review: OPOST21.WAD

     Review written on 1994 05 26 by Frank Stajano, DOOM Master.



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================================================================
Title                   : OPOST21.WAD   
Author                  : Scott Amspoker
Email Address           : scott@basis.com

Description             : The government boasts that Outpost 21 is the home
                          of scientific research that will benefit all 
                          humanity.  On the surface, Outpost 21 appears
                          to be a peaceful complex that provides its
                          small team of dedicated scientists with living
                          quarters, research labs, and recreational
                          facilities.  However, not even the aliens
                          who recently inhabited Outpost 21 were aware 
                          of the dark and dirty secrets that lie beneath .

Additional Comments :

   As with any Doom level, please play this level in a dimly lit
   or dark room.  I strongly urge that you not use gamma correction
   unless you really have an unusually dark monitor.  Gamma correction
   tends to put a "wash" on the otherwise deep Doom colors and I
   have chosen the light levels carefully.  Some parts of this
   level are dimly lit.  This is not to disorient the player or
   pull a cheap shot in the dark.  It is to create the proper
   mood and to exploit certain Doom textures that would look
   unconvincing in brighter light (and with gamma correction).
   Have fun!

================================================================

* Play Information *

Episode and Level #     : E2M1
Single Player           : Yes
Cooperative 2-4 Player  : No
Deathmatch 2-4 Player   : No
Difficulty Settings     : Yes
New Sounds              : No
New Graphics            : No
Demos Replaced          : None

* Construction *

Base                    : New level from scratch
Build Time              : See editor list
Editor(s) used          : DEU 5BETA4, 5.0, 5.1  and BSP11X
Known Bugs              : none


* Copyright / Permissions *

Authors may NOT use this level 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:

BBS numbers:

Other:
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This is an amazingly good level. Every detail has been lovingly
crafted to perfection. I feel that OPOST would be quite at home in the
original suite of id episodes. Wonderfully atmospheric and very
enjoyable. It scores high marks on visual appeal, cleverness of
puzzles and playability.

I start in a wide open space. I get hold of a backpack in an
underground torture cage guarded by an imp. Marines, sergeants and
imps fire at me from the building. I get rid of them with the pistol,
my only weapon, and try to find my way inside. I quickly find a secret
door, and through there I can steal the shotgun of one of the
sergeants I killed. An apparently inaccessible blue key defies me from
its pillar (an unplanned-for cheat is possible here, just as it is in
E3M6). And now the first really hard and clever puzzle: how the hell
do I get hold of a yellow key to enter the building from the main
door?

Once inside there is some imp killing to be done and, in a storage
room, another good puzzle: an inaccessible switch. It turns out that
this is the official way to get the blue key I saw earlier.

Exploring the inside corridors I find an underground swimming
pool. This certainly used to be part of the "recreational facilities",
although the new inhabitants of the complex have now refilled it with
that lovely green liquid. A couple of cacodemons and other assorted
monsters mean it's easy to die here while visiting if one is not
careful.

Somehow I find myself in a maze of caverns of unfathomed depth. This
is really the most impressive piece of design in this WAD, and the
thing that makes it stand above most others. Even places that you only
walk through once are splendidly rendered with realistic detail. What
I liked best were the light effects on the torches.

The exit area has the classic range of big monsters (a baron, some
cacodemons, a swarm of lost souls and the odd sniper imps) but is not
unfair. Here, too, a clever puzzle.


The difficulty, on Ultra-Violence, is comparable to that of E1M6 -
E1M7: not trivial but not terribly hard either. Monster distribution
is fair, i.e. they don't come in legions; and, at least in the second
part of the game, ammonition is plentiful. After extensive play, I
have found no hall-of-mirror bugs.

The appeal of this WAD is above all in its appearance. It is a
beautiful world to explore. Warm congratulations to the author.