saturn outpost that's gone dark, and quickly realizes the situation is demonic in nature. A running gag of the wad involves the local transit system, a map that pops up at least three times, sporting no enemies or items whatsoever. Eventually Doomguy is ordered to head to the dark side of Saturn to a secret research outpost, but it's en route to that location that this wad ends and offers a 'To Be Continued' message, along with a sinking feeling.
Namely, that sinking feeling that there's more of this. By the time I reached the final level I was thoroughly disgusted by this wad due to how it uses the enemies - namely in the dickiest way possible. Any doorway you pass through you can bet on having two enemies right up against the wall on either side, waiting to pounce. Tons of enemies are placed on high ledges far away to snipe you, especially Chaingunners. Monster closets become obvious and predictable, but the worst crime this wad commits is regularly closing you in while teleporting in a bunch of monsters, and does so in such a way that trying to retreat anywhere will lead you smack-dab into a wall of freshly-spawned monsters. The only good news is that the wad uses Spiderdemons and Cyberdemons sparingly (save for that one map with about 6 Spiderdemons) but instead goes all-out on Arch-Viles instead. Assume that every spawn will have at least one Arch-Vile, and at one point I was fighting six of them at once.
The dickiest map of them all is MAP31, where the regular exit involves a gauntlet where the player must either kill a Cyberdemon in a matter of seconds, or sit in a narrow corridor dodging rockets while an impossibly long door slowly opens to reveal a teleporter that will telefrag the Cyberdemon. Repeat two more times with the next Cyberdemon always a little closer each time - and there are no Invulnerability Spheres on the entire map. Good luck doing this with the Brutal Doom mod.
Aesthetics aside, I have a hard time recommending this wad. There's a second part out, but I don't feel like even looking at it.
"Back to Saturn Part 1" is a 26 Map megawad that looks pretty neat, sporting its own unique textures to give it a neat and futuristic sci-fi appearance that dominates the wad. Demonic/gothic architecture rarely makes an appearance, but left me impressed every time it did so. And some of the maps are well thought out in design, providing a mix of enjoyable arenas with closely-packed rooms. The secrets deserve a special mention as effort was put into hiding them - some of them don't show up on the computer map at all and offer little to no evidence to their existence in the first place. The map names also deserve a special mention, sporting such titles as "The Colossus Crawls West", "Cyclone Utilities (Remember Your Birthday)" and "Big Chief Chinese Restaurant".
The plot is that Doomguy is doing recon on a Saturn outpost that's gone dark, and quickly realizes the situation is demonic in nature. A running gag of the wad involves the local transit system, a map that pops up at least three times, sporting no enemies or items whatsoever. Eventually Doomguy is ordered to head to the dark side of Saturn to a secret research outpost, but it's en route to that location that this wad ends and offers a 'To Be Continued' message, along with a sinking feeling.
Namely, that sinking feeling that there's more of this. By the time I reached the final level I was thoroughly disgusted by this wad due to how it uses the enemies - namely in the dickiest way possible. Any doorway you pass through you can bet on having two enemies right up against the wall on either side, waiting to pounce. Tons of enemies are placed on high ledges far away to snipe you, especially Chaingunners. Monster closets become obvious and predictable, but the worst crime this wad commits is regularly closing you in while teleporting in a bunch of monsters, and does so in such a way that trying to retreat anywhere will lead you smack-dab into a wall of freshly-spawned monsters. The only good news is that the wad uses Spiderdemons and Cyberdemons sparingly (save for that one map with about 6 Spiderdemons) but instead goes all-out on Arch-Viles instead. Assume that every spawn will have at least one Arch-Vile, and at one point I was fighting six of them at once.
The dickiest map of them all is MAP31, where the regular exit involves a gauntlet where the player must either kill a Cyberdemon in a matter of seconds, or sit in a narrow corridor dodging rockets while an impossibly long door slowly opens to reveal a teleporter that will telefrag the Cyberdemon. Repeat two more times with the next Cyberdemon always a little closer each time - and there are no Invulnerability Spheres on the entire map. Good luck doing this with the Brutal Doom mod.
Aesthetics aside, I have a hard time recommending this wad. There's a second part out, but I don't feel like even looking at it.
