"KZDoom Series Opener"

kzdoom1.wad

Author(s):

Kurt Kesler

Year of release:

1999

Map(s):

01

Engine:

ZDoom

Date of review:

10/22/2007

Overall rating:

Shortly after Part 2, I've played the opener to this series and it was fun and quite challenging.
As opposed to part 2, this one is a bit monothematic, playing in a big machine hall. Only the finish offers some variation with a nice mountain trip.
The challenge is over avarage, mainly because the human monsters and the imps have been made faster and harder. I wasn't used to hide from troopers and seargents, so this cost me some health points at the beginning. The other monsters are unchanged but placed in tricky places, which made the game very entertaining.
Just like part 2, the opener, too, shows some excellent use of ZDoom features (coloured lighting, dormant monsters, polyobjects) and I repeat myself when I say that this is amazing when you consider the time when this wad has been made.

Overall, I think, this map is not as beautiful and convincing as its sequel, but that's pretty normal. A wad should become better with time, not worse... :-)
Still, it's a very good map.