DBP59 - Zeppelin Armada
Another Doomer Boards Project, this time with the theme of 'steampunk sky-pirates (featuring time travel)' and, um, it would probably sound insulting to say "this sure checks the usual Doomer Board Projects tickboxes" but honestly, that's a good thing. Let's see;
interesting theme/setting
grimy texture pack one can almost smell (with atmospheric PLAYPAL lump!)
DOOMcute off the scale
excellent sense of place
damn I wish this were a whole-ass original FPS
And there's the thing. These guys pump several WADs of such high quality every year and there's no sign of them stopping. Why aren't they putting these talents into making an original game using the tech? Probably because everything here is, to put it mildly, borrowed from other sources -- but I can dream of this bunch cranking out decent retro FPS to fatten my Steam library, can't I?
So, Zeppelin Armada. It has storytelling! Not just the environmental kind, or the occasional intermission text, but actual storytelling with NPCs and dialogue and even a theatre show here and there. No, not in G/ZDOOM, I played this through in PrBOOM+! The amount of trickery going on here is insane, and on a technical level alone this is one of the very best WADs I've ever played.
But is it fun to play? Gonna say a resounding yes on that one. Aside from one absolutely punishing map partway through that threw more Lost Souls at me in its first half than I'd ever care to see for the remainder of my DOOM-playing life (forcing me to savescum a pacifist run up until I couldn't so as not to wake the fucking things), the maps here are solid; and a good mixture of linear run 'n' gun, sprawling exploratory affairs, and good old-fashioned slaughter lite carnage toward the end. Apart from the flaming skull volley mentioned, it challenges but rarely ever frustrates.
I don't know what else to say; if you're not a fan of the whole steampunk shtick then perhaps give it a miss. But that would be a loss on your part, because this was a great experience.
5/5
