As I determined last time, the sections of RAMP2024 are randomly generated when you start a new game, so the "sections" I identified were wrong. Whoopsie! Anyway, I'll just do them in alphabetical order (and the ones next door to the ones I'm doing in alphabetical order) from here on out.
Here's a Google Sheet of all the reviews so far.
2m 30s X2 - Out of Time by AnnB
An intensely experimental space, with a text conversation playing out as the space slowly collapses. While I definitely think it catches the idea and feeling of a space being destroyed, the text conversation seems a little bit oblique; it's also flatly hard to read at high resolutions. I think a bit of polish in how the exchange is presented might be worthwhile. Still, it did give me a few of those sad/creepy pricklies so it must have worked. 3 stars.
AAROOM by Looker
I enjoyed the first section, with the four "suddenly up close" fights. That's a real accomplishment for a game that really, really doesn't want you to stand next to the monsters. It makes you develop a whole different set of skills, including tactical decisionmaking on which of the starting guns to use when. Still, the slaughter map section was just too much as a follow up. (Not to mention I don't think it really fits the theme as established in the first part of the level, which implied some kind of prison...) As always it's hard to get me to really love a slaughter map. 3 stars.
A Techbase Someplace by skachacha
What a marvel! It's clear there's life in the old techbase blueprint yet, this one feels compact, like you're circling around and around and unlocking different parts of the base. It doesn't try to "make sense" but it sure has the feel of a real place, with custom signage, lighting effects, and a series of challenges ranging from tricks and traps to platforming to just really solid monsters. The archvile non-surprise followed by the archvile surprise absolutely got me! What a blast! I immediately wanted to play it again. 5 stars, a total delight. I'm so glad I came back to this project!
Another Generic UAC Techbase by Kontendo
The title does, kinda, give you the story here - everything from mis-proportioned staircases to doors that aren't quite aligned to the floor, but as I played I really got the sense of some polish and certainly a lot of DooM experience, with some thought about what makes a good level. There are setpieces where I just started smiling because I really liked what it was doing, or a sudden challenge arose that I hadn't expected. This is almost the perfect "DooM Level Creation 201" coursework; a bit more polish and it might be great. (It is, though, a bit too generous, and I fell off a one-way elevator one time and couldn't get back. Had to noclip to get out of the softlock.) 3 stars.
Azure Horizon by LennyGuy20
Highly polished, simple, small, with bursts of challenge to knock you suddenly out rather than sustained management of resources like health and ammo, as we usually see in Doom maps. This distinctive approach makes for a bite-sized experience that's both intense and very manageable. At first I was going to rate this a bit lower because it was small but I couldn't think of any way to really improve what was right in front of me so I'm going to 5 stars.
Phipackaging Co. by Phiptime
My strong recommendation is to sit down with a few players and have them compare their experiences in the archvile room to the other three rooms that are littered with crates. The archvile room (all the encounters in it) is a great fight, maybe a little generous on the supplies, but it's kinda hard to get to them in the midst of it all! In the others the crates don't really add much, and the theme is so flat as to be more or less incomprehensible. I did love the darkened walk to the base but we never get anything really spooky again! 2.5 stars.
Babel by Automaticat
This map, even with its weirdly disconnected style, shows a lot of creativity. You're left off balance by many of the decisions (the race through the lava maze, the too-tall ceilings, etc.) and this is how we should feel in Babel! We should feel like Doom just isn't working right here. But ultimately the lighting is just a bit flat, the massive size of the rooms filled with simplistic texturing makes some experiences that should be even more offputting fairly bland. All in all there's a lot of promise here and I like that the mapper doesn't shy away from things like mazes if that's what they're interested in. It just doesn't quite hit you the way that I wished it would. 2.5 stars.
The Lost Doorway by Artende
I was pretty charmed until the cyberdemon ending that assumes I have the custom gun and also that I haven't used it on anything else. I think the screen shake on the custom gun is a little much but I definitely felt like I was being told what to do in a way Doom maps usually don't. Maybe if there were an option to escape without killing everyone I wouldn't feel this way. Anyway, the rest feels and looks solid. 3.5 stars.
Baby Bear Brawl 1 by Death Bear
A small but quite difficult level; who rated this a 2? I ran up against ammo limitations many times and with space at such a premium, provoking the necessary infighting was very haphazard. Even once I had "the sequence" I couldn't pull it off just because a monster would wander left instead of right and I'd be stuck in a tight spot, unable to get past and quickly killed. I think giving the player a bit more flexibility would help a lot. Nevertheless it's a polished puzzle-fight. 4 stars.
Portals O' Fun by DuckyCat
Very polished, with a great sense of pattern recognition from a pistol start through to the end. Even very straightforward monster closets feel hectic when the weapons you have access to are so tightly chosen. There's one where it's just....up a well-lit hall in front of you and two pinkies just come racing down the hall towards you but no matter which gun you have out you're really scrambling to get them both before they reach you. Between the thematic elements and the excellent fight balancing, this is a real find. 5 stars.
Trial by Blood Part 1 by avee88
Just a great atmosphere, with a feeling of hostility right from the opening section. It's actually a lot harder to create this feeling in Doom effectively than it might seem at first glance. The astonishing use of moving platforms, opening and closing spaces, and the breaking pieces of a collapsing ruin just feel incredible, like you never know what's happening next. (I loved it so much that I was always a bit disappointed when a monster just teleported in, because there are so many good ways this level hides monsters and resources.) What a delight. 5 stars.
Caldera Entryway by Dein0z
A solid map with several striking ideas, and a very good understanding of the pace of resources - I was getting nervous here and there about my health, and then I'd discover a stimpack. A great feeling. Nevertheless I did feel a little that there wasn't much going on. When you're ducking in and out of cover in Doom for too long (as in the big staircase portion), you start to really chafe as the speed of Doom is slowed. I would call it a solid start. 3 stars.
Bad Map Design by Bubz
I loved every second of this - every arena from the first to the last is well-calibrated, challenging, fair, and has multiple ways of dealing with it. Even the final confrontation had me feeling scrambling but there was never a moment where I felt like it was unfair. Don't believe the name. This is one of the best of the year. 5 stars.
In The Dark - RAMP 2024 Prototype by HandsomeFridge
Great new enemies, and a crazy atmosphere gives an amazing vibe to these arenas. I'm not thrilled with "kill everything" requirements to activate sections of the map. I think that it should be weirder and more disorienting. I also am not sure the "magic missile" imps properly trigger infighting; I couldn't get them to do it to the revenants (and I really needed them to!). Finally, the last battle just doesn't work because it completely lacks an environment! I get what it is going for but Doom just doesn't have a good flying feeling. It's not a real 3D game. As a prototype this absolutely is great, though. 4 stars.
STATIC by HAMMEL-C
Yeah, I guess I get it. DNF.
Fight Vision by Padwiz
It's a cool trick; I for sure like it better than a lot of other cyberdemon delivery maps. I just wish there was more here (and more thought given to the layout. 1.5 stars.
Barzakh by Amaruq Wulfe
Just a little too long to love completely, although the atmosphere is immaculate and the presentation is incredible, there are just too many "you turn right and face more monsters" experiences. It started to vary up again once we dipped into the "caverns" section but by then I just wanted it to be over. Maybe that's just the style! I loved many of the setpieces here but more than once I found myself just sighing. 4.5 stars.
Not So WIP Anymore eh by tonytheparrot
I was about to praise the first room as an example of a punishingly difficult room that nevertheless isn't difficult in the slaughter map style, but then I had to fight four swarms of revenants in a row in a big square hallway with no infighting, cover or weapon choices available. Nah, I'm good. 1.5 stars.
Make Love To A Chainsaw by Rando Dusty
WOW, the running, chasing feeling is so fun in this. I absolutely loved the hectic feeling of this level, was astonished and pleased by some of the secrets, and was grinning like a fool all the way through. What a pleasure! 5 Stars.
The Last Position by Soulsphere666
Kind of a class in both good and bad archvile encounters, a really technically accomplished "sidequest" to a techbase area (marred by a small area where I managed to get myself softlocked/stuck), and finishing up with a cyberdemon encounter that has some interesting traits (I don't think I've ever seen the "Doom tree" used in a cyberdemon fight before!) But some of the choices don't make a lot of sense (the blaster pistol, for example, doesn't seem too interesting, certainly not as a first gun), you get real tired of archviles, and all in all it just needs a bit more tightening up. 3.5 stars.
