If you don't know what RAMP 2024 is, go here and download it, then go here and download GZDoom, install Doom somewhere and get to playing. It's great.
Review Rubric
1/2 - 1 star. Bad, a waste of time, offensive in some way. Simply doesn't run at all. I don't expect a community-created pack like Ramp2024 to contain anything in this range.
1.5 - 2.5 stars - Good but with a gamestopping bug or mistake. "Basic" maps with no significant depth. "Decent" maps with a serious flaw. By the time you get to the top of this range you're talking about the "median .WAD I would download from a ftp site in 1997".
3-4 stars - Solid maps, simple-but-polished maps, a good execution of an idea, feels good to play. By the time you get to 4 stars you're talking about a really cool idea, a commercial-DooM-level experience, or a highly polished experience.
4.5 - 5 stars - Superlative, great execution, a great idea that's explored well, great ambition, total conversions that hold up fully.
My own personal preferences only ever amounts to around 0-1 star in either direction, typically if it's too hard, if it's a slaughter map or a map of another "type" that I just don't care for, if there's music I don't like, etc. I try not to let this affect my score too much but they're my ratings so they do, a bit.
Ice Station Levels
Triplezone by Soulsphere 666 - Very polished. A little more work on the "drawers" or "hidden compartment" textures might make it feel even better. The traps are simple and good. Overall the experience is unique and fun. 4 stars.
Internet Explorer by Kitkatrina - Charming, nostalgic, a great deal of heart went into this. The cats as markers for special areas or locations work very well. They made me happy whenever I saw them. A fun variety of scenarios really makes me feel like I'm exploring. 5 stars.
Tangerine Lullaby by Sesamin - Highly polished but extremely difficult. The only tip for players that I have is that you should be grinding to figure out the layout of the map. You have to do this in order to control the many sight lines of hitscanners and archviles until you find the ammo and weapons to handle them. I ended up getting frustrated before I managed this, perhaps it's too hard for an oldhead like me. Can't deny the exceptional use of space and color. 3.5 stars.
Cool Blue by Nums0ic - While the blue aesthetic and re-colored monsters really work (I found it amusing that of course you only collect blue keys on this map), the ammo scarcity is desperate. You end up having to do platforming in front of an audience of monsters. For the same reason, the flow of the level is less fun than stressful as every time you double back you're hoping you don't have to get a monster out of the way of the door you want to go through. 2 stars.
Freeflow Speedmapped Slaughter Map 03 by epicyolomaster420 - "'Dead dove, do not eat.' I don't know what I expected." My only suggestion to players is not to kill too many cyberdemons before new friends start arriving through the green floor vents. Absolutely not my thing. 2 stars.
Fickle Panopticon by FickleSylph - We've seen many prison Doom levels, ranging from the quasi-realistic to the horror movie/heavy metal album version of prisons. Very rarely do you see one that actually seems to have been designed as a cohesive whole. The massive structure is both awful and collapsing under the demonic invasion. You really do want to get out. Fantastic experience. 5 stars.
Blissful by Kitkatrina - Another kitkatrina level, this one even more polished than Internet Explorer. The bright colors and marvelous textures draw you in. The twisting, turning challenge areas are great fun to get through. Ultimately that's the adjective I use to describe a Kitkatrina map: fun. If I get killed I don't even get mad, like I do with some other levels. I just laugh. 5 stars.
Interstellar Attack! (fixed) by Eviternatus 098 - Challenging in a cramped way we rarely got in the days of Doom responding to the "corridor shooter" criticisms many games got. Sculpted in a tremendously ugly fashion, should be considered at least partly a puzzle level - until the last room. Really not my kind of thing but I found myself drawn in. 3 stars.
Solar Generator Levels
The UAC Marchosias by RiotEsper - Grim Aliens-a-like texture design is put to great use in a claustrophobic but organized map. Well handled secrets let me feel like I was getting one up on the monsters - I never found a secret with something in it I didn't really want at that exact moment. A final battle is challenging without falling into the slaughter map or cyberdemon stereotypes. Fantastic map, a full experience. 5 stars.
Altitudinal Airship by RecordBreaker - There's a certain degree of videogame-ness that is charming here - the "drop" of keys and monsters, the cheerful chords when you succeed at an encounter, but there's really no need for a "checkpoint" in a game with a save game feature like Doom. Nor is the cheery videogame-ness (and quite funny ending) in line with the kill-everything requirement. You can't leave until you kill the cyberdemon, but when you do the thing crashes and dies? Why not just let us bail out? Still, pretty fun. 3 stars.
Abandoned UAC Portal Research Station by RicardoLuis0 - A moody success; even the too-big fight at the end feels apocalyptic. Tremendous mood and setpieces. Even the text, often a weak point of storytelling WADs, is simple and solid. Fantastic. 4.5 stars.
Terror in Transit by Disgruntle - Bluntly, the pacing is no good. You go from humongous slaughter-arenas to "haunted hotel room" and back again in a matter of seconds, whiplashing your focus here and there and making some scenarios laughably easy immediately after an extremely hard one. Texture errors also popped up on elevators and other places. Overall I would say that there's a great deal of potential here but too much was squeezed into the map. I would rather have had one polished experience rather than the series of rather rough and disconnected episodes I got. 2 stars.
Antivirus by KittyKatrina - The third in KK's series, it displays the same playfulness and polish as the previous two. The nostalgia for the 90s era of the internet is equally vivid. At the end I was shocked to find these three levels were the creator's first levels. The fun factor on these are off the charts. KK has a great future in level design both for Doom or for any project. I also thank the people she thanks at the end, clearly the team and community helped as well. An absolute delight. 5 stars.
Savage Samba by Rita Remton's Brother - An unbearable combination of slaughter map and platforming. There is probably a way to work through this fuckin thing but I don't care enough to grind it enough to find it. Who put this at difficulty 4? You can get killed four seconds after the first trigger pull with nothing you can do about it, depending on RNG. 1.5 stars.
HGW Purifier by Dom - Scary-image jump scares are so 2010. Knocked a whole star off for that. Which is too bad because the ambition of the whole rest of the project is pretty stunning. Voice acting, audio logs (chill, everyone! Doom 3 had audio logs!) a mission objective, some pretty good arena fights, the last area in particular is used very well. I would suggest another polishing pass - there are "flat" surfaces that are not smooth when run up against (getting around the single right angle vent leading to the last arena is what jumped to mind but there are others). The jumping functionality also needs to be reconsidered. There were often things I could easily jump on but was blocked from doing so. If you're going to let me jump, let me jump. If not, that's okay too, just don't have jumping. Incredible ambition, can't wait to see more. And I will check out the band. 3.5 stars.
A Hard Day at the Hard Day Factory by Lazlo Panaflex - Excellent level name for an exceptional level. A E1M1 introductory section moves into a series of large arenas that use their space, weapon and ammo availability and enemy placement to exceptional advantage. The revenant, in particular, has never been one of my favorites - the hard hitting glass cannon style is, in my view, a little at odds with Doom's weapon loadout and overall rhythm. However, as used here, vulnerable up on towers, but you without enough ammo and no rocket launcher to easily handle them at a distance, and with waves of defenders appearing as you proceed closer, deflecting your bullets down to hit yet another zombie soldier, they become a highly engaging challenge. I don't think I've seen an arena so polished in its timing and placement of enemies and meshing with the offering of weapons. When you pick up the plasma rifle at the end of the red key arena, you're both relieved and wistful - if only I'd had this thing 10 minutes ago! An absolute roller coaster ride. 5 stars.
Favor the Bold by Krombopulos Alex - A pretty tight challenge that is nevertheless mostly feasible. A couple of "big swarm of monsters up close" scenarios make for a RNG grind, doing the same things over and over until the demons behave properly but overall it isn't too bad. It isn't my thing but there certainly are some damn good fights in here. 3 stars.
Vulkan Underground Levels
System Horizon - Ithronyar - Although the theme grew on me once I entered the demons' realm, the combination of the music selection and the alarm siren never sounded right. Furthermore, the finicky platforming, even for secrets, was annoying. I did appreciate the setup of the final fight. You can fight as much or as little of it as you want to try, if you're skilled enough. Overall the many flaws added up for me, but the second half of the map was pretty strong. 2.5 stars.
Sygaeon Outpost - Cyberos Leopard - Although I like the objectives and the more "advanced" Doom tricks that make it look like a more advanced FPS, I'm not sure they add too much to this map, especially if you're going to end it with something as straightforward as "kill the cyberdemon" as your conclusion. The doubling back is interesting, and the monster mix keeps it fresh, but if I've used the health and ammo in a location, getting back through them is a real slog. Maybe restock some of that too? Anyway, this is a bit of a nitpick. 3 stars.
Slipgate Adventure by JJBoren - The awkwardness of the introductory section of the levels gives way once through the slipgate into a truly unforgettable (though quite difficult) experience. Unfortunately, the final section contains some quite unforgiving platforming (and you have to conduct it while under fire from monsters that will bounce you off the platforms), so while the true DooM SuperMarine will thrive on the challenge. for the rest of us normies it's too much. 3.5 stars.
Ramp Research Center by DeltaGamer24 - I got myself in a pickle with this one by not exploring an area at the time the level expects me to. If you end up hitting a wall of difficulty, try starting the level again and going in a different direction at a different time. With that in mind it's a pretty sweet little level. 3.5 stars.
Macho Monday by DeadlyOre - Until the platforming segment, this was one of my favorite "mini-slaughter arena" maps, a subgenre in which slightly more modest arenas are filled with swarms of monsters which must be managed rather than fought (and one of my favorite subgenres). The final arena was also of lower quality than the previous battles - the RNG of it is just far more brutal. A pity because other than that I love the look and, as I say, the previous arenas are top tier. 4 stars.
Microcosmia by DiamondCentipede - Perhaps the worst crime of a slaughter scenario is to only put a single kind of monster in it, or to make it almost impossible to get any type of infighting. Although highly polished, this crime is committed again and again throughout this map. It's one of the more beautifully made and clearly carefully crafted maps that I can't recommend at all. 1.5 stars.
Genesis Core by Bruno Levi Constancio - Although highly clever, and atmospheric, there are just too many bugs for me to give a rating to. (Example: You push a button and get a message '1 of 2 armory unlock buttons pressed', and if you press it again, it says '2 of 2' and the armory opens.) Keep working on it in the next year. DNF.
Black Mountain Research Center by MDJ - Clever, fun, charming, although there's a big difficulty spike at the end compared to the rambling, wide-open experience before entering the final building. Happy Pride! 4.5 stars.
