overdrive's Cyberdreams review

hell yeah, I rag on Plutonia a lot but that Arch-Vile maze is a great level. and that game is better when you pistol start the levels, it's actually pretty well designed for that sort of thing but if you're coming into maps with accumulated ammo then it wrecks the game.

Yeah, I haven't struggled through all of Plutonia yet (and I might just start over, since I'm so rusty with Doom shit right now and I do want to review Final Doom at some time), but that was by far the coolest level I played there. I'd never want to play an entire game based on Arch-Viles, but that was a cool, innovative level.

Hell Revealed is starting to sour me on Arch Viles a bit. I don't see how this mod is so well regarded, it has its moments (map 25 had a great moment with a HORDE of Revenants that you could use a teleporter to out-maneuver) but it's not that great. total Arch-Vile/Cybie abuse too.

HR is so beloved because of how insanely crazy it is with the insane Doom community that is more concerned with creating ungodly challenges than actual great games. I mean, whether levels are well-designed or not, anyone with any competence could probably create something with 1000 monsters with 50 being Cybers and 50 more being A-Vs to resurrect the other 900.

Like I've told you before, I like wads where the designers focus on lesser-tier enemies and loading the levels with traps and sneak-attacks. Like Knee Deep in the Dead from the original Doom.....but with a bit more than first-grade difficulty. I want a game that'll make me cry tears of blood not because they just threw 15 Cybers at me, but because I went down a normal corridor and it collapsed to reveal 20 imps that just started pelting me with fireballs. That's a fun challenge.

I agree, but honestly, I don't even see what the challenge is. holy shit, it's a pack of Cyberdemons! now instead of strafing back and forth until I pump 50 rockets into one, I'll be strafing back and forth until I pump 500 rockets into ten! it's just a waste of time, I wish I could like have a cheat code where it takes some ammo from me and the damn thing drops dead.

one HR map had a clever bit, though, where there's a Cyberdemon blocking the top of a vertical staircase and there's just no way to get him to pass by. later in the map, though, you get up to a ledge that's perfectly aligned for you to aim your rockets through a window and blow that earlier Cyberdemon away, netting you a shitload of shotgun shells for your trouble.