There's No Place Like Home (tnplhome.wad) By Steven L. Bareman (bareman@hope.edu) A review by S. P. Harvey "You're sitting back in your easy chair relaxing by the fireplace and watching a star trek rerun on the tube when you get this eerie feeling. You look around the room which now seems unfamiliar and a horrible realization comes upon you... This isn't your house! There's a strange noise coming from the kitchen and slowly, carefully you go..." - From the author's .txt file (included at end of review) He built a house. He built a damn house. Living room, kitchen, front hallway, the whole damn thing. It's incredible. This file absolutely begs to be seen. Admittedly, the sheer number of two-sided linedefs tends to bog down my poor old 486/33, but the overall effect is astonishing. I've played a lot of Doom levels, but this one made me sit and stare, slackjawed at the complexity and attention to detail. As far as gameplay goes, single player is none too difficult. I played on UltraViolence and had no difficulty getting through the level completely intact. The level is also constructed for Deathmatch play, a treat I'm looking forward to. Steve designated the level as E1M1, which seems a fitting spot. There aren't a whole lot of monsters roaming this nice suburban hell, enough to keep it interesting. Plenty of weapons and ammo. If you're into massive death, carnage, and mayhem (and who isn't), there are PWADS that are more appropriate, but not better. I can just picture running through this house, gunning for some poor innocent soul (an intruder?) who decides to play DeathMatch with me. You'd actually get the impression of being in a house. The textures are perfectly chosen, the light levels are dead-on, and best of all, the proportions are accurate. A hallway appears about as big as a hallway should, and so on. Even the decorations and furniture are appropriately sized. Objects such as ammo, health, and keys are put in cleverly appropriate house-type locations. It's just a kick to run around firing a shotgun in what looks and feels like a real house. This attempt at multi-story construction works very, very well. No gimmicks are needed, just clean design. The illusion is almost complete. A big round of hearty applause for a true DEU architect. I'll be showing this file to everyone who plays Doom on my machine. Job well done. Rating: ***.5 (three and a half stars) - S.P. Harvey (sharvey@interaccess.com) ================================================================ Title : There's no place like home. Filename : TNPLHOME.WAD Author : Steven L. Bareman Email Address : bareman@hope.edu Description : You're sitting back in your easy chair relaxing by the fireplace and watching a star trek rerun on the tube when you get this eerie feeling. You look around the room which now seems unfamiliar and a horrible realization comes upon you... This isn't your house! There's a strange noise coming from the kitchen and slowy, carefully you go... Additional Credits to : My wife for putting up with me & The DEU team for an excellent editor. ================================================================ * Play Information * Episode and Level # : E1M1 Single Player : Yes Cooperative 2-4 Player : Yes Deathmatch 2-4 Player : Yes Difficulty Settings : Yes New Sounds : No New Graphics : No Demos Replaced : None * Construction * Base : New level from scratch Build Time : 56 Neff Hours ;-) Actually I lost track weeks ago. Editor(s) used : DEU 5.0, DEU 5.1, And DEU 5.2 beta releases. Known Bugs : None. * Copyright / Permissions * This wad may NOT be used as a base to build additional levels. You MAY distribute this WAD, provided you include this file, with no modifications. You may distribute this file in any electronic format (BBS, Diskette, CD, etc) as long as you include this file intact. * Where to get this WAD * FTP sites: anonymous @ hope.cit.hope.edu /pub/doom/tnplhome.zip * Miscellaneous Information * This wad started off as an experiment with this idea: "Hmm. I wonder if I could make something that looks like a fireplace?" I then decided to see if I could make a wad that gives the appearance of being in a Multifloor level *without* the use of teleports. Unless you're paying real close attention, I think I've done it. Ok, I did use one teleport. It was the only way to jump from this one certain spot to another but it's not required that you use it.